Car keys, reading glasses, and cell phones . . . What do these items all have in common? I’ll give you a hint: Without getting up, do you know where yours are? Perhaps unsurprisingly, car keys, reading glasses, and cell phones are the top three most commonly misplaced items. If you are someone who tends to lose things easily, don’t be worried – you aren’t alone! According to the Wall Street Journal, the average person loses up to nine things a day. While losing things may be common, it’s often stressful. That’s why we’ve come up with some helpful steps on how to stop losing things. If you or a loved one could use a little guidance, follow our easy tips to avoid misplacing things in the future.
How to Stop Losing Things
1. Create a Home for Important Items
The first step in learning how to stop losing things is to make a permanent home for your items when they aren’t being used. To do this, walk through your house and make a list of the areas you typically tend to place your items. You may even realize some of your items already have a home. If not, choose a logical location where you most frequently use the item. For example, if your favorite place to read is in your bed, keep your reading glasses on your bedside table. If you lose your car keys often, designate a place near the front door to put them, so that you can conveniently grab them before leaving and drop them off when returning home. Writing these locations down will help you establish where your items should go. You can also keep the list on your fridge as a reference for forgetful moments.
2. Get Organized
Once you’ve designated a home for each of your items, it’s time to get organized! Investing in inexpensive organizers will help you establish and remember where your things belong. To give you some ideas on how to manage your belongings, we’ve provided the following list of organizational tools for commonly misplaced items.
Command Clips
Command clips are some of the most versatile and inexpensive organizational tools. Command clips can be hung just about anywhere, and since they can attach to almost any surface using strong adhesive stickers, there’s no need to drill any holes or hammer any nails into the wall. To avoid losing your purse, keys, or wallet, we recommend hanging Command clips on a wall near the front door, as this is an easy and convenient place to store your on-the-go belongings when they aren’t needed. You can also use Command clips to hang baskets in the bathroom or by the bed.
Mail Organizer
Creating a mail organization system is an effective way to keep track of bills and important pieces of mail that tend to pile up or accidentally get thrown away. All you need is a file or paper organizer with multiple trays/dividers, as well as stickers you can write on to designate the type of mail each tray/divider will hold. You can organize your mail system into categories such as “Bills,” “Personal,” and “Important.” Sort through your mail every day, placing each piece of mail in the appropriate tray.
Chair Caddy
An over-the-arm chair caddy is a great way to keep your remotes in one place. Chair caddies are inexpensive and hang right over the arm of your favorite chair or couch. Many have multiple pockets, so you can also keep items like newspapers or magazines in one convenient place.
3. Make a Habit
Being forgetful is a common human trait. However, by training yourself to make a habit of putting things where they belong, you’ll become less forgetful in no time! Once you’ve created and established a home for your easily forgotten items, get into the habit of routinely storing your items in their designated locations. If you are having trouble at first, you may want to place a list on your fridge of where you keep your items until it becomes second nature. You can also use sticky notes as reminders of where you put things.
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We hope our tips on how to stop losing things will help you avoid misplacing important items in the future. If you found this guide helpful, you can also read our post Organizing Tips for Seniors to help you de-clutter and organize your living space.
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