Little Miss Organised

Anyone who knows me really well knows that I cannot function without lists. I have to write them for just about everything and, if I have too many lists, I make a list of lists or stick post-it notes on things as reminders. I suppose it comes from my days in the Civil Service where I had to be extremely organised in my job. I like law and order in my life. I cannot stand chaos. I can usually put my finger on anything that is needed from a receipt for something purchased the day before to a champagne cork kept from our wedding 33 years ago. I know where to find the list of vaccinations Kay has had throughout her life or the parking fine Greg got seven years ago.

By way of contrast, Greg is totally disorganised and a great procrastinator. He cannot find the lighter he used to light a cigarette five minutes ago and yesterday he mislaid his cheque book which resulted in him turning the house upside down and inside out. He even accused me of having snatched it to annoy him, but then hours later he found it in the back pocket of some jeans he was wearing at the weekend. Each day he will say he is going to do a particular repair job (say, weather-proofing the fence). For every dry day, he will make all manner of excuses or be rapt in some television programme and end up not doing the job. He then waits for a day when it is pouring with rain and then says he was definitely going to do it that day but now of course it is too wet (and he says in a grave tone that it will take quite a few days for the fence to dry out so there's no point doing it for at least another two weeks!!) He will spend all day looking out at the sunny weather saying HE will walk the dog for a change, but when by 3pm he hasn't gone out, it seems he is waiting for the weather forecast on TV. I am often so bold as to comment that he only needs to look out the window, but he needs to hear it from the professionals! Of course by the time he sees the weather forecast, it has clouded over and started to rain and he then says it is too wet to go out with the dog!! It's the same pattern every time and of course nothing ever gets done. Then he forgets these chores need doing altogether and I have to make a list to remind him about them!

If I have a pile of different jobs - some manual (such as repairing clothes, housework, washing, ironing or gardening), some requiring mental input (such as bills/letters etc) or some requiring special action (eg. booking train tickets North or researching something before I make a decision etc), I write all the things I need to do in a list. That way I have a handy overview of what needs doing and the amount of effort I need to put in. Sometimes, if the list is long, I will put a day of the week against the item so that the load is evenly distributed on each day. There is nothing nicer than making a list and getting immense satisfaction as the items are gradually ticked off and I have completed action on the last remaining one. It also makes sure that things get done - in time.

Is that sad, or what?

Not one of my lists - just a Google image!!