Aug 20, 2008

My To Do List & DeClutter Challenge Update

I haven't posted a To Do List here for awhile. Don't think I haven't been cleaning my house! LOL I just haven't posted a list. I'm not sure that I've mentioned that every morning while I drink my coffee, I write my To Do List for the day. And I mean EVERY morning. I purchase inexpensive (.05 cents apiece at WalMart a few weeks ago - I bought 20!) wire-bound notebooks, and use that to keep my life on track. I have actually saved all my notebooks -- about 8 or 9 years worth! If I make phone calls or have appointments, it's in my notebook. I write down what's for dinner that day, where I need to go if it's an Errand Day, who I need to call or email, and my general To Do List for the day. I also keep track of what I'm working on in my quilt room, and a running grocery list. Honestly, if I don't have my To Do List made out, I tend to get nearly nothing done. Making a To Do List every morning is putting a bit of pressure on myself to get done what needs to be done. No To Do List - no pressure. Ninety-five percent of the time all items are checked off my To Do List at the end of the day. Here's today's To Do List:
  • Empty all trash upstairs and downstairs
  • Clean out refrigerator
  • Make Jeff's breakfast
  • Make Jeff's lunch
  • Make the bed
  • Pick-up upstairs bathrooms, quick wipe-down
  • Vac kitchen and family room
  • Package and freeze big package of pork
  • Quilting - cut fabric x 2 hrs
  • Dinner: Pork Fried Rice, Egg Rolls
  • Phone Call: Time Warner Cable
  • Email: Tricia, Karen
When I talk to Time Warner Cable today, I will make a note in my notebook of whom I talk to, the time of the call, and notes on what was said. I can't tell you how many times I've needed notes like this when a company says "We never said that..." and I can say, "Yes, XYZ employee said that on blah-blah-blah date and time." It also helps refresh my memory when I'm trying to remember who said what. Declutter Challenge Update It's a CD kind of week here. Every day I have gotten between 15 and 20 CD's out of the entertainment center and on to my Mp3 player. I'm so happy to be getting this done! Our main TV is on it's last legs, and we'll be buying a HD TV within the next month, which means I will be able to get rid of our big, clunky entertainment center! Woooo Hoooo! Before we get rid of it, though, everything in it needs to find a new home -- and for a lot (I mean A LOT) of CD's and Video's, the new home is going to be Goodwill! Of course, having gone through two Mp3 players and two PDA's in the past six years, I do wonder what is going to happen to all this music if my Mp3 player calls it quits... Anyone have ideas how to back all this music up without using my computer's hard drive?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Sounds like you have a good system going. I love my Franklin Covey planning system and use it much the same way (but mostly for work). Notes from important phone calls get written on that day and then indexed in a list by month in case I am looking for it several months later (only have to look at 12 pages instead of hundreds).

Now here's a question for you - how many notebooks have you been saving up for 8 or more years? Do you refer to them at all or are they now clutter? I have been using a planner since 2005 and have 3 binders worth now. I keep them at work, but I have been thinking about scanning everything to a digital file. I actually did go back and use my 2005 one to find a lost phone number!

Regarding backing up music, the cheapest way is probably to burn DVDs. They each hold over 4G and you can get them pretty cheap now. If you don't have a burner, you can buy one of those for pretty cheap now too. An external hard drive is another option and would be easier to access, and those you can get on sale for $70 or so. Might be worth it to back up everything you have - pictures and all.

Joan J said...

Hi Lisa. I have all my notebooks - a file drawer full, actually. I have referred to them, but not further back than a few months. I probably should get rid of them!

The back-up: I found out today that RoadRunner has a free file back-up for it's customers, so I think that's what I'm going to do. But I do like the DVD idea too -- didn't realize they'd hold 4gig! I have a DVD recorder on my computer, so that would work great. Thanks for the idea!