10 ways to not lose stuff / find stuff

Now where did I put that?  Who stole it?!  I had it right here a minute ago.  When I was young I lost stuff all the time.  Drove me nuts.  Things just escaped my attention until later when I needed whatever it was most, I would have NO idea where it was.  We all do this, it's the human condition.  My own life has taught me these little tips to not losing things and finding things lost.

10.  Get in a rut - This happens pretty naturally on it's own.  You live your life and you get in a rut.  you mostly do the same things every day.  I take this to a different level.  I do the same thing all the time.  I wake up.  I get in the shower.  I dress, I drive.  I eat the same breakfast.  I work.  I eat the same lunch.  I leave at the same times based on the activities of the day.  I come home.  I don't lose things because I do the same things every day.  This is different than school where you have new schedules taking you to different places every day.  It's all varied and coupling that with the fact that you are young and you pretty much have a one track mind.  You lose stuff.

9. Time is of the essence! - if you lose something, recognize that it's lost as quickly as you can.  Every time I get out of the car my mind goes through a little check of what I should have and what I don't have.  It happens in a flash, but I will do a 'what am I missing' several times a day.  The closer you are to the time you didn't quite put something in the right place, the more likely you will find it quickly.

8. Everything seems to be in it's place - Keep the same things in your pocket/purse similar to number 9, but this is all the little things you need in your pocket or purse.  I have my wallet, cellphone, coinkeeper, chapstick, keys.  I know which pocket has them.  When I close the car trunk after taking something out, I will pause and feel my keys in my pocket before I close it.

7.  When was the last time you saw it? - Ok, you've lost it.  So now you have to use that really inefficient brain of yours to think of the last time you used it.  Often you will then remember the situation in which you used it and where you lost it.  Similar to this is remembering the thing that happened differently.  Most of the time we lose things because we are doing something differently.  You suddenly decided that you needed to stop and buy some road side jerky and while you were fishing for your cash to get some jalapeno teriaki elk, you dropped your credit cards and didn't notice because you are in a hurry to get back on the road and into your rut.

6.  Retrace your steps - coupled with number 7.  Go back to the last time you saw it and try to re-create your movements to the time you realized you had lost what it was.  This is time consuming and doesn't always work. I've found that sometimes when I do it, I will look directly at what I'm trying to find and I will not see it.  It's strange and it's happened a few times.  I'm looking directly at the thing I want to find and my brain (that hates me) cloaks what I'm looking for so I won't find it until later when it won't matter.

5.  Have a place for special things - This is why you get a change dish and a key ring and a night stand.  These places hold the close things in your life.  Anything that is important should have a place.

4.  Give yourself time to put things back - Having a place isn't the same as putting it there.  When you are putting something down, put it where it goes.  Don't put it on a table and leave it there and wonder why it disappeared.  It disappeared because someone else put it where they thought it belonged.  Don't be rushed!  it's when you are rushing around doing things that you loose stuff.





3.  RELAX, Close your eyes and think of the thing you have lost. - I've found that when I do this it tends to work.  I just think about the object that I need to find and I will get ideas of where to look I go to those places and it joggs enough of my memory to think of where it really is.





2.  Don't have things. - Even easier.  Just don't have important stuff.  Babies never lose anything because they don't have anything.  SIMPLIFY!

1. Don't look in the same places - I've found that I look in the same places over and over.  I don't know why, but I don't think things will be there any more on the 5th time I look there as the 1st time I look.  But you need to look thoroughly through the places you are looking.  Look UNDER things too.  Often you just put a piece of  paper on top of the thing you are looking for.






15 days from now, I hope you don't lose my blog address!  Cya!