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I thought you might be worried about the security of your shit...
Zombiemambo
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
In the past two weeks or so, I've managed to lose my wallet, which had my ID, a number of membership cards and money, and just tonight I lost my phone (and have reason to believe someone has found it and is using it). Basically, I don't trust myself with anything anymore.
So are there good methods to keeping track of important stuff? I'm a messy guy, and I haven't tried to change that (though I've told myself I would many times), but frankly now that I feel like I've hit rock bottom or close to it, I need to make some serious changes in my life. Figure it couldn't hurt to break this habit first. So please, any help at all is appreciated. I'm so sick of disappointing everybody by losing things that are really important, among other stuff.
So are there good methods to keeping track of important stuff? I'm a messy guy, and I haven't tried to change that (though I've told myself I would many times), but frankly now that I feel like I've hit rock bottom or close to it, I need to make some serious changes in my life. Figure it couldn't hurt to break this habit first. So please, any help at all is appreciated. I'm so sick of disappointing everybody by losing things that are really important, among other stuff.
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Keys? check
Phone? check
Wallet? check...
then I leave the house.
Also... Post It Notes everywhere if you need to. Sometimes I write down all the shit I have to do and the dates they need to be done by and leave it next to my computer where I'll see it. I'm sure someone could recommend some free software that could do the same thing.
Second bit: As for keeping take of valuable things, buy a ring-binder or sheath for important files and put it somewhere where you will remember and can easily get to. Make it the beginning of a filing system that you add to over time. This is how I did it when I moved out of my home and had to take care of the important stuff for myself.
As for keys, wallets and such, I just forced myself into a habit of putting certain things into certain pockets. For example, wallet goes in left side pants pockets and keys, cellphone and whatnot go in the right side. Then, whenever, you can do a quick touch check to remind yourself about them and keep track of them. I made this strategy because no one else has a key to my flat, so if I leave home without it or lose it, I'm screwed.
Anyway, hope that helped.
Additionally, I make the pocket check almost every time I leave somewhere. I was almost OCD about checking my back pocket for my wallet until I got a money clip and kept it in my front pocket.
If you keep tons of important stuff in your wallet, you should maybe try to downsize what you keep in there, if possible. Just keep what is essential (license, money, credit and debit cards) so that if you do lose it, all your other shit isn't gone too.
For losing other stuff that you don't always keep in your pockets, it might be beneficial to sort of make a place where you always empty your pockets out. I have a place on top of the bookshelf next to my bed that has a coin basket and some space. Every afternoon after I get off work, I just empty all of the contents of my pocket onto that bookshelf and pick them up in the morning. Anything important ends up there, so I rarely have to look for stuff, it works real well. Its simple, but it works.
Well, everyone else beats me up over it. I'm not trying to make them sound like bad people, they aren't by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm bound to get a lot of crap for this, especially so close to when I lost my wallet. I have such a problem with focus and memory that even a minor distraction could cause me to completely forget whatever it was I was doing. My phone, for example, was probably on the bumber of my car when I went over to talk to someone. I drove home, saw my wallet had survived the trip on the bumper, but not my phone. Went back later and it wasn't there. All I did was walk over, hand someone something and left. 30 seconds and I had lost my wallet and my phone. It was a miracle I still had my wallet with me.
I guess my question is why your phone and your wallet were on the bumper of your car. The easiest way to not lose stuff would be to always keep it in your pockets or leave it in one specific place in your house.
As for distractions, simple answer is to always try finish the job in front of you. People are willing to wait around for a bit while you finish something. Just ask for a sec while you finish it.
Pocket checking should hopefully prevent another thing like this happening.
I do this too. It's always worked well for me, because I subconsciously run checks of my belongings now without thinking. I get nervous when something's missing like my phone, and it takes me a mild panic attack to realise it's pressed to my cheek. Heh.
If you're worried about losing your wallet from your pocket get a chain. I did that for a couple of years. I kept my wallet in my back pocket and looped the chain across to my front belt hook. I couldn't lose it or leave it behind because it's attached! Just makes sure the chain you get as a 'lobster claw' hook so if you need to you can take it off with ease. Also doesn't look to shabby if you can pull it off
you sorta just slap yourself down every time you get up or move from one place to another, to confirm the same items are always on your person.
for me it'd be phone ipod keys. if I was wearing a jacket possibly that'd include wallet as well
One of my friends is the type of guy who cant handle sitting on a wallet. So he takes it out whenever he comes over. He leaves it at my place at least once a month. I don't know how he manages to not lose it in public.
I've got one per pocket and just give myself a quick patdown anytime i change locales or go from sitting to standing. It's never failed - so much so in fact, that I once started freaking out that I'd lost find my phone, as I held it with my other hand after making a call >_>
Get used to putting the same item in the same pocket everytime, so you'll always know what you're missing if you do happen to realize one pocket is empty.
4 Pocket System tm(not really)
Edit: I should have probably at least skimmed through the replies first huh? =(
Step 1: Don't take your shit out of your pocket.
Step 2: Check what is your in your pocket and in your wallet.
Be organized. Phone in left pocket, keys in right pocket, wallet in back pocket, etc. Keep your wallet the same way - Mastercard in top slot, debit card next slot, ID next slot - so you can quickly verify you have it all intact.
There's no reason why you can't keep it all on you. If you're one of those types that has to take everything out of your pockets, consider getting a male purse.
For me its.
Left Pocket - Cell Phone
Right Pocket - Keys
Back Right Pocket - Wallet
If i don't have all of these things in the appropriate spots at all times, I freak out.
Edited for accuracy
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I use a wallet chain. It's pretty hard to lose something when it's attached to you.
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I certainly do this. I make sure I have everything when I leave the house, and usually now and then while out and about. I think I've left my phone at home a good half dozen times in the past 7 years, so it's working pretty well so far.
Originally it was just "watch, wallet, keys, good to go." but now my phone and ipod are on the list. I suspect in the next decade I'll be up to a veritable utility belt/harness of gear and gadgets, batman style.
I'm already up to ipod/phone/wallet/keys/GPS system(while i'm out of the car)/Bluetooth headset for my phone/2nd seperate car key(because i hate having crap dangle over my knee and to prevent locking myself out
/cry
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And I have 2 locations in my apartment where I put things on my person such as keys/wallet/sunglasses.
So at all times, my stuff is either in my pockets or in one of these 2 locations.
It's all about habit. For a while growing up I'd be wearing jackets in the winter and I'd stuff gloves/wallet/keys in whatever pockets or coat pockets seemed handy, I'd leave them by the door, in cars....Disaster.
Always keep your stuff that matters in the same places all the time. Then you know where shit is. Also, I have to say, less mess equals less stress.
I'm getting better though. Solution? Pocket checks. Every time you think of it. I have a pocket for the wallet, a pocket for the phone, and a pocket for the keys. I do a quick tap of all three pockets whenever I think of it. Getting into the habit is tough, set an alarm to go off every hour or something, then you'll just get the hang of it. I check my pockets without even thinking of it anymore.
Best of luck to you buddy.
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You can buy these things to stick to the back of your phone so it doesn't slide places (like off the dashboard.... or the bumper of your car =P). I usually found them frivolous but hey, it would've saved your phone once, maybe it will again.
Also I got into the odd habit of quoting the Matrix when I had finished a mental checklist with everything in it.
Wallet? Yep.
Keys? Yep.
Watch? Yep.
Phone? Yep.
"Everything the body needs."
Of course, then that other character from the Matrix says "It's not everything the body needs!"
And then I think about the woman in the red dress.
And lose any ability to know what you do and dont have on you because you lost it all to a portable black hole?
To add something though, and has been way helpful in helping me remember keys is I keep a Wii-mote strap attached to 'em, that's pretty much always hanging out of my pocket. I can just glance down and see I have my keys, and it also saves about a tenth of a second when I have to pull my keys out of my pocket. Insert any kind of lanyard or anything for the strap.
But yeah, have some consistency in what pockets you place your shit and good habits of remembering the important stuff will follow.
This system didn't prevent me from losing my wallet once a few months back. Tore my friends house apart looking for it - when I finally gave up and went home I found it underneath the back tire of my car. Weird.
So one of my recommendations? Drop the 20 bucks to get a fucking State ID to leave at HOME when you have your Driver's License in your wallet.
I used to have a wallet chain.
Then I took it off because it looked dorky.
Then I went to a concert and my wallet flew out of my pocket and I lost it.
Now I just wear jeans that fit me so stuff doesn't fly out of my pockets if I'm jumping up and down.
I think the thing to do is reiterate what everyone else has suggested. Develop a nice healthy OCD about what's in your pockets. I do the pat-down thing as well, although I'm now at the point where if my pockets simply don't feel the normal weight or aren't pressing against my leg in the normal fashion I get twitchy even without patting down.
So, wear clothing with [more] pockets or if you have to set things down, put them somewhere where you can't leave it behind (like your car, buddy's car, etc).
Phone front left. Wallet front right. Keys back right with a very stylish Captain Morgan lanyard.
I'm about to stand up from the movie theater... Is the following true?
Is my phone in my left pocket?
Is my Chap Stick in my left pocket?
Is my wallet in my right pocket?
Are my keys in my right pocket?
Did I feel them all to make sure they're there? Twice as I was walking out, to make sure I didn't lose anything?
(Cue same pat-down process while walking on longer walks, when I get into a car, when I get out of a car, when I'm about to leave the house, when I'm leaving a store, etc. it isn't that hard, it takes 1 or 2 seconds while you're walking, it doesn't look ridiculous - just get in the routine of patting yourself down)
Also, it looks like you have a problem with keys. While I can't recommend a chain wallet in good faith (too ugly, sorry anyone with a chained wallet), I can recommend a lanyard. I have mine in my right pocket, but some people wear them like they're supposed to be worn - around the neck. If I'm sitting down, I make sure the lanyard is slung over my right thigh so it's not where it can be stolen, and I know my keys are in my pockets at all times.
I also recommend that you make a specific place for them at home. I hang both my keys and my wallet on a hook by my bed room door. If they aren't on that hook, they are on me. It helps by giving you a second way to alert yourself to look for them.