Maybe instead of jotting notes on stickies, you could get a bright, visible spiral note pad. Jot everything in one place, which is easily spotted and hard to hide from yourself.

If you don't already, consider paying your bills online through your bank. Schedule them as soon as they come in the door, for payment at a future date. Then file (in the appropriate place) and forget about it. Just don't forget to record them wherever you record your checks.

I solved the looking for documents thing by having one session to muck out all the paperwork in the house. I sorted it into file, toss or archive. Then I made hanging folders for my desk with nice labels and current items only. Another cabinet has file folders with older or seldom needed documents. It was a joy to burn all the old paper I did not need.

Mail is dealt with on arrival. Pay, toss or archive.

Hand written notations go into one notebook only. Can't misplace them.

Car keys go in the same place every time. No-one can remember which pocket, table or purse they were last in.

Too many post-it's cork boards, magnet boards just make too many areas for things to collect.

Filing and organization was designed for people who don't have the patience to keep looking for things.

Amen, DawnInCal...works great for my job, and even better for home. I have a

bit of OCD, and can't stand things lying around and moving all over the house

somehow. My sister does that, and it drives me wild.

Have a note pad app on my phone, hope I don't lose the phone... There are all kinds of neat organizers, you just have to decide on a method and stick to it!

Evernote on my phone. If you keep a phone handy. It lets me make notes, take pictures, and add a reminder if I want. It's the best ever.

It didn't help me with lunch today. There are three luncheons in my work division in the next week. I, and two others, thought we were walking to a place 1.5 mile away. Instead of lunch, I got a 3 mile walk and no lunch. Next Monday's is at that place. But at least I was in good company in getting it wrong!

Pay the bills online as soon as you bring them into from the mailbox! Makes life SO much easier!

I agree with everyone and just want to amplify something Dawn said. Be sure you are not keeping too many papers. It's an easy trap to fall into, keeping things just in case. Or saving things long past when they are needed. It makes it much harder to keep yourself organized if you have too many things hanging about.

Aside from all the other tips, I find it useful to sit down with my calendar every Sunday night and get an overview of the week ahead. It helps set priorities come Monday morning and as a bonus I'll often get a few small "housekeeping" type things done right then and there on Sunday night making my Monday morning a little bit easier. That is also the time I go through and make sure any paperwork I need during the week is at hand.

I like addressing greeting cards at the beginning of the month and using a post-it on each to remind me what day to mail them. I buy several cards at a time to make sure I always have something appropriate on hand. I am a big fan of the sleek bare desktop . Very soothing.

Alexa has reminder skills.

DawnInCal is right: handle every piece of paper only once! When you get it, take care of it. Right now. And then file it or throw it away. Done.

I tried to turn my bedroom air conditioner timer on with the key fob to my car this morning. Is that enough to join the scatterbrained club?

I keep EVERYTHING in notes on my Google app, "Keep." When I switched over to a new phone (would work if I lost it, too) Keep was in the cloud and all my notes magically appeared when I downloaded the app to my new phone. You have to have a Google account.

For bills, I open as they arrive and write the due date on the outside of the envelope. All bills are secured together and I go thru and pay once a week. For all other stuff, I am a HUGE list maker. My master To Do list is kept on the refrigerator for easy access. One side has daily reminders plus a few weekly items. The other side has a store list broken down into sections ( groceries, Sam's Club or Home Depot).

For bills, I have a sheet I pull out of a notebook every month. It'll have the anticipated income at the top, and the standing bills running down the left side. I make one for every month at the end of the year, for the UPCOMING year.

I know which bills will be due each month. In June, my car emission/tags were due. August-December, I'll have to pay marching band payments (not this year. I'm done). In November, I'll want money set aside for Thanksgiving meals and Christmas present buying. Etc.

The fluctuating bills are an average, e.g. electricity is budgeted for, let's say $200 (it isn't really), since some months it's $150 and some it's $220. When I get paid, let's say on the 15th of the month (I don't), I pull out my notebook and go through and pay each and every bill, and make sure enough is still in the account to cover anything that will be drafted. I've already set them all to draft on the 17th or so (not that day in reality). Make sense?

It's done once a month and thought about a year in advance. Bills are highly regimented.

I learned this from Dave Ramsey. He has a sheet of his own, that I've modified to fit my need. Here's a link to his (there is also an app if that's how you operate): link to the budget forms.

Agree...pay any bills as soon as they come in. Most of ours are auto-paid, but there are a few random ones that come in that aren't. I keep copies of receipts for a year, then I go through at the end of the year for any taxable items I might have missed. I keep an accordion folder for putting any tax receipts in it (donations, etc) so it's easy to sort through that when the time comes.

I keep a folder of receipts in a file, so if I need to return something I can find the receipt. At the end of the year out they go if I don't need them. Major purchase receipts go in a folder for that item such as a new major appliance, along with instruction books, etc.

We have a few rental properties, so I have files organized for those receipts.

Do I mis-place things? Sure, happens sometimes. But I like to think our paperwork is in good order. I can't stand a lot of paper clutter around the house, junk on the refrigerator, stuff like that.

I pay bills on line and if you transfer money from savings to checking more than, I believe 6 times a month, the bank charges fees.

So instead, most of my bills come in about the 1st of the month. The ones that don't I've called and asked if it's possible to change my billing date. Some, not all, will comply. I also use auto pay for the bills I know will be a fixed amount each month. So now I wait until around the 5th of the month and I pay all my bills at once. Rarely do I have to pay a bill mid-month.

I have a desk area in my kitchen and covered the backsplash area with split wine corks which now is my bulletin board where appointment cards go, theater tickets, stuff like that.

But as far as losing things, I think I spend 20% of my life looking for my glasses...something I inherited from my mom!

Don't feel by yourself pammyfay, I am in the same scatterbrain boat! Its seems to be getting worse lately.

Find a solution you like then follow it every time. Pretty soon your brain will do it automatically. I don't remember putting some things away. I do it on autopilot as I go about my day. But when I want the thing, it's in its spot.

Stress or tiredness will cause scatterbrain. If you sit quietly a few minutes or go do something relaxing, stretch or take a bath, you may remember where you left something or what you need to do. Brains need breaks sometimes.