A friend once remarked that you could tell how complicated our lives were by how many keys we carried on our key rings. The more keys, the more complications as we moved through life:

• The lone dorm room key was replaced by ones for apartments then houses, garages, utility sheds and concession stands.
• One car key led to more as our fleet grew and grew and grew.
• More office keys came with more responsibility (and hopefully one for the executive washroom).
• Family keys made their way back onto the ring as we checked on aging parents.

But in today’s world of so-called convenience, our key rings are growing not only because of the addition of more keys but also thanks to the invention of the Mighty Key Tag.

Under the guise of saving us Big Bucks, retailers “set the pick” knowing they can get us to accept their discount cards -- and even better, the matching discount key tag attached by perfs. So we keep adding small pieces of plastic to the jumble of others we have dangling from our key rings. (Can you spell “walking advertisement?”)

My first tag was for the grocery store I used most of the time. But every time I went into the competitor’s stores, the clerks would push me to take one of theirs, too, even though it wouldn’t see much use. I finally gave in and my collection of key tags has been growing ever since. I had to have one to use at the gym, of course, and one for the athletic store where my son loves to shop and the latest for the local drugstore…

It won’t be long before I have to schedule a decluttering session for my key ring.

By Teresa K. Flatley
www.boomthis.com