Lists, Lists and More Lists

Psst…I’ve got a tip for you. Get an organizing coach. It is so cool to get a call from an expert organizer keeping you accountable for making lists.. checking them twice.. (she said it not me). Really though, it is kind of like Christmas except that Patricia Diesel, of Keep it Simple Now, is way more jolly than Santa.

Want want to listen to my talking blog? Listen!

At 8:30 am this morning I hear on the other end of the phone line the cheeriest voice known to man. Patricia was up, up, up! In my waking coma I managed to tell her I hadn’t done my list yet. I had said I was going to do that days ago when I wrote my first blog post on this topic. I protested saying that I had started a list and wrote one word on it – pack. Hey, what more did she want? I’m busy building a business.

Doing a list was the first thing on my list ‘to do’ to get prepared for the move… in , what now…41 days! Yikes. So she calmly.. who ever does anything calmly.. hey, maybe that’s my problem… I need to chill and get to writing my list of to do’s for the move. Anyway back to Patricia calmly asking if I had a small notebook I could write in so that I could carry it with me around the house, in the car and do my best not to misplace it. I did! I had one. Miracle of miracles, there was one sitting right on my desk. I had not planned that!

There it is in the photo, my new best friend, the MOVE notebook. (that’s my best self photo from early morning I could manage). Patricia had a fancy name for it. A PTL or Project Task List but that was way to hard on my head. There is now…ink on paper. Here’s what I did to make the magic happen:

• I gave each room in the house including the dreaded garage a couple of pages.
• I then went to each room, stood in them, looked around and made notes based on what was in them and what I felt needed to be done to pack their contents nice and neatly into small boxes.
• I didn’t fail to forget to note where the carpet had to be cleaned, light bulbs replaced or windows shined.
• I noted when I wanted to toss something or donate it.
• I even made a note that my yoga ball that has been collecting dust needs to be deflated. ( but I’m starting a 20 day personal yoga challenge so that will have to wait. ) That’s another story.

Now this was a cursory glance at each room and not a detailed item by item list but I am pleased as a peacock in Spring that I actually did it. Task # 1 – √

Patricia had great tips for starting to organize the actual packing.

• Grab some colored stickers and place one sticker of each color in my note book,  assigning each one a room. That way when I pack I can stick it on the outside box and then the movers know where to leave it in the new place. That is if they don’t get into the beer before that point.
• Another great tip was to set aside time in my calendar to focus on move tasks. So I’m trying this by setting aside an hour an day. As the move date gets closer I may have to boost that up but for the next several weeks I can handle that.

I have a feeling that this move, that I first thought may be a disaster in the making, may just be the smoothest ever thanks to The Broke Wives Club mentor, Patricia Diesel.  OK Patricia, what’s next? Bring it on!