Have you ever lost something really important? WWYD?

[coralpig]

My OH has lost his vital work keys. Can't underestimate how essential they are -without outing us but he was explicitly told at his training that it would he wouldn't be able to work there anymore if these were lost. Locks would have to be changed, the cost would be extraordinary. So important.

We both saw them in the flat but have since turned the place upside down looking- we don't THINK they've left the property. However, there have been lots of viewings by estate agents. I had a big tidy up yesterday.

It's been a rough week for us both. Anybody lost something like this? What did you do? Hoping for positive stories please.

My mum found her car keys in dsis's toy ride-on car once.

Another time, very recently, we were having a family party, and her car keys went missing. She didn't find them for weeks, and got a new key from the manufacturer. Weeks later, she got out her tin of cake decorations, and found them in there.

Leave no stone unturned, OP.

When I lost a ring very precious to me , I turned the place upside down, went through the rubbish etc. About 3 weeks later, it turned up stuck to some cheese on the back of the sandwich toaster. Last week I found something important I'd been searching for under the normal toaster. I guess the lesson from this is my kitchen appliances steal things. Look under everything. Microwave, fridge, telly, bed etc.

You need to stop and think about the last time you/dh had the keys. Sit down and relax (if possible), and think it through. then walk through every single step of what he did, recreate it and search everywhere along the way.

go through the rubbish

Check work- did he really take them home?

Ask someone else to come in and search for you

Call the estate agents and ask if one of them picked up a set of key by mistake (I've picked up my cleaner's keys because they looked kind of like mine once)

If all else fails, have him come clean as quickly and as openly as possible - if he is a good employee, you never know.

My friend thought she had lost an entire set of final law papers she was correcting (obviously she shouldn't have been correcting them on a train!) but she found them (this all happened at a funeral). the thing is when you think you've lost something vital, you go into shut down and can't remember properly. try to calm down and think it through.

My mother did swear by a good bribe to St Anthony ...

You will find them OP, but IME this unfortunately won't happen until the next time you lose something and you are searching for the second item instead.

Good luck tho xx

And stop looking for a bit unless you are on a time constraint. Clear your mind and relax.

Second the distract your mind the serial loser here!! ;) hope that it is the estate agents.

1 10 mins youtube.
Next do all of the above esp near the washing machine laundry basket.
After, most likely Room

stand on a chair/ get down low what looks different? Any coats jackets check pass to partner to check. Use a torch check behind under radiators sofa chairs. Start from the corner of the room and work across. CSI style. have a long stick to check under anything that cant move.

Check all wastepaper baskets. the fridge.

Does he have a computer regular chair check that.

Go through the rubbish with gloves putting it into another bag.

I hope they turn up. X

Also, just in case you don't find them, he can't just be dismissed for this if he has worked at the company for 2 years or more, unless he has had previous issues with formal warnings. It is not reasonable to sack him for something that could happen to anyone in these circumstances - it's not as if he is a prison officer (I hope ) who should never take the keys off-site. If he is supposed to take them out & about with him, there is an inevitable risk of loss and the company should have insurance and a business continuity plan to cover this.

Contact his union if a member. ACAS can also provide advice.

Back of kitchen cupboards? Inside crockery in the cupboard? Used both these places. Good luck

I find things are usually where they are meant to be but I just haven't looked properly. I've I've missed keys that were in my handbag where they were meant to be.

Lost my virginity once.
Never found it

Freezer? My MN once put frozen oven chips in a drawer and bin liners in the freezer.
I once went out with tv remote in my handbag and mobile at home. Absent mindedly switched an item?

DM not MN

Down the side of the car seats? Under the car seats? Could've fallen out of a pocket whilst driving? On the stairs? Washing basket? Top of the fridge?

DH once threw DS1's first teddies out at the local tip. I bagged them up because when we bought the house is was swarming with fleas, and I didn't want anything to get in the teddies. Once I was sure all the fleas were gone I couldn't find the bag and DH told me he took the black bag to the tip, thinking it was a bag of building rubbish. I could've killed him. We didn't get them back.

I also lost several weeks of newborn pictures because I didn't know what "format memory card" meant. That was a painful lesson. We didn't get those back either :(

someone upthread said put a hook by the door for when you do find them.

Please do not do this. I get so frustrated seeing this on mn.
Burglars do use hooks etc in though letter boxes/catflaps to steal keys. They are looking for car keys, but house keys to let themselves in will do.

You should never keep keys/handbags/wallets near the door
If you do put up a key hook, put it out of sight of windows and doors.

I think his workplace is wrong to threaten sacking yet still allow keys to be taken off-site. Surely it makes more sense for them to be kept in key safes or indoor safes, depending on your DP's job.

Under beds. Pockets. Laundry basket. Washing machine. Jewellery box. Under the sink. Fridge.

I lost keys once. Found them MONTHS later on the top shelf of a book case above eye level.

First, check all external areas, like bins, garden, and your cars.

Then take your home apart methodically. Same routine for each room. Start from the door and work around. Move everything that can be moved. Don't just check under the bed, lift the mattress off. Pull the fridge and washing machine out and look behind them. Look in your hoover. Unlikely, but it's better to check everything that is big enough to have the keys inside it or underneath it or behind it. No-one has that much stuff ultimately. Work together so you know you don't miss anything and check every single item in your home.

You don't want the keys to drop out of the hood of a gym top or appear on the floor of his car in a months time.

My dh lost our house keys.. Turned the house upside down... Couldn't find them... So we had to change the locks!!...
4 months later... Found them in the plastic bag store! In a plastic bag! Had obviously chucked them in there.. Then forgot them and popped the bag in the bag store!! Arrrggh!
Hope you've found them by now! X

I lost my house keys, I couldn't go out for 2 days until dp could get one cut for me. I tore the house apart looking for them!

six months later they appeared under one of the couch cushions. I had hoovered that couch with cushions off at least 4 times in those six months and those keys definitely were not there!

To this idea I don't know how the hell they appeared again after so many months.

We lost the main car keys last week with DH's work keys on. Would have cost over 100 quid for a new car key and DH would have been in shit for losing his keys. He had to wing it for a few days without them.

I had heard DS(5) rummaging about near the shoe rack in the hall the night before but didn't think anything of it.

The next morning, he admitted he'd taken them as they had a small torch key fob that he wanted to use in bed, but couldn't remember where he'd put them in his room which we turned upside down. Later that day, I emptied the bin in his room into the the recycling.

We spent another two days looking for them, turned the house upside down.

The day the recycling bin was due to be emptied, I told DH just to have a quick look in there knowing there was no logical way they would be. He looked but said they weren't there.

I then took out some last minute recycling and as I squished it down, I hear keys! They were almost at the top of the rubbish .

So check your recycling in bin in case they were transported into there somehow (and main bin as previous experience always makes me look there first!)

Also back of radiators in case they fell down and got stuck.

My mum lost her engagement ring when we were kids - no one could quite remember where it had been but she had a habit of leaving in a pot on the kitchen worktop while she washed up. Anyway, it disappeared and the suddenly a decade later, it turned up, just lying on the top of a sore cushion...just how?! Where do these things go?!!

sofa! Not sore...

Check the tops of furniture as well. I am always finding random objects on top of the fridge that people have put down while taking something out of it.

Lots of good suggestions from PPs.

I lost and found my purse once...I'd folded it in the collapsible Highchair. If I want to make my sideboard look tidy I tuck odds and ends behind photo frames.

Check coat hoods, in folded clothes, towels, vases, inside tissue boxes, fire place hearths, food cupboards, in with house cleaning stuff (did you polish, dust before estate agents came round - not judging if you didn't though!)

Also when the EA came round were you in the middle of tidying up? Can you remember what room you were in, it might have ended up stashed somewhere quick.

I agree with a PP that a metal detector is worth a shot - I think Argos sell them!

And to answer your question, yes I lost my passport once and had to report it lost (similar situation to you, we'd just moved and had lots of people coming and going) I found it years later - but I can't remember where!

Good luck OP x