List of lists
Tonight I hope to impart a little advice to all my readers... after all, that is one of the goals of this blog. Be organized. I don't care how, whatever works for you is good, but get organized and stay organized.
While I've always thought of myself as a bit of a planner, I took the extra step of picking myself up a Palm Tungsten|E about five months ago. I wanted to be as prepared as I could be to manage all the new bills and duties that I'd have as a homeowner. Little did I know what a chore this would be. Let me show you my list of lists as I remember it at the moment:
And there are probably more lists, but I imagine that people are starting to skim the text, looking for this paragraph, by now. My point is simple: there is a lot of different things going on when you move and end up in a new place. Until you can build a routine that accounts for everything going on, it's a bit chaotic. The good news is, I think that I'm almost there now: all of my appliances are in and set-up (yes, the water softener is running quite well... now I just have to get rid of six weeks of hard water stains and build-up), I've figured out the garbage and recycling day, my route to work is well established, and I'm getting better about this whole cooking-dinner thing... not to mention the clean-up afterwards.
However you do it - by yourself or with your housemate(s) - get organized. Keep lists of what needs to be done. Maybe buy a big wall calendar on which you can mark due dates. Go big and get a PDA of some sort. On top of getting everything done on time (or in a timely fashion), you get that little satisfaction of crossing things off your various lists now and then.
While I've always thought of myself as a bit of a planner, I took the extra step of picking myself up a Palm Tungsten|E about five months ago. I wanted to be as prepared as I could be to manage all the new bills and duties that I'd have as a homeowner. Little did I know what a chore this would be. Let me show you my list of lists as I remember it at the moment:
- Grocery list: this one should be obvious; but for anyone living at home where the fridge and shelves magically stock themselves, you'll soon uncover the secret of this trick!
- Chores/Cleaning: perhaps something that you're currently responsible for... but remember, now you get to do everything - the bathrooms, the kitchen, vacuum the floors, take out the trash, shovel the driveway, etc., etc. Oh, and nobody is going to give you 25 cents per chore either.
- Supplies: similar to the grocery list above, when you first move out, you'll find yourself missing a lot of items (usually halfway through the task where you need it).
- Household bills: this is where things get crazy. Remember when you only had to worry about your cell phone bill and your credit card bill? Now add gas, electric, water, land tax, mortgage, telephone, cable, internet... and probably others that I'm forgetting. And just to keep you on your toes, these bills could be due every other week, bi-monthly, monthly... they could be automatically withdrawn or awaiting your final touch.
- Personal tasks: all the things that you want to do. Yes, it's true. Despite the gloomy picture I've painted above, you can still make time to do things like write a blog or play the guitar. In fact, next to the list of household bills, I might argue that this is the most important list. Owning a house is a ton of work, but don't forget to take some time for yourself.
And there are probably more lists, but I imagine that people are starting to skim the text, looking for this paragraph, by now. My point is simple: there is a lot of different things going on when you move and end up in a new place. Until you can build a routine that accounts for everything going on, it's a bit chaotic. The good news is, I think that I'm almost there now: all of my appliances are in and set-up (yes, the water softener is running quite well... now I just have to get rid of six weeks of hard water stains and build-up), I've figured out the garbage and recycling day, my route to work is well established, and I'm getting better about this whole cooking-dinner thing... not to mention the clean-up afterwards.
However you do it - by yourself or with your housemate(s) - get organized. Keep lists of what needs to be done. Maybe buy a big wall calendar on which you can mark due dates. Go big and get a PDA of some sort. On top of getting everything done on time (or in a timely fashion), you get that little satisfaction of crossing things off your various lists now and then.
