The Love of Lists!

I love lists!  Lists let me get the “to do’s” and “need to remember’s” out of my head and onto paper.  There are lists for everyday life:  shopping lists, to do lists, even calendars are like organized lists with events to be remembered each day.  There are lists of things to accomplish at work and at home.  Some liken the lists to goals.  Goals, for me, are ambitious; lists have tasks that can be tackled and crossed off.

The husband appreciates lists.  He remembers better if things are written down or he makes his own list of tasks.  Though he does prefer a limit to the number of items that can be on his list.

Then there are vacation lists. . . my favorites!  If traveling to Walt Disney World, there is a list of ADR’s or Advance Dining Reservations, along with times and confirmation numbers.  There are lists of park hours and extra magic hours for various days while we are at the most magical place on earth.  Some might even have a list of attractions, Fastpasses, and shows at the parks.

Our packing list is actually several lists combined—one for each person, toiletries, paperwork, and other items needed for the vacation.  The boy has his own list of things that go in his personal bag which typically includes toys and games.

From the packing list a shopping list for the trip is generated.  So far on our shopping list for our upcoming trip includes items such as moleskin, a pillow case, waterproof cameras, new tennis shoes for the husband, Photopass +, and a grocery order with Garden Grocer.com (click here to read more about GardenGrocer.com).  I was able to cross off a few items yesterday which is always a great feeling!  The pillow case is for collecting autographs and a 2-pack of plain white pillow cases was less than $6 at Wal-Mart.  We’ll wash both, pack one, and save the extra for our next trip!  Wal-Mart also had one time use waterproof cameras for less than $7 each.  I snagged 3 of them and that will give us 4 total as we had one left over from our last Disney vacation.  These cameras are great for use at swimming pools and water parks.  The husband picked up a new pair of tennis shoes that he will break in a month before our trip.

Then there is the wish list.  The wish list includes things that would be nice to have but are not needed, such as a new suitcase.  We have learned the hard way that wheels on the bottom’s of suitcases get broken and broken quickly.  So, we found a suitcase last August at T.J. Maxx for a steal that had wheels built into the body of the suitcase.  It, along with some of our older suitcases, housed our belongings for our trip in December.  While the wheels of the new suitcase made it, one of the decorative tags from the manufacturer didn’t it and was broken off.  We have plenty of other suitcases we can use, they just don’t have wheels.  Inconvenient, yes.  Necessity to purchase new, no. 

Other items on the wish list include a new set of matching shirts.  Yes, I tortured myself by designing a new set on Zazzle.com and even added them to the “cart” but haven’t hit the purchase button yet.  Even with a 10% off code, they were still expensive and Zazzle no longer uses Ebates for cash back on our purchase.  I’m waiting for a better discount code, then we’ll see.  Nice to have, yes.  Needed, definitely no—we have plenty of sets of matching shirts to get us through multiple days of our next trip. (click here to read more about matching shirts.)

Ah, the joy of making lists and crossing off items when done, finished, completed, is not lost on me or my family.  In fact, lists help us get organized and stay organized which leads to simplicity and efficiency.