What's the best way to find something you've lost?
By Boingboing
@boiboing (13153)
Northampton, England
June 2, 2016 11:21am CST
If you look in my kitchen drawers you may be amazed at the number of bottle openers I've got. Try the glory hole that calls itself the 'utility room' and there are more unopened bottles and tins of shoe polish than would be needed by a well shod and enthusiastically hygienic centipede. Why so many? Because I learned a long time ago that the best way to find something is always to buy a replacement. The lost item will then appear like magic - sooner or later.
I'm off on holiday on Sunday and we couldn't find the battery charger for my camera. I suspect that since we couldn't find the spare battery either, they're probably off somewhere having fun together. With my luck, probably in a hotel room from last year's holiday.
So I've rebought a charger - a nice one, cheap too - that will simultaneously charge two batteries - and I've bought not one but TWO replacement batteries because my husband thinks the Nikon batteries are programmed to turn themselves off when they reach a certain age.
Now it's just a race to see whether I lose them before I find their predecessors.
13 people like this
14 responses
@AbbyGreenhill (45496)
• United States
2 Jun 16
Thank goodness I don't lose many things - just my mind but who needs one anyway.
3 people like this
@Drosophila (16573)
• Ireland
2 Jun 16
I rarely lose things.. but when I do.. they are gone4ever..
same principle applies to people :D
@Drosophila (16573)
• Ireland
2 Jun 16
@boiboing well.. better a widow than a divorcee! At least the state says so
@Jessicalynnt (50525)
• Centralia, Missouri
3 Jun 16
wherever they are, I bet all the spare scissors are with them
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
4 Jun 16
@Jessicalynnt Oh gosh yes. Buy those by the score and still can't find them.
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
2 Jun 16
My husband can lose something he had in his hand just a moment ago. He lays it down while thinking about something else and then he can't find it. If I didn't know him better I would start worrying about dementia or something but he has done this for the 33 years we have been together lol. He spends an incredible amount of time just simply looking for something.
@SIMPLYD (90722)
• Philippines
4 Jun 16
I am just like you . I would buy spares so next time , i run out of something i will have a ready one . We just don't want to be out of uck next time , that's why, because we have experienced how t is to have none at all of what we need .
@arthurchappell (45002)
• Preston, England
2 Jun 16
I usually find lost things a/. right after buying their replacements or b/. when looking for something else entirely
@koopharper (7477)
• Canada
2 Jun 16
If my youngest son can't find it, I usually find something else I can do will I hope it turns up. I won't buy a replacement until I have to. I'm a little too broke to do otherwise.
@pgiblett (6524)
• Canada
2 Jun 16
When you replace the item it is possible to find the original item instantly, often right where you decide the new home will be for the new item you just purchased. Why didn't you look there before? The answer is simple - because you wished to purchase the new item.
@boiboing (13153)
• Northampton, England
2 Jun 16
India is in October. Too hot this time of year. We are off to Madeira for 6 days.
@Poppylicious (11133)
•
2 Jun 16
Another good way to find a lost item is to look in the first place you looked. It is quite often there. Bizarre.
@BettyB (4117)
• Summerville, South Carolina
2 Jun 16
You're right. Things always show up after you give up and buy a replacement
