6 Tips to Help You Stop Losing Things

The average American loses about $5,591 worth of personal items in a lifetime. If you can relate, stop putting an unnecessary dent in your wallet and check out these 6 tips to help you stop losing your stuff.

If you or your partner are always looking for your keys, car keys, wallets, phones or your remote control, it's time to think about ways you could stop losing things.

1. What do you lose the most? Focus on that first!

Start with the obvious, since it's easiest to begin with things you lose most.

Make a mental note of what items you misplace every day, maybe your keys, TV remote, earrings or glasses?

Once you have a short list to focus on, start thinking of how you could avoid losing those things.

These tactics could be anything from always keeping them in the same location to organizing common storage spots in your home with designated boxes.

2. Everything in its spot

While most people have a general place where they usually put down their important personal items, few of us have an exact spot for them.

Simply put, if you have an exact location for your things, it will be much harder to put them in the wrong location — because there's only one location that's right.

Instead of putting your keys somewhere on the table by the door, put them in the blue bowl on the table by the door. Instead of placing your wedding ring on your dresser, place it in the small tray or the top drawer in your dresser.

3. Stay organized

Clutter is the enemy.

It's one of the main reasons people lose things or have trouble finding them. For example, if you have mountains of paper on your desk and are often looking for documents you need, then it’s probably time to clean up and come up with some sort of organizing system for them.

If your desk or drawers or bookcase or closet or any other spots are just spaces to put your things down for a moment, then come up with a system for placing things in the exact spot you designated for them.

Exact spots for everything from your scarfs and belts to your receipts and house bills will transform your life like you could never imagine.

4. Put things back where they belong

Getting organized only gets you halfway there. Maintaining your new order is the crucial next step.

After a long day working at the office, taking care of the kids, or running errands, it can be easy to ignore things that are out of place. Resist this urge.

Stick to the system you set up and you’ll find it much easier to find your things (some you won't even have to look for!).

It only takes a moment and minimum effort to put the remote wedged in between sofa cushions in its designated spot, but it may save you 10 minutes of searching for it and a headache tomorrow.

5. Train with mind games

You’re probably heard of visualizations before.

They're not just useful in magic tricks and complex mental exercises, they can also come in handy with something as simple as placing your things where they belong.

After you've come up with an exact spot for your keys that you're comfortable with, visualize yourself placing the keys in that spot.

Not only will this help you remember where everything goes, it will also teach your brain to do the task automatically.

Before you know it, you’ll be placing items in the exact same spot and staying organized without even noticing it.

6. Set up reminders before you leave home

Constantly losing important things like your wallet or keys can be frustrating and expensive.

Because these things go where we go and we move them around all the time, keeping them organized and in the exact same spot is more challenging than straightening out your desk.

Besides visualising yourself putting things in the same spot every time, you can also create a short mental to-do list every time you find yourself on your way out.

Keys-wallet-phone is probably the default checklist, but feel free to add glasses, umbrella or any other thing you lose often. Make it fool-proof and tap the pocket where these things should be to double-check.

Besides keeping organized and mental exercises you can also add an extra layer of security by attaching a Bluetooth tracker. It will connect your keys or wallet to your phone and you'll be able to use one to find the other.

And just in case you ever forget anything again, despite your best organizational efforts, the Out of Range Alerts in the Chipolo app on your phone will even send you an alert if you ever leave your keys or wallet behind when you leave.

Because it works both ways, you'll be able to find your phone too, even if it's on silent.