Remember Long Lists

I want to explain a technique that is used to remember long lists. It is especially useful if you have to remember the list in a particular order.

Let's say that you are going shopping and need to remember 5 items. This can be used with 50 items as well.

The items are:

Pasta
Oranges
Detergent
Bread
Butter

You will take the items you need to remember and add them to a place you know.

Here is what I would do:

I would take an area of my house. Let's say, my laundry room. I already know what is in there so I don't need to remember anything about the room. I would then combine each item in my mind with a part of my laundry room.

I would picture pasta growing on the door to the room. Then in my mind I open the door to find the Dryer bouncing around because Oranges are going crazy inside. The Boiler sneezes and suds of Detergent come out if it's mouth. Next to the Boiler is the Washing Machine. Bread is rising and the Washing Machine is going to explode. Next to the Washing Machine is the Sink. It is spitting out Butter from the faucet and the whole room is getting filled with Butter...

This is a technique the Romans used to remember large amounts of information. You can use every room of your house and place an item in many sections of the room. Also, you can use your neighborhood and streets, etc.. There is no limit to the information you can store with this technique.

You are not likely to forget the rooms of your house, or your neighborhood. Use what you know and place anything that you want to remember with this in your memory.