I'm a great list maker. I always have a little spiral notebook full of lists - to do, shopping, how much money I've spent, how much money I think I'm going to spend, what to take on camping trips etc etc etc.

I find that part fun in a way, because it's interesting to see how close I can get to actually achieving what I've planned. Unfortunately things ALWAYS take longer than you have planned, and you ALWAYS spend more money than planned.

With the to do lists, I only make one if it's going to be a busy day and there is a lot to remember. Otherwise I don't bother. When I do a list I tend to write the most important things first, with asterisks next to them to mark that they MUST be done that day, then cross them off as I do them. The things that didn't get done I put a circle around, and they go on the next day's list - if there is one.

With the camping lists, I do have a master list of things to take, but that varies with the festival I'm going to - eg more warm clothes for Canberra - but I always have a checklist of things under the headings of "Don't forget" or "last minute things", and that list always includes "this book". That's not as silly as it seems, cos it's easy to forget the notebook as I'm carting it around all over the place and I'd feel really lost without my little notebook.

If there is a specific event I'm planning for, such as when I spent several days cleaning the house and completely redoing my room for my brother's visit last year, I will actually write down a schedule with a certain length of time allotted for different tasks. I try to be realistic with this, allowing time for breakfast, meal and snack breaks, and some time at the end for Mudcat, but no matter how generous my allotments, it never seems to go entirely to plan. Still I enjoy the challenge of trying.