How fast can you lose something??

[RedNeckGeek]

The other side of the problem is finding things that you didn't know you had.

Every time I clean up the garage, etc, I find a part or bagged bolts, screws, etc. that I have no idea what they are for or from.

Bruce

Same here. That's why I get the parts guy to write the part number down on the package before I leave the counter. And now I'll make sure the brand name for what ever it's going into is on there, too! :thumbsup:

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Sometimes the longest part of a project is finding the tools. Every now and then I run across one I forgot I even had.

 

[PILOON]

On the dash of my car I have 2 clips to hold 'to do' lists, like milk, bread bank etc.
My door being steel has a magnet that holds notes to remind me of a date or event for the day.
I mark the garbage and recycle bin dates on the calender as soon as the list is published. (darn city, we will have 3 bins coming May 1st as well as fines should we leave them roadside more than 12 hrs*)

*they now will have 156 chances to improve the city budget!

 

[newbury]

A buddy of mine often reminds me,

"It ain't gonna get no better!"

Nah, it get's better. While trying to find something you get distracted and FORGET you were trying to find the item. Then later you find it and remember you had been looking for it, but don't know why.

There's a reason I have 12 tape measures... several hammers... and so on. If you can't find a tool, then you ain't got one... I buy another one so I have it!

Just started with reading glasses... bought 4 pair to start with... got one left. Best is when I "find them" on my head!

That's my mode of operation. Tape measures, pencils, hammers, screwdrivers, gloves. Most all free or real cheap from Harbor Freight. My workshops, although connected, span about 100 yards. I try to disperse the tools near locations of potential use, but I got tired of walking from one corner to another to get a screwdriver I didn't know I was going to need.

Reading glasses are special. I've been using them for about a decade, gradually getting stronger. I've got strengths of all spread around. Frequently I'll break one and have to go to a lower strength, or need more magnification on something and use two at a time. I try and keep two in every vehicle.

My wife is half my problem. When she sees something I left somewhere she puts it in a drawer or on a shelf. No rhyme or reason as to where. <snip>

She must be related to SWMBO. It's gotten so the first thing I do is ask her if she's seen X, and usually the answer is "Oh I put that in ...". A place I'd never look.
Took the hammer to the laundry room next to the tape. I'm trying to train her to put the items on the kitchen table, but it's only been 31 years.

 

[TomSeller]

On the dash of my car I have 2 clips to hold 'to do' lists, like milk, bread bank etc.
My door being steel has a magnet that holds notes to remind me of a date or event for the day.
I mark the garbage and recycle bin dates on the calender as soon as the list is published. (darn city, we will have 3 bins coming May 1st as well as fines should we leave them roadside more than 12 hrs*)

*they now will have 156 chances to improve the city budget!

I put everything in my iPhone and have it remind me. Could not live without it.

 

[Cat_Driver]

Wife lost a great camera, we were sure it was taken by someone when she was moving some boxes. Five years later we open a box and found the camera with all the five year old photo still in tact and the camera still worked after we charged up the batteries. She lost a new Iphone thee days after buying it - I think she threw it away when she dumped all the junk mail at the post office.

I always find what I lose when I stop looking for it, but by that time I already bought another one. I did a tool check a few months ago and I have 6 of many hand tools. Yes I lose them, but only because I can't learn to put them back where they belong. For me usually after miserable project I never take the time needed to put things away. I just gather them up and put them in a box - then the box gets moved around and there in lies my problem. Then I drive to home depot and buy another one because I need that missing tool NOW, and it takes too long to track it down.

I just found $200.00 in a pair of pants I last had on three years ago ( last time I dressed up ). The bills were nice and clean after going through the wash.

 

[newbury]

My worst recent "lost but not" episode was when we were first moving to Mississippi (2011, we are still moving). SWMBO collects "Pocket Dragons"

she has a bookcase full of the figurines on display.

EVERY pocket dragon comes in a box and we have a full 60 gallon black trash bag holding the boxes with the foam inserts.
During the move the bag got displaced, and our adult children had been helping with me in charge.
I had lost the bag!!
Without the boxes she did not consider the dragons worth much anymore. I was in the proverbial dog house for 2 years, until she found the bag in a closet only she used.

Now if something is misplaced "it's with the dragon boxes".

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Nah, it get's better. While trying to find something you get distracted and FORGET you were trying to find the item. Then later you find it and remember you had been looking for it, but don't know why.

That only happens to me when I'm really lucky. Usually I don't remember something's lost until I need it again, and have to start the whole process all over again...

 

[RedNeckGeek]

She lost a new Iphone thee days after buying it - I think she threw it away when she dumped all the junk mail at the post office.

iPhones have software built in that lets you track their location from another iPhone or computer, but you have to remember to turn it on.

Last time I lost mine I got to watch it travel all over town before I could catch up with the nice policemen that had found it...

 

[Bird]

I would never lose anything myself. However, as I've told my wife, I've had a serious problem for several years with the gremlins hiding things from me.

 

[Mace Canute]

One time I wanted to do a setup on my mill and I couldn't find any of the six nuts that come in the hold down kit.

I looked for months and couldn't find them until I needed to use a faceplate on my lathe and there they were! I had previously used all of them on it as balancing weights and when I finished up I removed the faceplate and put it away without removing the nuts and putting them back in the holder.

I've set things down on the bench only to lose them a minute later and then magically they appear again right where I swear I had just looked. If I was superstitious I'd swear I had a poltergeist haunting me but being a man of reasoning and science I realize the items disappearing and reappearing was just evidence of mini wormholes moving them through time and space.

The absolute worst was one time I had just picked a small part up when the phone rang and I answered it. When the call was over I hunted all over for that part only to realize I was holding it in my hand all the time.

 

[k0ua]

I have found that the quickest way to find something that I have 'misplaced' is
to go out and buy a replacement. The misplaced item is sure to reveal itself
as soon as I return home with the replacement. :duh:

I searched for the oil filter for my JD lawn tractor for maybe an hour. I gave up and went to Wally world and bought another. As I brought it into the shop I noticed the one I already had hanging on the peg board, still in its package just smiling at me.:irked:

 

[RedNeckGeek]

I looked for months and couldn't find them until I needed to use a faceplate on my lathe and there they were!

I'll have to remember that one, MC. I have the exact same hold down kit...

 

[tcreeley]

Once a year I seem to lose my wallet in my back pocket. I start tearing things apart, getting angry because I am usually in a rush!

 

[SPIKER]

I lose so much stuff I dont even remember posting all of these threads or starting the thread, Just sure these stories are all about ME in here... lol (See my tag line, have had it for years.)

I have a hard time anymore working on (insert anything) as I'll take off a part, need a different wrench/socket or extension take the part over to bench to get the wrench that fits, set the part down, somewhere in between... by time I'm done 3/4 of my tools are gone, the engine is missing off the (insert anything) piles of parts are laying around and I have no clue what I was doing... :/

Mark

 

[chad22]

I once lost a cellphone. Found it a few hours later in the fridge. lol I for some reason sat it down on the shelf in the fridge next to the milk.

 

[TomSeller]

I lose so much stuff I dont even remember posting all of these threads or starting the thread, Just sure these stories are all about ME in here... lol (See my tag line, have had it for years.)

I have a hard time anymore working on (insert anything) as I'll take off a part, need a different wrench/socket or extension take the part over to bench to get the wrench that fits, set the part down, somewhere in between... by time I'm done 3/4 of my tools are gone, the engine is missing off the (insert anything) piles of parts are laying around and I have no clue what I was doing... :/

Mark

Just put whatever engine parts you can get to fit together and see if you can get it to run. You might make the next ecoboost.

 

[s219]

My wife is half my problem. When she sees something I left somewhere she puts it in a drawer or on a shelf. No rhyme or reason as to where.

My wife is the same way! Drives me nuts. Though since we moved into a new house and had a baby, she has started accidentally hiding stuff on herself now, which I find hilarious. She's been a little more careful about it lately, handing stuff to me to put away rather than just throwing it in a drawer or shelf.

 

[Clint S]

I lost a big mag light 2 months ago while leaning the chimney. Stoll have not found it..............