I don’t know if I’m at an age where I just become more forgetful, but I’ve had several instances in the last month where I’ve left behind, forgotten or done something that’s unusual for me as I go about my day.

Things like leaving my bag with all of my power cords and notebooks at a church over a holiday weekend. Things like walking into a City Council meeting carrying my lunch bag.

What was I thinking?

When was I going to have time to eat anything out of it anyway? That was before I walked out of the council chamber after nearly four hours and left the bag under my seat. Of course, I only realized it as I was close to my car that was parked on the other side of Market Street, so I threw my other stuff that I did remember into my car and raced back inside to grab my bag.

And you can ask my wife how many times I’ve forgotten to complete a task, or pick up something she asked me to get from the store, but I’m pretty sure she, and I, have lost count.

I think that’s the reason why I pack so much to carry with me. Not because I think I’ll use everything I bring, but because I’m afraid of forgetting the one item I’ll end up needing to get something done.

The power cords to plug in my laptop or smartphone. The pens and notebooks I need for the next assignment. The notebooks and binders of information I need to refer to for the current assignment.

I’ll double- and triple-check doors to ensure I’ve locked them because I’ll walk away from them and 10 seconds later not remember whether I had actually locked them. I do the same thing when I walk away from my car.

I’m not sure if I’ve just gotten too busy and cluttered my brain in the same way that I have 10,000-plus emails in my personal account that I can’t bring myself to delete, even while the mostly useless information I receive in them accumulates rapidly.

It gets to be clutter and gets to be overwhelming to deal with, so then I don’t.

Then I miss the email from my daughter’s school telling me about a key event, or about something I need to bring to school for her. Or I miss the reminder about canceling a service before I get charged for it and my family’s ever-shrinking bank account shrinks further.

I’ve tried many an organizing tool and app to try and help me in these areas, and while they’re mostly helpful for keeping track of my assignments and what I’m doing work-wise on a daily and weekly basis, it hasn’t been as helpful personally.

Even with reminders to turn in library books, I forget to do that, and then I make what seems to be my monthly donation to my public library.

But I also feel that even if I got a reminder — or multiple reminders — for everything I am supposed to remember, it would just be system overload and my brain would crash.

That reminds me. I have another assignment to get to.

Maybe I’ll get to the car with my keys this time.