My wife used to spend an inordinate amount of time hunting for her keys. Each time she came home, she’d toss her keys somewhere different, and then she’d forget where she left them and have to search for them later. Sometimes it would take her 30 minutes or more to find them. At first I became skilled at sensing where she left them, but then I figured my time was better spent elsewhere.

So I installed a couple key hooks right by the door where we usually enter the house, one for my keys and one for hers. It only took a few minutes to drill the holes and screw in the hooks. Then I worked on my wife until she got into the habit of putting her keys on the hook whenever she came in the door. And whenever she left the house, she’d just grab her key off the hook. It didn’t take her long to adopt the habit.

It was probably around 1998 that I first did this. Since then we’ve had several different residences, but I always made a point of installing new key hooks the first week after we moved. Sometimes she slips and doesn’t use the hook, but the time spent key hunting is probably less than 1% of what it was before this solution. And then of course, she always re-commits to using the key hook because it’s so simple. She likes it too. She only slips up when her hands are full because she’s carrying a number of items and can’t easily reach the hook.

Your keys are probably already in your hand when you enter your home, so designate a spot to put them right where you enter — a hook, a dish, a drawer, etc. Give your keys a home when you’re home.

And yes, wives are actually trainable to some degree, slightly more than cats.