I repeat this advice from a few years ago.
When you cannot find something, it is of course best to do the smart things first, remembering where you have been, where it usually is, where it sometimes is, whether you did anything unusual today that might have moved it to an odd place. But when you have exhausted those, and checked them twice (just because that is what we do), do not go to the medium smart places next. The object you are looking for is never there. It is far better to go to the stupid places to look: under the car, in the refrigerator, next to the dog's dish. Even though things are very seldom there either, something about this strategy frees you up to suddenly remember where it is, rather than spinning your wheels.
Also, it's fun, which calms one down a bit.
We have heard that when you find something that you have stored something "in an intelligent place" but then can't find it - tools, books, and kitchen items are common here - when you actually find it, start storing it in the first place you looked. We have just started this, and so far, so good.
Or waste some time cleaning up one of the places it was supposed to be--like the kitchen table. X put the keys on the table, Y put the mail on top of them, Z piled stuff onto the bench to change the table-cloth, ...
ReplyDeleteIt's the "safe places" that are my downfall. I'm still looking for a clock mechanism that I put in one of those a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteLikewise the garage door openers--effectively keys to the house--put where they would not be immediately visible from the front hall. Or, apparently, anywhere.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea where my garage door openers are.
ReplyDelete