How To Remember Where You Put Things
By P.J. Beaumont, co-creator of Tactical Pajamas. Click here for discount codes!
Have you ever had this happen to you? You’ve got an important item, but no specific place to put it. You need to put it away. Your spouse is calling you, or your kids have just had some calamity. You quickly put the item away. Two weeks later you need it, but you can’t remember where you put it!
Based on my experience in the computer science department while I was at university, I came up with a method for remembering where I put rarely-used but very important things.
The technique is based on this fact— it’s not putting things into memory that will increase your ability to remember the location, it’s the ACCESSING OF THAT MEMORY which will help you remember. After a computer puts something in its memory, it will access that item to make sure it is there.
Whenever I have an item that doesn’t fit into a category where I can properly place it, or, more likely I want to put something where I “won’t forget it,” (but nearly always do— IF I don’t use this technique), here’s what I do. Suppose I have a blue curlywhoop thingamajig. I put it in the place where I am going to store it. Then eleven times over, I say out loud, “Where is the blue curlywhoop thingamajig?” I say this while pointing to the item. Then I say, out loud, “The blue curlywhoop thingamajig is in the gray box under the stairwell.”
Eleven times. Count using your fingers.
Once I went on a multi-month trip, and before I left I hid a bunch of credit cards using this technique. When I got back I needed one of them, and said to myself, “Where are the credit cards I hid before I left?” Like magic, my arm raised and guided me to the place where they were hidden.
For items I know I will need a week or a month or a year in the future, but have to stash away now, this technique can be a lifesaver.