Whenever I disassemble something with nuts and bolts, I immediately replace the nuts back on the bolts. I know what will happen if I forget.

Such a relief.

I thought it was just me!

For the parts manufacturers, definitely.

How so?

One approach is to have multiples of the critical tools (pencils, tape measures, carpenter's squares, 17mm sockets, etc.) so that when you misplace one you are then likely to encounter another of the same that you had the forethought to procure. Sometimes I'm dazzled by my own brilliance, except that my approach runs into a lot of money spent on duplicate toolage.

I'm so un-capable I beg for critical help regularly.

Tools have a strange tendency to dematerialize and materialize at random IME.

Heh. I know for a fact I own at least four 15mm combo wrenches.

I currently know the exact location of a grand total of one (1) of them.

i have this problem in spades. When I do locate the item I often wonder what the hell I was thinking putting it where I did.

One thing I try to do is practicing the flash method: where as you put something down, blink once and flash the image into your mind as you drop it. but i only remember to do this AFTER i ahve already lost at least 2 things...

My small wrenches seem to know when I intend to use them. The one I want always hides underneath all the others. It's a conspiracy. If I ever put down the one I'm using it scurries away to hide under whatever is convenient.

I have at least five Metric 5 allen wrenches.
Still can't find them when a bike is under repair.
I buy one whenever I'm in Lowe's. Same with 10mm wrenches.

I sold a frame not long ago. Thomson seat post binder.
Today, I found the cylindrical nut that goes inside it.

By the time I find my cadence sensors, and install them, I can't remember how to set up the Garmin.

I've bought at least 3 new saddle bags when visiting REI or Performance, only to find the ones I thought I had when I got home.

I once videotaped the disassembly of a hub, so I could remember how it went back. I lost the SD card.

I buy tubes in anticipation of pinching them.

There are at least 200 spokes here. For what?

I used to ride all Selle Italia. Then Selle San Marco. Then Bontrager Inform RL. Now it's Prologo. You'd think my butt could decide.

I'm not an impluse buyer. I'm a sporadic thinker.

Want that socket to show up? Go buy another one, guaranteed the original, "lost" one, will be innocently sitting out in the open, sneering at you.

Bill

I remember going into a music shop 35 years ago to buy a guitar pick. One guitar pick. One.

Now I'd buy the whole box and let them accumulate on random surfaces whatever I happen to put them down. Eventually there's a guitar pick everywhere I look, which is good, cuz otherwise I'll never find one.

Probably 8 years ago, I bought about 8 sets of Evolv 50 pc. socket and other tool kits from Sears as they were on closeout for about $10 a kit. Excellent quality, comparable to Craftsman. I sold 4 sets via craigslist at $20, so the 4 sets I kept were free. Only opened 2 sets, one for the bench and one for the SUV, still have all the pieces, and have two sets in shrink wrap!

Keeping track of tools between the basement, garage, and worksite is a PITA. Is there an app for that?

I have discovered using a flashlight to search for parts. My wife thinks I am crazy. It helps me focus on what I am looking at and if what I am looking for is hiding in the shadows, it is exposed. Works really well well when placed on the floor to shine across the surface. Every single thing that is higher than the floor surface shows up. If the item is shinny, it reflects. With my damaged eyesight in the left eye, it helps even more.

Ok, so I am now dependent on having a flashlight handy as I am misplacing or loosing parts and tools all the time, including finding the flashlight! Costco use to sell those CREE flashlights, 3 in a pack for $20. I have bought about 3 sets. Now there is one in every car, the tool chest, at least one in each bedroom and one in the family room. They are small and easy to store. I don't have a problem finding one anymore, there is always a backup in the next room. Buy batteries in bulk at Costco is a necessity now!

I use to keep stray parts because there might be a use for them later. I now save them because I can't remember where they came from and one day I might find the source and the part within the few nanoseconds I can recognize or remember they go together.

Shopping lists are becoming a necessity too. I use to remember everything I needed when shopping, either on-line or brick and mortar. Now it is, crap I forgot I needed to get ......

My time in the shop, averages per hour:
2 min planning
5 min cleaning
3 min disassembly
5 min repair
45 min looking for the tool that was in my hand 5 min earlier

Getting younger? I'll take that pill any day.

Nobodyʻs mentioned wondering what you went into the garage for in the first place, yet.

[MENTION=124730]SJX426[/MENTION], I've discovered the flashlight technique, too, even when the light is moderately good. It's hard for some of us to see stuff that is directly in front of us. It might be an evolved trait, and it might be more common in men. It's a stereotypical conversation for the guy to ask his wife where the mustard (or whatever) is, and she says it's in the front of the fridge on the middle shelf. My problem is so bad that I have to use an unusual technique in the supermarket. If an employee says I can find the mustard in Aisle 4 on the right side, I can't find it by looking there. Instead, I RUN through the aisle, looking straight ahead. I catch it in my peripheral vision. I think I'm evolved to hunt at high speed or avoid predators. My peripheral vision is very good, especially when I'm moving fast.

This is actually not all due to age. I held an FAA Air Traffic Controller's license for years, and two tower certificates. If you look directly at an approaching airplane, you will likely not see it. From pilot briefings, I learned to never look directly at an approaching aircraft, but rather just to the left or right, and you'll see it every time. This was actually factored into WWII hand-operated anti-aircraft machine guns. Just line up the stream of bullets with the aircraft's trajectory. Most gunners would tell you they had a favorite place on the sights, and not the cross hairs, where they aimed. I have no idea why this is, but when searching for approaching or attacking aircraft, we quickly learned to scan, not stare.

Add in the parts drawer (and the bottoms of mine are black, so I use a flashlight, too), and you simply have too much to see and a narrow range of focus. I also use a flashlight to find the part that absolutely will fall under the nearest parked car or behind the dead bug in the garage.

I'm gonna use that one for sure. It might end up being the ketchup that your peripheral vision catches first, but that would be good enough to get you in the right part of the ball park so to speak.

If nothing else, the extra ground I'd cover might turn up an employee who can find things like mustard in a hurry, just as when I was looking for the pepperoncini that was on sale last week.

[MENTION=108582]RobbieTunes[/MENTION], good story. Speaking of evolution, I don't mean my lifespan. I'm speaking of the human race over the last several thousand years. Before we invented writing, we used peripheral and long vision. Reading goes beyond what we're built for. It's a recent change of lifestyle for our species, which is why the compensation techniques help some of us.

[MENTION=185430]dddd[/MENTION], many stores now have a nice policy. They won't tell you where something is. They'll go with you and pull it off the shelf for you. This helps me a lot when I shop, but it doesn't help me find things on my workbench.

...and I wouldn't try running through my shop, it would be more like doing the hurdles track 'n field style.
...but I might find something I was looking for if I tripped over it.

When I lived in Ohio, the only way I ever found morels was with peripheral vision. The socket did turn up, in plain sight, but didn't fit. A 12 point works, but not a 6 point. I'm also having trouble with allen wrenches on this bike. Is it possible that Specialized was using SAE sizing on their 93 bikes? I only have metric sizes, so am unable to try the alternate SAE sizes.