Closing the garage door when I leave. I try to make myself be very conscious of it so I don't have to go back and check.

Wait for the gate to close before I leave the driveway. I had to train myself after my wonderful across the street neighbors moved. I would always call and ask them to look! Dogs get out if you don't close the gate!

I have found myself sitting in a bus, thinking, did I pay my fare? Locking car doors is another automatic gesture. When I am preoccupied, I don't always remember if I locked or not and once or twice went out to check.

For me, it's closing the side gate to ensure that my dogs don't take an unauthorized excursion. Usually right after I let them outside I remember and race to the gate to check, most of the time it's latched. There have been occasions that I forgot to close the gate and I've had to chase them down. They LOVE the chase and are much faster than me :-)

Before the auto off irons came on the market I used to turn back home on my commute to work to make sure I had unplugged the damned thing,

I tend to automatically put my phone in my back pocket. I'm so used to it being there, I don't feel it anymore. Then I panic thinking I've laid it down somewhere and can't remember. That results in me frantically patting my backside to see if it's there. I'm sure I look ridiculous during this process.

Sometimes, I cannot remember if I unplugged the iron. A trick that has helped me to say out loud "Iron unplugged" after I have completed that task. It must trigger something in my brain that helps me to remember.

Take the key out of the ignition when I shut the engine off and take it with me when I leave the car, no matter what. Never locked my keys in, in over 50 years of driving.

I do what ratherbesewing does. I actually walk through the house every day before I leave for work and say out loud: iron is unplugged, straightener is unplugged, space heater is off, basement door is locked, back door is locked, alarm is set, safes are locked, front door is locked. When we go on vacation, I say all of those, plus: all five burners are off, oven is off, washer and dryer are off (which is ridiculous because I never leave those running, plus all my laundry is DONE before we take off), windows are locked, fence gates are locked.

At the airport, my list of "say this" things includes: car is empty, car is locked.

I'm a mess, but it keeps my brain happy.

I lock my door, as soon as I go in to the house. ALWAYS!

Moni

At night before I go to sleep, double lock the apartment door, shut off all room lights, and remove the cat from my bedroom where she is usually comfortably ensconced on my pillow. Otherwise she will eventually find her way back onto the the bed while I am sleeping and cuddle right under my neck and start kneading which wakes me up.

I totally get most of these! For the garage, I have an app that I can see if I left it open and then close it from my phone. (I can do this anywhere in the world) No more circling back to see if I left it open.

I also check my stove. It has happened that I left a burner on! When it's on low, it is a very tiny flame. Once one was on without a flame, yikes, so I automatically now run upstairs and double check the stove.

DH thought he was doing me a favor by putting an extra phone charger in my office so I didn't have to go downstairs to charge my phone. My usual routine though was that I automatically put my phone in my purse because it was charging next to it. I left many times without my phone, so I now stored the office one since this just didn't work for me. But, I still sometimes leave the house and then check for my phone because it is one of those things that you do automatically.

I used to pull into the driveway after leaving work and not remember the drive home. I think my mind was on other things at the time.

Years ago we had a pen for the dogs and that is where they were fed at night. There came a time that our yard was having drainage problems and hubby had to take down the pen to work on it, but he left the gate tothe pen standing. That night he went out to feed the dogs, opened the gate, walked through with the dogs at his heels, fed the dogs, walked out through the gate, closed and latched the gate and came in the house.

Neither he or the dogs remembered or noticed that there was no longer a pen. That happened three nights in a row before everyone (dogs and humans) got the hang of the the new set up. :-)

I try not to do autopilot when I'm driving anymore. It's too crazy out there!

I do have autopilot with for some things but I always double-check that things are turned off before I leave. DH doesn't always check and often leaves our induction stove on. Of course the induction stove doesn't stay heated if the pan is off of the element which it is. Still I remind him that he should turn it off.

I am now going to be automatically checking for my purse inside of my lunch bag. I left it at a client's house when I pulled out my lunch. :-(. That's never happened before but it's got me deciding to have a new routine. :-).

We are both door lockers here. Can't count the times that DH has walked into the house from where we were both sitting on the porch and locked me out. And many times I have left him in the attached garage unloading the groceries from the van as I entered the house locking the door behind me.

Thanks for the post. I always have my washer on Bulky loads but I washed some hand wash things in it and since you posted about forgetting to change the setting, I remembered and put it back to bulky loads!

Sue

I help my elderly mother with her finances. I write out the checks and she signs them. I can't tell you how many checks I have had to tear up because I automatically sign my name on them. I also automatically push my glasses up my nose whether I have them on or not.

It really bothers me that I can search and search my brain but can find NO memory (or any link to that memory, even) for those things...I used to be able to "trace" it somehow, but I don't seem to have that ability anymore...

My friend is a door locker. That's fine, she lives alone. But I can step out onto the porch to shake the rug, and she'll lock the door. I turn to the door and about break my nose! She says "oops, autopilot!"

It's taken me a long time to break the stupid habit of looking for my car keys after I've locked the door rather than before!

I look out the nearest window every morning when I get up. First thing, to see how much snow we got overnight. I laugh at myself when I do it in July and August, but it is automatic!

Before leaving home, I always turn off lights except one, check stove to see if it is off, check all water faucets, turn down heat, and make sure the dogs have gone potty, their water bowl is full, and they are secure in their playroom.. It seems more often than not, I will be driving down the road and asking myself, did I do such and such? There I will be trying to remember if I did all my "to do" things before leaving house. I do not know if you would call this "sometimers" or an "automatic" response of things I do before leaving my house. Either way it is annoying. I suppose I need a list pinned on my blouse and check it off like my mother did when I got home from school when I was a little girl.

My coffee maker at home does not automatically turn off. I always turn it off but I often wonder if I remembered. Same for the oven.

For most of my work years, we had to wear an identification badge to get in. I got so used to automatically lifting my badge up to pass into the building, that after leaving the office, I'd approach the grocery store and panic, "where's my badge?!" LOL haven't done that in a while now ... retirement's finally kicked in!

I used to have a long commute to work and it was impossible to go back to check the coffeemaker, so I solved that problem but putting it on a timer. I'd fill it with water and coffee before bed, set the timer to turn it on a few minutes before I had to get up, then have the timer turn it off when I left the house, if I forgot. That was before auto coffeemakers had built in timers. Now I just make a cup at a time with a pour over filter and the electric kettle turns off when the water boils. For the curling iron, telling myself out loud that I'd unplugged it worked for me, too.

Before the days of key fobs, I trained myself to only lock the car doors with the key. That prevents locking your keys in the car when you push the lock button with the keys inside. Now I have a car that won't lock if the key fob is inside. Nice!

OT - The above comment about locking keys in the car reminded me of one winter when I was dropping DM off at her retirement home. I exited the car, and as DM was coming out, I went to retrieve a parcel from the trunk. Key was still in the ignition because I was going to drive off as soon as DM was inside. I didn't think she knew how to operate the automatic door locks, but she did then slammed the car door shut. Oops!

I watch commercials in between tv shows, even though I have the ability to fast forward/skip them. So brainwashed!

Stacey, that is why I love my Ford cars. They all come with a keypad entry. Never ever have to worry about locking myself out.

Yep, I do things automatically. (Remember, I am a male type.)

When it itches, I scratch.

I do most things automatically unless I am learning something new. Of course it's not automatic when I am focusing on something that requires direction or detail that is not habitual. I seem to be ahead of the pack most of the time. I find myself having to wait on a lot of people including friends and family who have to think about doing everyday things as they move through life.

My Ford doesn't have a keypad entry. But it does have keyLESS entry and a push-button start.

Thank goodness for attached townhouses in my community. During the ride to my job, I'm frequently trying to pick through my brain to see if I left something on (like the stove), followed by me panicking and calling my next-door neighbor as soon as I get to work to check on things! Now I just do a quick walk-through, until I get to the stove -- I still sometimes have to say aloud "left burner off," "right burner off," etc.

Sitting and waiting for the garage door to close, I do THAT too. We have an 1981 truck. I always check the ignition for keys before I lock my door.

I make sure our garage door closes completely before exiting our driveway. This started after we were burgled. It's not the way the burglar gained access to our house, but the event made me more vigilant. I realized someone could block the closer beam or duck under the door before it closed.

Seems to me most replies are about things we go back and check or things we need to make sure we do rather than things we do automatically.

Chloe, interesting. Which do you have? We are now on our third Ford. Two Explorers and now my Escape. All had/have the keypad. I just assumed it was a standard feature. Of course, my Escape has the fob and all the new bells and whistles.

I can relate to nearly all of these examples! Especially locking the back door.....DH can hand me the mail and I take it inside and lock the door with him standing right there......It sounds like some of us may second guess ourselves, but we're still doing things automatically.....We just double check our actions!! LOL!!

Some of what's listed here isn't 'automatic' behavior, but double-checking behavior. It's a bit OCD. Maybe there are more people on that spectrum than I realized.

Chisue...you automatically go and check things twice! :)

OK...OK...I put the toilet seat down automatically (I don't think about it, I just do it).

My washer is on the second floor of my house. I always turn off the taps to the water hoses on the washer, each and every time I do the laundry. That's because a friend of mine who lives in a high rise condominium told me about the time her hoses broke and flooded the downstairs neighbour's apartment.

Also, I don't iron too often but whenever I leave the ironing board, even if it's for a minute, I stand the iron on the floor (imagining that it would tip over on the ironing board and the cover would burn). When I am through ironing I always unplug the iron. I realise my iron must be old -- I hear there are irons with automatic shutoffs.

We have lived in this house for almost fourteen years and I still reach to the left for the kitchen light switch. The switch us on the right side of the door.

I had cataract surgery and do not need distance glasses anymore. But I panic each time I realize I'm not wearing them and automatically reach to take them off before jumping in the shower or going to bed. And when I need them, I'm frantically looking everywhere until DD points out that they are resting on my head.

I'm glad I'm not alone in saying out loud that I've done something like take a pill or turn off the stove. I don't iron anymore so that's one less worry. With hairdryers and curling irons, I never worry because they are never left plugged in. But coffeemaker and toaster are and sometimes I worry after seeing This Is Us. My daughter worries about us using portable heaters. We always turn them off when we leave the house but in the bitter cold, we leave one running in the washer/dryer closet because the pipes freeze on the outside wall. The door is closed so animals can't knock it over.

I had a portable oil filled radiator style heater short out and catch fire right next to me. I unplugged it and pushed it out the back door. Never will I leave a portable heater plugged in when I am away, much less on.

It's NOT OCD to double or triple check things before you leave your house it's called "peace of mind" and we all need it !