Memory Tip of the Day

For people who lose things (i.e., keys, phone, checkbook, work ID badge, etc.) on a regular basis, there are ways to jog your memory and make sure you have them. The mental checklist is the one you can practice each time you leave one place to go to another (the trick is making it look like you're not being obsessive about it). Go through the list of things that would cause a great deal of stress if you lost them. Purse? Check. OK, in the purse. (This is where it gets tricky, if you're switching out different purses) Wallet? Check. Checkbook? Check. iPod? Check. Cell phone? Check. Are you sure you have your cell phone? Ohhh no.....

In that situation, it's always helpful to have a roommate who doesn't mind calling your cell phone for you if you've lost it...again. At work, it's easy to find your cell phone simply for lack of places for it to hide and the convenience of an available office phone to do the obligatory find-my-cell-phone call. However, not having a landline in your domicile can make the process of finding your phone a two-person endeavor at home.

For keys, always hanging them on the key rack or putting them in the same spot in a dish on a table in the entry way has helped me tremendously. I hear they make clappers for keys too (but instead of clap-on, clap-off, you set of an alarm so you can follow the sound to your keys hiding under a sofa cushion). Work IDs should live in car consoles or near the key rack.