How to Stop Losing Your Stuff All the Time
Always misplacing your wallet? These are the tips for you. (Photo: Corbis)
We all have moments where we say, “I know I put it right here!” or “Where could that be?” We misplace more objects than we ever should. Fortunately, it is possible to overcome forgetfulness and stop losing things.
Samuel Johnson wrote, “It is by studying little things that we attain the great art of having as little misery, and as much happiness as possible,” and I’m often struck by how much happiness I get from making improvements in small, seemingly trivial aspects of my life.
And one of those aspects? Keeping track of my stuff. Not being able to find something is a minor challenge to happiness, of course — but it’s one of those minor things that can make me crazy.
Sumathi Reddy wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal that had a great series of tips about how to find a lost object.
Apparently — and this is no surprise — the most commonly misplaced possessions are: cellphone, keys, sunglasses, purse, umbrella, bank card, tablet, documents (that’s a little broad), and wallet. The average person loses up to nine objects every day.
The article included these tips from Michael Solomon’s How to Find Lost Objects:
Don’t look for it yet — wait until you have some idea where it might be. And look where it’s supposed to be — I’ve found this tip strangely useful. It’s surprising how often I overlook something, or don’t look quite carefully enough, to see that an object is pretty much where it’s supposed to be.
Other tips:
Repeat the name of the object as you search for it.
Check to see if it’s somehow hidden in its proper place.
Look carefully and systematically — don’t just rummage around (which is very tempting).
Note that objects are usually found within 18 inches of their original location. This sounds impossible, but I’ve found this to be uncannily accurate.
Be philosophical. Most things eventually turn up. (And while this may be true, I feel compelled to note that they don’t always turn up in time!)
I would add a tip of my own: Clean up — this is very effective. Plus, even though I’m annoyed by having to look for something, having a tidier environment cheers me up.
Also, here are two of my tips for never losing something in the first place — beyond the familiar “put things away in the same place.”
As much as possible, put things away in an exact, rather than an approximate, place. Counterintuitively, it’s easier and also more fun and satisfying to put something away in an exact place, like “the basket on the third shelf of the coat closet” rather than “in the closet.”
If you see something that’s obviously out of place, don’t absent-mindedly think, “Hmm, I wonder why someone put a cell phone in the bathroom cabinet?” Instead, move it — either to where it belongs, or at least to a place where it’s very conspicuous. So many times I’ve raged to myself, “I saw that thing in some unexpected place, and I sort of noticed how weird it was to find it there … but where was it?”
Do you have any tricks for finding lost objects?
Gretchen Rubin is the author of the blockbuster New York Times bestsellers, Better Than Before, The Happiness Project, and Happier at Home. On her weekly podcast Happier with Gretchen Rubin, she discusses good habits and happiness with her sister Elizabeth Craft. She writes about happiness and habit-formation at gretchenrubin.com. Follow her on Twitter @gretchenrubin, or on Facebook, at facebook.com/GretchenRubin.
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