Keys and Locks

I've been thinking about locks and keys today.  My husband and I just bought a house recently and we are not quite moved in.  But after the closing, we went to check the house out and start cleaning.  The seller's agent gave us the keys to the front door and told us where to find the rest of the house keys.  In a drawer in the kitchen, we found more keys than we knew what to do with.

The problem was that some of the keys for the house were still missing.  We had 6 keys to one door, 4 keys to another door, etc. and then no keys to other doors.  It was ridiculous.  So we decided to start by replacing all the exterior doors - doors to the backyard, the front door, exterior doors to our breezeway.  We went to Lowe's and picked up a set of 2 locks which will get us started.  Then we have to pick up 2 more locks and get the re-keyed so that we will have the same key for everything.  Because as it is, we have like 10 keys to the house.  Not cool.

How did the previous owners keep track of so many keys?  I'll tell you.  They didn't.  That's why we are missing so many keys!  But we want to make sure we can have the house locked up when necessary and not need a million keys to do it. 

And if anyone else goes through a situation like this, here is some advice: get your new locks at Lowe's.  Home Depot charges $5 per lock to re-key.  But if you buy the locks at Lowe's, then they only charge you $5 total to re-key.  The woman told us she doesn't like to go nuts overcharging people because it is unnecessary.  Lowe's = win!