Lost - I thought forever - but found during a clear out!

Hobbycat, I tried the Vaseline thing and it worked! First time I’ve worn any earrings for a few years.

Now I just need to find somewhere that sells gold (can’t wear anything else) butterfly ‘backs’. I’ve got a few pearl studs without their ‘backing’.

I once lost a gold bangle. No memory of where it might be. It turned up months later inside a shoe! And I remembered immediately what I’d done! I’d put the bangle in the shoe for safe keeping before carrying upstairs to put both away. Oops!

HobbyCat

You shouldn’t need to have them repierced, just rub some Vaseline on the bit that goes through the ear. I have gone years without earrings in my second ear piercing but they still go through.

Thank you! I shall try that.

I’m delighted for everyone else who’s also found ‘lost’ items, and do hope those that are still lost will turn up one day!

I lost my wedding and engagement rings several years ago when I had put on a lot of weight and they were too tight. I am CERTAIN that I put them in one of my jewellery boxes in the bedroom but they are not there. Nor is the lovely eternity ring that DH bought me for our fifth anniversary, taken off for the same reason.

Earlier this year we went on a world cruise and I fully recall putting my false-teeth "plate" in its cleaning box and packing it my handbag, but it wasn't there when we arrived on board and 5 months later is still missing. I have to have a new plate of course, costing £800 and neither our travel insurance nor house insurance will pay anything at all towards it.

While on the cruise DH had a fall and his fingers swelled up so the medical person swiftly removed his wedding ring and I put it in the room safe. It was never seen again.

My mother lost both her garment and wedding ring in a flowerbed when she was weeding. She was so upset so for a long time I used to go and dig over the beds to no avail. 20 years later she was planting some annuals in the bed, stuck her fork in and came up with both rings on the same prong!

Years ago, I lost my watch, which I believed I had put on the kitchen window ledge. There was a swing bin underneath so I reckoned the watch had been knocked down and fallen in the bin. We claimed on insurance and bought another watch. Eventually we moved house, and when our bed, a heavy divan, was taken out, there was the watch.
I had a lovely white gold trilogy ring which I always hid, along with other diamond jewellery when we went on holiday. I didn’t wear it often, so didn’t realise I didn’t have it until some time later. After searching all my usual hiding places I came to the conclusion that I had lost it while wearing it, as it was a bit loose on my finger. We didn’t make an insurance claim this time as we couldn’t find a receipt, and DH bought me a lovely new platinum gold trilogy ring which I wear all the time now. I have decided that nothing should be kept for best at my age. Recently, I was sorting through a drawer of Lego when I found a little box, right at the back. Yes, there was my original ring in its hiding place.

Clock radio, I meant to say.

jocork

Can you not find a clock repairer to get your clock working again?

Personally, I think that would be money well spent on an item of sentimental value.

Witzend

I was tackling the drawers of a small chest, full of goodness knows what, the stuff and junk of ages, when I found some pearl and diamond earrings dh gave me many years ago. I had been tormenting myself for a few years with the idea that they had been lost through my own stupid carelessness. I thought I even knew exactly how.

But lo, there they were - in a little box, but not the fancier one they’d come in. What sort of memory lapse I must have had, to have forgotten where I’d put them, goodness only knows!

Evidently I need to do clear-outs more often!

He’d never asked why I wasn’t wearing them, but then he’s never been a great ‘noticer’. And for some time I haven’t worn any earrings at all, having lost one of my ‘everyday’ pearl studs, and not bothered, so piercings closed up.
I shall now get them pierced again!

Lovely find!

We have all done this sort of thing.

Forgetting where you have put something, only to come across it at a later date.

And occasionally not finding it at all.

How lovely!

I must admit to finding all sorts of things I had forgotten about as I make a slow attempt to declutter, but nothing so beautiful

I have an interest in flower arranging and probably about 8 years ago my sister in law bought me lots of specialist tools and paraphernalia and presented them to me in a purpose sewn bag. I've used everything and added to my supplies over the years. When I came to prepare our church flowers for Easter I couldn't find my treasured bag. We searched everywhere church, house, sheds, garage, greenhouse, car, loft but never found my bag. I was very upset as my bag also contain a super, duper pair of secateurs my brother had bought me for my 70th birthday. Weeks have gone by and no sign. Then we decided to declutter one of our sheds and lo and behold I found a very nice plastic box and inside all my lovely resources all neatly packed away plus the secateurs!! Now I remember the bag got torn and I decided a plastic storage box was a better idea. If only I had a memory I could save myself so much stress and anxiety.

Fgt, I completely stripped each room down, to find something sentimental to me. Never found it, it eventually turned up having car valeted.

I recently found a beautiful baby cardigan that my late mother had knitted for my eldest daughter over 30 years ago. The only thing she has knitted in years. I had thought I must have passed it on with other outgrown baby clothes. I was clearing some boxes in the attic and there it was. I was so happy to find it and I have passed on to my baby granddaughter - the child of the daughter it was originally knitted for.

I lost a diamond stud, a birthday present from DH, not long after he died. I was so upset and searched everywhere indoors, emptied the hoover, retraced my steps to and from yoga class, to no avail.

I quietly said the prayer to Saint Anthony and hoped. I then claimed on my house contents insurance, and the company matched a replacement to the remaining stud.

Six months or so later my DGD2 was playing on the floor and suddenly said "Grandma there's an ear-ring down here!" And yes it was the missing stud! It had become lodged between the carpet and skirting board. Happy days!

I owned up to the insurance company that it had been found, but they said to keep it as a replacement just in case.
Blessed Saint Anthony!

Calendargirl

How gratifying to find lost items, especially when you have given up hope.

I hate losing anything, would rather give it away.

I lost my gold watch many years ago. It must have fallen off my wrist from leaving work to getting to the car park.

It was my 18th birthday present from my parents, my dad died soon after. I was so upset, the last gift from him.

😢

Not something lost but put in the loft. I was given an alarm clock radio for my 21st birthday , bought by my father in advance. Sadly he died less than 2 moths before the date so itwas the last thing he bought me. It stopped working years ago but I couldn't throw it away. We had a loft clear out and my son had put it on the dump pile. When I told him the history he said "If it has sentimental value keep it" which surprised me. But now I think it probably should go as it doesn't work and can't be upcycled into anything useful. I'm trying to downsize and having to let a lot of things go that are only there for sentimental reasons and I'm now ready to say goodbye to some of them.

Lovely stories,so heart lifting.

My young grandson bought me a pair of green earrings one Mothers Day, using his pocket money. They were just plastic “ stones”but I treasured them, then found I’d lost one. I searched high and low but couldn’t find it and felt so sad. Over a year later, at Christmas, I decided to put up the little artificial tree and there, dangling from a branch, was the little green earring. The very best Christmas present.

I borrowed some unique very old ivory carved earrings from my mother when I was in my early 20s.
15 or so years later my little twin daughters were “helping” gran at her dressing table and I suggested she show them the earrings, upon which she snapped she didn’t have them any longer as I’d lost them.
I didn’t remember losing them and, as mum got older and developed mild dementia, I pulled out all the stops in trying to find them, even trying to get in touch with old uni friends in case I’d lent them and they weren’t returned. But to no avail.
Mum died aged 93 in 2921 and, whilst doing through her things with dad, I opened little box and there were the earrings.
I cried and still don’t understand why she told me I’d lost them, she was only early 60s then and no dementia yet. In all honesty I haven’t forgiven her yet.

I once lost a gold St Christopher necklace that I usually wore all the time. I searched for it everywhere to no avail. Then months later, when in a hotel bedroom there it was on the floor under a chest of drawers. Weird, until I realised it must have been caught in an item of clothing that I hadn't worn since losing it.

What a lovely surprise!
I 'lost' my gold watch, given to me by my parents on my 21st birthday and found it three months later in a matchbox on the wardrobe shelf! I've honestly no recollection of either putting the watch into a matchbox or putting said matchbox into the wardrobe!
I just assume that there was so much going on at the time - over 30 years ago - children, full time job, studying, cooking etc etc, that I'd totally erased it from my memory. Memory overload!

I’ve lost my GetUp&Go. I’ve been trying to remember when I last had it and where. Hope it’s not lost forever, but I can’t search for it without any GetUp&Go. 😱

You shouldn’t need to have them repierced, just rub some Vaseline on the bit that goes through the ear. I have gone years without earrings in my second ear piercing but they still go through.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

Oh no Calendargirl 😮
My last present from my husband is an Apple smartphone bought at Christmas just gone. I would cry if I ever lost it. He knew I’d need one for airport boarding passes (now paperless) and was making sure I was au fait with the technology I’d need showing me how to use the ‘wallet’ facility.

What a lovely thoughtful gift from your husband.
He'll be with you in spirit whenever you travel 🥰

I do the same. I put things away in a safe place, then forget where I put them. Sometimes, I find the lost item while looking for something else. I still can’t find a pair of slippers I loved. And, a usb I bought for my iPhone. I’ve decided not to put the things I love away. Instead, I’m keeping the items out where I can see them.

Fallingstar

That is the joy of clear outs. I found old photos of my mum and dad that I swore I had lost and that are now framed in my living room. They were taken when they were courting, standing against the railings on Blackpool promenade.

I found some very old photos too - one of my GGF, a lovely old man, who died in his 90s when I was 14 - with the GGM I never knew, she’d died just before I was born.

And one of my father aged 7 (born 1916) in a little pedal car he’d evidently received for his birthday, according to what was written on the back by that same GGM.

He was an only child and evidently somewhat indulged!

I’m now going to find nice frames for both.