Making Lists!

The first thing I did, when I worked, and arrived at 7.00, was to make a list for the day in my page to a day diary.

Invariably, things got moved over to the next day, but the nicest thing was when my dream of a PA would sneak in and cross some things off!

Now, I have a planning notebook, which covers everything from food shopping to what-to-take-on - holiday to Christmas. It's great looking back at it and laughing at yourself and your "bright" ideas. I looked back at mt packing list for a conference last May and could not believe I took all that stuff to a place where it was entirely unsuitable.

Now, tomorrow's list.....

I am a ridiculous 'list maker'. I make out a list, go shopping, oops left it at home. Then I buy some of the items on my list. I then find the list and re-write it , minus the items I did remember. I go shopping again, oops I've brought the wrong bag, the list is in the other one. I then buy some of the items I did remember. I go shopping again oh no! the list I wrote out is still on the kitchen table.

I give up for another time and start all over again. Please don't tell me I'm sad I think I've reached that conclusion myself, well at least after I had made out a list of all my faults and decided to loose it!.

I think a lot of it comes down to personality type. I do lists of work type tasks. I find it motivates me to write them down in pen and cross them off. Do a few easy hits and cross them through. Gives me a boost. Lists on the computer do not work nearly as well for me.
Someone I know was recently depressed and blocked about work. I suggested writing a list with one thing in it. That apparently helped!

Although I make "to do" lists in my little notebook and tick off consumed items on my till receipts I am completely hopeless at filing and I hate dealing with boring paperwork.

As a result the windowsills in our bedroom and in my study are piled high with "stuff" that needs attention. This drives DH mad. So now I give him all my financial correspondence and anything else that has to be filed efficiently and he does the donkey work for me. I am not proud of my aversion to filing but I am very proud of DH as he is so meticulous and reliable.

Gosh! I'll be calling him a saint soon if I'm not careful. And that would be a step too far ...

Is anyone going to admit to be disorganised? Well I'll be the first, I admit in some ways I am, and I will admit it's because of absence of lists. I make them in my head, but I realise that that is not as reliable a container as it used to be! So I am beginning to write things down, and, if I can remember where I put the lists, that is the way forward

Chuckle. I like the idea of disorganised demi-lists, butty! It has a veritable appeal!

Actually, I'm pretty organised about what needs (either actually like tax returns and bill payment, or only in my opinion like making the next batch of flapjacks) to be organised.

I have a small pile of scrap paper on a clip for my lists. Mainly shopping lists, but if I go away I have a packing list. I also leave 'notes to self'. For example when I go away a number of reminders are listed : turn off the heat, arrangements for cat/plant/garden care [I have a really good friend], items to be bought like presents for the GC. I keep leaving the hot tap on so now there is a 'note to self' TURN TAP OFF - sad really but it is galloping old age.

Glad you like the till receipt idea Phoenix.

It's amazing how quickly you forget what you bought during a big supermarket shop and unless you check the receipt regularly you end up wasting lovely fresh food, which in my book is unforgivable!

I have fallen a bit behind with admin- so this morning I did just what you described, a full list of what has to be done, and will tick them off as I do them. It does indeed concentrate the mind.

I also do shopping lists, and often forget them at home, but just having been through the process helps.

I have lists then cross off what is done then I have to do another updated list. I do lists for everything. Holiday list is the most enjoyable

'Stickies' are disorganised demi-lists, bagitha .

Perhaps my memory is better than I usually think - as I live in an isolated spot I tend to do one big food shop a week and I always know what I need. I don't do meal plans - I just eat whatever I feel like on the day. I keep a very good stock of non-perishable foods in case I get snowed in.
I had no intention of offending anyone (eggshells again!) - I was just saying that I do not keep lists because I don't feel the need.

Jack, I like the till receipt idea!

I couldn't live without my list in a hardback notebook - updated each week. I have so many projects on the go and a poor memory that having a list is a necessity. And then there's my shopping list which I write as I need and then log in to Ocado about once every 10 days. Phew!

I am list-less as is OH!! Only time saw DS1 with a list was on his wedding day - much to my surprise and that of his groomsmen - and that was courtesy of my DDIL. Needless to say DS1 has not followed in our shoes and is now definitely not list-less

What about the use of "stickies"? I find they are quite handy for reminding me to do things that might slip my mind when I'm otherwise occupied. I have some ongoing ones that I re-use for things I keep forgetting.

Sorry, but unless you are memory woman, or are shopping daily or buying pre-prepared meals, I can't see how shopping without a list can be regarded as "efficient".

My shopping efficiency (and economy) come almost entirely from lists! I keep a freezer inventory, (it can be very easy to pick up a pack of reduced chicken breats bung them in the freezer then forget that they are there!) make a meal plan for the week based on what we have in stock, so to speak (this also helps with a healthy eating plan, if we have had a meat meal one day, we might have a meat free or meat light meal the next). The shopping list is then put together on that basis, but we also keep an eye out for bargains as we go round.

Personally, I don't think list making has any connection with being "disorganised" as you put it, in fact for many list making is a sign of being extremely organised indeed!

I, too, am addicted to lists. The important thing is to have a very compact notebook (rather than odd scraps of paper) and three different coloured inks in different coloured pens. Then you wake up at three in the morning, create or amend your latest list, tick off what you have done (in black), put crosses beside the things you haven't done (in red) and then write a new list (in blue) which should see you through the next day.

I also tick off everything we have consumed on my latest till receipt from the supermarket (usually Waitrose) and make a list of things we haven't eaten. This really is a good tip because (a) it saves you having to ferret around in the fridge or freezer or larder or top cupboard (b) it stops you going shopping needlessly when you've already got plenty to keep body and soul together and (c) it forces you to be creative with bits and bobs and leftovers.

Am I teaching fellow gransnetters to suck eggs? Probably ... !

No lists - I just walk around my favourite supermarket and buy what I need. It is much easier to be organised when you live alone.
I don't think it is boring to be efficient - I have spent many hours clearing up the messes that my less efficient family have got themselves in.
Anyway, it is not really a choice - it would make me very uncomfortable to be disorganised.
When I was working, studying and running the home, I found it essential to keep on top of things. It is just instinctive now.
I couldn't be untidy in my flat - there just isn't room.

I think you have a list of files greatnan.

Greatnan lists and filing things are not the same! Surely you make shoping lists at least?

I'm always making lists. When I run out of something mid-week it goes on my shopping list straightaway. I have lists for 'things to do' - I find it keeps me organised and when I've done a task I can tick it off - it's a great feeling. Have christmas card lists and present lists, birthday's are recorded in my birthday list so I never miss one. I always know where everything is in the house, no hunting for that vital document/bill and woe-betide my husband if he borrows something of mine and I can't find it! OMG, I sound really boring!!

Greatnan sounds wonderful wish I could be like that.

When we moved to our current jolly house and garden, we made lots of lists, then got disheartened because it became obvious that so many of the jobs on the lists would take years to do. So all is still very jolly, and progressing.....

My mother asked me after we'd been here a year or so how long it would take me to get the garden "straight". I just laughed!

When DDs 1 and 2 were little I used to think I was doing well if I crossed one thing off my list (mental or written) of things that needed doing THAT DAY. Gradually I realised that the best plan was just to do the next most urgent thing next all the time. It works very well after a fashion, if you only want to prevent mayhem rather than anything more unrealistic ordered .

Make a list every day. If it's on the list it gets done, bought, visited etc, if not on the list don't hold your breath probably, usually, gets forgotten. Started making list out of necessity when at work and have never lost the habit.