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.

My brother is a long-haul truck driver. His residence is the 264 cubic feet cab of his Volvo VN 670 semi. To put this in perspective, the cab of his truck is smaller than a cell in a U.S. maximum security prison.

Imagine for a moment that you lived in a space that small. What would you keep? What would go? How much of any one thing would you buy? Could you live that way?

I thought that you might be interested in learning about what he does keep and how he lives with so few material possessions. It's a great lesson in reminding us that to be happy and healthy we don't need a lot of stuff.

• Clothing: He has five t-shirts, three pairs of jeans, seven pairs of underwear and socks, two polo shirts, a sweater, two stocking caps, a winter coat, a sweatshirt, a pair of shorts, a pair of khakis, two sets of work gloves, a pair of coveralls to wear when he's working on his truck, a baseball cap, a white dress shirt, a tie, cuff links, and a suit. He wears a pair of black leather Dr. Martens, and keeps a pair of dress shoes that match his suit and a pair of flip flops to wear in the shower. He also keeps a bottle of laundry detergent and a box of Bounce dryer sheets.
• Linens: One set of sheets, a blanket, two pillows, and two bath towels. He also has two small towels he uses on his truck.
• Entertainment: He has a single, foot-long bookshelf with audio books, paperbacks, and DVDs he checks out from the library near his company's headquarters, a small television and DVD player, and a stereo built into the dash of his truck. He has a cell phone with charger, a digital camera with charger, a deck of cards, and a GPS unit specifically designed for trucking. He also has a guitar in a soft case and a laptop computer with carrying case (his two "luxury items," as he calls them).
• Food: He has a mini refrigerator, a microwave, and a small cabinet of food. Under his bed he stores two flats of bottled water. He also has a roll of paper towels, a can opener, two plates, two bowls, two glasses, two sets of utensils, three kitchen knives, plastic mixing bowl, and a bottle of dishwashing detergent.
• Toiletries: Toothbrush, paste, disposable razor, shaving cream, soap, an emergency roll of toilet paper, and small bottle of lotion. My brother is bald, so he has no need for shampoo or a hair brush.
• Other: A tool box full of tools, a three-ring notebook with personal papers (make-shift filing cabinet), a notebook with work-related papers, five pens, two pencils, a box of envelopes, a book of stamps, three legal pads of paper, a pair of scissors, three different kinds of tape, a stapler, a highlighter, a handful of paper clips and safety pins, a zip-top bag full of rubber bands, a bottle of pain reliever, a bottle of antacids, a thermometer, an extra pair of glasses, a pair of sunglasses, a bottle of sunscreen, a scrapbook, a duffel bag, a bucket, a bristle brush, a telescoping window scraper thing, and a box of trash bags.

Now that you've seen the list, could you live in such a small space with so few material possessions? I have to admit that it would be difficult for me, but I know that it's possible and helps to keep things in my own life in perspective.

Image from Volvo Trucks of North America