How to Never Lose Your Keys Again

Tired of losing your keys? Have you ever found them under sofa cushions, in coat pockets, or in the bathroom? Stop wasting precious time looking for them with these sensible, tried-and-true suggestions.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Decorative hooks, cup hooks or nails
• 3x5 self-stick notes
• Thick, dark marker
• Brightly colored, bulky keychain
• Willingness to learn new habits

1. “Always put your keys in the same place and you’ll never lose them again” sounds easy enough, yet many people continue to lose their keys. This lesson will show you some simple tricks to learn a new habit that will end the frustration of looking for lost keys.
2. Identify a logical place to put your keys after you come home every day. To do this, think about your daily routine and where you go after you open the door. Do you head for the hall closet? The kitchen? The living room? This is where you should create a key station for your keys. Hanging up your keys is strongly preferred to putting them in a basket or on a table where they can easily get pushed aside. Find a spot on the wall that will be convenient and safe, and install some decorative hooks, cup hooks or nails.
3. Get 3 or 4 self-stick notes and write “KEYS” in thick marker. Stick one note above the hooks, one on the inside of your entrance door, another on your refrigerator door, another in your bathroom, and other places if needed.
4. To learn the routine of always hanging up your keys, you must learn new habits. When you walk in your door, you will see the "KEYS" note which will act as a visual reminder. If you don’t see the reminder note when you come in the door, you will see it either in the kitchen or bathroom. As soon as you realize you didn’t hang up your keys, go hang them up immediately – no excuses! When you leave your house the next day, pause to remember how good it feels that your keys are hanging where they belong. See if you can do this for a few days. Then a week. Then another. After a few weeks, you won’t need the notes anymore, but you can still keep them for reinforcement.
5. Using a bright and bulky keychain serves two purposes: it will be harder to keep your keys comfortably in your pocket, and it will be easier to notice that they are not on the hook where they belong.

Tips & Warnings

• Have a shed? Hang that key either in the same location as your other keys, or in another logical location, such as on a hook near your basement door.