My sister Jamie is the list master. Her entire life, down to her eye shadows, is organized. I’m pretty sure if you peeked in her ear, her ideas would be in alphabetical order.
The best part is, she not annoying about her orderliness. Like at all. Quite the opposite actually. Instead, her life is just better because of it.
Where’s that yellow shirt?
Jamie always knows.
Wondering what we’ll eat tonight?
Jamie knows there are two cans of black beans and one of olives in the pantry.
She needs clean underwear in an hour?
No problem, her clothes are already waiting happily in their respective “lights” and “darks” baskets.
I swear this girl probably hasn’t ever even lost a sock. (Jame, I know you’ll correct me on this.)
Unfortunately, she seems to have hogged all the organizer genetic material. While Jamie got the color-coded-list-making gene, I got the leave-it-out-in-case-I-ever-need-it-again gene.
Desperate to put a little order in the chaos tornado that is my life, I’ve often asked Jamie what tangible things I can do to reign things in. “Keep lists,” is always her answer.
Well Jamers, I hope this makes you proud.
I’ve been listing up a storm. And it’s been working. There’s something about taking “to-dos” out of my head and putting them on paper that frees up some extra RAM for the more important things, like dreaming up DIY projects and thinking about what I’ll eat for lunch. Not to mention, there’s obviously an enormous satisfaction in achieving my to-dos. I’m a pretty goal-oriented gal, so crossing those “goals” of my lists gives me a purpose. I’m guessing I’m not the only one out there who adds things to my list after I’ve done them just to have the satisfaction of checking the boxes. Hey, what’s done is done, regardless of when it went on the list.
So in the spirit of list-making, here’s a list about what I make lists about:
- What I spend money on.
- What I need to pack when I’m leaving town
- Things to do. Emails to send. Phone calls to make. Conversations to have.
- Crafts I want to make.
- Future blog posts.
- “Relaxing to-dos.” Yes, I often put knitting on my lists.
- Places I’ve linked blog posts to so I can be remember to link back.
- Tasks that ensure I don’t get evicted or have creditors calling. (Don’t worry, luckily, I don’t seem to be at risk for either of these at the moment. Way to go, lists.)
Do you keep lists? What else do you do to turn down the noise in your own brain? I welcome all your suggestions. If I ever I plan on being as grown up as my younger sister, I’m going to need all the help I can get.
It’s not fair Jamie stole all the organization genes. At least we can all learn from her list making skills.
I see “phone bill” on your list, which used to always be on MY list, until I put all of our bills on autopay (mortgage, phone, electric, etc. etc.) You should put THAT on your list (switch all bills to autopay) so you won’t have to worry about that last little bullet point.
[...] can’t take much credit for this list. As I mentioned here, my brain “underdeveloped” in the organizational department. Luckily, I married into [...]
Hey Jess. I just wanted to say that I love the style you write with. I am list ca-razy and whilst I find it helps clear some of the space junk floating around in my brain it doesn’t necessarily help me get more things accomplished!
Kristine
Thanks Kristine! I know exactly what you mean. Lists don’t always necessarily equal productivity. But if we’re clearing the world of space junk, I think we can count that as a win!