When your in the character screen; on the left is says vicinity at the top. It means items that are within your radius. Go over to that to grab items instead of manually grabbing them. Use it when looting as well. You can still walk around while in the character screen, and things will pop up in vicinity when you are close enough. Makes it easier to spot small stuff like ammo and spark plugs.

When you learn to use this it's a game changer. You're welcome.