topic Re: Do you lose things?! in Community Chat

Do you lose things?!

route 7 — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:06:07 GMT

Going out of my mind looking for my snow boots. Don't need them yet but might in the next few weeks. I try so hard to be organized but I dropped the ball on this one. How about you?

Re: Do you lose things?!

Preds — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:07:00 GMT

More than I want to admit.

Re: Do you lose things?!

nunya — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:10:20 GMT

every day

Re: Do you lose things?!

ivanatrump — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:10:33 GMT

occasionally

Re: Do you lose things?!

issiestorm — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:11:40 GMT

I think 'misplace' would be a better word. You'll find them eventually.

Re: Do you lose things?!

Justice4all — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:16:10 GMT

They vant to be alone!

Re: Do you lose things?!

Marmalade_1 — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:17:40 GMT

No, I am a very organized person to a fault. A place for everything and everything in it's place.

Re: Do you lose things?!

Justice4all — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:20:43 GMT

Marm, can I rent you?

Re: Do you lose things?!

Marmalade_1 — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:22:21 GMT

On 1/15/2015 Justice4all said: Marm, can I rent you?

It's a curse believe me. I drive my kids crazy!

Re: Do you lose things?!

chickenbutt — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:24:28 GMT

Oh yeah! The worst is when I put something where I 'know' I'll find it and it's a good safe place. I can go crazy looking for something I know is in this house. Sometimes I just have to back off from it a little bit and do some thinking. I think about stuff like when I last had the item in my hand, where is a place that I would be most likely to put it, and I just eliminate areas where I know I would not have put it, so that it narrows down the number of places in my mind (yeah, I think a lot!).

I'm pretty methodical about where I put things, actually for the express purpose of NOT putting them somewhere that would end up becoming a mystery. ha! Yeah, that backfires on me sometimes with things that I don't use frequently.

Then there's the husband, who works on the basic helter skelter theory of just dropping his things wherever and is always losing his phone, his keys, you name it. I fixed his key-losing problem, though.

But what might make me want to bonk him on the head even more than him constantly searching for his things is his reassurance to me when I'm looking for something - Well, he says, it's gotta be somewhere. Gee, no chit Sherlock. ha!

Re: Do you lose things?!

Marmalade_1 — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:28:04 GMT

Chickenbutt, I am curious how did you fix your DH's losing his keys?

Re: Do you lose things?!

MaggieToo — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:33:02 GMT

Only misplaced for a moment or two. My place is so small it is pretty hard to lose anything.

Re: Do you lose things?!

chickenbutt — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:36:01 GMT

On 1/15/2015 Marmalade said:
Chickenbutt, I am curious how did you fix your DH's losing his keys?

Actually, it was quite simple as it turned out. The door he always comes in is through the garage into the laundry room then kitchen, etc. So I put a hook on the inside of the door so that when he closes the door and locks it, the hook is RIGHT THERE, above the dead bolt.

He can put the hook on his garage door opener through the ring part of the key ring and then just put the whole ring over the hook. I had him try to think like me a little bit with being routine - unlock door, open door, walk through door, close door, lock door, hang keys on hook, walk away.

He's done remarkably well and I can't remember the last time he didn't put his keys there over the last several years.

Stuff like that is just a matter of creating a routine, a system. I'm very systematic with things that require it, in order to make life less stressful. I think he would like to be that way but he seems to lose it in the part where you CREATE the habit - like with things and remembering and organization. I've gotten through to him with some of it, though, and the key thing has really helped a lot. He would put them just wherever and then wonder why he could never find them.

Like somebody else said (such a perfect theory) - there is a place for everything and everything in its place. Makes life much easier.

Re: Do you lose things?!

Marmalade_1 — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:40:17 GMT

Great idea, Chickenbutt! Thanks for explaining. I am very much like you in being systematic and I can't function very well without a routine, Throw a monkey wrench in my routine and I am lost so I don't adjust to change very well until I get used to it and develop a new routine. Like I said, it's a curse really.

Re: Do you lose things?!

chickenbutt — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:50:26 GMT

On 1/15/2015 Marmalade said:
Great idea, Chickenbutt! Thanks for explaining. I am very much like you in being systematic and I can't function very well without a routine, Throw a monkey wrench in my routine and I am lost so I don't adjust to change very well until I get used to it and develop a new routine. Like I said, it's a curse really.

I hear that! I wish I could get my husband to see that his life would be easier if he got more organized. It's like he has some sort of mind block about GETTING there. I try to tell him that the initial investment in creating the routine set up in your head is short-lived because it quickly becomes automatic.

Anyway, hope that helps. Pretty basic idea but it creates the habit that makes the problem go away.

With keys, I learned a long time ago that it's imperative that you make it where there is only one or two places that you put them. One place is perfect, but two places is fine too, as long as you stick to your own rules. Oh, I've lost some keys in the past! The frustration of that sort of thing is what makes me want to 'fix' the problem. I'm a fixer.

Re: Do you lose things?!

mousiegirl — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:52:33 GMT

I spend at least half of my life looking for things, drives me nuts!

Re: Do you lose things?!

RainCityGirl — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:55:39 GMT

What really gets me is when I look for something for over an hour or so, and then on the last pass through I find it hidden in plain sight where I passed it several times.

Re: Do you lose things?!

mousiegirl — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 02:57:21 GMT

On 1/15/2015 chickenbutt said:
On 1/15/2015 Marmalade said:
Chickenbutt, I am curious how did you fix your DH's losing his keys?

Actually, it was quite simple as it turned out. The door he always comes in is through the garage into the laundry room then kitchen, etc. So I put a hook on the inside of the door so that when he closes the door and locks it, the hook is RIGHT THERE, above the dead bolt.

He can put the hook on his garage door opener through the ring part of the key ring and then just put the whole ring over the hook. I had him try to think like me a little bit with being routine - unlock door, open door, walk through door, close door, lock door, hang keys on hook, walk away.

He's done remarkably well and I can't remember the last time he didn't put his keys there over the last several years.

Stuff like that is just a matter of creating a routine, a system. I'm very systematic with things that require it, in order to make life less stressful. I think he would like to be that way but he seems to lose it in the part where you CREATE the habit - like with things and remembering and organization. I've gotten through to him with some of it, though, and the key thing has really helped a lot. He would put them just wherever and then wonder why he could never find them.

Like somebody else said (such a perfect theory) - there is a place for everything and everything in its place. Makes life much easier.

All of the dog leashes were always missing, kept buying more, then finally saw a many hooks hanging stone, with the rear ends of dogs and the tails as hooks, so bought it, and put it just inside the laundry room door which is the door to the yard I use, hung it on one of the hooks, and now we no longer have to hunt and accuse each other of misplacing it, lol.

Re: Do you lose things?!

chickenbutt — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 03:06:03 GMT

Oh how cute, Mousiegirl! I also had to set up a hook in the laundry room for him to hang the dog leash. Before that it was just tossed somewhere - usually somewhere where I (the klutz) would end up tripping on it or something. So, up goes another hook.

Re: Do you lose things?!

VanSleepy — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 03:09:23 GMT

Whenever I clean, no one can find anything. Hey, that's what they get for not putting their own stuff away.