cell phone, cellular, mobile, phone

March 10, 2008 7:08 AM

Help me find my cell home: it's in a certain room but out of sight!

I have a tricky dilemma... I know that my cell phone is located in my bedroom - I've called it and it rang! However, I could not find it despite it doing a very thorough search.. rummaging through the dresser, desk, in the pockets of my clothes, even the bed.

Now, when I was looking for it, I kept on calling to it from the phone home to locate it by the ring. That was great, however, the batteries ran out since then and I have to keep on searching it without ringing.

Any tips on helping me conduct my search better? What obvious spots could I be overlooking? When I look again, what should I do?

posted by gregb1007 to technology (34 comments total)

Pockets of pants, jackets etc.
posted by cloeburner at 7:12 AM on March 10

Oops, didn't see you said that...um, check again.
posted by cloeburner at 7:14 AM on March 10

I once lost a book in the blankets of my bed. Have you tried stripping the bed layer by layer?
posted by LN at 7:20 AM on March 10

Note that it may be in plain sight. That said, stand in different parts of the room to get a different perspective.
posted by booticon at 7:21 AM on March 10

BTW, how messy is the room? Is there lots of stuff on the floor, or slung over chairs, etc?
posted by LN at 7:21 AM on March 10

The room isn't that messy actually
posted by gregb1007 at 7:24 AM on March 10

Take a picture of your bedroom.

Look between the bed and the wall.
posted by iconomy at 7:26 AM on March 10

Under the bed near the headboard or behind any level surface.
posted by Morrigan at 7:27 AM on March 10

If you have the type of keyboard that this is possible, check underneath the keyboard... I've lost all kinds of things there. Also try any windowsills behind the blinds/curtains.
posted by everybody polka at 7:31 AM on March 10

is it above you?
posted by pinksoftsoap at 7:34 AM on March 10

(in other words, look in higher places)
posted by pinksoftsoap at 7:35 AM on March 10

Mentally divide the room into different sectors, say 3' x 3' or 4' x 4', or whatever logical units make sense. Then search each sector in turn, progressing through the room, very, very carefully, without moving _anything_ from one sector to the next as you search.
posted by amtho at 7:36 AM on March 10

i'd say do a thorough cleaning of the room rather than a "search". i've misplaced many a thing that magically turns up once i clear out all the interference.
posted by camdan at 7:44 AM on March 10

If you have a bedframe, check between it and the mattress. That's where I found the phone i lost a year ago when I moved recently
posted by CAnneDC at 7:53 AM on March 10

Easy: buy a new one -- it will turn up that night.

Seriously, are there any magazine bins on the floor? I've dropped mine into a magazine "rack" and not found it until I cleaned. I second the cleaning/remaking bed suggestions. Pretend that you're moving. When it was ringing, did that narrow down the parts of the room at all? Post a picture for us to make it a really fun thread.

My money's on amtho's suggestion of dividing and conquering as the winner.
posted by theredpen at 8:04 AM on March 10

The thing that has most often worked for me is getting someone else to come in with fresh eyes to look for me. Embarrassingly often, the missing item turns out to be sitting out in plain sight, or just barely hidden.

Failing that, I suggest removing everything from the room, one item at a time. Don't bring out a big pile of stuff at once -- bring things out piece by piece by piece. (If the room is big enough, you can do this just by moving everything from one side of the room to the other.) Yes, this means furniture, too. Once the room is empty, you can check in places like under the radiator and behind the drawers in your closet that you might not yet have checked.

But my first guess is buried inside or under dirty laundry, or in the bedclothes.
posted by Forktine at 8:12 AM on March 10

Take a picture of your bedroom.

I probably should have added, "and then upload it so we can see your room" to that sentence.
posted by iconomy at 8:13 AM on March 10 [1 favorite]

What obvious spots could I be overlooking?

I'm with iconomy here: we need a picture of this bedroom to know what spots you have to look in. My bedroom features a bed, two night stands, a dresser, a bookshelf, a valet and a steamer trunk. I don't know what's in yours, but apparently it has a desk too... people use their bedrooms very differently, and I admit to being baffled that you could be standing in the room with the phone ringing, searching for it, and fail to find it. I'm assuming that you've looked behind everything it could have fallen off (desk/dresser/bed/drafting table/whatvs).
posted by mumkin at 8:56 AM on March 10

Professor Solomon wants to help you find your lost stuff
posted by springo at 9:26 AM on March 10

Google it.
posted by JackFlash at 9:34 AM on March 10

I once lost my cellphone inside my duvet cover (the slipcover around my comforter). No idea how it ended up there.
posted by lunasol at 9:35 AM on March 10

Could there be a pocket in a bag, jacket, pair of pants, etc. with a ripped lining? I once went crazy trying to find my phone in my shoulder bag. Turned out that the phone had slipped through the torn lining and was nesting in a thoroughly unreachable place. Well, unreachable until I tore the lining enough to fit my hand through and retrieve the damned phone.
posted by bassjump at 10:01 AM on March 10

Check shoes.
posted by starman at 10:06 AM on March 10

Is the dog ringing?
posted by bonehead at 10:30 AM on March 10 [2 favorites]

Please don't forget to tell us where it was when you find it. The more disturbed and obsessive of us are curious. Apparently I don't have enough to focus my OCD on.
posted by theredpen at 11:46 AM on March 10

Seconding CAnneDC's advice: If your bed is set up in such a way, check between your actual matress and the bedframe itself. Your phone may have migrated from your bed into the crevice; I've found my keys there on more than one occassion.
posted by numinous at 2:34 PM on March 10

omg occasion***********
posted by numinous at 2:35 PM on March 10

Well, after not being able to find it by the ring a couple of times, I would have started half-splitting the room. Take half of everything out and call. Is it in or out? Half the half it was in. In or out? Etc.

Now that it won't ring anymore, you're going to have to remove everything from the room and establish it as a cell-phone free clean room. (Might as well vacuum and stuff at this point.) Search the furniture first like there could be a cell-phone-sized bomb taped to it somewhere. Put everything that's not a cell phone back in the room one by one (where it belongs).

Tip for piles of clothing - throw them in big batches into the dryer on no-heat, listen for the clunk-clunk sound.
posted by ctmf at 4:08 PM on March 10

My fiance loses stuff constantly. Usually it is in plain sight, and I have some magic power to see things he doesn't. I second getting a fresh pair of eyes.
posted by desjardins at 5:34 PM on March 10

underneath beside tables? i've lost and found many-a-thing there.

i hope you find it!
posted by olya at 5:45 PM on March 10

I tend to methodically investigate one area until I KNOW that it isn't there.

So, the bed. I take the cover off, feel it so I know the object isn't there, look under the pillows, feel the pillowcases, look under the bed etc. Once I've investigated it thoroughly, I move onto the next thing, say the bedside drawers.

Take out the drawers - I have had objects fall down the back and into the unused space between the bottom drawer and the floor.

Go through pockets of clothing. Look in shoes. I once found my presumed lost keys by putting some shoes on (ouch).

Get someone to help!
posted by tomble at 7:08 PM on March 10

My friend just found her lost wallet under a baseball cap the other day.
posted by IndigoRain at 10:05 PM on March 10

I once found my glasses after several months-- I had gone camping and had put them in a tent pocket, then rolled up and packed away the tent. Looked for them everywhere, then found them next time I went camping.
posted by alexei at 12:15 AM on March 11

borrow a metal detector and sweep certain items to make sure you're not overlooking bedcovers and stuff that might contain the phone....?
posted by mhh5 at 12:39 PM on April 22