It never fails that when you’re in a hurry or running late for work, your keys are suddenly MIA.
If you’re like me, you try to keep your most important possessions in one place, but all of that goes to hell when you’re feeling lazy. I probably misplace my phone at least five times a day and as it turns out, it’s never more than a few inches away from me.
But to help us declutter our lives and help eliminate having to play hide and seek with our precious phones and car keys, professor and“findologist” Michael Solomon and “decluttering guru” Marie Kondo have teamed up to give us five tips that’ll make life so much easier.
1. Perfect placement
According to Kondo, every item of significance should have its very own place to live. In just a few days time, your brain can quickly recall these “homes,” preventing you from losing anything ever again.
2. The 18-inch rule
According to Professor Solomon, most commonly misplaced items are never more than 18 inches away from where you last saw them. This can vastly narrow down the search area!
3. Make connections with your stuff
To help jog your memory, make associations with things you often lose before putting them down. These associations can include sounds, smells, or even tastes. You might also want to consider verbally making connections by saying trigger phrases such as, “I am placing my phone on the coffee table.”
4. Keep calm
Professor Solomon can’t stress enough how important it is to remain cool and collected when going on a scavenger hunt for your misplaced items. He suggests following the three C’s: comfort, calmness, and confidence.
5. Helpful gadgets
When all else fails, companies have developed a few tech tools to help recover lost items. If you’re an iPhone user, there’s the Find My iPhone app, which also works for most Apple products. To help find your keys in a hurry, the Whistle Key Finder is a relatively inexpensive device that attaches to your keys and will beep and light up once activated by a simple whistle.
(via Daily Mail)