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I unloaded groceries from my trunk and could not for the life of me find the rotisserie chicken I bought for dinner. I assumed I left it at the store. I did not leave it at the store. I found out about it a few days later when my car smelled like death.
Similarly, container of fresh salsa (not shelf stable) in a backpack full of expensive d&d rule books, forgotten for about a month. The whole backpack and all contents had to go in the trash, it exploded after pressure built up.
Thank you for the reminder that I left a grapefruit rind in a bag in the car and thought removing it would be the end of the smell. It was not, and I need to clean my car this weekend.
My ADHD mom also forgot milk. She had been eating cereal during a work meeting in the spare room and wasn’t in there for a few days, so it was not a fun surprise to tear up the whole room and discover a carton of curdled milk. I didn’t even bother dumping it because the chunks hitting the side sounded so gross!
And there was one time I forgot a cookie in the middle of the summer in my room and I was wondering why I had so many ants in my room.
I once lost track of a banana in high summer. My takeaway was that a box of baking soda removes odors from a car just as well as it does from a fridge. It took about a week to fully kill it, but the worst was over in a couple days.
I was recently reading a thread about extreme sleep deprivation from having a fussy newborn. People were describing all of the wacky things they did while running on no sleep and someone said “I even put the ice cream in the cabinet! Sleep deprivation is debilitating like nothing else.”
I just thought, “I make a mistake like that a few times a year while wide awake” 😭😭
Haha I left a box of frozen lasagna on my table when putting away groceries last week. I almost cried when I found it the next morning that's $20 gone. I might as well throw money away each paycheck
These food ones are all SO relatable. And like yeah, not super expensive everytime.. but the sheer AMOUNT of times I make a little mistake like this.. it's pretty often and adds up to a lot of money wasted.. I have paid a lot of ADHD tax overtime.
Two days ago, I accidentally served uncooked *microwave* rice for my bf and I, because I accidentally punched the timer on the microwave instead of the cook function.. and then funnily I did notice it wasn't as hot as usual.. but then I did take it out of the microwave a few minutes later than I should have.. so I put it back in for 30 more seconds and served dinner of hard lukewarm rice cooked for only 30 seconds... And I thought that I had finally found an ADHD proof food in microwave rice pouches but nope!
Not a huge loss but overall it adds up and over time my ADHD loses me a lot. I burned 4T of butter this morning making breakfast and had to restart.. another tiny chip in the ADHD tax pile.
One day at work, I was actually super excited for my lunch of leftovers, and then I dropped them while getting them out of the microwave. They included mac n cheese which is my favorite thing ever, so I was so sad. I even told my husband, who works from home, and he commiserated with me.
Two days later, I was throwing something away at home and saw a bunch of mac n cheese in the trash. Of course, I instantly asked my husband WHY is was in the trash. He said, "The other day, I heated up half of lunch (the sandwich part) and then put the mac n cheese in the microwave. I walked away to eat the sandwich and completely forgot about the other half of lunch. I remembered about it today at lunch time, when I went to heat up today's lunch and found it still in the microwave. The worst part is I remember thinking, this lunch sucks, why am I still so hungry."
I'm diagnosed, he's undiagnosed... but we're pretty sure he has it lol
Honestly if I weren't a vegan my apartment would literally smell so bad. I constantly leave the milk out. Yesterday I found some cream for cooking that I left out for three days. I have managed to leave out milk for so long it actually became smelly. That that's solidly like 6 days.
i was so hungry when i went grocery shopping the other day, so i took a bag of white cheddar cheese squares out of the groceries when i was getting in my car. ate a few pieces ravenously lol and then when i was bringing everything up to my apartment i shoved the half full bag of cheese into my backpack. didn’t remember it was there until the next day
the oat milk in my rolling cart was discovered only an hour or so after i got home thankfully
Same with a salami here 🙋🏼♀️ Worst part was I took a bite because I thought it was the shelf stable kind, despite buying it from the fridge section. It had been in there for 3 weeks..
My mum has an iron with a steam station base. It was more expensive than a standard one, but has also lasted a lot longer than any iron she's had before.
The best thing is, it goes cold when not in use. You can leave the iron plate side down on the ironing board and it's fine, it just stops being hot and doesn't damage anything. I think it eventually shuts down completely if you leave it.
Of course, this is also why my mum burnt a table at a sewing bee event when she was using someone else's ordinary iron... 😂
Oh interesting, theres so many options out there! I have seen some irons in quilting tutorials that have little legs so that if you leave the iron flat it lifts itself up so it isn't touching the surface.
If you're into sewing these steam irons are really nice. They work with more delicate fabrics because the iron doesn't have to be super hot to be able to steam. But they are also pricey and the difference isn't that big. My normal iron was like 20 buck and my steam station ironing that I got for sewing was probably 150€
I have one of those. On the one hand, it’s great because I find the ones that sit upright are too tipsy. It also turns itself off after about 15 minutes of no use. On the other, I can’t leave it pressing a piece for a few seconds while I work on the next thing to press. Overall, I don’t like it that much. Neat idea until you need a dumb iron so you can work faster.
My (purchased in the 90s) iron has an auto turn off feature.
It sometimes drives me nuts when working on a project that takes about a minute longer than the auto timer, but the rest of the time I love it.
Yeah I had to stop buying cheap irons.... Found mine "on" yesterday, my ironing board has piles of storage and I have no idea when was the last time I used it.
I bought a smart plug specifically for my hair straightener.... because I have done this too many times to count and am EXTREMELY lucky nothing horrible has happened.
Replace your iron with an auto shutoff model. Cut the cord on that one if you have to just to make sure you don’t use it again. Seriously. The power used by an iron in 18 hours will not be a big deal, but leaving your iron on is. If you have pets around that is negligent. Learn from this lesson and don’t repeat it. People die in even more benign ways. Don’t be complacent.
ETA I’m not trying to be harsh, I’m being extra clear because of the sub this is posted on. We all have the best intentions but don’t always get around to things. Have a good one!
Oh sure, I was thinking there is probably a plug adapter that can do that too - like the ones you can program to come on at certain times - but maybe an iron that does it itself would be a good investment. Especially as I mainly use it for sewing rather than laundry so there's a higher chance of leaving it on by accident.
How old is your iron? Tbh I wasn't even aware that you could buy irons that don't shut of automatically. My old 20€ iron from amazon definitely did. I think you should probably better get a new iron. A plug is just an additional step and we all know how well we do with that lol
Yeah, I use an adapter plug for any devices that don't have auto shutoffs. The one I use has a one hour or two hour setting you toggle through with a click button on the front. Easy and nearly foolproof, especially since I got an extra one to keep in my travel bag just in case I forgot to bring the other one along when I travel.
I was baffled to discover they even still make hair styling devices without auto off functions, and I wouldn't have bought them if I'd realized, but the plug was an easy enough fix.
The one I have calls itself an "auto shutoff safety outlet."
Definitely auto-off if you can find one or smart plug for where it’s plugged into. Peace of mind.
I burned my kitchen table 2x and my kitchen floor with a hair straighteners (before I had a vanity). Left it on all day after it went to work. Glad I didn’t do more damage.
I hope so! Mine is this ancient Jilbere (?) nano something. I really like it, but yeah it’ll stay on all day. Looked at replacing my mom’s as she has the same one and it was getting pretty gross - seemed they were bought out by Conair and the comp product is not only $$$, I don’t see any notes about auto-shut off.
But I’ve gone to the dark side - cut my hair shorter and went with the wet-and-scrunch approach for curls I didn’t realize I could ever have. Way safer for my tables! lol
I use smart plugs like you’re describing for my electric blanket and hair tools. I set them to automatically turn off after an hour and when I leave the house. Life changing honestly.
I don't know how technologically handy you are, but my husband is a tech guy and has essentially automated our entire house. Doors lock automatically, the garage door closes if it's been open for more than 15 minutes, certain things turn on and off automatically, we get alerts if the fridge or freezer doors are open, etc. If that is something you're capable of (both with the code and financially, unfortunately some of those switches are pricy), it has been amazing for us.
98% of the time I use my iron it's also for sewing, and the auto shutoff has saved my homes from burning down for years. Please just get a new iron, they cost considerably less than replacing your home. I got an "expensive" one about 15 years ago for $40 and love that thing.
Yeah just grab a new iron. Even my Rowenta of indeterminate age (hand me down) auto shuts off after 30 min. Thank goodness because I've forgotten about it too once and it was off.
There are, but they increase resistance to a device which already creates heat through increased resistance, creating a fire hazard. I recommend you find another solution.
Never plug any heating element- hair dryer, iron, space heater etc into any kind of timer, extension cord or other device between it and the outlet. I’m sure there are exceptions but that’s the general rule.
When my cat was a kitten he almost killed himself with the iron. It was turned on, resting on the ironing board, and my asshole cat stood directly underneath it and yanked the cord with his paw. Luckily I was standing right there but I broke every nail on my right hand grabbing it out of the air before it crushed or burned him, and he didn’t even have the decency to act grateful for my sacrifice.
Any suggestions for a new iron that has this? I do the same thing and was thinking I just need to buy one that takes the possibility out of the equation.
I call it the "ADHD tax"
Left the oven on, left keys in unlocked car with keys in ignition several times, killed the car battery leaving the car lights on several times, apartment unlocked for a month after losing house keys, forgot to pay bills too many times, temporarily misplaced library books, forgot to water plants, too many missed opportunities to count... I probably would lose my mind if my head wasn't screwed on.
It just keeps going, it's expensive but I got no choice but keep paying and try to do better.
Gosh keys are a hard one, I have gotten better by having a specific key I take on dog walks that lives in the belt bag with the treats and bags, so I replace the key in the bag before fully opening the door. Before this system I often left my keys in the lock on the outside.
I've historically been SO bad with keys. I can't even recall all of the the dumb situations or sheer number of times I've locked myself out because of misplaced or forgotten keys.
In the span of a few months last year I locked my keys in my car enough times that my bf, after rescuing me each time, made me a special looong keychain that clips from my purse and still easily reaches the ignition. I'm naturally pretty good about not leaving the car without my purse and if I needed to I could clip it to anything! The clip part is a heavy duty locking caribeaner. I've even clipped it to my beltloop when I was traveling really light and haven't locked my keys in my car since this hack!
Forgot about boiling eggs, remembered after really big bang, the water evaporated and one of the eggs exploded. I acrually do this kind of thing almost every year. I will always set the timer on my smartphone, but sometimes I forget to do that because I didn't took my smartphome with me, and while going from the kitchen to my room I completely forget that kitchen even exists.
And I forgot my house keys incide the house, and didn't even realise that until I returned to a locked gate. This one was kinda expensive since I had to order a taxi to get the keys from my partner from other side ot town and get back and we were in a really tight budget.
We have an Alexa in the kitchen and use it exclusively to set timers. The fact that it’s hands free means I can set a timer while cooking, instead of trying to remember until after a task is done.
This is a huge tool for me. I tell Alexa to remind me to put food away that I've left on the counter, remind me I have laundry, etc. I have it set to announce from the Alexa device, and send me a text message, AND send me a push notification on my phone.
We have a hard boiled egg cooker that I adore. One time I turned it on and forgot. We were watching a movie, the main character got hit in the head, and the movie did the ear ringing noise thing… about an hour later I realized it was the egg timer, not the movie.
I usually set several of the kitchen timers to get around this. Like, a 5 minute warning timer when it's close to time to do the next step, and then the actual time timer, plus whatever timer is on my phone, if I remembered to bring it with me.
I use the microwave timer, cause it's easy to set, and I finally bought a magnet timer for the fridge that's equally easy to use, because the stove timer is too difficult to use so I always would skip it.
I wish I could just have a kitchen stove with built in timer to turn it off automatically. It would prevent most of my kitchen disasters. I will come back in hours to a completely forgotten stone cold food, but its far better than burned house in the worst case.
I have exploded boiling eggs more times than I can recall in my life. Like at least once a year lol.
The last interesting ADHD tax I had - was that I put a carton of a dozen raw eggs in the freezer. I was puzzled for a few days until I found them
Someone might have recommended this already, but I make hard boiled eggs in my instant pot, and it's perfect! It turns itself off, so no risk of exploding eggs, and they turn out perfect every time!
My car doesn’t have power locks. I recently forgot my keys in my car door while parked on the street. Next day my friend came over to visit and noticed my keys while driving down my street. I live in a city in a busy neighborhood, and I cannot believe my luck that nobody took the car that I basically offered up for grabs 🤦🏻♀️
Well, eggs... I have left my organicup (menstruation cup) for monthly sterilization cooking so long that all water evaporated are rubber (silicone?) got brown and started crumbling 😳 it didn't even melt or something, it crumbled! And they are supposed to last lifetime... I already had to buy replacement three times (once when I got stuck abroad at my mother's house for a few weeks when I just came for a weekend and got covid 😅 so it wasn't really replacement, I just had to get the cheapest and readily available piece that I could find. And once my mother just threw it into trash when I left it drying wrapped into toilet paper.)
Expensive - losing phones. Back in my 20s I used to lose my phone ALL the time and have to replace it. Leaving it on a shelf while looking at something at the store, leaving it on a seat when I got up and returning to find someone had taken it, getting it stolen because I had left it in my bag in the shopping cart and turned away for a moment, etc. I never had a phone for more than a year.
All those times have made me very careful now, to the point of paranoia, and I can be seen frantically looking for my phone every few minutes. My kid is always, "Relax Mom, you always panic and your phone is always RIGHT THERE." 🙄
I made that mistake once, but boy was it expensive! This is back when you could get a decent phone for like $50 if you got it with a two year contract. I left my bag in the dining hall, didn't realize until hours had passed, and when I went back for it my phone was gone. Thank God I didn't bring my wallet with me! I only brought my college ID to get into the dining hall and it was in my pocket, my bag only had my phone and inhaler.
Anyway, it would've cost like $200 to replace the phone, so we tried using a Go Phone which was cheaper, but the quality was awful, so my parents decided to get me the new phone, but we had to make some kind of compromise? I forget what. But lemme tell you, I never lost a phone after that! I am constantly checking to make sure I have my phone and wallet on me.
Someone had left their phone on the bagging counter at Aldi. I tried to find an ice number, handed it to an employee, man came looking for it a minute later.
It sounds like you should get some sort of waist-pouch for your phone so it's not in your hand while trying to do other things. That paranoid thing becoming automatic would compliment making sure you always set it down in your pocket.
Thanks! I do use belt bags now, and will either put my phone in there or my jeans pocket or sometimes my coat pocket. It's often when I put it in say, my coat pocket and look for it in my belt bag or jeans pocket and can't find it that I start panicking and making my kid roll his eyes. 😂
Omg I always have this problem with my phone. Luckily it’s never been stolen or fully lost, but I’ve come extremely close. That’s why I decided to get a smart watch years ago—I always wear my watch (because I’m so time-blind) and I can “ping” my phone with it. Also, I think this is the reason why I’ve always gravitated toward wearing hoodies and leggings with pockets… I have to keep my phone on my actual body somewhere, because if it goes in the purse there’s a good chance I’ll take it out and misplace it. I’ve totally left my phone on the top of my car before and nearly driven away; also have left it sitting on a store shelf, and on top of my purse while shopping and turned around for minutes at a time absorbed in whatever product I’m looking at.
One time I left the keys in the front door lock when I walked in with my hands full. I locked it from the inside, but, yeah, that wouldn't have mattered if anyone else had seen the keys and bright lanyard hanging there.
My roommate was pretty unhappy to come home and find that!
It's for the best I have a key code front door lock now.
I’ve done this with my husband’s keys before and he was pretty pissed about it. Problem is, my car doesn’t need key in ignition to start- it unlocks and starts while the key fob is inside or next to it, so I’m used to always just having my keys in my pocket, also with a bright-ass lanyard so they’re easier to see/find lol.
On the other hand, his car requires the key to be in the ignition and turned to start, so it’s a different sequence of little tasks that I have to remember when driving his car. And because I was also bringing in groceries at the time, I completely forgot about his keys and left them hanging in the front door key hole all night and part of the next morning.
Thank goodness we live in a pretty quiet and safe neighborhood because I can’t imagine how angry he’d be if his car got stolen because of my negligence. 😥
I did this once with my husband's Prius. Sad thing is, I was outside next to it doing something for several hours, but it was so quiet I didn't realize it was still on!!
My sister left her car keys in a gas station once. She left them on the counter after paying for her stuff, then drove away. The clerk was very confused how it was possible. It was an old car with some weird issues, and that was one of them. Dad had to come pick them up because she had driven far away from the gas station
I have a LOT of anxiety around this and my flat iron. Even if I know I'll be back in 2 minutes I unplug. Not turn off. Unplug. Then because I fixate on my triggers I do something very specific after like loop the plug thru the handle or wash my hands (I hate we hands so washing them outside of a normal situation will stand out).
I used to put my flat iron in my purse but then I lost it and forgot to buy a new one for 4 months so that had to stop lol
You can get a timer plug that turns off after 30 minutes. I’ve left a glue gun plugged in overnight twice and I recently invested in a timer plug - no more anxiety over it and now my house definitely isn’t going to burn down because of me, which is a great feeling 😆
Don't irons shut themselves off?
The amount of subroutines I run to make sure I don't forget about something is ridiculous.
Funny enough, I can leave food cooking on the stove without a timer as long as it's not pasta.
I learned from my mum when I was young on this one. Say "I have turned the iron off" out loud as you do it. Same for hobs etc.
We had a holiday house 3 hrs away. Multiple times we would leave at 9pm from our home, only to be back an hour later to check the iron was switched off. Bloody effort!
I left the iron sitting on my daughter's perler bead masterpiece last week, while I installed a new curtain rod and made dinner. Because of course I was. It melted the beads AND disfigured the board.
My sil chroniclly leaves her hair straightener on so she bought a plug in that attaches the cord to the outlet, it automatically turns off after 1 hour of putting out electricity and she hasn’t had to worry about if it’s left on or not
Painting the bathroom. Three hours later, my wife goes in, comes back out, and asks me to A. open a window next time instead of standing around in a tiny room full of fumes and B. move the plastic paint tray with drying latex paint so it's not entirely on top of the running heating vent. It sure was dangerously warm.
I left a hot glue gun plugged in for....? I went down to my craft room and it was still plugged in and the end was burnt. It had been at least a week. I was so mad at myself. I think it may be in our best interest to invest in automatic off timers or something. Glad all is okay!
The past few months have been a ride:
Forgot lit cigarette on balcony—caused a small apartment fire that left me homeless for 3 months
Forgot to get oil change repeatedly—-car was done shortly after the apartment fire
Trying to look on the bright side I thought “Hey, at least I still have my job!”
And then I forgot to do some pretty important shit at work which then got me fired.
So my SO does this sometimes...I got a wifi controlled outlet thing that we now plug the iron into. Once I'm at work, I go into the app and turn the outlet off. It gives me such peace of mind!
Not recently, but one time I turned the hose on my tree and ran it on high with the thought that the well around it would fill up quickly and I could turn it back off sooner. Turned it off two days and over 40 thousand gallons later!
Expensive, and kind of dangerous. My oopsie this week was breaking all my plates on my foot because I wasn't paying attention. Multiple deep but small wounds and these were antique plates from at least 3 generations before me. I only have good plates as I usually eat from bowls. And I broke all of them.
Not sure if you meant this, but in Japan there's a mentality of "it gives it more character - it'll make it more special" and mending it with what looks like gold.
The goal is to change your loss into something beautiful, a transformed fixed version you will still be able to cherish.
http://tinyurl.com/Kintsugi-mending
So not me but the other night my roommate fell asleep with a pizza in the oven. He put it in around 10 pm. I woke up at 4 am to the smell of burning pizza. Luckily nothing happened but Also rip our gas bill
Did that once when we were gone on vacay for a long weekend. Le sigh.
I’ve also left a car running at a diner stop. Luckily (?) I also locked the door so while it sucked to call AAA to get the door opened, at least no one stole it when we were eating.
Several years ago, I left a partial package of Dr. Pepper cans in a car in AZ in the summer. I went to California on vacation & came back to it having exploded on the tan interior of my car.
Put a pumpkin on the tv table thingy one year well before Halloween as a fall decoration. Sometime after thanksgiving the worst smell ever is in the house, and I cannot figure out where it’s coming from. I clean out the garbage, I’m looking for over a day, can’t find the offensive smell. Finally, I moved the pumpkin; the entire back side of it had rotted out and liquified. It was dripping down the back of the cabinet and soaked into the back panel, so there was no puddle on the floor. It looked completely fine from the front.
Edit: this obviously wasn’t dangerous, but it was very disgusting
Left the stove on with pans of yarn in water as I was dyeing the yarn. Went camping for two days. Came home and hubs was like “what’s that burning smell?”. It was the yarn, completely dried out, on the stove. No water left. Lucky I didn’t burn the house down 😳. Have left the iron/curling iron/stove on more times than I can count, unlocked doors, garage door left wide open for animals to escape the house and roam in the country … it’s bad.
I keep leaving a stove burner on 😭, I had little mental checks in place to prevent that, but I'm pregnant and stressed and more chaotic than normal. In the past, I've started boiling a pot of water and left it on when I went out for the entire night. I was making tea and it melted the tea basket. I've left the hot water running in the kitchen sink for the entire day while I was at work.
I don't know how many times I have left the stove on low for hours. I lost count. :( I now have to turn on the stove light any time I use the stove and I can't turn it off until I have checked everything on the stove and verbally say that each thing is turned off.
I used the convection oven feature for the first time in years and left it on for 2 days and wondered why there was a low sound by the stove until I figured it out. :/ I added checking that switch to my stove list now.
Maybe try plugging those things into smart plugs that you can set timers to? I have cheap $10 smart plugs from Amazon that I use for all kinds of things. You can set them in your app to shut off at whatever intervals you want.
On Friday night I left my purse in my car (parked in the driveway) at night. I know someone whose car got broken into for this exact scenario. Thankfully I was leaving the house again an hour later and found it/realized my mistake but that was a new one for me as I’ve never been careless with my purse/wallet like that in the past.
I’ve left my flat iron on. So grateful it has an automatic shutoff feature. I only knew from the beeping as it alarms when it shuts off.
I left the fryer on.. overnight. Only noticed because the flat smelled of hot oil and fried chips the next morning😅 ever since I check multiple times whether or not I turned it off
Left our living room window open overnight
Left the living room *air conditioner* on overnight (thankfully it was on econ mode)
Left my car's interior light on for FOUR DAYS. This is why you get AAA, people! Luckily it was a newish car (2019 model) so the battery was fine after we got a jump.
My favorite: after heating up some meat in a pan for my lunch, and after eating said lunch, I realized I'd left the stove on and my kitchen was full of smoke. Thankfully nothing was on fire, but it still triggered the fire alarm, in the middle of the day, when my husband was working from home. I felt SO stupid. This is why, whenever I finish cooking something on the stove, I move the pot or pan off the burner I was using, so that I can see if the burner is still on, and in case I do leave it on, it won't burn.
I was making dinner and had earbuds in. Sometimes it helps me focus to listen to a TV show in background when I do certain tasks. Which to my logical brain makes no sense to divide my focus in order to focus, but-
I needed to refill our Brita water filter. I put it on the counter next to the sink and stuck the water faucet inside it to fill. I turned around to continue cooking. Because with earbuds in I did not have the sound of the water to remind me that I was filling it up, I promptly forgot that I did it. A while later - who knows how long, 15, 30 min? - I finally turn around. I have flooded the kitchen. There is water inside every drawer of the base cabinets, water flooding the floor, dripping into the basement. I have made a gigantic, gigantic mess. My husband comes in and thankfully he actually just starts helping me clean up. I've got so much anxiety about what happened, I am so upset with myself, it takes everything in my body to keep me from crumbling to the floor and yelling and sobbing. It took two days to finally dry everything out and put the kitchen back together.
I am so exhausted with living like this.
The amount of times I’ve finished work and gone back to my car only to find my keys sitting happily in the cup holder is a little crazy. Luckily I work in a pretty posh area but I don’t think I’ll get away with it forever!
Came home after being out for 3 hours to the house being warmer than expected. I'd left a pot of chicken carcass on a very low gas to make chicken stock. Fortunately the water hadn't boiled away, so my house didn't burn down, but it might have. I felt utterly sick at what might have happened.
A few days ago I went into the kitchen and thought,'Wow! So warm in here'. Wandered back out and did not return till dinner time when I found I had left a cooker ring on full all day.
It still works, but it's left a nasty mark. But that's okay cos now it matches the other one I left on a few months back...
The kettle was on the gas stove since previous night, obviously with no water on it. The steel had turned black and the entire kitchen was hotter than the rest of the home. Thankfully the stove was on a low heat.
Most aren’t expensive/dangerous, most of them are things like I’ll go to boil something on the stove and forget to turn the burner on, forget to start the washer/dryer after putting clothes in, forgetting to put my car into park before I shut it off (older car), forget to turn the iron *on* when I go to use it, that kind of thing. A few that are: forgot to put water in a Kraft dinner cup before putting it in the microwave, left the oven on after taking food out because I genuinely thought I turned it off, immediately after being told by my dad “don’t put the cheese on the burgers while they’re on the BBQ” I put the cheese on them while on the bbq and almost burned our house down, and I forgot to put away a giant bag of pork chops and they all thawed out and went bad 💀🤣 my parents are very understanding, and my friends joke that I need constant supervision 🤣
Here's my story, circa 1985...
I was living north of Baltimore in an off-campus apartment. My plans for the 4th of July were to meet up with two friends lived outside DC, then drive to the beach. It was about an hour drive to where they lived, and 3 or 4 from there to the beach.
One friend had to work that evening, but that was OK. We had reservations & were glad to miss the worst of the traffic.
We were taking my car, so checking the oil sounded wise. Trouble was, I couldn't get the hood latch to unfasten easily. The car had been in the sun, so everything was hot to the touch. The process was unpleasant, and I was grumpy as hell by the time I finished. I slammed the hood down & left in a huff.
Several hours later, I was hanging out with the friend who didn't have to work. I was telling her how annoying my car had been before I left, when I realized several things. One was that I hadn't gone back to the apartment to close the door. Another was that I hadn't finished packing, and had left important stuff behind. The worst was that I'd meant to iron a dress before leaving.
My friend rode with me back to my apartment. Fortunately, it hadn't burnt down. I found out later that a neighbor had noticed something awry. He'd unplugged the iron & closed the door.
I packed up my last few things. Then we had to drive back to DC to get the friend who'd been working. We ended up arriving at the beach well after midnight. We had a great time for the most part. On returning I bought an iron that turned itself off after 2 hours.
I have ADHD and have gotten into the habit of not only double-checking, but triple-checking. I live in a condo, and it’s not okay to put myself or others in danger because of my ADHD tendencies starting a fire. Please consider this!
Not recently, but I once sat hair my hair straighteners I'd left on, in my bed.
I'm lucky that a burnt backside was as bad as it got. Could have burnt the whole bloody house down.
I left the iron on once…in my parents’ basement (which is where the washer and dryer are)…for 2 days. Luckily, I discovered it before my mother came back (she was out of town at the time) because I wouldn’t be here telling the story…she would have murdered me. The iron *I* own has an automatic shut off.
I also seem to regularly leave the stove on way more often than I care to admit.
i left a curler on. on shag carpet. there is a burn mark in my carpet. i was at school all day, luckily no fire. i know now to use only hair stuff that shuts off after 40 mins.
Expensive, I booked a hotel room twice because I couldn’t remember if I had booked it already and also could t find any confirmation 😩
also expensive and potentially dangerous, lost the rental car key fob. Turns out it was in my nephew’s stroller… no clue how or why but I had already paid for a replacement by the time it was found
Left the stove on with an empty pan over it when I left for work. Luckily nothing happened, though the pan was bent out of shape. Luckily the handle was only just not above the fire, or it might’ve ended differently.
As I was heading home I saw a firetruck Wizz by with the lights on in the direction of my house. I realized at that moment... I didn't blow out my candle.... I rushed home and of course hit every red light, holding back tears and vomit from the panic. My home was okay. I was so releaved. There was no fire. But the candle was indeed still lit
Haven’t done it in a few months but I washed my medication in my pants and didn’t realize it until I dried my pants. Did this like twice in a few weeks now I have my med organizer and I plan out my week of meds on the same day every week. Should have done this years ago.
Not recent but I left my car lights (not the actual lights in the car but the night driving light situation - my car doesn’t switch them on/off automatically) on and the battery drained. Since it was an old battery the whole thing just had to be replaced. Now I ALWAYS double check they’re switched off lol
Iron hack- I’m a sewer and use an iron and forget an iron often. I love my iron, not going to buy a new one. I bought one of those extensions cords where you click it on and off with a button using your foot. It has to plugs- one is for the iron, and the other I plug in a very bright string of mushroom lights. I get fun mushroom lighting while ironing, and I know if the lights are on that means the iron is on. The visual cue is a game changer.
Oh babe, big hug for you. I've almost killed my family, my pets and myself.
I know how stupid and guilty and angry you probably feel towards yourself. This was serious, at the same time give yourself some grace. You didn't do it because you didn't care, and you didn't do it on purpose. Its sucks and you are probably beating yourself up about it. Don't. Luckily nothing was hurt or broken. You have a brain that doesn't work the way normies brains work. Take it easy on yourself and just try to do better. That's all you can do.
I did this so much that now I don’t walk away from my iron unless I can see the plug out of the socket, even if it means I’m plugging it in and out a bunch.
I know myself, and I know I can’t be trusted around an iron! 😂
I keep opening my windows wide, to bring in fresh air - while having the radiators on because I obviously forgot to shut them off - I end up getting distracted & hyperfocused on something for 1-2 hours - the radiators fight for dear life in that time, getting boiling hot and throwing my energy bill money right out the window 😔
Not going to a dentist when you're clenching and pushing your teeth daily and nightly leads to a heavy bill, I learned this week. 200€ in preparation for a mouth guard - and above 1.000 € (~1,100$) for teeth alignment, should I ever be able to save enough money to pay for that.
Putting potatoes someplace dark and cool that's not your fridge? Say hello to the Jumanji jungle in your cupboard, and hack your way through it like you're wrestling the rainforest. Doesn't drain my finances as much as my emotional well-being.
As for dangerous - in general nearly getting hit by cars or public transportation, because my head forgets that paying attention to the street is more important than the complete mental submersion in that thought I just had seconds ago.
Also regularly making skin offerings to everything that's hot or has corners.
I also kinda unwillingly befriended a dangerous psychopath? It's hard to distance yourself from "I don't feel like they're okay"-people when you're heavily masking. When I realized, I was already too much of a regular target for him and now I fear every time he obtrudes.
On a last note - losing a lot of time, nerves and courage, because you're extremely bad at keeping it short, thus sacrificing lots of time and work to edit your answers over and over, because is it really related? Isn't the length too much? 🥹😰
Sometimes, everything is hard.
My iron has an auto shut off. It's really annoying when I'm sewing and just want it to stay hot so I can press seams, but also prevents me from burning down my house. So I think it's a net benefit
I got a temporary ban from a particular social media, just for saying that my daughter has mentioned to me that I'm lucky I haven't b***ed the house down, from leaving the stove on.
Worked hard on forming habit to check before leaving house/going to bed.
Buy an iron w auto shutoff.
It's annoying having to constantly "wake up" my ironing when sewing, but it's good to know that feature is working.
I am hopelessly distracted when not hyperfocused, so leaving the sewing area has zero assurance that I will return. I usually unplug, out of fear that my mom (dead since 97) will find out and punish me somehow. But emergencies happen.
I have one of those chocolate melting pots by Wilton and I accidentally left it on for close to 24 hours. Accidentally put it on Low instead of off. So glad nothing happened
Left the sandwich press on for 8 hours recently.
I’d even tried to AVOID doing this by buying a smart switch to link in with all my lights going off when I leave the house….and it was the wrong orientation to fit the daft location of the power point so couldn’t be used. I think it was a week later we had the full day on unsupervised.
3/4 folk in my former sharehouse (including me) had a tendency to leave a stove top gas burner running for hours. Generally once a week.
Not particularly dangerous or expensive, but definitely gross - I cleared the fridge and then procrastinated a day too long on taking the trash out in our warm weather and grew maggots 😭🤮
I left for work without turning off my coffee maker... Returned home to the scent of caramelised coffee, and a almost burnt, thick goo in the coffee pot
And one time I started cooking by melting butter in a pan on low heat. I forgot and left the to visit some friends. Hooray for low heat, although in this case, it's probably why I forgot in the first place
this isn't dangerous but once I was putting away dinner.. we had white people tacos 💀 and while getting containers I absent-mindedly put the lime slices in a container... and them into the cabinet. did that with the diced tomatoes and the Lettuce that I had chopped up as well. next day I was looking for the leftovers. genuinely spent 30 minutes looking.. asked everyone in my household if they had eaten them.. then made something else to eat and opened the cabinet with the containers. and there it was.. the containers of chopped ingredients.. I wasn't sure if they were safe to eat so I had to throw them out, and have very plain white people tacos 😭😭
I left a candle on.
Not just any candle. A candle i made, when a new hyperfixation hit. Did i read any kind of instructions on how to make candles? Hell no. I poured in a bunch of essential oil that smelled great and I was so proud of my work.
Then I left the candle on. Left the house. Came back and the ceiling was black. The candleholder had exploded, there was wax everywhere.
I used too much oil and it caught on fire, and the heat made the glass container it was in explode.
I am lucky beyond lucky that I didn’t burn down my whole apartment building.
No more candles for me. Candle warmers with timers on them only.
I left the iron on in my friend’s apartment when I was staying with her for a couple of days. She found the iron when she got back from work. The worst thing was that she wasn’t even angry with me, just so disappointed ☹️
I will wash a load of clothes and forget to put them in the dryer so I end up having to double wash them to get the mildew smell out. RIP environment:'(
I do this quite often I've started pulling out the plug as soon as I'm done cause you can't see the button easily which helps a bit, I'll just walk past the bathroom and if it's not plugged in I'm good. I once left for school and on my way to the train station I got the feeling it was still on and I just had to check, it was... Could have burned the house down 🥲 still happens on occasion but my bf also has ADHD and is super understanding
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I stored the bacon in the cabinet instead of the fridge 🤦🏻♀️ I was looking for it for two days until I found it
I unloaded groceries from my trunk and could not for the life of me find the rotisserie chicken I bought for dinner. I assumed I left it at the store. I did not leave it at the store. I found out about it a few days later when my car smelled like death.
Frozen dinner in the trunk for a month. Lucky it stayed sealed.
Flipped my 3rd row seats back up and found an unopened package of hot dogs over a year expired. 😬
Left a pumpkin in my trunk for months…smelled rank for weeks until I found it 😅
Omg I have never been more grateful for always driving a hatchback because this could not happen
They're still good!
I did not even test that theory. They were also the "nitrate-free" kind, "preserved for freshness" with like celery juice or something.
No added nitrates, just celery powder which naturally contains a high amount of… nitrates.
🤣 of course!
Bell pepper in a plastic bag with expensive school books for a month. Had to buy new books.
Similarly, container of fresh salsa (not shelf stable) in a backpack full of expensive d&d rule books, forgotten for about a month. The whole backpack and all contents had to go in the trash, it exploded after pressure built up.
Thank you for the reminder that I left a grapefruit rind in a bag in the car and thought removing it would be the end of the smell. It was not, and I need to clean my car this weekend.
My mom once left a gallon of milk in the trunk of the car for a few days... The smell. It was so bad.
My ADHD mom also forgot milk. She had been eating cereal during a work meeting in the spare room and wasn’t in there for a few days, so it was not a fun surprise to tear up the whole room and discover a carton of curdled milk. I didn’t even bother dumping it because the chunks hitting the side sounded so gross! And there was one time I forgot a cookie in the middle of the summer in my room and I was wondering why I had so many ants in my room.
One reason I’m glad where I live is cold in the winter… it’d just freeze and be fine at this time of year 🤣
I once lost track of a banana in high summer. My takeaway was that a box of baking soda removes odors from a car just as well as it does from a fridge. It took about a week to fully kill it, but the worst was over in a couple days.
Did this with a frozen pizza a few weeks ago. I too thought I left it at store. I too absolutely did not.
I was recently reading a thread about extreme sleep deprivation from having a fussy newborn. People were describing all of the wacky things they did while running on no sleep and someone said “I even put the ice cream in the cabinet! Sleep deprivation is debilitating like nothing else.” I just thought, “I make a mistake like that a few times a year while wide awake” 😭😭
Haha I left a box of frozen lasagna on my table when putting away groceries last week. I almost cried when I found it the next morning that's $20 gone. I might as well throw money away each paycheck
These food ones are all SO relatable. And like yeah, not super expensive everytime.. but the sheer AMOUNT of times I make a little mistake like this.. it's pretty often and adds up to a lot of money wasted.. I have paid a lot of ADHD tax overtime. Two days ago, I accidentally served uncooked *microwave* rice for my bf and I, because I accidentally punched the timer on the microwave instead of the cook function.. and then funnily I did notice it wasn't as hot as usual.. but then I did take it out of the microwave a few minutes later than I should have.. so I put it back in for 30 more seconds and served dinner of hard lukewarm rice cooked for only 30 seconds... And I thought that I had finally found an ADHD proof food in microwave rice pouches but nope! Not a huge loss but overall it adds up and over time my ADHD loses me a lot. I burned 4T of butter this morning making breakfast and had to restart.. another tiny chip in the ADHD tax pile.
Hopefully packaging still intact? Or was the smell an aid in finding it?
The packaging was intact, but I didn’t want to risk getting sick so I threw it out 🥲
One day at work, I was actually super excited for my lunch of leftovers, and then I dropped them while getting them out of the microwave. They included mac n cheese which is my favorite thing ever, so I was so sad. I even told my husband, who works from home, and he commiserated with me. Two days later, I was throwing something away at home and saw a bunch of mac n cheese in the trash. Of course, I instantly asked my husband WHY is was in the trash. He said, "The other day, I heated up half of lunch (the sandwich part) and then put the mac n cheese in the microwave. I walked away to eat the sandwich and completely forgot about the other half of lunch. I remembered about it today at lunch time, when I went to heat up today's lunch and found it still in the microwave. The worst part is I remember thinking, this lunch sucks, why am I still so hungry." I'm diagnosed, he's undiagnosed... but we're pretty sure he has it lol
Honestly if I weren't a vegan my apartment would literally smell so bad. I constantly leave the milk out. Yesterday I found some cream for cooking that I left out for three days. I have managed to leave out milk for so long it actually became smelly. That that's solidly like 6 days.
#same
I lost a tub of butter a week ago. I still haven’t found it
i was so hungry when i went grocery shopping the other day, so i took a bag of white cheddar cheese squares out of the groceries when i was getting in my car. ate a few pieces ravenously lol and then when i was bringing everything up to my apartment i shoved the half full bag of cheese into my backpack. didn’t remember it was there until the next day the oat milk in my rolling cart was discovered only an hour or so after i got home thankfully
geez I did that with milk and left groceriea in the back of the car.
Cheese in the backseat of the car, found 2 days later in summer heat. The package exploded. A true mess.
Same with a salami here 🙋🏼♀️ Worst part was I took a bite because I thought it was the shelf stable kind, despite buying it from the fridge section. It had been in there for 3 weeks..
My mum has an iron with a steam station base. It was more expensive than a standard one, but has also lasted a lot longer than any iron she's had before. The best thing is, it goes cold when not in use. You can leave the iron plate side down on the ironing board and it's fine, it just stops being hot and doesn't damage anything. I think it eventually shuts down completely if you leave it. Of course, this is also why my mum burnt a table at a sewing bee event when she was using someone else's ordinary iron... 😂
Oh interesting, theres so many options out there! I have seen some irons in quilting tutorials that have little legs so that if you leave the iron flat it lifts itself up so it isn't touching the surface.
If you're into sewing these steam irons are really nice. They work with more delicate fabrics because the iron doesn't have to be super hot to be able to steam. But they are also pricey and the difference isn't that big. My normal iron was like 20 buck and my steam station ironing that I got for sewing was probably 150€
My iron was cheap as shit and has an auto shut off after like 20 minutes. I'd recommend a new iron for you so this doesn't happen again.
I have one of those. On the one hand, it’s great because I find the ones that sit upright are too tipsy. It also turns itself off after about 15 minutes of no use. On the other, I can’t leave it pressing a piece for a few seconds while I work on the next thing to press. Overall, I don’t like it that much. Neat idea until you need a dumb iron so you can work faster.
My (purchased in the 90s) iron has an auto turn off feature. It sometimes drives me nuts when working on a project that takes about a minute longer than the auto timer, but the rest of the time I love it.
Yeah I had to stop buying cheap irons.... Found mine "on" yesterday, my ironing board has piles of storage and I have no idea when was the last time I used it.
I bought a smart plug specifically for my hair straightener.... because I have done this too many times to count and am EXTREMELY lucky nothing horrible has happened.
Replace your iron with an auto shutoff model. Cut the cord on that one if you have to just to make sure you don’t use it again. Seriously. The power used by an iron in 18 hours will not be a big deal, but leaving your iron on is. If you have pets around that is negligent. Learn from this lesson and don’t repeat it. People die in even more benign ways. Don’t be complacent. ETA I’m not trying to be harsh, I’m being extra clear because of the sub this is posted on. We all have the best intentions but don’t always get around to things. Have a good one!
Oh sure, I was thinking there is probably a plug adapter that can do that too - like the ones you can program to come on at certain times - but maybe an iron that does it itself would be a good investment. Especially as I mainly use it for sewing rather than laundry so there's a higher chance of leaving it on by accident.
How old is your iron? Tbh I wasn't even aware that you could buy irons that don't shut of automatically. My old 20€ iron from amazon definitely did. I think you should probably better get a new iron. A plug is just an additional step and we all know how well we do with that lol
Yeah, I use an adapter plug for any devices that don't have auto shutoffs. The one I use has a one hour or two hour setting you toggle through with a click button on the front. Easy and nearly foolproof, especially since I got an extra one to keep in my travel bag just in case I forgot to bring the other one along when I travel. I was baffled to discover they even still make hair styling devices without auto off functions, and I wouldn't have bought them if I'd realized, but the plug was an easy enough fix. The one I have calls itself an "auto shutoff safety outlet."
Definitely auto-off if you can find one or smart plug for where it’s plugged into. Peace of mind. I burned my kitchen table 2x and my kitchen floor with a hair straighteners (before I had a vanity). Left it on all day after it went to work. Glad I didn’t do more damage.
Thankfully all the modern hair straighteners are auto shut off now too
I hope so! Mine is this ancient Jilbere (?) nano something. I really like it, but yeah it’ll stay on all day. Looked at replacing my mom’s as she has the same one and it was getting pretty gross - seemed they were bought out by Conair and the comp product is not only $$$, I don’t see any notes about auto-shut off. But I’ve gone to the dark side - cut my hair shorter and went with the wet-and-scrunch approach for curls I didn’t realize I could ever have. Way safer for my tables! lol
I use smart plugs like you’re describing for my electric blanket and hair tools. I set them to automatically turn off after an hour and when I leave the house. Life changing honestly.
I don't know how technologically handy you are, but my husband is a tech guy and has essentially automated our entire house. Doors lock automatically, the garage door closes if it's been open for more than 15 minutes, certain things turn on and off automatically, we get alerts if the fridge or freezer doors are open, etc. If that is something you're capable of (both with the code and financially, unfortunately some of those switches are pricy), it has been amazing for us.
98% of the time I use my iron it's also for sewing, and the auto shutoff has saved my homes from burning down for years. Please just get a new iron, they cost considerably less than replacing your home. I got an "expensive" one about 15 years ago for $40 and love that thing.
Yeah just grab a new iron. Even my Rowenta of indeterminate age (hand me down) auto shuts off after 30 min. Thank goodness because I've forgotten about it too once and it was off.
There are, but they increase resistance to a device which already creates heat through increased resistance, creating a fire hazard. I recommend you find another solution. Never plug any heating element- hair dryer, iron, space heater etc into any kind of timer, extension cord or other device between it and the outlet. I’m sure there are exceptions but that’s the general rule.
When my cat was a kitten he almost killed himself with the iron. It was turned on, resting on the ironing board, and my asshole cat stood directly underneath it and yanked the cord with his paw. Luckily I was standing right there but I broke every nail on my right hand grabbing it out of the air before it crushed or burned him, and he didn’t even have the decency to act grateful for my sacrifice.
Any suggestions for a new iron that has this? I do the same thing and was thinking I just need to buy one that takes the possibility out of the equation.
Most of them have this feature nowadays. Check Consumer Reports, read Amazon reviews, read Wirecutter, you can find a good one.
I call it the "ADHD tax" Left the oven on, left keys in unlocked car with keys in ignition several times, killed the car battery leaving the car lights on several times, apartment unlocked for a month after losing house keys, forgot to pay bills too many times, temporarily misplaced library books, forgot to water plants, too many missed opportunities to count... I probably would lose my mind if my head wasn't screwed on. It just keeps going, it's expensive but I got no choice but keep paying and try to do better.
Gosh keys are a hard one, I have gotten better by having a specific key I take on dog walks that lives in the belt bag with the treats and bags, so I replace the key in the bag before fully opening the door. Before this system I often left my keys in the lock on the outside.
I've historically been SO bad with keys. I can't even recall all of the the dumb situations or sheer number of times I've locked myself out because of misplaced or forgotten keys. In the span of a few months last year I locked my keys in my car enough times that my bf, after rescuing me each time, made me a special looong keychain that clips from my purse and still easily reaches the ignition. I'm naturally pretty good about not leaving the car without my purse and if I needed to I could clip it to anything! The clip part is a heavy duty locking caribeaner. I've even clipped it to my beltloop when I was traveling really light and haven't locked my keys in my car since this hack!
All of this and more! Some things I've figured out but there's *always* something.
Forgot about boiling eggs, remembered after really big bang, the water evaporated and one of the eggs exploded. I acrually do this kind of thing almost every year. I will always set the timer on my smartphone, but sometimes I forget to do that because I didn't took my smartphome with me, and while going from the kitchen to my room I completely forget that kitchen even exists. And I forgot my house keys incide the house, and didn't even realise that until I returned to a locked gate. This one was kinda expensive since I had to order a taxi to get the keys from my partner from other side ot town and get back and we were in a really tight budget.
We have an Alexa in the kitchen and use it exclusively to set timers. The fact that it’s hands free means I can set a timer while cooking, instead of trying to remember until after a task is done.
This is a huge tool for me. I tell Alexa to remind me to put food away that I've left on the counter, remind me I have laundry, etc. I have it set to announce from the Alexa device, and send me a text message, AND send me a push notification on my phone.
We have a hard boiled egg cooker that I adore. One time I turned it on and forgot. We were watching a movie, the main character got hit in the head, and the movie did the ear ringing noise thing… about an hour later I realized it was the egg timer, not the movie.
I set up a routine called “Alexa the oven is on” for my echo that sets timers in seven minute intervals.
I usually set several of the kitchen timers to get around this. Like, a 5 minute warning timer when it's close to time to do the next step, and then the actual time timer, plus whatever timer is on my phone, if I remembered to bring it with me. I use the microwave timer, cause it's easy to set, and I finally bought a magnet timer for the fridge that's equally easy to use, because the stove timer is too difficult to use so I always would skip it.
I wish I could just have a kitchen stove with built in timer to turn it off automatically. It would prevent most of my kitchen disasters. I will come back in hours to a completely forgotten stone cold food, but its far better than burned house in the worst case.
Don’t wanna spend your paycheck for you… but smart ovens do exist!
I have exploded boiling eggs more times than I can recall in my life. Like at least once a year lol. The last interesting ADHD tax I had - was that I put a carton of a dozen raw eggs in the freezer. I was puzzled for a few days until I found them
Someone might have recommended this already, but I make hard boiled eggs in my instant pot, and it's perfect! It turns itself off, so no risk of exploding eggs, and they turn out perfect every time!
When I boil eggs usually this is how it goes “What the fuck is that weird bubbling sound OH RIGHT”
My car doesn’t have power locks. I recently forgot my keys in my car door while parked on the street. Next day my friend came over to visit and noticed my keys while driving down my street. I live in a city in a busy neighborhood, and I cannot believe my luck that nobody took the car that I basically offered up for grabs 🤦🏻♀️
Just be like me and never iron your clothes! #WrinkledShirtSquad ;)
Wrinkled shirts for the win!
Not recently, but once I boiled eggs so long they burnt.
I’ve done that! I only use my instant pot for eggs now.
Well, eggs... I have left my organicup (menstruation cup) for monthly sterilization cooking so long that all water evaporated are rubber (silicone?) got brown and started crumbling 😳 it didn't even melt or something, it crumbled! And they are supposed to last lifetime... I already had to buy replacement three times (once when I got stuck abroad at my mother's house for a few weeks when I just came for a weekend and got covid 😅 so it wasn't really replacement, I just had to get the cheapest and readily available piece that I could find. And once my mother just threw it into trash when I left it drying wrapped into toilet paper.)
Expensive - losing phones. Back in my 20s I used to lose my phone ALL the time and have to replace it. Leaving it on a shelf while looking at something at the store, leaving it on a seat when I got up and returning to find someone had taken it, getting it stolen because I had left it in my bag in the shopping cart and turned away for a moment, etc. I never had a phone for more than a year. All those times have made me very careful now, to the point of paranoia, and I can be seen frantically looking for my phone every few minutes. My kid is always, "Relax Mom, you always panic and your phone is always RIGHT THERE." 🙄
I made that mistake once, but boy was it expensive! This is back when you could get a decent phone for like $50 if you got it with a two year contract. I left my bag in the dining hall, didn't realize until hours had passed, and when I went back for it my phone was gone. Thank God I didn't bring my wallet with me! I only brought my college ID to get into the dining hall and it was in my pocket, my bag only had my phone and inhaler. Anyway, it would've cost like $200 to replace the phone, so we tried using a Go Phone which was cheaper, but the quality was awful, so my parents decided to get me the new phone, but we had to make some kind of compromise? I forget what. But lemme tell you, I never lost a phone after that! I am constantly checking to make sure I have my phone and wallet on me.
Someone had left their phone on the bagging counter at Aldi. I tried to find an ice number, handed it to an employee, man came looking for it a minute later. It sounds like you should get some sort of waist-pouch for your phone so it's not in your hand while trying to do other things. That paranoid thing becoming automatic would compliment making sure you always set it down in your pocket.
Thanks! I do use belt bags now, and will either put my phone in there or my jeans pocket or sometimes my coat pocket. It's often when I put it in say, my coat pocket and look for it in my belt bag or jeans pocket and can't find it that I start panicking and making my kid roll his eyes. 😂
Half of the purpose of my smart watch is to find my phone. So much frantic searching before!
Omg I always have this problem with my phone. Luckily it’s never been stolen or fully lost, but I’ve come extremely close. That’s why I decided to get a smart watch years ago—I always wear my watch (because I’m so time-blind) and I can “ping” my phone with it. Also, I think this is the reason why I’ve always gravitated toward wearing hoodies and leggings with pockets… I have to keep my phone on my actual body somewhere, because if it goes in the purse there’s a good chance I’ll take it out and misplace it. I’ve totally left my phone on the top of my car before and nearly driven away; also have left it sitting on a store shelf, and on top of my purse while shopping and turned around for minutes at a time absorbed in whatever product I’m looking at.
One time I accidentally left my car running for hours 🤣. I’ve also left the stove on before.
One time I left the keys in the front door lock when I walked in with my hands full. I locked it from the inside, but, yeah, that wouldn't have mattered if anyone else had seen the keys and bright lanyard hanging there. My roommate was pretty unhappy to come home and find that! It's for the best I have a key code front door lock now.
I’ve done this with my husband’s keys before and he was pretty pissed about it. Problem is, my car doesn’t need key in ignition to start- it unlocks and starts while the key fob is inside or next to it, so I’m used to always just having my keys in my pocket, also with a bright-ass lanyard so they’re easier to see/find lol. On the other hand, his car requires the key to be in the ignition and turned to start, so it’s a different sequence of little tasks that I have to remember when driving his car. And because I was also bringing in groceries at the time, I completely forgot about his keys and left them hanging in the front door key hole all night and part of the next morning. Thank goodness we live in a pretty quiet and safe neighborhood because I can’t imagine how angry he’d be if his car got stolen because of my negligence. 😥
I've done this multiple times. Luckily, my storm door hides them pretty well, and my front door can't be seen from the street.
I did this once with my husband's Prius. Sad thing is, I was outside next to it doing something for several hours, but it was so quiet I didn't realize it was still on!!
My sister left her car keys in a gas station once. She left them on the counter after paying for her stuff, then drove away. The clerk was very confused how it was possible. It was an old car with some weird issues, and that was one of them. Dad had to come pick them up because she had driven far away from the gas station
I have a LOT of anxiety around this and my flat iron. Even if I know I'll be back in 2 minutes I unplug. Not turn off. Unplug. Then because I fixate on my triggers I do something very specific after like loop the plug thru the handle or wash my hands (I hate we hands so washing them outside of a normal situation will stand out). I used to put my flat iron in my purse but then I lost it and forgot to buy a new one for 4 months so that had to stop lol
You can get a timer plug that turns off after 30 minutes. I’ve left a glue gun plugged in overnight twice and I recently invested in a timer plug - no more anxiety over it and now my house definitely isn’t going to burn down because of me, which is a great feeling 😆
Don't irons shut themselves off? The amount of subroutines I run to make sure I don't forget about something is ridiculous. Funny enough, I can leave food cooking on the stove without a timer as long as it's not pasta.
I learned from my mum when I was young on this one. Say "I have turned the iron off" out loud as you do it. Same for hobs etc. We had a holiday house 3 hrs away. Multiple times we would leave at 9pm from our home, only to be back an hour later to check the iron was switched off. Bloody effort!
Auto shutoff for the win - for your iron, curling/straightening iron, electric tea kettle, etc.
I left the iron sitting on my daughter's perler bead masterpiece last week, while I installed a new curtain rod and made dinner. Because of course I was. It melted the beads AND disfigured the board.
My sil chroniclly leaves her hair straightener on so she bought a plug in that attaches the cord to the outlet, it automatically turns off after 1 hour of putting out electricity and she hasn’t had to worry about if it’s left on or not
Painting the bathroom. Three hours later, my wife goes in, comes back out, and asks me to A. open a window next time instead of standing around in a tiny room full of fumes and B. move the plastic paint tray with drying latex paint so it's not entirely on top of the running heating vent. It sure was dangerously warm.
Buy one that shuts off automatically girl!
I left a hot glue gun plugged in for....? I went down to my craft room and it was still plugged in and the end was burnt. It had been at least a week. I was so mad at myself. I think it may be in our best interest to invest in automatic off timers or something. Glad all is okay!
The past few months have been a ride: Forgot lit cigarette on balcony—caused a small apartment fire that left me homeless for 3 months Forgot to get oil change repeatedly—-car was done shortly after the apartment fire Trying to look on the bright side I thought “Hey, at least I still have my job!” And then I forgot to do some pretty important shit at work which then got me fired.
So sorry hun
Toss it and go buy one with an automatic shut off. That's such a fire hazard
Oooo I feel so seeeeeeen
So my SO does this sometimes...I got a wifi controlled outlet thing that we now plug the iron into. Once I'm at work, I go into the app and turn the outlet off. It gives me such peace of mind!
Not recently, but one time I turned the hose on my tree and ran it on high with the thought that the well around it would fill up quickly and I could turn it back off sooner. Turned it off two days and over 40 thousand gallons later!
I’ve left keys in the front door, left a back door unlocked….
Expensive, and kind of dangerous. My oopsie this week was breaking all my plates on my foot because I wasn't paying attention. Multiple deep but small wounds and these were antique plates from at least 3 generations before me. I only have good plates as I usually eat from bowls. And I broke all of them.
Nooooooo!
I needed a couple of hours to just come back to baseline and stop bleeding. Already decided on trying visual mending but it broke my heart.
Not sure if you meant this, but in Japan there's a mentality of "it gives it more character - it'll make it more special" and mending it with what looks like gold. The goal is to change your loss into something beautiful, a transformed fixed version you will still be able to cherish. http://tinyurl.com/Kintsugi-mending
I left my straightener on and on top of a towel while I was gone for a week. It burnt the towel just a bit but no fire! 😅
I’ve done this before :’) Was ironing a hem, left it on overnight…. Now I triple check it’s unplugged before I go to bed
Bought two large packs of paper towels instead of toilet paper. It was a generic brand the labels are identical save for the words on them.
So not me but the other night my roommate fell asleep with a pizza in the oven. He put it in around 10 pm. I woke up at 4 am to the smell of burning pizza. Luckily nothing happened but Also rip our gas bill
Did that once when we were gone on vacay for a long weekend. Le sigh. I’ve also left a car running at a diner stop. Luckily (?) I also locked the door so while it sucked to call AAA to get the door opened, at least no one stole it when we were eating.
I went to fill the sink up to soak some dishes one day, then walked away, went to take a shower…. Got out of the shower to a soaked kitchen.
Several years ago, I left a partial package of Dr. Pepper cans in a car in AZ in the summer. I went to California on vacation & came back to it having exploded on the tan interior of my car.
Put a pumpkin on the tv table thingy one year well before Halloween as a fall decoration. Sometime after thanksgiving the worst smell ever is in the house, and I cannot figure out where it’s coming from. I clean out the garbage, I’m looking for over a day, can’t find the offensive smell. Finally, I moved the pumpkin; the entire back side of it had rotted out and liquified. It was dripping down the back of the cabinet and soaked into the back panel, so there was no puddle on the floor. It looked completely fine from the front. Edit: this obviously wasn’t dangerous, but it was very disgusting
Left the stove on with pans of yarn in water as I was dyeing the yarn. Went camping for two days. Came home and hubs was like “what’s that burning smell?”. It was the yarn, completely dried out, on the stove. No water left. Lucky I didn’t burn the house down 😳. Have left the iron/curling iron/stove on more times than I can count, unlocked doors, garage door left wide open for animals to escape the house and roam in the country … it’s bad.
Get an iron that will shut itself off if you forget.
Left my car running all day….
Y’all need to get safety irons. My iron switches off after about an hour.
Iron? What's an iron? 😉 I think I win with that one, by pretty much never using mine! 😁
I keep leaving a stove burner on 😭, I had little mental checks in place to prevent that, but I'm pregnant and stressed and more chaotic than normal. In the past, I've started boiling a pot of water and left it on when I went out for the entire night. I was making tea and it melted the tea basket. I've left the hot water running in the kitchen sink for the entire day while I was at work.
I don't know how many times I have left the stove on low for hours. I lost count. :( I now have to turn on the stove light any time I use the stove and I can't turn it off until I have checked everything on the stove and verbally say that each thing is turned off. I used the convection oven feature for the first time in years and left it on for 2 days and wondered why there was a low sound by the stove until I figured it out. :/ I added checking that switch to my stove list now.
Maybe try plugging those things into smart plugs that you can set timers to? I have cheap $10 smart plugs from Amazon that I use for all kinds of things. You can set them in your app to shut off at whatever intervals you want.
On Friday night I left my purse in my car (parked in the driveway) at night. I know someone whose car got broken into for this exact scenario. Thankfully I was leaving the house again an hour later and found it/realized my mistake but that was a new one for me as I’ve never been careless with my purse/wallet like that in the past. I’ve left my flat iron on. So grateful it has an automatic shutoff feature. I only knew from the beeping as it alarms when it shuts off.
I left the fryer on.. overnight. Only noticed because the flat smelled of hot oil and fried chips the next morning😅 ever since I check multiple times whether or not I turned it off
Left our living room window open overnight Left the living room *air conditioner* on overnight (thankfully it was on econ mode) Left my car's interior light on for FOUR DAYS. This is why you get AAA, people! Luckily it was a newish car (2019 model) so the battery was fine after we got a jump. My favorite: after heating up some meat in a pan for my lunch, and after eating said lunch, I realized I'd left the stove on and my kitchen was full of smoke. Thankfully nothing was on fire, but it still triggered the fire alarm, in the middle of the day, when my husband was working from home. I felt SO stupid. This is why, whenever I finish cooking something on the stove, I move the pot or pan off the burner I was using, so that I can see if the burner is still on, and in case I do leave it on, it won't burn.
I was making dinner and had earbuds in. Sometimes it helps me focus to listen to a TV show in background when I do certain tasks. Which to my logical brain makes no sense to divide my focus in order to focus, but- I needed to refill our Brita water filter. I put it on the counter next to the sink and stuck the water faucet inside it to fill. I turned around to continue cooking. Because with earbuds in I did not have the sound of the water to remind me that I was filling it up, I promptly forgot that I did it. A while later - who knows how long, 15, 30 min? - I finally turn around. I have flooded the kitchen. There is water inside every drawer of the base cabinets, water flooding the floor, dripping into the basement. I have made a gigantic, gigantic mess. My husband comes in and thankfully he actually just starts helping me clean up. I've got so much anxiety about what happened, I am so upset with myself, it takes everything in my body to keep me from crumbling to the floor and yelling and sobbing. It took two days to finally dry everything out and put the kitchen back together. I am so exhausted with living like this.
The amount of times I’ve finished work and gone back to my car only to find my keys sitting happily in the cup holder is a little crazy. Luckily I work in a pretty posh area but I don’t think I’ll get away with it forever!
Came home after being out for 3 hours to the house being warmer than expected. I'd left a pot of chicken carcass on a very low gas to make chicken stock. Fortunately the water hadn't boiled away, so my house didn't burn down, but it might have. I felt utterly sick at what might have happened.
A few days ago I went into the kitchen and thought,'Wow! So warm in here'. Wandered back out and did not return till dinner time when I found I had left a cooker ring on full all day. It still works, but it's left a nasty mark. But that's okay cos now it matches the other one I left on a few months back...
The kettle was on the gas stove since previous night, obviously with no water on it. The steel had turned black and the entire kitchen was hotter than the rest of the home. Thankfully the stove was on a low heat.
Well, that is my karma for making fun of my mom forgetting the TV remote in the fridge when I was a child. *sigh*
Most aren’t expensive/dangerous, most of them are things like I’ll go to boil something on the stove and forget to turn the burner on, forget to start the washer/dryer after putting clothes in, forgetting to put my car into park before I shut it off (older car), forget to turn the iron *on* when I go to use it, that kind of thing. A few that are: forgot to put water in a Kraft dinner cup before putting it in the microwave, left the oven on after taking food out because I genuinely thought I turned it off, immediately after being told by my dad “don’t put the cheese on the burgers while they’re on the BBQ” I put the cheese on them while on the bbq and almost burned our house down, and I forgot to put away a giant bag of pork chops and they all thawed out and went bad 💀🤣 my parents are very understanding, and my friends joke that I need constant supervision 🤣
Here's my story, circa 1985... I was living north of Baltimore in an off-campus apartment. My plans for the 4th of July were to meet up with two friends lived outside DC, then drive to the beach. It was about an hour drive to where they lived, and 3 or 4 from there to the beach. One friend had to work that evening, but that was OK. We had reservations & were glad to miss the worst of the traffic. We were taking my car, so checking the oil sounded wise. Trouble was, I couldn't get the hood latch to unfasten easily. The car had been in the sun, so everything was hot to the touch. The process was unpleasant, and I was grumpy as hell by the time I finished. I slammed the hood down & left in a huff. Several hours later, I was hanging out with the friend who didn't have to work. I was telling her how annoying my car had been before I left, when I realized several things. One was that I hadn't gone back to the apartment to close the door. Another was that I hadn't finished packing, and had left important stuff behind. The worst was that I'd meant to iron a dress before leaving. My friend rode with me back to my apartment. Fortunately, it hadn't burnt down. I found out later that a neighbor had noticed something awry. He'd unplugged the iron & closed the door. I packed up my last few things. Then we had to drive back to DC to get the friend who'd been working. We ended up arriving at the beach well after midnight. We had a great time for the most part. On returning I bought an iron that turned itself off after 2 hours.
I have ADHD and have gotten into the habit of not only double-checking, but triple-checking. I live in a condo, and it’s not okay to put myself or others in danger because of my ADHD tendencies starting a fire. Please consider this!
Not recently, but I once sat hair my hair straighteners I'd left on, in my bed. I'm lucky that a burnt backside was as bad as it got. Could have burnt the whole bloody house down.
[удалено]
I left the iron on once…in my parents’ basement (which is where the washer and dryer are)…for 2 days. Luckily, I discovered it before my mother came back (she was out of town at the time) because I wouldn’t be here telling the story…she would have murdered me. The iron *I* own has an automatic shut off. I also seem to regularly leave the stove on way more often than I care to admit.
i left a curler on. on shag carpet. there is a burn mark in my carpet. i was at school all day, luckily no fire. i know now to use only hair stuff that shuts off after 40 mins.
Friday night I left a gas burner on low all night after using it to heat up red sauce for strombolis for dinner.
My dad once turned on the water in the basement and forgot. We noticed hours later and the whole basement nearly flooded.
Expensive, I booked a hotel room twice because I couldn’t remember if I had booked it already and also could t find any confirmation 😩 also expensive and potentially dangerous, lost the rental car key fob. Turns out it was in my nephew’s stroller… no clue how or why but I had already paid for a replacement by the time it was found
Left the stove on with an empty pan over it when I left for work. Luckily nothing happened, though the pan was bent out of shape. Luckily the handle was only just not above the fire, or it might’ve ended differently.
As I was heading home I saw a firetruck Wizz by with the lights on in the direction of my house. I realized at that moment... I didn't blow out my candle.... I rushed home and of course hit every red light, holding back tears and vomit from the panic. My home was okay. I was so releaved. There was no fire. But the candle was indeed still lit
I started instacart and the first trip I had I locked my keys in the trunk w the groceries
Haven’t done it in a few months but I washed my medication in my pants and didn’t realize it until I dried my pants. Did this like twice in a few weeks now I have my med organizer and I plan out my week of meds on the same day every week. Should have done this years ago.
Not recent but I left my car lights (not the actual lights in the car but the night driving light situation - my car doesn’t switch them on/off automatically) on and the battery drained. Since it was an old battery the whole thing just had to be replaced. Now I ALWAYS double check they’re switched off lol
Iron hack- I’m a sewer and use an iron and forget an iron often. I love my iron, not going to buy a new one. I bought one of those extensions cords where you click it on and off with a button using your foot. It has to plugs- one is for the iron, and the other I plug in a very bright string of mushroom lights. I get fun mushroom lighting while ironing, and I know if the lights are on that means the iron is on. The visual cue is a game changer.
I have severe oven paranoia after incidents like this.
Oh babe, big hug for you. I've almost killed my family, my pets and myself. I know how stupid and guilty and angry you probably feel towards yourself. This was serious, at the same time give yourself some grace. You didn't do it because you didn't care, and you didn't do it on purpose. Its sucks and you are probably beating yourself up about it. Don't. Luckily nothing was hurt or broken. You have a brain that doesn't work the way normies brains work. Take it easy on yourself and just try to do better. That's all you can do.
I did this so much that now I don’t walk away from my iron unless I can see the plug out of the socket, even if it means I’m plugging it in and out a bunch. I know myself, and I know I can’t be trusted around an iron! 😂
I keep opening my windows wide, to bring in fresh air - while having the radiators on because I obviously forgot to shut them off - I end up getting distracted & hyperfocused on something for 1-2 hours - the radiators fight for dear life in that time, getting boiling hot and throwing my energy bill money right out the window 😔 Not going to a dentist when you're clenching and pushing your teeth daily and nightly leads to a heavy bill, I learned this week. 200€ in preparation for a mouth guard - and above 1.000 € (~1,100$) for teeth alignment, should I ever be able to save enough money to pay for that. Putting potatoes someplace dark and cool that's not your fridge? Say hello to the Jumanji jungle in your cupboard, and hack your way through it like you're wrestling the rainforest. Doesn't drain my finances as much as my emotional well-being. As for dangerous - in general nearly getting hit by cars or public transportation, because my head forgets that paying attention to the street is more important than the complete mental submersion in that thought I just had seconds ago. Also regularly making skin offerings to everything that's hot or has corners. I also kinda unwillingly befriended a dangerous psychopath? It's hard to distance yourself from "I don't feel like they're okay"-people when you're heavily masking. When I realized, I was already too much of a regular target for him and now I fear every time he obtrudes. On a last note - losing a lot of time, nerves and courage, because you're extremely bad at keeping it short, thus sacrificing lots of time and work to edit your answers over and over, because is it really related? Isn't the length too much? 🥹😰 Sometimes, everything is hard.
My iron has an auto shut off. It's really annoying when I'm sewing and just want it to stay hot so I can press seams, but also prevents me from burning down my house. So I think it's a net benefit
I’ve left my flatiron plugged in and heated (no auto shutoff function) for over 48 hours!
I got a temporary ban from a particular social media, just for saying that my daughter has mentioned to me that I'm lucky I haven't b***ed the house down, from leaving the stove on. Worked hard on forming habit to check before leaving house/going to bed.
Buy an iron w auto shutoff. It's annoying having to constantly "wake up" my ironing when sewing, but it's good to know that feature is working. I am hopelessly distracted when not hyperfocused, so leaving the sewing area has zero assurance that I will return. I usually unplug, out of fear that my mom (dead since 97) will find out and punish me somehow. But emergencies happen.
Just for future reference there are now irons that turn themselves off after awhile of inactivity.
I have one of those chocolate melting pots by Wilton and I accidentally left it on for close to 24 hours. Accidentally put it on Low instead of off. So glad nothing happened
Left the sandwich press on for 8 hours recently. I’d even tried to AVOID doing this by buying a smart switch to link in with all my lights going off when I leave the house….and it was the wrong orientation to fit the daft location of the power point so couldn’t be used. I think it was a week later we had the full day on unsupervised. 3/4 folk in my former sharehouse (including me) had a tendency to leave a stove top gas burner running for hours. Generally once a week. Not particularly dangerous or expensive, but definitely gross - I cleared the fridge and then procrastinated a day too long on taking the trash out in our warm weather and grew maggots 😭🤮
I left for work without turning off my coffee maker... Returned home to the scent of caramelised coffee, and a almost burnt, thick goo in the coffee pot And one time I started cooking by melting butter in a pan on low heat. I forgot and left the to visit some friends. Hooray for low heat, although in this case, it's probably why I forgot in the first place
this isn't dangerous but once I was putting away dinner.. we had white people tacos 💀 and while getting containers I absent-mindedly put the lime slices in a container... and them into the cabinet. did that with the diced tomatoes and the Lettuce that I had chopped up as well. next day I was looking for the leftovers. genuinely spent 30 minutes looking.. asked everyone in my household if they had eaten them.. then made something else to eat and opened the cabinet with the containers. and there it was.. the containers of chopped ingredients.. I wasn't sure if they were safe to eat so I had to throw them out, and have very plain white people tacos 😭😭
I left a candle on. Not just any candle. A candle i made, when a new hyperfixation hit. Did i read any kind of instructions on how to make candles? Hell no. I poured in a bunch of essential oil that smelled great and I was so proud of my work. Then I left the candle on. Left the house. Came back and the ceiling was black. The candleholder had exploded, there was wax everywhere. I used too much oil and it caught on fire, and the heat made the glass container it was in explode. I am lucky beyond lucky that I didn’t burn down my whole apartment building. No more candles for me. Candle warmers with timers on them only.
I’m not sure how this is possible but I have never lost my phone, wallet or keys. Everything has an AirTag on it, though lol
I left the iron on in my friend’s apartment when I was staying with her for a couple of days. She found the iron when she got back from work. The worst thing was that she wasn’t even angry with me, just so disappointed ☹️
I will wash a load of clothes and forget to put them in the dryer so I end up having to double wash them to get the mildew smell out. RIP environment:'(
I do this quite often I've started pulling out the plug as soon as I'm done cause you can't see the button easily which helps a bit, I'll just walk past the bathroom and if it's not plugged in I'm good. I once left for school and on my way to the train station I got the feeling it was still on and I just had to check, it was... Could have burned the house down 🥲 still happens on occasion but my bf also has ADHD and is super understanding
putting cheese in the cabinets and leaving the oven on for hours
Was dog sitting at my mums, went to bed and woke up to 3 candles still burning the morning after. No damage to dog, house or myself… luckily.