That would be me. Confession time... I am an obsessive listmaker. I have lists of lists. Seriously. Ask Will. When we are getting going on something the first thing I want to do is make a list of what we need, when we are doing what, what each of us will be doing to get it done... I can't help myself. And funny as it is, it does help me. I have a terrible memory. If it's not written down I will forget it the moment I walk out the door. Or in the door. Or which ever way it is I'm heading.One of the lists I've been working on lately is a master chore list. Not just things like "do the dishes" or "fold the laundry" (although yes, they are on there) but a real list of all the things that need doing during the year. Because like I said, if it's not written down, I won't get it done. As a result I forget when it was I've last washed the duvets, we forgot to clean the gutters entirely this fall and I will put off cleaning the basement until, well, until a massive rain hits and we wake up to find the whole thing ankle deep in water. I used to do the Flylady thing and while it was OK, it was a little too much. I can remember to clean my house every week. I'm actually kind of obsessive about things being tidy. I have this ever present conviction that at any moment someone might stop by and so the house should be guest ready at all times. Or at least close. But things like turning the mattress or winterizing the car, well, those things dont get done unless it's somewhere on one of my lists. And so now it is.
I spent Saturday afternoon brainstorming things that should be done once a year, twice a year, four times a year, every month, every two weeks and every week and then I split them up into my paper calender, making a little list for every week. (I just can't quite make that jump to all digital, I tried last year but as we now know, still forgot to clean the gutters, so back to paper I went) I know, obsessive. But it works for me.
Will requested a list of daily and weekly chores that he should be doing because, like me, if it's not there in front of him, it wont get done. So I also made a calender to hang on our heater vent/message center. That, actually, was kind of fun. I browsed through the print your own PDF calendars on Etsy but couldn't find exactly what I was looking for. Plus I wanted to add the list so I poked around with clip art and made these in Word. I'm sure something much better could be done in Pagemaker or Photoshop but since I dont have either on my computer (and I'm not very good at using them anyway) I went the simple route. So now we have all the school activities and all the major household annual chores and a list for Will all on one calender that actually fits in the space (it's too narrow for a regular calender anyway and yes that is a list of meals..) and I have my OCD list in my little pocket calendar. So here's to an organized year. I hope.