I lose my keys often.

I also misplace my wallet a lot.

I have notoriously left my credit cards accidentally at my hotel right before boarding a flight to the opposite end of Vietnam, leaving me stranded with no money and no cards by myself once (You can read that whole story here).

One year I was traveling on a vacation with my family, and only realized I had left my passport at home when I went to board the flight.

I have so many other stories just like this, which can be frustrating for anyone who has had to wait for me right when we are about to leave to go somewhere.

Why I Misplace and Lose Things All The Time

The short answer to this is: I have a different way of processing information.

Some people might say that it’s irresponsible or that I don’t make enough time, or whatever assumption about why I do this, but I am a visual-spatial learner and processor, which means my mind thinks in pictures.

Most people when they go to track their items use more of a linear, sequential logical approach, much like we are taught in school.

For example, before going on a trip, you might think or habitually do: “I am leaving the house so I will have my keys, which I keep on this place, and then I will grab my bag, and then I will turn off the lights and exit.”

You can see the sequence and the linear processing.

However, visual-spatial learners don’t think that way naturally. Instead, I’ll see the total vision or the pictures of what is about to happen. For a trip, I’ll see myself at the airport, or if I’m leaving the house I might see myself walking.

For that reason, I often lose or misplace things because I’m not thinking about all the details that went into that “picture” unless I am conscious to do that. Needless to say, this means that unless I’m being hyper aware of it, it’s not natural for me to remember to think through a “check-list” of things I need to do before I leave.

Enter…Airtags

Chris is a tech wiz and finds tech solutions to literally all of life’s problems, so alas, he applied this to my losing of things.

We got airtags, which are sold by apple, and put them onto my keys and my wallet. We also put them hidden in a compartment on our bikes in the event that they were ever stolen.

Airtags are magic because they make a little chime when you indicate you’ve misplaced it, so if the item is in your house, you’ll find it right away.

They are also amazing because since they are hooked up to the iphone network, if your keys or wallet are near any person with an iphone, it’ll be picked up on a signal and so you’ll be able to see where on a map it is!

The airtags are all shown in the same “find my” application on your phone, so whenever you lose them, all you have to do is go to your phone to locate their exact location.

How to Tag Items You Don’t Want to Be Lost – Suitcases, Bikes, etc!

You can use the tags for travel – they are great for luggage and purses.

Another amazing way to use them is to put them on your bike or vehicle if you are scared about either being stolen.

We recently had our bikes stolen, and Chris was able to track down the location of the bikes right away and recover the bikes that way! Pretty amazing.

In Conclusion: There is a Solution to Every Problem

As always, every problem presents a solution. If you are like me and your problem is losing things or a fear of things being stolen, get yourself some airtags!