Finding things

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How many of you have trouble finding things? I tend to have that problem a lot. Sometimes I set something down somewhere and forget where I put it, or someone asks me to get something from the fridge or something and can't find it anywhere even though someone points it out to me and it was right under my nose the whole time.

Yeah, happens to me a lot. I usually leave my purse, keys, ipod, phone in the same spot. I always misplace my glasses too.

Stuff like this is pretty typical for me too. Is this an autistic thing?

That happens to me, quite a bit, to be honest. I'll be looking for something, nonstop and than I take a break for a few weeks. Three weeks later, I find the item, in an unexpected area, and than I have it at arm's reach, after I find it, so that I don't lose it, again.

Dude, this happens to me all the time! Sometimes when I park my car, I won't tend to remember where I parked it. I'll misplace something, and then I'll look around, and realize, oh, wait, it's right there. This happens sometimes when I look for my wallet. I'll tend to look around and not remember where I put it and realize there it is.

It's common for those with an ASD to have a poor short term memory.

Somewhat. It's a manifestation of poor/impaired executive function and I understand that impairment in executive function is very common in Autism.

It happens to me a lot, too. I especially have a hard time finding things in my room if I haven't seen them in a while because my room is so clustered with stuff.

i carry my lipbalm with me all the time (i can't live without it, not even for 5 mins). but i lose it / misplace it every so often which drives me mad. people have commented that i am always searching for something...yes i am, my lipbalm half the time and maybe my phone or my keys at other times.

it is so good to be among fellow travellers

Yeah, I do have a problem with it, not always but usually.

That explains my predicament quite well. The most commonly-lost thing I own is my guitar plectrum......I interrupt my playing to check out some part of the music that I think I'm playing wrong, I put down the pick to free my hands so I can do that, I find the info I want, and suddenly the pick's gone...oh no, not again! I have no memory at all of putting it down. No matter how many times I tell myself to pay attention to where I leave it next time, it's always a completely unconscious action. I can't even fix it by consciously designating a place to leave the pick - whatever impulse is responsible for putting it down, it knows nothing of designated places, but will choose any nearby surface. The only way I can hope to find it is to try to think back to where I was in the room, and to try to identify the most likely surfaces I might have used. But a better method is to buy 10 picks and keep them in all in the same place. It's a shame I can't do that with more expensive things.

I lose things too. When I was working I carried a *huge* shoulder-strap bag that contained everything but the kitchen sink. All I had to remember was where is the office.

AS has poor short-term memory - is this better worded as brilliant intuition (or something)?

All of that hunting for stuff has given me a peculiar talent: I can find other people's stuff for them without ever having seen the missing article or the home of that person. For example, Judy (you haven't met her) couldn't find her marriage certificate. It had been missing since they moved. Thinking in pictures and remembering (sequentially) her circumstances, I pictured her on moving day with the marriage certificate in her hand. Eureka! "Jude," I said. "Somewhere there is a shallow, wide drawer. It's empty and not in use except for your marriage certificate." I was right.

years and years of the same situation has led me to believe that I forget the shape of those things that I can't 'find', ( you know, those ones that are right in front of my nose when someone points them out to me?). Sometimes, I am shocked to see the color is not what I remembered at all.

I have a hard time finding things that are well organized and neat. When they're like that I can never find what I need when I need it. On the other hand when it's a mess, I can find things pretty easily.

re it's right in front of your nose - I once charged into a large pharmacy, accosted an inventory clerk and demanded "Do you sell watches?" He stood up, faced me, and said nothing. "Do you sell watches?" He smiled. I was getting really annoyed (you can see this coming, can't you?) but before I could ask again, he looked down and said, "Like these?" His arms held about two dozen watches in display cases. "Or those?" he asked, nodding his head toward an entire wall of watches.

How about names? "It starts with a G ... oh, Lorelei, that's it."