I’ll put it on my list

If I want to remember to do something, I write it down. Yup, I use a pen, and a piece of paper. I keep a pad of paper next to the refrigerator for the never-ending list of things we need at the supermarket. When the time is right, I interrupt that list to take it to the market with me, but it starts all over again the minute I get home.

On a typical day, I may consult several lists; things I need to do, people to buy birthday cards for, phone calls I need to make. Heading into the weekend, I usually rewrite several lists onto a single piece of paper, for more efficient processing. I carry a little notebook in my purse to jot down book titles and authors I want to check out. I also use that notebook when I’m out of the house to jot down appointments I make that I want to remember to transfer to the calendar at home. My fear of forgetting to do that compels me to rip out the page with the appointment and put it somewhere obvious, like the passenger seat of my car, until I get home and can transfer it to its final destination.

I keep a little notebook on my desk with ideas for blog posts. If I have an idea when I’m out and about, I put it in the notebook in my purse. You know what happens then.

If my daughter says, “Mom, can you do x for me?” I say, “Write it down.” If my husband says, “Can you remember to do y?” I say, “Write it down.”

If I put laundry in the washing machine in the basement, I put a post-it note on the kitchen table that says “laundry,” so I’ll remember to move it into the dryer. I leave that note on the table until the dryer is done, and the laundry, in its basket on the kitchen floor, negates the need for a written reminder. My daughter uses that same post-it. I wrote a note on a post-it months ago, “kitties fed,” that I put on the counter above their bowls to alert the rest of the house not to feed them again. We all use that one.

My husband sneers at my lists. He thinks I could be a poster child for PDAs. He urges me to use his old iPhone, so I can put all my lists on it and carry them with me everywhere I go. I’ve tried, really. The iPhone that does everything except make phone calls is in my purse, along with my own cell phone. I haven’t made a note on it yet. I keep meaning to. I guess I better put it on my list.