What do you use to make lists?

[Littlemiss74]

I’ve tried so many things, notebooks, notes on phone, ipad, post it notes, whiteboard in kitchen. Trouble is I never remember to look at the lists once made!😄
Or I make lots of very similar lists in different places.

I want to try and organise my life a bit better whilst we have more time at home.
For those of you who like lists, what do you use to make them and what kind of lists do you make?

Blackboard in the kitchen for everyone to add to, then I take a picture of it on my phone to look at in the shop

It depends on the sort of list.

Food shopping - a master list in Excel printed out once a week, things added or crossed out, checking the list on the kitchen noticeboard where we jot down things that run out

Non-food shopping - phone.

Everything else - bullet journal
Apart from a few Christmas lists which have their own book and a little folder.

Alexa for food shopping
iPhone notes for other lists

A Bullet Journal.

I love the idea of the bullet journal but I’m not sure I’d keep up with it. Is it quite easy to maintain? I did read a bit about it earlier in the year. I guess if I can’t even manage a single list I have little hope with the journal.

That's the beauty of it, you can use it as much or as little as you like, change it round, I'm always changing mine.

I'm loving the Spotless app. It gives me a list each day of the things I have to do (good for someone who forgets when they last did something, so it stops me over or under cleaning).

I use Samsung notebook on my phone.
I have separate lists for food shop, deliveries due, things to do, hours I've worked (zero hours contract, so none at the moment!). Clothes I've bought for myself and kids, so I can keep a very rough tally, so when teen dd complains she hasn't any clothes, I can check what she last had.

Oh, I also have post it notes, for things like putting the bin out on bin day.

Pen and paper for me plus we have a big family calendar.

I love writing lists and it's an endless source of entertainment for my dh he did buy me an electronic diary thing to use, but I didn't like typing lists. It seems l just like the actual writing of the list

@copycopypaste what size notebook do you use for your lists? Do you take it everywhere with you or keep it at home? Do you pull the pages out once list complete?

@ExpletiveDelighted @lazylinguist I’m wondering if I should give the bullet journal another go but keep it simple. A fair bit of it like the diary I didn’t need as I use my phone calendar and one on wall in kitchen. It’s all the other thoughts and ideas that constantly pop into my head that I need to get down somewhere. Sometimes my head feels like it’s going to explode! Do you tear lists out of the bullet journal, eg a food shop list?

I use apps, depending on what is needed, some lists/files are shared with dh so we can both edit.
Trello
Wunderlist (taken over by To Do)
Evernote

In lockdown we start the list 2 days before the weekly shop and everybody looks/adds to it before I go out.
I take an A5 piece of paper (scrap). One side is the “fresh food” list for two thirds and “non food” (so toiletries, school stuff etc).
The other side is “dry food” so pasta, biscuits, jars etc for half, “frozen” for a quarter and a quarter “other jobs” like dry cleaner, bank etc.
It’s a variation on how I write in my Moleskine diary for myself (week on one page, blank on the other). Currently that has moths coming out whenever I open it.

Back of an envelope for me. I inevitably forget any shopping list I produce however.......

A Bullet Journal can be very simple. The best things about it are that it keeps everything (lists, diary, calendar, notes etc) in one place and that it's totally adaptable. If you decide after a month that you want to lay it out differently or add sections or ditch things that weren't working for you, you just do it.

Lots of people start out too complex or include loads of pages for things they won't really use. Or they try to emulate all the amazing artistic ones on Instagram, get discouraged and give up. Start really simple (the basic guide on the bullet journal website is helpful if you need a reminder.

I don't tear anything out of my journal. I don't make shopping lists in it, because I don't need to keep them after I've done the shopping. I do have a shopping masterlist in there though - it's probably my most used page.

Have you ever looked into adult adhd?

I am hopeless with lists but the way to do it is keep it very simple. So I have a bullet journal app I use on my phone. This has a widget and if I don't complete something on a given day it gets moved to tomorrow. In theory I can also look at the list every day and scoot things to tomorrow or another day in the future. I used to use one called Do It Tomorrow, but I wanted a widget. I tend to put the useful things like my calendar schedule view and my to do list on there so that I immediately see them when I pick up my phone. Then I hide all the distracting apps like Facebook in the app screen and keep changing the order so I can't quickly flick to them.

I use Google calendar with recurring events to keep track of what I'm supposed to be doing, I add reminders here as well. So if I've decided to phone the bank I put it in for Monday morning for example. And if I don't do it I move it to Tuesday afternoon or my next free slot. I used to have a routine of checking my email first thing in the morning with some coffee in order to get it done once a day. Now I leave the tab open in my browser and I read emails as they come in but this only works because Gmail has that useful social/updates tab that hides the pointless stuff.

I like Notebooks, I use an A5 spiral bound one and try to take it everywhere. Have varying amounts of success with this but it is good when it works.

I also use the notes app on my phone so that it syncs. And Trello, which has become our family one that DH uses as well. Shopping lists etc.

I don't tear pages out of my bullet journal, no. We have a shopping list pad on the kitchen wall for things that have run out and a master list on the computer that I print each week and annotate with red pen.

We use phone calendars as they are sync'd and always on us. I don't take the bullet journal out and about apart from to work or when away from home, it's an a5 hardback so it makes my bag too heavy for walking round the shops or similar. However I do take it out for a coffee and journalling session sometimes in normal times.

I do use it as a secondary diary though, with a month to a page (a line a day) where I note all non-regular events eg a DC swimming gala would be there but not weekly training. It helps me visualise what's happening over the coming weeks and months, what's in consecutive weekends, when school holidays are. I usually do 3 months at a time, approx termly.

I also use it as a journal of what has happened, thoughts etc. Then there's the lists. To do lists, books read, films watched, lists related to holidays, lists of stuff about the cars (when services are due etc), there's a note of when all our passports and EHICs expire, notes from meetings (committees, school stuff etc), planning for birthday parties etc. Things I want to do in the garden, you name it.

Spiral index cards.

I like Alexa for food shopping as if I’m in the kitchen and use the last of something I can shout to Alexa to put it on the relevant list - if I had to go and find a piece of paper or my phone to make a note of it I’d never get round to doing it.
I also used Wunderlist for years (really simple) for less used lists (packing for different types of holiday for example) but it was withdrawn this month. The data has been migrated to Microsoft To Do so I’ll probably use that but haven’t properly investigated it yet.
I did wonder whether to have a bullet journal but when I investigated how they worked I couldn’t follow the explanation at all, so I didn’t bother (although I love a nice notebook). I could also see myself faffing around making sure everything was beautifully arranged in the notebook as a substitute for actually getting any jobs done.

I'm occasionally tempted to move to an app rather than my paper Bullet Journal (am a bit intrigued by your widget one, BertieBotts), but even though I'm no luddite, I just like the solidity and permanence of a written one and how personal and adaptable it is. I like moving into a new one at the end of the year and I like looking back at my old ones.

I only use the app one for the widget really. It's no good as a proper bullet journal as it doesn't have enough options and you can't play around with it. I was put off bullet journalling for ages because people make it overcomplicated and fancy IMO. When I realised I could do it my own way and it didn't matter whether it was messy, then it made more sense. I also just stuck to the original very simple format of bulleted lists (I do to-dos, random thoughts, etc.) And in the back I keep my goal list so that I can write down any goals I have and progress made towards them, highlighting the three I'm currently prioritising (this is to prevent me thinking I'm doing brilliantly by having hundreds of goals but actually making no progress on any of them.) But TBH it is not really different from the random notebooks I've always kept. Just slightly more ordered really.

I think my earlier comment got a bit garbled because I was writing it as I was going off to sleep (am in different time zone). What I meant to say was that I try to set my phone up as a productivity helper rather than as a distraction/entertainment device. So I have widgets on the home screen which remind me of what I am supposed to be doing or want to concentrate on. I like apps which sync up to a website I can use in the browser on my computer. And that it doesn't matter really where your lists are as long as they are ALL in the same place, so that when you have a sudden urge to look at the list of what clothes sizes your toddler is in or birthday present ideas for people, you also see the to do list or the upcoming birthdays list and are reminded that those exist as well. If I write lists on random scraps of paper they disappear and I never remember to look at them anyway, even if I put them up in a prominent location - it just becomes wallpaper and I screen it out.

I mentioned ADHD before, but whether this is something worth exploring or not, if you generally struggle with organisational tools, there is an excellent book series called Smart But Scattered which might explain a lot. This is the one for adults: www.amazon.co.uk/Smart-but-Scattered-Guide-Success/dp/1462516963?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

@Oliva Same here.

Shopping list goes on a magnetic pad, but we tend to just write the list before the shop, instead of as and when thing run out (so we sometimes forget to buy replacements when needed) and bullet journal for the rest, although I haven’t used mine lately and have noticed my productivity go down massively, so this thread is a good reminder to start using it again.

When I write lists down I can manage my day better, but as soon as I stop writing them my head spirals into constant thoughts of what needs doing, but no actual doing happens. And it’s been a few months since I stopped writing lists so everything is overwhelming me, and I’m not achieving anything.

fridge door with a dry wipe pen