Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Wonderfully organized, or OCD?

Lately I've been thinking about a lot of different things and I've been making mental and out on paper lists about all the things I need to get done.

I get so excited about upcoming events in my life (all the time) that I try to be as prepared in advance as possible. We're expecting our second child the first week in December (although I'm rooting for the end of November) and of course there are things to do to get ready for this event, but its too early to get to them. For example:

Bring baby bassinet into our bedroom
Wash Baby's clothes and blankets
Install baby car seat in the car
etc.

Although I can't do these things now (even though I want to very badly, because I find them to be fun!) I have already chosen dates to get these things done and have written them down in my planner. That way I will be on track and things won't be left for the last minute. It's my controlling side, I'm sure, that makes me need to do these things. I love my planner, though. I love to write things down that need to get done on specific dates and I love writing down my appointments. I love to look through the planner and see what things are coming up. Even the simple things like on the first week of November the infant car seat needs to be installed in the car. No excpetions.

I have a notebook which I call "Sharline's List Book" and I keep an ongoing list of things to get done. I love the feeling of accompishment it gives me and I also feel organized. As I mark things off that I have completed, I add a few more. I add simple things like 'wash the dishes' and 'do laundry.' I add 'throw the trash out' and then I get more out of the every day stuff like 'glue broken handle back onto the tea cup' or 'sew button back on Ben's coat pocket' and things fo the sort. I even have a section in the back of it for projects that I KNOW I'm not getting to anytime soon, like 'start working on quilt' or 'read such and such book.'
I get as specific as possible in my listings so I keep meticulous track of what I need to do and have already done. Maybe its a form of mild OCD. Who knows? But it makes me HAPPY!

(Sharline is now going to her list notebook and she is crossing off that she wrote a new post in her new blog. Check!)

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Well, you know, I wasn't that much into lists until I married Kelly, and she has all but converted me. What surprises me more about your list-making habit is that you still have a traditional pencil and paper planner and make lists on paper (note: this is not meant to sound critical). I usually like to do the same kinds of things you mentioned, but I use e-tools instead. For example, I use Google Calendar for planning. It's pretty kewl. It will send you an email to remind you of important things, like Sharline's birthday. And more recently, when Kelly and I were planning our recent trip, we used Google Documents. That way if I thought of something while I was at work, I could add to the list, and see what Kelly had added, and we could still cross things off when we were done. Doing it electronically isn't really about trying to be hip, kewl, or with it, it's more about my tendancy for losing things like planners, notebooks, pens, and pencils. Computers and the Internet are a lot more difficult to misplace. :-)

Kelly said...

You sound just like me! Maybe I have an OCD side too. :)