Foo - Lists - sign of an anal-retentive personality, or simply an organized person?

I'm not sure if it's a spill-over effect from my job, however I'm finding myself using more and more lists at home. Before leaving on a trip I usually do up a list in Excel for all the items we need to bring. The other day I went on a Geocache hike and did up a list. Going to the hardware store for more than 4 items I'll do up a list.

Are there any other list users on Foo? Why do you use them? Do you pretty them up with pictures :twitchy:

I do not do lists. Except for cycling events requiring travel because there are a bunch of small things that you really need. No one would describe me as anal retentive or organized. That's why I need the list. Otherwise I'd forget something critical for certain.

When I'm on business travel, I always forget something -- it varies, but it could be deodorant, underwear, a shirt to change into, my presentation, etc. But that's not as bad as messing up a bike ride.

Just organized. I use them so I don't forget anything. For years I've had an Excel sheet with columns for the activity (camping, paddling, cycle-touring supported and non, etc). It makes for faster packing.

Do you eat M&Ms in color order too? :innocent:

Hi my name is Mango and I'm a lister. Serious, serious lister. I get it from my mom.

anal-retentive personality :)

I'm joking. I never do lists. I remember what's important but occassionally forget a few things.

Just organized. I use them so I don't forget anything. For years I've had an Excel sheet with columns for the activity (camping, paddling, cycle-touring supported and non, etc). It makes for faster packing.

Do you eat M&Ms in color order too? :innocent:

I eat the red ones last.

do you make yourself wait a long time between BM's?

My name's Connell and I'm a list maker.

(This is where you all call out "Hi Connell")

I find that if I have a ton of work to do, it gets overwhelming. However, writing the tasks down in a list format makes it much more manageable. "OK, I have 18 things to do, but only 8 of them 'have' to be done today and these 3 need to be done first." I can then check things off as I complete them and add new items as they come up, so the list never really gets completed, but I find it makes prioritization much easier.

As for packing for a trip, I find a list shortens the time it takes. And that's always good.

I eat the red ones last.

There's another way?

Hi Connell.

Now you're gettin' it.

Now you're gettin' it.

So can we say the serenity prayer now?

There is only so much space up there, so why bother filling it with useless crap!

LOL. Ex-boyfriend. Mensa. He focused on certain things for a certain amount of time and then deleted them from his system (or not - he has a house full of his collections). For a couple years he was on ebay and collected DVD's - I mean thousands of them, collections. Went from there to Football cards - he lined a bedroom in his house with shelves of whole collections of cards - sold some, then lost interest. Guess he's total WoW at the moment. Likes things in a particular way, does lists - lots of lists - then loses interest in the lists as well to move on to another item ...

Nice guy, but has lived too long by himself - still a friend though.

I use a shopping list and notepad.

most times the notepad is there for when I realize I need something specific or if I need something for later, but would probably forget about it because it's a long shopping list.

Try shopping with a level head after riding there on your bike. very likely to forget at least one or two things.

I love lists. I am anal retentive, cheap, detail oriented, and most of all very forgetful.
I do try to not get carried away making lists for everything.

I love lists. I am anal retentive, cheap, detail oriented, and most of all very forgetful.
I do try to not get carried away making lists for everything.

:O

< makes mental note: should we evar meet up with D & L - we (Tude & Couch) pull the wool over DJ's eyes and say we're driving to a month-before-planned-upon-restaurant meeting place (from THE LIST) and then do a Vin Diesel move ... or two plus ... and take a wild left and zoom to some totally funky restaurant NOT on THE LIST. hehe >

lol

The riding out here is wonderful in late spring to mid fall. You both must come out someday.

Don't worry, you're probably not getting anal-retentive. It's more likely early Alzheimer's Disease.

My name's Connell and I'm a list maker.

(This is where you all call out "Hi Connell")

I find that if I have a ton of work to do, it gets overwhelming. However, writing the tasks down in a list format makes it much more manageable. "OK, I have 18 things to do, but only 8 of them 'have' to be done today and these 3 need to be done first." I can then check things off as I complete them and add new items as they come up, so the list never really gets completed, but I find it makes prioritization much easier.

As for packing for a trip, I find a list shortens the time it takes. And that's always good.

Yes.

I work much better with lists, but have to remember to make them. Making lists actually helped me get a promotion this year, so that was kind of cool.

My wife is the planner and list-junkie.

I find it funny how bent out of shape she gets when things don't go according to plan (almost never) and how upset she gets with my roll-with-the-punches style of dealing with life's foibles. Guess which one of us finds creative solutions more naturally?

#1 on my list is to make a list.

lol

The riding out here is wonderful in late spring to mid fall. You both must come out someday.

Vin ... err ... Tude agrees, Couch and Tude shall make it out there one day - and do make a list - we shall not abide by it :D

"hmmmm, hey Couchy - DJ has marked down Italian restaurant for that Saturday, whaddya think?"

":D We hit hot dog stand and some sort of festival that serves cotton candy and corrrrn dogs!!!!"

MWAHAHAHA!

We all shall meet someday (if ya want too, hehe)

Santa makes a list. And checks it twice! What does that say about him?

I refuse to plan vacations. It bugs my mother immensely. lol

Santa makes a list. And checks it twice! What does that say about him?

He's organized .... and compulsive.

I like making grocery lists best. I have the list organized by the store layout so I don't miss an item on my list. It makes me furious if I forget an item.

Yes I am "special". My mommy told me so.

Oh crap! You just gave me an idea for my grocery list. Luddite is going to love that one. :p

I like making grocery lists best. I have the list organized by the store layout so I don't miss an item on my list. It makes me furious if I forget an item.

Yes I am "special". My mommy told me so.

what do you do when the store rearranges a few shelves?

I am a planner and a list maker. For me, vacations and trips go much smoother if they are planned in advance.

I didn't used to make lists, but then forgot stuff when packing or at the grocery store. I started making lists when I got tired of having to buy a new toothbrush on the road, or driving back to the store to get milk.

I hired a cleaning lady to come over my mother's house every other week, so my mom spends an entire day cleaning up so she won't be embarrassed if the cleaning lady sees a mess. Mom was born before the term "anal-retentive," we just say "Jewish" and leave it at that.

what do you do when the store rearranges a few shelves?

Me:
http://maddok.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/raeg.jpg

Me:
http://maddok.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/raeg.jpg

This is what I do too.

The local grocery store was renovated a couple of years ago and it was about 3 months of wandering around searching for toilet paper and finding it in different locations. At one point the granola bars were sharing shelf space with light bulbs and tampons. It made a mockery of my lists.

The nicer of the two supermarkets I shop at:
a) Will randomly run out (http://www.brezhnev.net/2008/01/20/86.html) of common items (peanut butter, mayonnaise, bacon, unsweetened yogurt and Earl Grey tea have all disappeared at one time or another, and sometimes for weeks at a time)
b) Reorganizes its shelves regularly, without warning and according to no apparent system
c) Places items on shelves based on a misunderstanding of products (e.g. ginger beer placed with alcoholic drinks)
d) Places related items on the opposite side of the store (e.g. yogurt separated into two different displays with no overlap)
e) Has no price tags on the shelves, or will have price tags of unrelated products (and staff won't know the prices)
f) Has a sandwich making place where they routinely run out of such exotic sandwich ingredients as bread.

The sandwich-making place has been bad enough to inspire me to keep a list comparing the sandwich I ordered with the sandwich received. The frequent disparity between the two is all the more surprising because you actually tick off boxes on a little piece of paper, which you hand to the sandwich maker WHO STILL GETS IT WRONG.

Anyway. Yeah. Lists.

Due to my habit at work, I also keep a small pocket notebook on me at home so I always have a list handy. Comes in convinient since I'll definetely forget otherwise.
Ernest

Yep, I always make lists. Heading out to get errands done, I have my list of places I'm going and things I'm picking up. If the wife goes with me, she inevitably wants to stop somewhere NOT on my list. Really throws off my plan.

Just organized. I use them so I don't forget anything. For years I've had an Excel sheet with columns for the activity (camping, paddling, cycle-touring supported and non, etc). It makes for faster packing.

Do you eat M&Ms in color order too? :innocent:

Generally, I prefer to eat them in, alpha-numeric, chronological, order, by priority and convenience, in the order in which they're plucked from the bag. But I once had a friend that actually died, from eating M&M's! No, really, it's true.

He had synesthesia. For years, he suffered from this, near debilitating, disease; one that makes people associate colors with innocuous things; such as letters, in his case. I can remember, it was shortly after M&M's released the new - "blue" M&M, that we lost him; which he maintained right up to the time of his death, were actually, "Yellow".

They found him sitting in his car, slumped over at the wheel at a stoplight, an open bag of M&M's strewn about the passenger's seat. He'd taken a "G" and blue his brains out. Tragic I tell you, just tragic.

Curse those M&M's! *shaking fist skyward*

I do lists for lots of different things.

After you've been burned a few times on trips where you didn't bring everything you needed to bring, you learn to start using a list.

When you return from the store and find you forgot the thing you needed the most, you learn to start using a list.

Things will pop into my head at odd times- things I need to do or things I need to buy. If I don't add them to the list then I will forget about them later.

So my answer is that the organized person uses lists.

The nicer of the two supermarkets I shop at:
a) Will randomly run out (http://www.brezhnev.net/2008/01/20/86.html) of common items (peanut butter, mayonnaise, bacon, unsweetened yogurt and Earl Grey tea have all disappeared at one time or another, and sometimes for weeks at a time)
b) Reorganizes its shelves regularly, without warning and according to no apparent system
c) Places items on shelves based on a misunderstanding of products (e.g. ginger beer placed with alcoholic drinks)
d) Places related items on the opposite side of the store (e.g. yogurt separated into two different displays with no overlap)
e) Has no price tags on the shelves, or will have price tags of unrelated products (and staff won't know the prices)
f) Has a sandwich making place where they routinely run out of such exotic sandwich ingredients as bread.

The sandwich-making place has been bad enough to inspire me to keep a list comparing the sandwich I ordered with the sandwich received. The frequent disparity between the two is all the more surprising because you actually tick off boxes on a little piece of paper, which you hand to the sandwich maker WHO STILL GETS IT WRONG.

Anyway. Yeah. Lists.

Those sandwich order v. reality comparisons need to go on the Web somewhere.