Making Lists!

Totally addicted to list making, especially at busy times such as Christmas or if friends are coming to stay and I have extra stuff to do.

I have even been known to put things on the list that I have actually already done, just for the satisfaction of crossing them off!

Afraid that's part of this affliction, phoenix - but it does provide the feel good factor, doesn't it!

No, my life is too simple to need lists! I am very organised (OCD?) and all my documents are in marked folders in a plastic crate. I deal with all bills, etc. the moment they arrive and file everything at once. No bits of paper hanging around - that would drive me mad.
At the moment, I have a large envelope with flight vouchers, car hire vouchers and hotel vouchers in chronological order for my next three overseas trips.

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.

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 .

Greatnan sounds wonderful wish I could be like that.

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

I think you have a list of files greatnan.

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, 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 ... !

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!

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.

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

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!

Jack, I like the till receipt idea!

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.

'Stickies' are disorganised demi-lists, bagitha .

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

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.

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 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.

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.

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