Wednesday, July 23, 2008

My Saving Grace

. . . is my Yahoo calendar. I am highly distractable and I kept noticing the same problem over and over again: I would start the laundry first thing in the morning, then forget about it until sometime after dinner. Oops! Or I was a complete ADD mess because I didn't want to forget all the things in my mental list.
No more!
Now I put everything, and I mean everything on my calendar, with email reminders for all of it. I get an email at 10 am telling me to move the laundry to the dryer. Another email at 1 pm telling me to fold the laundry. That's a gazillion brain cells now freed up to think on more interesting things.


Once I saw the fruit of this method, I started adding in all kinds of things, like: change the A/C filter (once a month), clean out the fridge (once a month), find 25 things to toss (once a week- yes, I can definitely find 25 things every week), etc. You get the idea. I LOVE it!

19 comments:

The Herd said...

What a great idea! I use our Microsoft calendar to remind me:)
I will have to drop by sometime next week as this week is drawing to a close and we are having to go apply for our visas in a day or so.

The Herd said...

Hey, check out my friend's blog--she is the one I told about your curriculum that you use...look what she found. http://www.themommyjournal.com/archive/kids-and-the-outdoors.php#comment-18686
You'll love the video about getting out in nature.

Faith said...

I have to use a timer to remind me about laundry. The only bad thing is when I forget to set the timer.
:)
I use Google calendars for the big things and all kinds of pieces of paper with lists for the daily things.
I always try to write something down as soon as I think of it. I know it won't stay in my head very long. :)

heartchild said...

Great post. I am going to check into using that. I have the same distractability.

Anonymous said...

I need to be about laundry as well. It's terrible! I've even forgotten about a load overnight before and had to rewash them the next day. It makes me mad every time.

I use calendars for big things and I have a house organizational notebook full of lists and routines and such for getting to all the details.

But, those things only help if I actually look at them...

musicmommy3 said...

"That's a gazillion brain cells now freed up to think on more interesting things..."


A GAZILLION brain cells? lol Hmmmmm. :P

Carolyn said...

Do you have your computer on and open to email most of the day then?

Ginger said...

I check my email about 100 times a day, takes seconds. Yes, my email is a window that's pretty much always open.
I turn off my computer about twice a week. Most of the time, it's always on. If I walk away, I turn off the monitor, not the computer.

Anonymous said...

When I got the email that said "My Saving Grace", I thought for sure it was going to be about your DH. Oh well, you're my saving grace.

HB

Ginger said...

Aw, thanks honey! You're my other saving grace, sweetheart. XXOO

The Mom said...

ohh this is great! I am so grateful you blogged about this, wonderful and a huge help
thanks
lori

MommaofMany said...

You could enter this post on next week's "Works For Me Wednesday" at Rocks in My Dryer.

I'll have to look into this idea for myself. Thanks for the hint!

SeƱora Smith said...

Have you read Dave Allen's book Getting Things Done? He would love this post! He's all about freeing up your brain with a system you can count on. I'm with you - it's those "once a month" things that pile up on me - I am going to check out the yahoo calender! julie

Anonymous said...

I love organizational tips.My calender like yours I can publish online so that my husband and nanny can look at it and see what our week/month looks like.
As organized as you are you may have already thought of this but ...
I have a ~8 weeks of menus with our favorite recipes (weight watcher friendly) that give us a variety of things each week. Usually only 5 meals/week. Then I put together corresponding grocery list that I can print out that has all the ingredients for that week's menu. Of course the grocery list is in quadrants that match up with how I go thru the store and has room to fill in all the extra things that we might need that week.

Ginger said...

Kelley,

I have the same thing! Too funny. I have a 6 week rotation of menus that have 6 meals each. The shopping list is on the front, the recipes on the back for each week. I don't enjoy menu planning, so I only do it about twice a year.
As far as sharing my calendar, I've learned that Kyle does better with verbal reminders. (He doesn't look at the calendar.) So I just IM him when a reminder pops up and say: "Don't forget, my book club is tonight" for instance. ;)

Anonymous said...

Ginger-
How would you feel about exchanging your menu lists, shopping list and recipes?

Angela said...

I would LOVE your menu list :)

Angela

Anonymous said...

I have my menus in an excel spreadsheet, it is not copying well in this comment box. Can I email it to you?

Ginger said...

Kelley,

Excel! That's what I should do! Thanks to my love-the-underdog computer consultant (aka Dad), I have been taught to love the superior Word Perfect, even though everyone uses Word. I didn't figure I'd be sharing the lists, so I went ahead and created them in Word Perfect.
It'll take me some more time, but I'll re-do them and email them to you. :)