[Jimbee (OP)]

I actually came up with most of these ideas in the last couple of months, for remembering things:

- When you have to remember something important. Turn off the oven soon, for example. But again, you are distracted. Sing an unlikely song, one that you don't normally sing. And that kind of has to do with your task. Because you know. You continue singing songs, long after you even remember how you started. Then when you get to another room, you ask. Why am I singing "Hot Hot Hot" by Buster Poindexter? Oh! I left the oven on.

- Or hold onto something. Because you also keep holding on to things even when you're distracted. There's even a joke from the 70's or 80's about that. A man picks up lingerie panties for his wife in a store. And then he forgets he's holding them and almost leaves the store that way.

- When you have to briefly remember some important number, especially one with several digits. Type it on a nearby calculator real quick. Now you know, calculators turn off in about 5 minutes.

- When the last thing you used from the tap was hot water, there's sometimes a burst of hot water next time. Even if you turn on the cold. So get in the habit of turning on the cold water briefly each time you're done with the faucet.

- Also, for remembering things, you could just buy an Etch-A-Sketch magnetic doodle drawing board. They sell them at Dollar Tree for a $1.25. So you could get more than one and throw them out when they become worn or dirty. It's a good way of saving on paper, because you just keep reusing it. And if anyone asks you why you have it, explain it to them. It's to remember things you have to quickly jot down. They'll probably think it's a good idea.

I shared them with a couple of local nursing homes. And I also sent them via mail to a nursing home in Canada, the UK and France. Why not? Some people have problems remembering important things. Sometimes due to illness, or sometimes just due to aging or even in their youth. What I like about them is that they are all simple and cheap and easy to use. So people are more likely to follow them then.

Also, what are those two psychological phenomenom above called? You keep singing a song long after you remember how you started. It must have something to do with memory. Or maybe the part of the brain that involves songs and singing. And what is it called when you hold onto things long after you forgot? I've heard of people going to sleep with objects in their hands and then waking up that way. What causes those two things? And what are they called?

[Jimbee (OP)]

Also like I said, I've been sharing these ideas online and other places. And I came up with a couple more.

For typing important numbers quickly on a calculator, as I said hey turn off in 5 minutes unless you keep them active. You could keep pressing the equal sign. That's not always a good idea. Because sometimes that makes the calculator keep re-adding something, or they think you're doing something else. Or, you could just keep pressing "M+". Or M- if you want to. That will keep adding and substracting the value on the screen to memory. You can't keep doing that all day. But if you think your five minutes are about to expire, you could do it once or twice more.

Or If you want to hold onto the number, for a day or so say, you could do this. For example, if you have to remember an important phone number each day but just for that day, add it once to memory. Even some cheaper calculators hold onto number in memory even after they shut off. Scientific calculators always do (and you can get some of those cheap now too). For phone numbers that could be a problem since most cheap calculators only have 8 digits. An average US ten digit phone number wouldn't fit there. But where I live, metro Detroit, people often use just the first digit of an area code for that area code. For example in metro Detroit, the area codes 313, 248 and 734 would be just 3, 2 and 7 respectively. Also, numbers on a calculator could be letters to you. Some people think the numbers 1 and 8 look like I and B. And some people think the numbers 2 or 5, 3, 4 and 7 look like S, E, H and L respectively, upside down that is. That could be your code to yourself for remembering somethings. Or you could have you own personal code.