"Where are my keys?"
Really… Where are my keys?
This is a conversation that comes up in my household daily. It doesn't’ help that my husband and I, for the most part, drive the same car. The keys could be anywhere at anytime!
If it’s not your keys, it could be something else that you lose on a daily basis. In any case, whatever you are looking for creates a frustrating experience and wastes a lot of time.
In my work, I teach how to organize with ADHD, which we know is not a skill that comes naturally.
One of the my first suggestions is start to small.
Which means a junk drawer, a small closet, etc.
But it can also mean starting with the items you lose the most often.
To keep things simple, I’m going to stick with the key example, but I encourage you to apply what you learn to any item that frustrates you!
Here’s a Step by Step Solution:
Identify what you lose the most. In my case, the keys.
What’s the challenge? They get placed in different areas of the house, they are never where you expect them to be. So, we end up spending a lot of time looking for them, which usually causes a bigger mess in the house.
What’s the cost of this problem? A great deal of frustration, leaves me in a cranky mood, and usually causes us to be late to our next appointment.
What's the solution? Create an organizing system around your keys, which means you are designating a spot for the keys to go, most of the time. This is where you leave them and this is where you pick them up. The system needs to be easy to remember with as few steps as possible, from the car to the spot.
You could place a bowl at the front table as you come in, place the keys on a shelf next to the door, or hang up some kind of hook that's located right as you come in.
See the trend here? In order for it work, the location needs to be as close to the car as possible
Create a back up plan. ADHD is not predictable, which means having a back up plan is always a good idea!
Make duplicates of your keys, just in case!
Have more than one designated spot for your keys.
If you notice you walked into the kitchen and you still have your keys in your hand, have a second home for the kitchen. Consider having a third or fourth place for your keys, because you just never know!
Plus, if you're leaving duplicates in different places, the chances of you spending time looking for your keys will go down dramatically!
That's a win in my book!
Thank you for your time and attention!
-Nikki
