soop, I do the letters of the alphabet thing for various other categories too, like countries, towns and singers. I use it to help me get to sleep on the occasions when I can't shut down my brain. I rarely get to Z.
I use a pedometer to record the number of steps when walking, but often count in my head too and see if they match.
Greatnan, I stayed last night at DDs looking after the GCs, and found her cutlery drawer in the same order as mine and yours - knives, forks, spoons. It surprised me as I thought I was illogical not storing them as a table would be laid. I think my system dates back to a previous drawer where the first slot was longer.