How do you compensate for poor short- term memory?

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I have recurring things I have to do - like always leave my wallet in the same place when I get home, or spend freaked out hours next morning trying to find it.

I think I may have trouble with both working and short term memory. Any multitasking I can do involves things that I'm used to fitting together as parts of a whole, such as different parts of cooking a meal. Unrelated things are a real challenge, and this can involve particular moments or take place over a period of time. For example, I couldn't balance my checkbook for the entire 2.5 weeks my girlfriend was away, because I was handling all the house and yard work by myself, as well as all the cooking, shopping, and whatever else popped up. I simply couldn't wrap my brain around one more thing, especially something as unrelated as dealing with numbers or any kind of paperwork at all. Social activity was also a big struggle, and I think this was only partly because I didn't have the comfort and reassurance of having my girlfriend by my side. It was also because I was overloaded. Therefore, it wasn't just her presence that I missed. It was her assistance in navigating the social scene. I kept having fibromyalgia fatigue crashes and other sorts of things as a result of trying to handle so much at once, all on my own.

In addition, I often have to ask for the same information over and over again, if I don't record it somewhere, because I have a mind like a steel sieve. The info tends to just leak out somehow, instead of being retained. So, yes, I have short term memory problems, too.

My difficulty with working memory is one of the things that can potentially frustrate other people, because they can't understand why someone of my intelligence and creativity can't do the things I seem like I ought to be able to do. My difficulty with short term memory is one of the things that can potentially annoy other people, because it repeatedly takes up their time with something they can't see a reason for having to deal with. It seems pesty, and they probably think I'm just not bothering to pay attention. Avoiding or masking these problems is part of what makes being around other people so challenging, exhausting, and even sometimes downright frightening for me.