To be worried I might burn my house down

[scaredofself]

I've been worried about this for a few months now as I've developed a tendency to leave the hob on long after I've finished cooking. And occasionally leave the iron on.

But this morning was the worst. I did both. Iron for maybe ten mins while I was elsewhere in the house. But hob was left on while I did the school run. Shit what if I do this and leave the house for a day? Are there any gadgets I can buy to stop me from doing this? Does anyone else do this?

I have an iron which turns itself if left unused for so many minutes, I'm not sure what would help with the hob.

I tend to go overboard and check things like this several times just to be sure, are you leaving the on because you are in a rush? Can you get in the habit of always turning the hob off before you lift tge pan off etc?

My iron switches itself off (it comes back on again as soon as you move it) after a very short period of time. It's a pretty basic model?

My hob you can set a timer on to switch off after a certain number of minutes. Again it's quite an old hob so might be worth checking to see if yours doesn't have similar.

If not can you not get into a habit of setting a reminder on your phone? Or a good old fashioned egg timer?

I got an induction hob and don't iron.

Set alarm on your phone for just before you leave the house to remind you to check all is unplugged. .

Get a post it and write on it the things you have to check before you leave the house.

Iron tick
Hob tick

The best ways are the simplest ways.

Stick it to the inside of the door

Just remember?

In your case I would write myself a note to switch off hob and stick it on the back of the door I left the house by. I also think you should invest in an iron which switches itself off. Is the forgetfulness a new thing? Is there something else going on causing you to be distracted?

There are certain plugs you can buy which will cut off the electrical supply after a particular time - half an hour for example - which can be useful for people with memory problems. One of my relatives has a medical memory problem and they're handy, but they are very much for peace of mind and it's been a debate about whether they set a not very helpful precedent of thinking "oh it'll be fine" rather than trying to come up with prompts and reiterate habits and routines to stop it happening. They also have an induction hob which you can set a timer for when you turn it on.
Is there a particular reason you can think of as to why you're forgetting stuff? Might it be worth exploring that? B12 deficiencies, stress etc?

Hothead you described my strategy exactly.

I feel less stressed just reading your replies. Thank you.

My iron is a fancy Bosch one - I wonder whether it has a setting to switch itself off. Will google tomorrow. And yes to post its plan! Going to write some for door and one on splash back above hob. Jesus why didn't I think of that. Been worrying about this for ages. Idiot.

DH left our gas hob on all day the other week - obviously a bloody stupid thing to do and I was fuming when I found it, but nothing happened, it just burned away to itself the whole time.

Ironing? Oh yes I used to do that. :)

My memory has never been brilliant but it's been worse for the last six months maybe. I'm possibly peri menopause but don't know any other reason. Think need to take a supplement too - thanks to previous poster for the B12 tip.

I take a picture of the hob and the locked door so when I'm on the bus thinking 'did I turn that off?' I can check.

My colleague brings her hair straighteners to worm with her so she knows she hasn't left them plugged in.

Ok so now feeling less like a total weirdo on the memory front. Thanks Darcey and Sentient

If you change to an induction hob it doesn't matter if you leave it on as log as you take the pans off it because they only heat up when connected magnetically. The one we had also used to beep if you forgot to turn it off.

My fridge beeps at me if I leave it open and I have to say it's saved us a lot of money, food and time defrosting a left open, overfrosted freezer.