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Hi, welcome to my blog, I am a writer of short stories, children's and YA novels . An acceptance from People's Friend finally made me a published writer! Yeah, happy days! I have since had stories published in The Weekly News and The Last Laugh anthology. My main love is writing children's/YA novels...I'm now enduring a fruitless search for an agent... I also draw and paint, I like to draw animals (usually my adorable crazy cats!)Occasionally famous people and motorcycles.

Tuesday, 8 February 2011

Lists in threes...why?

Yesterday I wrote a long shopping list. My terrific budgeting plan is to shop for a fortnight with one week's money. Haha, I know. Still I'm an eternal optomist...

'Tell us more about your shopping lists!' I hear you cry (or is that the click click of mice as you frantically move on to another blog). Is the plural of a computer mouse 'mice'? I feel it should be mouses...anyway that's beside the point.

I wrote a long list of everything I needed and wanted from the supermarket. I also write the amount each item will cost to the nearest 50p (easier to add up). So that was all done.
I totted it all up and it cost twice what I wanted.

I crossed off lots of unecessary items like dishcloths and brocolli. (I left the multipacks of choc bars on)

Well then my nice neat list was all scruffy, so I wrote it out again and added it up, it was a slight improvement.

Ok, so why three?

Several family members wander past me on the way to the kitchen.
"You've forgotten toothpaste" Is the first comment. I sigh and squeeze it on to my neat list (the word not the actual toothpaste).

"Don't forget those nice steak things you got last time."

I sigh and add the steak things. ( I thought they were horrible but what do I know?)
Then, without any help from anyone else I realise I've forgotten to write shampoo and milk. So unless we eat dry cereal and go out greasy-haired, I will have to add those too.

I very much doubt anyone cares where this is going, if you've read this far I thank you for your patience.

There's no room on the paper and my neat list looks scruffy again and that just won't do. So I write list number three and put it on the kitchen table ready for the shopping trip.

Later when I'm in the supermarket, I ignore my lists completely and just go with the flow, buying what is on offer and hoping for the best as usual. Mainly because I've left the list at home. Yet another list will never fulfil its destiny.

I ALWAYS forget to take the damned list with me and... I just realised yesterday, that I ALWAYS write it out three times.

Why?
What is wrong with me?

You don't have to answer that, just please tell me, does anyone else have this strange ailment?
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16 comments:

  1. Áine Tierney8 February 2011 at 11:46

    I wrote a post on similar just a couple of weeks ago! But there is only two of us! We always come back from the shops with no clue what to cook or eat! And it's so hard on a budget - mince meat everything. Enjoyed this post. :-)

    http://ainetierney.blogspot.com/2011/01/shopping-battles.html

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  2. penandpaints8 February 2011 at 11:59

    Hi Aine

    Thank goodness I'm not alone!
    I just went to read your post, you even mention toothpaste and milk! What a coinkidink! oh and super hair conditioner, I need to add that to my next list, my hair is looking depressingly dull.

    Thanks for stopping by!

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  3. Joanna8 February 2011 at 12:24

    I usually write it more than once just to make it all neat and perfect. There's something satisfying about list-writing. It makes me feel organised and virtuous. And I always always leave it behind on the kitchen table too! Then I quite enjoy the challenge of trying to remember what I wrote and check when I get home to see how well I did. It's a sort of strange game. And I always always find I have forgotten the most important things. I blame it on being a writer and my head always being in some far off place that has nothing to do with empty fridges.

    I also find that if my husband goes out to get one item, he comes back with that one item. But if I do that, I come back with several exciting purchases, none of which is the essential thing I went for!

    I think three feels like a lucky number somehow. Two is never enough!

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  4. penandpaints8 February 2011 at 12:35

    Joanna, bless you, you understand! It is a challenge isn't it? Trying to remember it all.
    I can't just go in a shop for one item either. The other day I went for carrots and spent £17. As soon as I unpack any shopping it seems to vanish and I need to go and get more supplies.

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  5. joanne fox8 February 2011 at 13:24

    Oh, the vanishing shopping - I know that syndrome. However much you buy, they just keep eating it. If I don't take my list I always forget the most vital items. Even WITH my list I am still capable of forgetting them!

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  6. Anonymous8 February 2011 at 13:40

    lol I always forgot my list! Now my man does all the grocery shopping, I just get the job of putting it all away.

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  7. Old Kitty8 February 2011 at 15:10

    Lists?! One writes lists to go shopping?!?! Jamais!!! Which is why I tend to go everyday cos I always forget something I should have gotten previously.

    But back to your three-list writing. I think I'll put this down to you being an artist!! You live by different rules!!!! :-)

    Take care
    x

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  8. Mary@GigglesandGuns8 February 2011 at 15:47

    Three, a number of completion. You complete the list, no necessarily the shopping.
    I thought that was why we wrote shopping lists -- so th table would know what we were supposed to get.

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  9. Aubrie8 February 2011 at 18:36

    The price of groceries seems to be going up. Me and my husband used to spend $100 a week, and it's crept up to $150...hmmmm...maybe I should cut out the broccoli as well!

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  10. Talli Roland9 February 2011 at 10:42

    Three times!

    I'm useless at shopping for groceries. I end up going to Tesco's every day to get forgotten items!

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  11. Julie P9 February 2011 at 12:40

    I love lists but, like you, I either lose them or forget to take them with me - it must be a writer thing.

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  12. Suzanne Ross Jones10 February 2011 at 12:38

    I never make a shopping list and I often go food shopping before I've had any breakfast - which explains why I always end up with a basket full of chocolate.

    XX

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  13. Karen20 February 2011 at 02:01

    I gave up writing shopping lists years ago as I always forgot to take them with me or bizarrely ignored them once I got to the supermarket. Still, at least while you're writing them out it gives the illusion of being in control, and you can always claim it's writing practise!

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  14. Teresa Ashby1 March 2011 at 04:32

    I write lists then lose them. I even write lists if I'm internet shopping and I always seem to forget to check my list as I'm ordering.

    I love your blog and I have awarded you a Stylish Blogger Award. Details at http://teresaashby.blogspot.com/ I hope you will share seven things about yourself on your blog and pass the baton to 15 more bloggers, but no worries if you’d rather not.

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  15. Patsy1 March 2011 at 08:04

    I've stopped writing lists. I forget to take them, or I find there are two in my bag and I don't know which is the right one and anyway, nobody can read my handwriting.

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  16. Elizabeth Varadan, Author3 March 2011 at 11:23

    I don't write the list out three times. But I often leave it home, and then wander around the supermarket wondering, "Hmm, now what was that fourth item I was suppose to get?"

    ReplyDelete

I appreciate all your comments, thank you!

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