How to avoid losing items? Holding pens • Hacker News Board

Re: How to avoid losing items? Holding pens

#121

Post by phaelanx » Mon, Aug 12, 2024, 9:14 AM UTC

bubblebeard wrote: post #49

treetalker wrote: post #31

My approach is to have separate “take-off” points near the entrance/exit of each room. Example: If I’m in my home office and find that some things need to go to the living room and some to the kitchen, I simply queue them to take off instead of taking a trip every time I realize an item needs to go. Then when I take a coffee break, I’ll grab all the items; drop the living-room items off on the way to the kitchen, and…

I might just steal this idea from you. Having a partner who ”organize through chaos” (which I maintain is not an actual system) there are constantly treasure troves of knick-knacks everywhere, usually hiding important items. No matter how often I try to organize it’s always messy, I think this might be the answer. Thank you!

Long time lurker, first time posting because I love this concept and this is is how I (ADHD type) get stuff done without getting distracted.

I've always thought it was the same as the bubble sort algorithm we were taught in uni.

Take something one step towards where it belongs, and pick up anything going in the same direction you are.

Repeat that a few times and everything gets where it belongs. Not the most optimal algorithm (it's a bubble sort after all) but it helps.

Re: How to avoid losing items? Holding pens

#122

Post by NeoTar » Mon, Aug 12, 2024, 9:37 AM UTC

aquafox wrote: post #48

I never lost a single sock during or after washing. Why? Because I care (they are expensive cycling socks) and I go after each sock immediately when putting them on the drying rack. So where are they? 1) Entangled with one of the other wet clothing items. (60% of cases) 2) Lost on the way between laundry machine and drying rack (20% of cases) 3) Still in the laundry drum (20% of cases).

Isn't there a fourth failure case - that they have failed to make it into the drum in the first place? Maybe not a huge issue for yourself, but can occur in my workflow.

This is the one which annoys me most, and so I have to have a 'staging area' for unpaired socks which are awaiting their unwashed partners.

Re: How to avoid losing items? Holding pens

#123

Post by kqr » Mon, Aug 12, 2024, 9:46 AM UTC

I'm extremely forgetful so for me, things either exist in their rightful place or I will have to buy a new one. Given that trade-off, I don't mind traveling to a separate room to put things in its right place.

The issue is when other family members borrow the thing and then just set it down where they happened to be when they were finished with it...

Re: How to avoid losing items? Holding pens

#124

Post by MathMonkeyMan » Mon, Aug 12, 2024, 9:52 AM UTC

I imagined this would be an article about getting into the habit of keeping items in your hand so that you don't place them down somewhere and forget.

But it's an article about choosing one place where you put miscellaneous things that usually belong somewhere else.

Re: How to avoid losing items? Holding pens

#125

Post by ccozan » Mon, Aug 12, 2024, 9:57 AM UTC

graposaymaname wrote: post #77

treflop wrote: post #75

I used to lose stuff and I also grew up in a hoarder house. I ended up having a place for everything as mentioned in the article. In the last 10 years, I have not actually lost a single thing. I’m actually pretty proud of myself. I also haven’t lost a single sock, which is really where it matters. (I do match up my socks every time right after I do laundry tho.) There was one time I couldn’t find a tool and I was afr…

More intrigued about the socks part, how did you solve it? I’ve lost enough to understand that there’s something clearly wrong about the way I deal with them.

I solved the problem by buying one single sort of black socks and one single sort of white socks. No need to pair them: just pink any random of the same color.

Re: How to avoid losing items? Holding pens

#126

Post by layer8 » Mon, Aug 12, 2024, 10:08 AM UTC

tonymet wrote: post #3

Best cleaning / organizational tip I’ve learned : everything out of place goes into a tote. Every day shuttle the tote around the house to deposit the items in their rightful place. This reduces reorganizing to linear time

It may be linear in the number of items, but not in the number of rightful places (you’d have to sort the items by rightful place first). Deciding on each rightful place also tends to not be constant-time.

Re: How to avoid losing items? Holding pens

#127

Post by anonu » Mon, Aug 12, 2024, 10:20 AM UTC

> so the activation energy to use a holding pen is approximately the same as placing the item down randomly.

I think this is where the algorithm falls down. The cost differential is actually huge.

Re: How to avoid losing items? Holding pens

#128

Post by fire_lake » Mon, Aug 12, 2024, 10:23 AM UTC

gleenn wrote: post #96

I love physical algorithms and data structures in every day life. My little computer science brain is simple but if I can remember small tricks, particularly with the arrangement of everyday things, I find joy somehow. A couple of my favorites are like if I need to remember to do something in the groggy morning, I put either my wallet or keys wrapped around something weird. When I awaken and go to find those items, I…

I put things in my shoes. Then I remember when it’s time to leave!

Re: How to avoid losing items? Holding pens

#129

Post by fire_lake » Mon, Aug 12, 2024, 10:25 AM UTC

fnord77 wrote: post #26

tombert wrote: post #21

I just end up buying enough of the item to be within arms reach of nearly anywhere I'm likely to use it. I used to never be able to find a screwdriver when I needed it, so now I have seven screwdrivers: three regular ratcheting, three stubby ratcheting, and a ratcheting one that lives in my pocket. I keep a regular ratcheting on my desk, in my living room, and in my bedroom, which are the only places I would realisti…

my car keys cost $350 each

Perfect example of anti-progress in the modern world.

Re: How to avoid losing items? Holding pens

#130

Post by Aeolun » Mon, Aug 12, 2024, 10:25 AM UTC

leokennis wrote: post #89

treetalker wrote: post #31

My approach is to have separate “take-off” points near the entrance/exit of each room. Example: If I’m in my home office and find that some things need to go to the living room and some to the kitchen, I simply queue them to take off instead of taking a trip every time I realize an item needs to go. Then when I take a coffee break, I’ll grab all the items; drop the living-room items off on the way to the kitchen, and…

This is a good idea, as is the idea in the article. The basic requisite however is a desire to not lose stuff. My wife always loses track of her EarPods. My oldest kid always loses his pocket knife. I could have 20 holding pens in the house and they'd still lose their stuff, since the idea that you have to exert even a minor amount of effort by putting stuff in its place to save yourself much more searching effort ,…

I lose my shit all the time (everything that doesn’t have a fixed location anyway), which is why everything that regularly comes with me is now in it’s own specialized bags. There’s a work bag, a ‘going out with kids’ bag, etc.

I still remember the last time I lost my keys, which is like 26 years ago, when I was 10. But I still identify as that kid that always lost their keys xD