You might remember the meaning of the character 流 with this easy mnemonic:
I used to gather droplets (氵) of sunshine that flowed through my window in a jar and put a lid (亠) over it, then stored it in a private (厶) place. I was a very weird kid! I also used to slash (亻) my bedroom walls with my cats paws, and drew lines (丨) around me to protect my personal space.
Using mnemonics to remember the meaning of Chinese characters like has a huge impact on how long to learn Mandarin it takes.