For specific, special items, spend a few seconds thinking about the ‘right’ place for it. Then place the item there. If you ever need to find the item, repeat the same though process and there’s a good chance you will again think of the same ‘right’ place. My problem isn’t that I can’t think of the place where it should be, but that it is very rare that I actually put it there.
However, I wonder if you were talking specifically about finding lost items, or just the general probIem of finding solutions to “foolish” problems. Then I suspect this will grow to be a long comment since I am simultaneously extremely absent-minded and also energetically solution-oriented, so I spend a lot time developing tailored solutions.
First, I’ll discuss general principles of the ‘systems’ I use to solve these problems:
I invest energy in systems proportional to the degree there needs to be a system (e.g., measured in units of aggravation or resource costs). I don’t develop systems just to have systems, since this is a failure mode for me.
Solution development is always a work in progress and I try to be laid-back about that. I’m always open to the possibility that a system is causing more trouble than it is worth. An imperfect system won’t be further updated unless the energy expense makes sense (see 1). Sometimes a system seems to work fairly well, but then an extra dose of aggravation will motivate me to improve it.
Every problem might need its own unique solution, fitted for you and your lifestyle. Many systems are very nice in principle, but simply don’t work in practice—usually due to inability of me or family members to maintain the system. That is, a ‘good’ system is one that actually works.
Next, I’ll list some of the solutions that I’ve found so far or need help with:
Solution: A lockbox for the key. I was always trying to find my keys. Leaving in the morning, usually in a hurry, there were several places I had to look—in any pair of pants I might have worn, in any jacket pockets, on the actual key ring where they were supposed to be (fat chance), or in the junk drawer where I tend to empty my pockets when I come home. Looking in even just these three spots was too aggravating and there was no solution until I started keeping my keys in a lockbox outside my house. The key always makes it back in the lockbox when I come home, so when I leave in the morning, I can just leave—no worries about the key! This is greatly helped by the fact that I have security code to open my car, I don’t need to carry a key for that either.
Solution needed: I don’t have a system yet for ID cards and debit cards. Every once in a while, I end up with two copies of one (for example, if I lose it, get a replacement and then find the old one) and then that system is stable for quite a while because I’ll keep one at home and one in the car. However, I never have the cards I need when I’m traveling with my husband or walking somewhere. The only exception is the library card, which I keep in our “book bag”.
One day a week for the library. If we go to the library irregularly, we never remember to return books and we ended up paying hundreds of dollars in fines last year. Since this was obviously a significant resource drain, we had to decide if going to the library was important. (For example, we decided renting Redbox movies was not important since we had the same story there.) Since going to the library was important to us, we now go every week on a particular day. Before we go, I walk around the house and collect anything that looks like a library book, and then (fortunately) the library also e-mails me if we miss one and I’ll know to spend extra time looking for that one.
Keep children’s socks right by the dryer. I have a drawer in the laundry room for my kid’s socks. This seems to be the best way to get them in one place. An initial phase of the solution was to begin with very many identical pairs to save time on matching, but then we got too many different kinds of socks from cousins (hand me downs) and I gave up on that.
If your system is 99% ‘good’ you actually CAN then nudge your behavior via slight modifications. For example floss no longer goes in the bathroom, it stays next to my computer where I see it.
For specific, special items, spend a few seconds thinking about the ‘right’ place for it. Then place the item there. If you ever need to find the item, repeat the same though process and there’s a good chance you will again think of the same ‘right’ place. My problem isn’t that I can’t think of the place where it should be, but that it is very rare that I actually put it there.
However, I wonder if you were talking specifically about finding lost items, or just the general probIem of finding solutions to “foolish” problems. Then I suspect this will grow to be a long comment since I am simultaneously extremely absent-minded and also energetically solution-oriented, so I spend a lot time developing tailored solutions.
First, I’ll discuss general principles of the ‘systems’ I use to solve these problems:
I invest energy in systems proportional to the degree there needs to be a system (e.g., measured in units of aggravation or resource costs). I don’t develop systems just to have systems, since this is a failure mode for me.
Solution development is always a work in progress and I try to be laid-back about that. I’m always open to the possibility that a system is causing more trouble than it is worth. An imperfect system won’t be further updated unless the energy expense makes sense (see 1). Sometimes a system seems to work fairly well, but then an extra dose of aggravation will motivate me to improve it.
Every problem might need its own unique solution, fitted for you and your lifestyle. Many systems are very nice in principle, but simply don’t work in practice—usually due to inability of me or family members to maintain the system. That is, a ‘good’ system is one that actually works.
Next, I’ll list some of the solutions that I’ve found so far or need help with:
Solution: A lockbox for the key. I was always trying to find my keys. Leaving in the morning, usually in a hurry, there were several places I had to look—in any pair of pants I might have worn, in any jacket pockets, on the actual key ring where they were supposed to be (fat chance), or in the junk drawer where I tend to empty my pockets when I come home. Looking in even just these three spots was too aggravating and there was no solution until I started keeping my keys in a lockbox outside my house. The key always makes it back in the lockbox when I come home, so when I leave in the morning, I can just leave—no worries about the key! This is greatly helped by the fact that I have security code to open my car, I don’t need to carry a key for that either.
Solution needed: I don’t have a system yet for ID cards and debit cards. Every once in a while, I end up with two copies of one (for example, if I lose it, get a replacement and then find the old one) and then that system is stable for quite a while because I’ll keep one at home and one in the car. However, I never have the cards I need when I’m traveling with my husband or walking somewhere. The only exception is the library card, which I keep in our “book bag”.
One day a week for the library. If we go to the library irregularly, we never remember to return books and we ended up paying hundreds of dollars in fines last year. Since this was obviously a significant resource drain, we had to decide if going to the library was important. (For example, we decided renting Redbox movies was not important since we had the same story there.) Since going to the library was important to us, we now go every week on a particular day. Before we go, I walk around the house and collect anything that looks like a library book, and then (fortunately) the library also e-mails me if we miss one and I’ll know to spend extra time looking for that one.
Keep children’s socks right by the dryer. I have a drawer in the laundry room for my kid’s socks. This seems to be the best way to get them in one place. An initial phase of the solution was to begin with very many identical pairs to save time on matching, but then we got too many different kinds of socks from cousins (hand me downs) and I gave up on that.
If your system is 99% ‘good’ you actually CAN then nudge your behavior via slight modifications. For example floss no longer goes in the bathroom, it stays next to my computer where I see it.
Have you tried keeping ALL the cards in a single wallet or similar thing, and putting it in the lockbox together with the keys?