How to Stop Losing Things: With our Tips to Save Time Lost Car Keys Won’t be a Problem

Are you a chronic key-loser? Do you always seem to be misplacing your child’s homework folder that she needs to take to school in the morning? Consistently losing things can take a lot of time out of your day that you can’t afford to spare. Have you ever arrived late to a meeting because you couldn’t find your car keys? Sometimes losing things can even cost you money. Have you ever had to pay hundreds of dollars to replace a lost cell phone?

If you can relate to being pained and held back by constantly misplacing and losing your things, we’re here to help. Check out these simple tricks that will help you stop losing things.

Make a specific space for each of your things

That’s right, it’s time to get organized. And we don’t just mean mindlessly organizing your books and kitchen utensils. Everything you own needs its own space. By keeping everything in the space where it belongs, and putting it away when you are not using it, you’ll never have to worry about misplacing something around the house.

For example, I never lose my keys anymore because I put a keyhook right next to my front door. Instead of leaving my keys in my purse or throwing them somewhere around the house when I get home, I just place them on the rack as soon as I walk in the front door. Now I always know where they are and they are easily accessible when I am leaving the house!

Do you misplace your cellphone around the house often? In the age of smartphones you surely find yourself carrying your phone around the house and browsing the internet from all over–I certainly do! It would be an inconvenience for me to create just one space for my cellphone, so I’ve created several! I now have three charging stations around my apartment and whenever I am not using my phone I place it in one of those spaces. It’s especially convenient when I am without a charge, but even when I don’t need to charge it I at least always know where it is.

By creating multiple places for things around your house you’ll be able to give yourself some flexibility without having to look more than a few places when you lose something.

A great app to check out if you always misplace your cellphone is Find My Phone. This app uses your location relative to the nearest cellphone tower to locate the exact address and place of your phone. This app can be a lifesaver if your phone is stolen too!

Take a mental picture when you set something down

This tip may sound a little strange, but it really works! Especially for visual learners. When you walk into your house and know that you’ll be setting something down take mental images of the entire process. Visualize yourself walking through the door, through rooms, and setting the object down. This is something that you can teach your memory over time with practice. Once you’ve got this practice down you’ll never misplace anything again because you’ll be able to visualize precisely where it is.

Scan the room for objects before you leave

Do you ever leave things at work or a friends house without meaning to? While it is easy to create spaces in your house for all of your things, this can be considerably more challenging when you leave home.

To avoid losing things outside of your home, do a scan of the room that you are in before leaving. Even if you think that you have packed up everything in your briefcase when you’ve finished a long day at the office, set aside the briefcase and do a scan of the room before you leave. Check the whole space for wallets, cell phones, books, etc. that you may have left behind.

This is a simple task that, if performed daily, can end up saving you a lot of time in the long run. Afterall, the last think that you want to do is return to work over a weekend because you left your cellphone there on your way out Friday afternoon!

Do you have any tricks to stop losing your things?
Let us know in the comments!