Lists we all need
You can’t wander more than a few pages on this site without coming across a paragraph pontificating our passion for planning, our obsession with organisation and our lust for lists. The power of lists is undeniable and can be used to assist you and your life in a number of ways.
As someone who struggles to focus unless my task is right in front of me, list writing has become part of my daily life.
Not only am I now using Hal Elrod’s “SAVERS” every morning, but I am working on the perfect evening routine. All of which require lists.
You may not need ‘An Idiots Guide to Life’ such as the one I use each morning to get me started, you may be fairly organised already.
However, even if you are not totally convinced, here are a few lists every woman needs to consider writing.
Lists you should already have!
If you thought I would be including a Bucket list or a budget in this list of lists, I’m actually going to disappoint you this time.
While I obviously advocate those things quite voraciously, I have mentioned them very recently, there is plenty of content on the site to keep you going if that is your area of interest.
In fact, here are a few posts for you:
Bucket lists posts:
Kakeibo and Budgeting:
Food Planning
After a budget and a bucket list, another important list is your meal plan and shopping list. Since introducing these into our lives we have seen not only a reduction in food waste and cost but that we are actually eating more than just the standard meals we always relied on.
We used to have a pasta night, a curry night and then something involving frozen beige food. (Mainly nuggets and chips).
Now we find ourselves experimenting with recipes we’ve found both online and in books. Also our ‘lockdown purchase’ AKA the air fryer has also been a godsend.
By planning out a fortnight’s worth of meals, we write our shopping lists accordingly and know we will also have something nice for dinner.
And if all else fails, with the money we are saving, I can send one of the boys down to the chip shop.
Know your home
My Ikea addiction is no secret, neither are my plans to totally redo my home. But one thing that makes shopping for your home so much easier, is a list of measurements.
How many times have you spotted a nice pair of curtains, or a small unit and passed on it as you weren’t sure if it would fit where you wanted to put it?
A useful list to keep handy is one that contains the measurements of your windows, alcoves, or indeed any space you are looking to purchase items for. Making a note of the square footage of your living room could mean the difference between picking up a bargain rug, or having to forgo it as you’re not sure if it will be too big for your room.
This could not only save you a costly mistake, but it will make you look at your spaces and what you actually need.
Minimalists suggest that instead of buying something and then wondering about where you will put it once you get home, you should consider what you need and the space it will occupy and then purchase to fit.
Present cheat list
Hate to use the C-word this early in the year – but I have started putting presents away for Christmas. While we can’t possibly know what the latest trend will be by November, we can put away a few evergreen bits that can pad out stockings, or will do for an emergency gift at a push.
Another set of measurements that might be a good idea to keep handy is one of all the measurements for the people in our life. If you have to buy clothes or accessories for children in the family or those of friends, knowing what size they will need, or what colour is their favourite is always useful.
I have often spotted a great graphic tee in a charity shop and then pondered if it would fit one of my kids, or if it would be something they would wear. (The benefit of having loads of kids is that at least one of them would want it, but that is no way to shop when you are trying to stick to a budget!)
Keeping a brief aide-mémoire of basic sizes and styles could help you bag those bargains when it comes to gift buying.
An ICE list
In the event of an emergency could your family find what they need in your home? Where is your insurance company’s number? What is your mortgage account number? Where are all your pensions held?
Loathe as we all are to think of such things, if you dropped dead today would your family know where to find the important documents they will need? Your will, your life insurance policy, your funeral plan? Even just how to get in touch with your bank? How about your mortgage provider?
Do you even have a will sorted out?
Making a list of all these important details, putting it somewhere safe, and then – most importantly- letting someone you trust know where it is, could be done so easily, yet we tend to put it off. Make life easier for the people around you by creating an “In Case of Emergency” list.
You could even have a household one, with plumbers, electricians or people who can fix boilers on it, so you aren’t scouring the internet when one of your pipes bursts.
Over to you
Once you get started, there are all kinds of lists you could write. The perfect place for them, of course, would be in a cool “Polly’s Pad” notebook – but any notebook will do.
One idea is to get a ring-binder and then add print out lists, so they are all in one place.
Pro-tip: It is probably best to not go down the route of writing random lists on scraps of paper, or you will need a list to organise your lists! The idea is to be more organised, so keep them all together.
What are you going to write a list of? Let us know.