# Things that you are constantly misplacing or losing. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 6, 2005, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-are-constantly-misplacing-or-losing/298029 "2005-04-06T13:55:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-are-constantly-misplacing-or-losing/298029/1 "2005-04-06T13:55:57Z")
I must own at least 5 retractable sewing tape measures and the regular tape measures. I need to use one at least five or six times a day Ebay I can never find them. Ever. And Pens seem to mysteriously disappear from the pen cup from whatever room I am in when I need one. But when I don’t need one, there.they.are. There are forces of evil at work. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-are-constantly-misplacing-or-losing/298029/2 "2005-04-06T14:00:40Z")
Guitar Picks. I play/practice/rehearse between 3-5 hours a day, and probably have over 25 guitar picks at any given time. Yet I never have one when I first sit down to play, and have to go looking in any number of hidey-holes (pants pockets, guitar cases, change jars) EVERY SINGLE TIME. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-are-constantly-misplacing-or-losing/298029/3 "2005-04-06T14:20:47Z")
Nail clippers. I keep buying new ones, so we must have around eight - and I can never find one. ---
**Author:** ![Cheez\_Whia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d26b3c/32.png) [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-are-constantly-misplacing-or-losing/298029/4 "2005-04-06T14:24:49Z")
It is now a family joke that I will lose my watch somewhere in the house. I lost it for nearly 3 days last year when I stayed with my sister. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-are-constantly-misplacing-or-losing/298029/5 "2005-04-06T15:04:10Z")
When I was renovating my house, I eventually gave up and bought at least two of every tool that cost under $20.00, hammers, prybars, screwdrivers, box cutters, drill cases, and so on. And I have at least four tape measures and still was never able to find one. The theory is that with two of everything, I should double the odds of finding at least one. The practical result is that I also have twice the amount of stuff to sift through. I should have bought some fluorescent paint and tagged everything. I lose track of my current pocket knife for weeks at a time. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-are-constantly-misplacing-or-losing/298029/6 "2005-04-06T15:38:27Z")
Whenever I need a particular type of screwdriver, that’s the only type I can’t find. Other than that, the only thing I keep losing is my patience. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-are-constantly-misplacing-or-losing/298029/7 "2005-04-06T15:51:30Z")
I routinely lose my cell phone for two or three days at a time. Invariably I find it on the floor of my room or under my driver’s seat. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-are-constantly-misplacing-or-losing/298029/8 "2005-04-06T16:07:16Z")
My undergraduate affectation was to write with fountain pens. And I lost them all the time. They were the cheap ones, so losing them was more significant than losing a Bic but not as traumatic as losing a valuable pen. I typically had 2-3 in my backpack at any given time. But the weird thing was that I eventually reached some kind of equilbrium, where if I lost a pen, within a week I would find a different old fountain pen that I’d lost months ago. It’d be fall and I’d get my winter coat out from the back of the closet, and hey, lookithat, a fountain pen in the pocket! Or I’d drop something between the couch cushions and while I was fishing around in there, I’d pull out that green fountain pen I must lost during finals week. Or one of my friends would show up and say, “You’re the only person I know who uses fountain pens, so you must have been the one who left this at my house.” We called it the Law of Conservation of Fountain Pens. Nowadays, I own two (2) good Watermans and they are not allowed to wander away from my desk. My husband gets mad at me because I can’t keep track of the remote, though. It always ends up getting lost under the afghan, or the cat, or me. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-are-constantly-misplacing-or-losing/298029/9 "2005-04-06T17:48:51Z")
Sunglasses. Dammit. ---
**Author:** ![Prancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8dc957/32.png) [@Prancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prancer)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-are-constantly-misplacing-or-losing/298029/10 "2005-04-06T18:32:58Z")
Nail-clippers, lip balm (Burt’s Bees, Baby!) , tape (both Scotch & packing), scissors, college/grad school transcripts and before I got prescriptions ones, sunglasses. I’ve found that if I pay $$$ for something I’m less likely to loose it. ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-are-constantly-misplacing-or-losing/298029/11 "2005-04-06T18:54:30Z")
Ha! Sequential thread titles. This and **I’m afraid of Tampons**. ---
**Author:** ![aaslatten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@aaslatten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaslatten)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-are-constantly-misplacing-or-losing/298029/12 "2005-04-06T18:55:26Z")
My mind. ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-are-constantly-misplacing-or-losing/298029/13 "2005-04-07T14:28:01Z")
I need to own several hairbrushes. My mum borrows them and then forgets what she’s done with it. I always misplace my phone. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-are-constantly-misplacing-or-losing/298029/14 "2005-04-07T14:58:16Z")
> [@Podkayne](#): > > Law of Conservation of Fountain Pens. I did this with hair ties instead of fountain pens. I would buy a pack and when I couldn’t find any in my room, I would buy a new pack. Eventually there were so many lost hair ties in my room that there was always a couple in plain site when I got ready in the morning. Later after I moved out, my brother stayed in my room for a week or so to call me comlaining about the thousands of hair ties that came exploding out of every crevice of my room with every movement. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-are-constantly-misplacing-or-losing/298029/15 "2005-04-07T15:56:30Z")
> [@AngelicGemma](#): > > I always misplace my phone. Ugh, I have to call from my home phone to find where I’ve put my cell down. Keys. I have four sets of all the same keys. The last time we moved, The moving men picked up the sofa and two sets of keys fell out. ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-are-constantly-misplacing-or-losing/298029/16 "2005-04-07T19:49:29Z")
> [@Maureen](#): > > Ugh, I have to call from my home phone to find where I’ve put my cell down. > Keys. I have four sets of all the same keys. The last time we moved, The moving men picked up the sofa and two sets of keys fell out. I don’t even know my own number, so I have to get someone else to do it! ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-are-constantly-misplacing-or-losing/298029/17 "2005-04-07T20:59:16Z")
Found in large numbers one time we moved: hair brushes pens hangers and extension cords. I don’t understand the extension cords. I couldn’t remember buying more than one or two. And I’m sure the kids never bought any. There were ten of them! ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-are-constantly-misplacing-or-losing/298029/18 "2005-04-07T21:10:50Z")
Sunglasses. I’ve had to make sure to have multiple pairs around at all times since I tend to leave them in the car, or in the house, or on a desk, or somewhere else. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-are-constantly-misplacing-or-losing/298029/19 "2005-04-07T21:29:51Z")
All of the above - keys, sunglasses, pens, tape measures, drewscrivers, remote controls, nail clippers, nail files and the cordless phone. Paperclips - I keep buying boxes of them and they keep disappearing. Conversely, every time I open the closet door, it appears that the wire hangers have multiplied. I’ve finally concluded that paper clips are the larval stage of wire hangers. ---
**Author:** ![Stainz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Stainz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stainz)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2005, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-are-constantly-misplacing-or-losing/298029/20 "2005-04-07T21:35:31Z")
Nail clippers. I probably buy 2 - 3 sets a year yet can never find them. It’s ridiculous! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-are-constantly-misplacing-or-losing/298029.md?page=2)