Not saying this isn't a lived experience, but anyone have a link to "visual exhaustion" in research? This sounds like a medical/scientific term but I cant find any references to back that up.

600 is today's daily double!

Right there with you, diagnosed about 25 years ago and I've never heard of "visual exhaustion" even though I understood it from lived experience before I finished reading the comment.

smartwatch has proved helpful for me. a quick way to set timers and reminders and todo lists and calendar events and voice memos and such

Except I DO subconsciously process the clutter, so when I need a thing my brain goes "oh yeah it's here!" Meanwhile since my wife started "organizing" things, I have no idea where anything is because I haven't seen it in weeks. It's gone. It doesn't exist.

I get that. You'd think I wouldn't forget hearing aids nearly as much as I do. Fortunately I usually remember them upon stepping out the door

I think we're in the right community here. hehehe

Ah yes, Chekov's post-it notes

And the worst thing about drawers and cupboards is that once things are put into them they slowly cease to exist. The clutter is both functional in keeping the objects permanent (the memory of them keeps being refreshed at each sight) and provides a nice level of visual texture to zone out on.

My freezer also exhibits this behaviour.

That's why I have a blackboard calendar so when I stop using it for 5 months straight, I can just erase all the things I didn't do last April and fill it up with all the things I won't do in September! /jk I put all my important appointments on there (they also live in my phone calendar) so I see them while I'm getting ready for the day.

I second this! I have 3-4 solutions on rotation for when I get bored/overwhelmed and abandon one. I personally like non-dated calendars so I can skip weeks at a time and am not having to cross out dates. But it did take years of trying different methods to learn the ones that work.