Not forgetting things

[jack]

Whenever I leave the house, I always take with me my wallet, phone and keys. It's really rare I forget this -- my subconscious is quite attuned to the "leaving the house" process, and if I feel there's nothing in my pockets, it really stands out, and I know I need to get them before I go.

However, I'm careful never to put any of them in my pockets except when I put ALL of them in. Because when I have one, my subconscious says "all OK, let's go".

I could alternatively make a conscious check I have ALL of them before I leave. But that seems too complicated. Human brains and bodies are really good at following habits -- except when you interrupt half way through and don't notice the possible ways it could go wrong later.

Comments

[gerald_duck]

Ah. In my left pocket I have penknife, keys, mobile phone; in my right, wallet and change. I know pretty exactly the weight of everything in my left pocket, so can tell if something is missing. Then I just have to be sure I have my wallet.

Then again, I always leave everything in the pockets of one pair of trousers until I atomically movbe it all into the pockets of another pair.

The only excception is if temporarily wearing formal wear, at which point I may pare down what I'm carrying, put mobile in jacket pocket, etc. That's how car keys get locked in the boot…

[naath]

If I attempted to leave things in my trouser pockets I expect the things would end up tipped out all over a gym locker or my bedroom floor in short order...

Mostly I leave things in my bag, or in my fleece pockets (zipped); I have to be careful if I've put them into some other bag for some reason.

[jack]

I was always paranoid that things in my pocket would fall out, but people recommended to me that it was usually OK, and I've not really had any problems. I think there was a period of adjustment, when I learned not to upend myself or my trousers, which I never worried about before.

[naath]

Maybe Ladies trousers have Less Good Pockets (in fact I'm pretty sure of it) but also I often upend my trousers, sometimes with me in them ;-p.

[jack]

Maybe Ladies trousers have Less Good Pockets (in fact I'm pretty sure of it)

Yeah, I imagine so. I mean, often they don't have pockets AT ALL.

I often upend my trousers, sometimes with me in them ;-p.

Yeah, my first thought was "what if I bend over or hang upside down..." but then I discovered that I could bend over carefully and I never hung upsidedown, so it wasn't an issue. But if you *do* then a separate bag is better :)

[emperor]

I had too high a failure rate of correctly attaching my pannier or zipping up the key pocket (mostly the latter, which caused me to lose ID cards), so now I do a "clip, clip, zip" check before setting off. If I set off and realise I forgot the check, I stop and double-check.