Can anyone help me find my manilla envelope?

[FairyMaclary]

I have lost a brown envelope. It contains documents (paperwork) relating to my father. I really need it. It’s an A4 Manilla envelope. It was under my chest of drawers for about a year. It was then moved, by my husband I think.

I’ve seen this done successfully on here before - please help 😁. Some of you clearly have amazing powers. Please help.

Unlikely but, did you check inside the drawers? Could DH have pulled clothes aside and placed envelope flat in drawer under the clothes?

Is it where all the old chargers and loops of wires are kept?

Thank you - I’ve emptied and sorted the drawers very recently (last couple of weeks). I woke up still thinking it’s in the attic .

I will go back up shortly

Chargers in a basket and I checked but it is. It not there

Have you checked all bookcases? Pay specific attention to books you don’t read.
Or have you sat your dh down, held both his hands in yours and looked deep into his eyes. Softly tell him to think, think hard about where he has put the envelope. Say on repeat ‘Think dh, think.’

You need to offer money to St Anthony!

I have two suggestions, the first is simple.

1. Find something reasonably similar eg another manilla envelope, make a dummy, put it under the drawers where the lost one was. Ask your husband to go and retrieve it and take it to where he would instinctively go. Retracing his steps as it were. You could also try the same.

The second suggestion is based on my hunting, in clutter, for important papers over the years. I'm using Dana K White's methods to reduce my clutter now. I still have a way to go.

1. You think it is in your loft (do you think your husband took it from under the chest if drawers and put it there?). Do Dana K. White's first step in your loft, take a black bin bag up there and got through every box, bag and pile looking for rubbish. Just rubbish, not sorting things or reorganizing. To make it more manageable you could set a timer for an hour or whatever length of time feels manageable.

The reason I'm suggesting this is because if you can get the literal rubbish out of your loft, whether its half a bin bag or 3 or 10, it will be easier to search for the envelope. Even more useful you will be looking through every box and bag thoroughly and the physical act of doing it might subconsciously spark a memory.

Good luck.

So if it was tied away when the new carpet laid, think back to other things that were near it at the time and may have been moved. Where are those things now.
Or give DH an envelope of documents and ask him to put them somewhere safe ... And then follow him 😁.
Good luck, I hope they are found soon.
Also bear in mind the envelope could have been damaged and replaced with a different colour or the contents put in a box.

Friend lost her passport and missed family Christmas as it wasn’t found in time. It turned up inside an umbrella in the hall stand. It had fallen down inside the closed umbrella and was found months later when the umbrella was next used…

In a tote or carrier bag from when you tidied bits away for your new carpet.

In an old work bag/briefcase.

Very near to where you/DH put other important documents but not quite filed properly - i.e. laid underneath a box file.

Under any heavy books stacked in a pile.

Good luck - it's an awful feeling I know 💐

Ask your husband where he put it?

I think involving your DH in the search in the way others have suggested is the way to go.

Bit of a long shot here, OP, but (a) are you absolutely certain it's a manila envelope you need to look for, not a white one; and (b) is there any chance at all that your DH put it inside something like a coloured A4 plastic folder that's altered its appearance and thrown you off the scent?

(Both these things have happened within our family, and both times with important paperwork like wills and death certificates. I know exactly how awful you feel.)

I am a demon for sliding envelopes inside books to keep them flat. Have you checked inside any similar sized books, particularly ones you might have had beside your bed?

When my brother lost his car keys we tore the entire house apart. We eventually found them on the DVD shelf squished between a hard case and a semi-empty cardboard sleeve. I'd look on shelves like that. Or in a box of DVDs in the loft if you think it's up there.

If DH moved it, I assume you've asked him or got him helping you?

This is my plan. I’m about to go and buy a few storage boxes for the tree decorations. I will then bin all the unused decorations- that will be a couple of boxes gone. Then anything untouched for a few years can go.

I find memory stuff hard to get rid of. It’s going to be a challenge for me

Yes he’s helping. We are going to do a tip run too. He has a day off next week and said he can continue while I work

To help you get rid of memory stuff - can you take photos of some eg/ cards, children’s art work and then use an app like FreePrints to make a photobook, you can them get rid of
the originals but still have a record of them in one place. Just go through everything scrupulously before you throw out in case the envelope is lurking. When my DM died there were tin box files full of things like new baby cards and wedding telegrams and the important docs were in a Manila folder in the middle of a pile of magazines.

Yes that’s a really good idea - I have now photographed a few bits. I’m doing really well so far but no envelope! Argh!

Found it. Inside a box with children’s paints, pencils, and art equipment. It was a bag that was so organised and tidy I nearly didn’t sort it out! Funnily I looked in it on Friday but didn’t see it!

Plus side - two tip runs done, 2 charity shop trips done and the attic looks far clearer. All in storage boxes. Stacked nicely. Suitcases easy to access. Tree and Xmas decs all neat and old stuff thrown away.

Brilliant!

Wonder why he put it there.

So glad you found it! Sometimes things do end up in such weird places!

Hooray!