I consider myself to be a fairly productive person. I work part time as a labor and delivery nurse, write a daily blog and I manage a household while making sure to allow enough time for DIY projects, socializing and Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
I have friends who take full advantage of their electronic devices for their uber-organized to-do lists, calendars and probably some kind of ap thingies that I’m too much of a caveman to even comprehend. (Yes, caveMAN, as I am too backwards to evolve into a caveWOMAN.)
I’m a pen to paper woman. Yes, I know this is hypocritical from someone who writes an online blog, but there it is. I keep a physical engagement calendar and I write my to-do lists on scraps of paper and old envelopes; with tiny square boxes that I check off as I complete each tasks. I had assumed I was the only person under the age of fifty who operated this way, but breakfast out with tech-savvy J.D. Roth taught me otherwise.
Despite having his smart phone sitting right there on the restaurant table, we bonded over our paper calendars, agreeing that being able to open a page and see a whole week at a time was vastly superior.
And then, when we had finished our breakfasts, he pulled out a paper index card, which was filled top to bottom with a tidy list of all of his day’s tasks. That’s right people, a to-do list on a piece of paper.
I knew there was a reason we were friends.
Do you write your to-do lists on paper or have you made the leap out of the cave and into the electronic age? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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Ooopppps, you caught me. I am a software eng and work daily on computers helping people with problem. For my list for this weekend…. yep you called it, on paper.
I use old envelopes and store receipts to keep my lists. I have blank paper books I buy at thrift stores for under a buck to keep notes and info like neat lines from books, sketches, and thoughts to ponder. ; ) My laptop is very old and very heavy and not fun to carry around… like those dated movies where people are carrying cell phones that are as big as a shoe box.
I haven’t had tv for years and now that I do, one commercial I saw was interesting…a tax app allows you to take a picture of your w2 with your phone and it figures your tax for you. That does seem handy.
Oh and whether I use a pen or a pencil depends on what I find while out walking. Since I started walking a few years ago I never have to buy writing instruments…they are much more plentiful found objects than money.
So true. I picked up a nice pen today in front of my sons’ high school.
Katy
I’ve done both over the years- remember the Palm Pilot? Now I’m a strictly paper sort of gal for shopping lists, to-do lists and calendars- you never have to charge it, it never refuses to work and I can hand the shopping list to my toddler son to shred as we’re waiting in the check-out line. Beat that i-whatever!
Back in the 80s,,,yes I am that OLD! We had a recipe box with 3×5 cards
You listed everything you could possibly think of that needed to be done from your hair appointment , doctors appoint meats to cleaning the bathroom. There were dividers 1-31 and for months. You scheduled your week by putting the cards in the correct ” file”. No wasting paper. I still have the cards. I used an inexpensive newsprint tablet for grocery lists. I don’t make grocery lists now. I just replenish based on what is cheap. We still have certain chores we do on certain days….when you are retired all the ads run together if you don’t ! lOL.
Work two days a week, do a blog. Run two side businesses, take care of my grandaughter when she can’t go to school, and belong to a once a week dinner club and a service organization for women. And keep the house. I’m more busy than I was before I retired. I got a tablet last year. I love the reminder section for appointments.
Back in the 80s,,,yes I am that OLD! We had a recipe box with 3×5 cards
You listed everything you could possibly think of that needed to be done from your hair appointment , doctors appoint meats to cleaning the bathroom. There were dividers 1-31 and for months. You scheduled your week by putting the cards in the correct ” file”. No wasting paper. I still have the cards. I used an inexpensive newsprint tablet for grocery lists. I don’t make grocery lists now. I just replenish based on what is cheap. We still have certain chores we do on certain days….when you are retired all the ads run together if you don’t ! lOL.
Work two days a week, do a blog. Run two side businesses, take care of my grandaughter when she can’t go to school, and belong to a once a week dinner club and a service organization for women. And keep the house. I’m more busy than I was before I retired. I got a tablet last year. I love the reminder section for appointments.
Stock! I save everything vegetable related in the freezer (and meat bones) and cook up a big pot of stock when there is enough. Add to recipes instead of water -yum! And it breaks down faster in the compost. Win win!
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