Have you ever looked in your tee-shirt drawer for something to wear that was not worn before? How can you tell? Look for dirt on the shirt? Smell it? Try to remember what you wore last week?

Want a solution? Here’s what I did recently.

When those tee-shirts come out of the dryer, and into the laundry basket, then are dumped on your bed, do this: Fold the tee-shirt in half lengthwise. Roll it up. Put it in the drawer. Now you have a neat tee-shirt drawer with rows of rolled up shirts. After you take off a tee-shirt at night, and it’s not quite ready for the wash, just toss it into the drawer, helter-skelter. The next time you want a slightly worn tee-shirt, there it is, all wrinkled up,  standing out from the fastidiously placed rolled up shirts. The next time you want a clean tee-shirt, just pick out one that is rolled up.

Are there simple solutions for locating other things?

Years ago, I used to attach beepers to keys to locate them. That was great, but I always hoped those beepers would be miniaturized enough to attach them to smaller objects. However, it seems that time has not yet come.

When I buy new black permanent markers or Pilot G-2 BOLD gel pens, I hide all but one of each kind in a special box in the back of my computer room drawer. For one thing, they don’t all disappear on the day I am looking for a pen. For another, they don’t get picked up and carried to another location. Finally, when the current pen begins to run out of ink, I know where there is a new pen nearby. I even write the date on the pens, just so I will see how long they last. I also have a note entitled “DATES” on my iPhone. That’s where I write the dates of events I wish to remember, such as when I changed my home’s air conditioning filter, or when I had my gallbladder attack (which I would actually like to forget).

My two favorite, very sharp, kitchen knives used to disappear just when I needed one. So I bought a 2-knife rack online. And now my wife and I (Thanks, Honey!) routinely put those knives in the rack right after they drip dry. It gives me such a good feeling to see those knives together in the rack. If I see only one, I immediately begin a search for the other. Call me OCD if you wish, but call me happy, too.

Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at robertebsen@hotmail.com