One or none (zero) items is easier to deal with

I noticed that a mid-stage PWD may have an easier time with only one item (let's say it's a box of cereal) or none at all.

Let's say there's an half empty box of cereal, so you bought a new one and put it next to it. PWD would take the full one, and try to refill the half empty one with it. It won't fit, so you end up with a full (old container) and a partially empty (new container with the top seal opened). And that repeats the confusion again since PWD won't know which one to use.

It may be a desire to help out, and to keep things neat by having one item in pantry but ends up makings things more difficult.

So what I've been doing is just hiding any duplicates until it is needed. It can apply to anything similar, such as a jar of pickles, a bag of snacks, etc.

So my recommendation, if you see similar behavior, is to hide duplicates. When something is used up and empty, go find the extra one you stashed away, and put it on the shelf or the refrigerator.

I've seen other related behavior, such as to keep a salt-shaker always full, but that failed when it was refilled with sugar.

In that case, I just hide the bulk canister of salt or sugar so there's none around to access. I may get repeated complaints that you're running out of salt, but it's safe to ignore since it tends to get forgotten. If it gets repetitive and annoying, I just refill or swap the item so it is full.

It can occur anywhere — may be a jar of hand moisturizer, a bag of bread, etc. It may also be a desire to relieve boredom too and an attempt to do some "useful housework"

Also as a hint: I am afraid that Items that are similiar in appearance may also get involved. Not just salt/sugar, but can be dangerous items like cleanser. PWD had a prior habit of putting things into non-original containers (i.e. baking powder into an old pickle jar), so there were some unmarked containers, with some handwritten labels on them. I got rid of those. I just remove anything dangerous, which one ought to do regardless.

I realize this is a minor annoyance most of the time compared to major problems people have, but I hope every bit helps.