How to Remember to Take Things With You

[Bryan Hutchinson]

Many people worry about finding themselves several blocks from home and suddenly remembering the keys left behind in the office, or the wallet. Anything can be forgotten. If you're the type of person who tends to forget things, here are some tips to help you.

Establish a group of things that you cannot ever forget. This group includes such items as:

Keys to your home, car, or office
Purse or wallet
Money and/or credit card
Identification
Badge for work
Watch
Cell phone
Memory stick

Get a basket or other receptacle where you can leave the things you should always take when you leave home. There you can place your wallet, your cell phone, your keys and your calendar or planner. Make it a habit to leave these items (and any others you consider necessary) in the basket so that you can easily take them when it's time to go.

Try this memory trick as a checklist when making quick trips: "Sell M.I.L.K.." Instead of "Sell," bring your cell, plus:

Money
I.D.
Lipstick, Lip gloss, List or Lucky penny - whichever you use most
Keys.

Make a big list and post it prominently by the door where you leave your house. Write in big letters so you can quickly review it on your way out.
Buy a white board and place it next to your preferred exit, next to the other list. On this board, write the things that vary (extra money for a special payment, picking someone up, etc.). Write things down as soon as you arrive home and review them when you leave.

Count the items. If you must always have your bag, your lunch box, your badge, and your keys when you leave, check to make sure you have four items each time you leave.

Place clocks in strategic locations throughout the house. Many times we forget things because we don't have the time to check. The clocks can help to remind us of our sense of responsibility and return our minds to the real world.

Organize your room and your home. Slowly become the sort of organized person who knows where everything is. Even if disorganized people know where everything is, it's more likely that something is out of place in a disorganized room than in an organized one. In an organized room, everything out of place is visible instantly.

Tips:

Don't stop to think too much about what you might be forgetting. Most of the time it doesn't work anyway since there is nothing you're forgetting, anyway. If there were something, you probably wouldn't be forgetting it. It's better to review your list and leave confidently.

Using the list and the board can be difficult at first. People are creatures of habit and it takes time to change. Don't get discouraged if you don't remember to use the board and the list at first. The important thing is to keep trying.

It's important that you organize your things for yourself. Otherwise, it's not likely that you'll find something quickly when you need it.

A very easy way to remember things is to attach them to you somehow: for example, a wallet with a chain, commonly known as a "biker's wallet" or "trucker's wallet". Mini-carabiners, sold for about a dollar or less at discount stores, let you expand this idea to several other items. Something large, like a laptop that you leave behind after a few drinks at the bar, can be attached by looping the shoulder strap around a leg. You might fall flat on your face getting off the barstool, but you won't forget your laptop!

A very simple way to make sure everything is still with you, e.g. when you get off a bus, is to build the habit to put keys, wallet and cell phone always in the same pockets. In the meanwhile, the quick mechanical movement of touching your pockets on the outside with your hands, will allow you to immediately tell what is there and what is not (if the left pocket, where you usually put your phone seems empty, you have surely forgotten your phone somewhere!). After a while this check sequence will become almost inconscious, and every time you get off the car, leave the house, go through a crowd (risk of pick-pocketing), you will be sure everything is with you.

If you can't leave without your car keys (if you have to drive to go anywhere), place your car keys on top of items that you don't want to forget--your lunch leftovers in the fridge or that pie to take to dinner at a friend's house, for instance. This way it is impossible to leave without your keys, which are with your 'don't forget' stuff.

Another can't miss tip is to put easily forgotten items in your shoes. This is especially helpful with unusual items that you may only need to remember occasionally such as a grocery list or a bank deposit.
Always lock all the doors to your house, so you get in the habit of always carrying a key.

~ Okay, I found this article www.wikihow.com and it is not designed for those of us with ADHD; however, I think some of the tips are useful and the thing with the basket near the door is something I do, but I don't exactly have a basket. I hope you found this article interesting and hopefully one or two things are useful for you... ~Bryan

[Patrick]

The first step to all of this is that know you and understand that you have this problem!

AND that it is negative thing in your life.

From there it is all down hill.

But most people will never do that.

They will blame everyone else but themselves!

Once you know that and accept this is how you are and must do it.

It becomes like brushing your teeth every day that you do.

Also once you decide to do it.........

Don't try to do it ALL AT ONCE (the above ideas(

But start with the one thing that is giving you the most problems first.

Work to get that one change done, so that means 30 to 45 days of doing it the new thing, so it starts to become second nature. It takes that long to develop a new habit.

Remember that one change only.

I can't tell you how many people I have seen trying to do way too much and get nothing done when all is said and done a month or two later.

[Ellen J]

I live in clutter and often feel "inefficient", but I've been doing some of these things for a few years now. Wow, it feels good to think that I came up with good strategies on my own :-), like the spot near the door, the pocket-feel, and even writing 1 or 2 letters on my hand as code for something I must remember (I don't care what people think). I have made them a habit and they really work for me . I recommend trying them.

[Lizard (aka, Butthead)]

The list thing and the have things ready in one place is very important to me, if something gets out of place or my system gets tweeked it throws me into this tail spin and makes my mind get caught in round about whirl of anxiety and hyperness that makes it harder to slow down and think about where I set something.

I think ADHD folks need to find a system that works for them, stick to it and committ for at least a couple months to see if it works and improve upon the systems from there. My problem in the past was deviating from the system and letting things slip back to the way they were. My coach (pyscologist) reminds me each time I slip from a system we know that works for me!! Like my last meeting with him, he reminded me in times of stress (like the surprise brain cancer in January), that it is even more important to stick to the systems that work or we will cause ourselves more problems!!!

[DANA]

I love these helpful tips! Great idea about the basket!

[james adams]

you know what also helps is that you write your self post it notes put them were ever you gonna fall on top of the For example 'HEY DON'T FORGET YOUR APPT TODAY "THIS HELPS ALOT

[Kathy S.]

Some of the same type of very helpful information is in the book: ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life. I took a large wicker side table whose top is more like a large serving tray, and placed it right next to the small front door foyer. That's the "take with you" table and everything going into and out of the house, like keys, purse etc., go there. I also put smaller items I want to take, like an insulated glass of iced tea for the road or something small I'm dropping at someone's home while running errands.

For other items, we've just recently launched a box that is under the wicker table for things that need to LEAVE the house: library books, purchased items and their receipts that need to be returned, a borrowed tool, etc. I don't wait to connect the receipt to the item being returned. When I find the receipt, I just toss it in the box, quickly! I know I'll later come across the item to be returned, so by tossing it in immediately, I don't spend tons of time trashing the house looking for the other half, I let it come to me, so to speak :-) Then I put the item into the box and the next time one of us is going out on errands, we take some tape and connect items to receipts, gather up the stuff waiting to leave and transport to the car's "delivery" box, where it stays until it is delivered. That stuff does NOT have permission to return to the house under any circumstances!

The book I mentioned up above in my post is one that I borrowed from the library first, but there are so many useful ideas in it, there was no way I could implement them all in just 3 weeks, and the library does have a limit on how many times you can renew a book, so we added it to our library. It IS written with ADHD brains as the target audience by ADHD experienced authors. Enjoy.

[Miss K]

Wow, this thread's a real oldie but goodie and I'm glad it's popped back up...

This used to be such a serious problem for me...I used to get locked out of my house several times a week. I try to put things back in the same places so I'll find them again. I also have a bag I carry around and if I see one of my items that is supposed to be there I put the item on/in/near the bag right away so by morning everything's there.

I also have a truism in my life (that probably applies to most of the rest of you) of "If I don't see it, it doesn't exist." I had to have a very calm, rational, clear conversation (instead of yelling, which was what I really, really wanted to do) with my sweetie about not moving my things because they are often visual cues I have set for myself. If he doesn't like where I've left something and it's driving him nuts, he has agreed to let me know so I can take responsibility for it...for example, if I've left my meds in the middle of the counter...or left a stack of papers arranged in a certain way, and he moves them, disaster could strike. That pile of papers might have been things for my business that have due dates, and they were arranged so I would have visual cues about what I needed to do with them...the medicine moving problem is self-evident. ...at work I might leave a filing accordion on my chair so that when I come back I remember that I needed to do some filing...at home, maybe I leave the trash can in the doorway of the kitchen so I remember to take it out. Now that he understands why I do these things, life is way better and he's much more accommodating about it. We also made some ground rules about where it's okay for me to leave things, and we have a few areas of the house that are off limits to my cues, like the coffee table. That way it's neutral space that we both agree will always be uncluttered. It works well most of the time and I forget fewer items and to-dos than I used to...

[DANA]

Want to know where I keep a clock in my house? In my bathroom! My ADDer son was brilliant to come up with the cool idea to give me a clock for my birthday! The clock is in the bathroom as a reminder to always keep track of the time, while I am putting on my makeup, styling my hair or getting ready to go somewhere. It has been a true lifesaver and I depend on it every single day!

[Kathy S.]

Love the bathroom clock idea Dana, that's one I could really use. I never thought I could "loose track" of time in the bathroom, but I can and I do and suddenly I'm late!

Miss K, I totally relate to the "off limits" areas of the house for clutter/visual clues/etc. That's something I established decades before I was diagnosed with ADHD. I expect everyone to pick up their stuff, and keep it picked up and put away, in ANY public, FAMILY living space. Trash your bedroom, have a 2' pile of papers on your office desk, I just didn't want to see it on the kitchen table or the furniture I wanted to sit on or, worse, invite others to sit on :-) !

We have 4 children, the oldest two are biological and don't live at home any more. The last 2 are just 12 and 11, but of the 4 of us living at home, 3 have either ADD or ADHD. The more I learn about my own needs, the easier it is for me to understand my husband and son. Our son, BTW, is not our biological child, but HAS had two open heart surgeries, which greatly increase the chances of having ADHD and LD. I wonder how much was caused by the bypass machine and how much was nurtured by having two adoptive parents with it!!