[Irken Invader Tak]

Soooo, I just lost my second phone this week. As my forgetfulness becomes a financial strain, I must ask: how do I stop forgetting things?

Hi Irkin...
Long before I knew I had ADD I lost stuff all the time. Somehow I figured out that repetition helped create habits to help me. For things like keys, wallet and cell phone, each of these items can only go in a very few specific locations. For instance, my keys can only be in my left pocket, car ignition, kitchen drawer (I have a cubby in there where I place my keys the Second I get home. Repetition is important, so when I get home, I come in, set my laptop bag next to the kitchen cabinet, put my keys in the drawer, then go on with whatever business I have to attend to.

You can do the same thing with your phone. Cradle it in the car, pant pocket or belt holster and when you are not using it, always put it there, not on the table or counter... I know it sounds stupid, but if I sit my phone down where it does not belong, I stare at it and think of where it needs to be, finish what I'm doing and put it back where it should go.

With my ADD, repetition / structure / simplicity are key. I need as much as I can have on auto-pilot, so I can try to remember all the other stuff.

Good luck

[Maus5321]

For me it has to be cell phone in left pocket and wallet keys in right pocket. When I am out anywhere and i need money from my wallet i cannot set it down. not even for a second. When i get home. Whatever hat i am wearing that day it all goes in there. Even if i am not wearing the hat the day i get up to leave say for school. Everything still has to go in there for when i leave in the morning.

I remember as a child i was gonna buy something I wanted so bad. So i got my money out to count it told my mom. forgot i was in the middle of a store. set it down as if i was at home and someone walked off with it. I thought it was in my wallet but needless to say it wasn't and i lost my 12 dollars. So i cannot set anything down even for a second or i will forget about it and lose it or leave it.

[bmega]

Hate losing stuff...right now I have 3 things I am missing. My paperwork for my dentist, my mp3 player, and the battery charger for my camera....tis making me quite angry. I really have to try to concentrate harder when I set stuff down. :-(

Originally Posted by YYZadd

... I know it sounds stupid, but if I sit my phone down where it does not belong, I stare at it and think of where it needs to be, finish what I'm doing and put it back where it should go...

Doesn't sound stupid to me! I can only manage that if I put it totally in my way. The vast majority of the time, I have take it to where it belongs as soon as I see it. The variation on this is when someone will ask if I can do something. I start to move, and they'll say, "Oh, you don't have to do it now!" Reply? "Yeah, actually I do."

Originally Posted by Maus5321

... When I am out anywhere and i need money from my wallet i cannot set it down. not even for a second... So i cannot set anything down even for a second or i will forget about it and lose it or leave it.

Yup. And the double-whammy? Paying for something, starting to walk off and having the cashier say, "um... did you want your stuff?"(!) It doesn't happen with things like multiple grocery bags, but single bags and such, oh yes. Often. It's embarrassing, so my defense mechanism is to jokingly say, "Nah, I just wanted to hand you some money." Haven't figured out a solution to that one yet.

Like you, maus, I can't set my wallet down for even a second. Doing so has produced big time panic. Lots of stories there. Some that I still can't recount without having a flashback reaction. At any rate, after one of the biggies, BF handed me a lanyard and insisted I attach my wallet to my purse. It's been that way ever since. Feel kind of stupid over it, but it has cured the problem (though one time apparently I forgot even to put it back in the bag(!), and it was swinging around my knee. )

I'll join the chorus of: Putting things (especially important ones) in the SAME place EVERY SINGLE TIME. And right away. Oh. And writing things down as soon as they flash across the brain. On papers that also follow the "specific place" rule. And for situations for which it is useful, physically attaching things.

Good luck, Irken Invader Tak!

[Maus5321]

Originally Posted by Innerzone

Doesn't sound stupid to me! I can only manage that if I put it totally in my way. The vast majority of the time, I have take it to where it belongs as soon as I see it. The variation on this is when someone will ask if I can do something. I start to move, and they'll say, "Oh, you don't have to do it now!" Reply? "Yeah, actually I do."

Yup. And the double-whammy? Paying for something, starting to walk off and having the cashier say, "um... did you want your stuff?"(!) It doesn't happen with things like multiple grocery bags, but single bags and such, oh yes. Often. It's embarrassing, so my defense mechanism is to jokingly say, "Nah, I just wanted to hand you some money." Haven't figured out a solution to that one yet.

Like you, maus, I can't set my wallet down for even a second. Doing so has produced big time panic. Lots of stories there. Some that I still can't recount without having a flashback reaction. At any rate, after one of the biggies, BF handed me a lanyard and insisted I attach my wallet to my purse. It's been that way ever since. Feel kind of stupid over it, but it has cured the problem (though one time apparently I forgot even to put it back in the bag(!), and it was swinging around my knee. )

I'll join the chorus of: Putting things (especially important ones) in the SAME place EVERY SINGLE TIME. And right away. Oh. And writing things down as soon as they flash across the brain. On papers that also follow the "specific place" rule. And for situations for which it is useful, physically attaching things.

Good luck, Irken Invader Tak!

o yeah the paying someone and walking away thing reminded of times I have been at Mcdonalds or somewhere and i pay the perosn then walk away and not even taking the bag or waiting long enough to receive my change and receipt before i walk away. Ah fun times.(insert sarcasm)

Also as far as puting things in the same place every time. When i put my pants on my wallet and keys have to go in the right front pocket and my phone in my left front pocket. Or I risk having a panic mode even if my phone is say in the right pocket lol. Its quite comical until i feel my other pocket and go whew its not lost.

[2_b_free]

Doing things right away and having a place for everything is so important. If I see something that needs to be away, I make myself stop, put it away, continue. Cleaning and decluttering is a different problem with my attention span. Goal! no bed until kitchen is clean. Fill the sink with dishes, go check my email, wash 5 things, check facebook, wash a few more, "oh, I've been looking for that". Eventually the dishes are done and the kitchen is clean, internet is surfed, facebook is posted, all is right with the world, well for today at least.

[Big Mama]

Hey I have ADD. I lose everything. We have 3 phones and 4 sets of keys to the car. My family 5 miles away have extra keys to everything we own. I have a house key on my key ring, and a spare inside the house and out side of the house. My parents 5 miles away have a copy as well. I still manage to lock myself out of the car and house w/ no key or phone. I have boxes, clear shoe box size right by the door. One for papers, mail, things I think I might want to save, magazine articles and such. I have another box for all other small items. I hang my keys by the door upon walking in the door. I have a larger box that all the other stuff goes in. My car is the same way. 3 boxes in my trunk. I clean them out on weekends. During the week at least I have a rough idea which box something is in if I need to locate it during the box. As for the phone. We have 3 of them. The obvious answer would be to always hang it up when done but for some reason that never happens. Can't help you there. Just wait for it to ring I guess that's what I do and hope there is not an emergency.

[Yoda]

I too have paid for stuff and forgot it. Prepaid for gasoline once and drove off forgetting to put the gas in my car. That was embarrassing.

I went through the self checkout at the grocery store one time, paid with my ATM Card and got $40 cash back and walked out without the money

[LucidCrunch]

I keep my phone on my belt and keep good track of it that way. As I use reminders, appointments, lists and notes to keep me above the failure level, all or almost all is in my phone. Location based reminders help me a whole lot! Lose my phone and I would be in a hole.

[Maus5321]

Originally Posted by YYZadd

I went through the self checkout at the grocery store one time, paid with my ATM Card and got $40 cash back and walked out without the money

Almost did that at the atm machine. Only reason i didn't forget the money was my dad was next in line and was like are you gonna take the money you just got as it is hanging there out of the machine as I am walking away.

I am also notorious for leaving things in my pockets that then go through the wash....If said items do not make it in my front pockets they are almost guaranteed to go through the wash machine and dryer.

Originally Posted by YYZadd

I went through the self checkout at the grocery store one time, paid with my ATM Card and got $40 cash back and walked out without the money

Only once?! I'm not sure if I've actually ever made it all the way out without the cashback, but...
Virtually every time I use that service, I'm surprised they're handing me cash(!) WTH?! It's all of what? a 10 second lag?
("What's this?" "Oh! Right! The money I just finished asking for!")

My only solution on that is to not use it very often, knowing how easily it could happen.

[Big Mama]

Yep me to. I am always amazed when the self check out at the grocery store gives me money. Yeah money. Aww thats right that is what is left of MY MONEY. Duh.