How do you keep from losing things?

Tim’s iPod ran away to join the circus. Or, at least, that’s my current theory — one that’s a lot more comforting than the idea that our bedroom is a vortex which swallows things whole.

Here’s how it went: He was up ridiculously late one night — so late that I was up and starting work a little early. He watched a couple of TV episodes in bed, came out to use the bathroom, and then passed out for a bit. Four hours later, a friend came over, and the two of them walked out and sat around on the stairs chatting. Tim swears up and down he didn’t take his iPod with him. But the sucker was nowhere to be found.

So, we come full circle back to my belief that the thing packed up a lil rucksack, tied it to a stick, swung it over its non-shoulder, and headed out for greener pastures. Ingrate. We loved it, exalted it, and expanded its mind with plenty of cool (free) apps. And this is how we’re repaid!

Needless to say, we spent the last three or four days looking everywhere in the apartment. It’s nowhere. Though, once again, I’m reminded that the best way to make yourself clean is to lose something… or invite people over. The latter being a lot less expensive, certainly.

After a grid search of our bedroom and three days of both of us randomly searching throughout the living room, we gave up and replaced the thing. Costco, at least, was having a sale, so we saved about $25.

Like the vacuum, we couldn’t be quite as frugal as we’d like thanks to a time crunch. Remember, Tim used this thing as a PDA, not just entertainment. He had stored important dates, reminder alarms, appointments and probably tons of other things I wasn’t even aware of. He even used it to make lists when going out to run errands.

Tim’s still kicking himself — and not just because he loved that thing. As someone with ADD, he’s particularly sensitive about losing things. He takes it especially hard, probably because, for years, people accused him of just not paying attention to things and being careless.

I’ve tried in vain to point out that plenty of non-ADDers lose things constantly. Me, for example.

I’m hopeless when it comes to keeping track of things. Tim is constantly having to find various items — from keys to earrings to sunglasses — that I have put down and can’t find to save my life. Even more frustrating, I specifically put something somewhere so I won’t lose it — then can’t remember where that was.

But none of that is very persuasive when it comes to making Tim feel better. I think he was just berated one too many times for forgetfulness. So now, no matter how normal his actions are, any that are even remotely linkable to ADD frustrate him to no end.

I probably haven’t helped. I yelled at him a few times when things were particularly lean, and he’d lost the fourth (and last) water bottle we had. One, I believe, that started out as mine. Now I have slightly more sense and tell him to just go get another one. It’s just not a big deal.

Not that my attitude has helped him stop leaving things. But, then, neither did his buying and using a caribiner to carry the things around on. Eventually, when it’s unhooked, you put it down for a moment. And then it’s easy to just walk away without it.

So, what’s the point? Well, first and most obviously, losing things isn’t frugal. At all. Replacement costs rarely are — and I know this well. As an easily distracted klutz, I have replaced more than my fair share of broken or lost items.

I’m curious: Do any of you have tips/tricks to avoid forgetting things. (And, if so, how do you remember to do them???)

Tim has a checklist he has to go through when he leaves the house. It annoys him that he has to do it, but it’s how he makes sure he has his wallet, inhaler and other essentials. I say do whatever works.

But those are essentials and, no matter how much he loves his iPod, it’s still not the same as an inhaler. So how do any of you make absolutely sure you don’t lose your high-end gadgets?

Finally, for our kindred (ie, forgetful) spirits out there, what’s the worst thing you’ve ever forgotten or lost? (Consider this your chance to cheer Tim up.)

Oh, and if anyone finds an 8 GB iPod lying around, that’s ours. Please send it.

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