Whenever I misplace an item, I call myself a Searching Sally. Searching Sally is usually irritable and irrational with everyone and everything she encounters. Calm, even-keeled Erin is gone. Get in my way when I can't find something, and I'll be snippy and frustrated with you until I find whatever it is I'm seeking.

Do you know Searching Sally? Maybe you know Searching Stan? Do either of them come to visit you when you can't find an item?

In most cases, the reason I can't find something is because someone has used an object and not returned it to where it belongs. Often times, I'm the one who hasn't returned the object to its place, so my frustration is with myself. The time and effort I waste looking for an object annoy me greatly.

To keep these negative situations at bay, I try my hardest to have a place for everything and keep everything in its place. If I use something, I try to put it back when I'm finished. If I bring something new into my home, I immediately find a place for it to live.

If something doesn't have a permanent place to live in your home, then it will get in the way and create a mess or cause clutter. And, the likelihood that you'll misplace it is pretty high.

Here are 8 ways to avoid being a Searching Sally or a Searching Stan:

1. Have a landing strip for your keys, purse, and/or briefcase.
2. Have a charging station for your cell phone, iPod, PDA, and other handheld electronic equipment.
3. Don't have more clothes than you can fit in your closet and dresser when everything is clean.
4. Keep a trash can and small shredder near the entrance to your home so that junk mail never makes it into your living space and valuable mail never gets confused with junk.
5. Use a label maker or index page to properly identify what is contained in storage boxes in your basement or attic. PackAndFind.com is a good online resource to use for setting up an inventory system.
6. Pin socks and gloves together before laundering so that you know you have a pair going in and a pair coming out of the wash.
7. Create a place for your television remote to live when not in use, like a small basket or space in a drawer of a side table.
8. Try not to save things for the last minute. The more pressed you are for time, the more likely you are to get worked into a frenzy when you can't locate what you need when you need it.

It's inevitable that something at some point will be misplaced, but creating permanent homes for your objects will minimize these occurrences and will benefit your overall happiness and stress level.