Your nationality is showing! 
Your age is showing.
I keep everything in the same pocket of my jeans, one or two things per pocket, and just go around patting them in turn. If a pocket is empty, Iām forgetting something important.
(front right: pen and keys. front left: phone. rear right: wallet. rear left: work ID.)
Things I want with me but donāt need go in my bag that I take with me on a case by case basis. Itās kind of hard to forget an entire bag versus individual items.
When I leave the house, I check all the places on my body and clothing where the things go, rather than go through a list of words.
What if I spend so much time creating associations I grab a beehive on my way out of the door instead of my wallet?
Spectacles, testicles, wallet and watchā¦
(For the gender & generational forward- i.e., those with neither spectacles, testicles nor watch- the list shrinks to a single, easy-to-memorize word and location. No need to mess with cellphone routines as that never, ever, leaves the non-dominant hand)
Thatās exactly what I do.
For me, it ended up being a natural progression from a habit of frequently re-checking my pockets due to traveling in areas known for pickpockets. Not that Iād recommend that as a method of building up memory for thisā¦
Hey, Macarena!
I keep all my stuff in a man purse, except my pocketknife and my glasses, which are in my pocket and on my head, respectively. Pick up the man purse and go. Kids going nuts? Put my man purse out of reach. Need to remember to carry something unusual? Put it in the man purse. Itās all about the man purse.
Man purse.
OK, I give. How does āelevenā rhyme with āfootball team?ā
āmurseā
I donāt think it works as well for numbers in the teensāall the words have to rhyme or sort-of-rhyme with āteenā, so there isnāt any particular association of sound with position.
And yeah, Iād rather have fun or sun or bun be my one.
For 51% of the population, we only have to remember one word: purse.
If I have to remember something before I leave the house, I put it in front of the door.
Youād rather shun the gun to have fun in the sun, with a nun wearing dun, having won a ton of spun buns in a pun stun?
I suggest a bun, and then you can imagine a pill sandwich on a nice sesame seed bun, except all the seeds are more pills.
Shit. Now I canāt unseen that.
Remembering what to take with you isnāt the only useful application of this hack. I use it a lot more for remembering other short lists: shopping lists, errands to run, things to do, ideas I have while driving that I want to write down later. 
Yes, you can write things or speak them to your phone, but once you get into the habit it comes in handy in a lot of situations when your hands are full, so to speak.
It works even better with poppyseed.
Or you could think ābuns = suppository = pills.ā Not sure thatās any better though.
