And back to flash cards again

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flashcardsI was raised before the age of flash cards. At least I don’t remember teachers using them. Fast forward to now. I’ve written about this before but aging continues the saga.

Our use of flash cards started with the cats. We have a screened porch with the house door usually open. In cooler (or very hot) weather we close the door and have to “check” on the cats periodically. To remember to let them back in, we have flash cards that say “In” or “Out” for all the cats. They are cats so some days the cards are flipped so often they get dog-eared. (The cats hate that term but cat-eared isn’t the same.)

It works marvelously so we tried it with other things.

There was the “pineapple card.” I drink pineapple juice. When I take the last can from the fridge, I put the card out so I remember to bring some up from the basement. Easy peasy.

The beloved husband has “sprinkler cards” for the lawn so he doesn’t forget.

It started to grow. Flash cards really work!

A few weeks back I “forgot” I was doing laundry and left a wet load in the washer overnight. Ewww! I made a “laundry” card that I place on the counter so I don’t forget.

I have cards to backwash the pond filter and stock the bird seed. The only things I don’t seem to need cards for are feeding the cats, birds or fish and watering my plants. Oh yes and for Happy Hour! I never forget Happy Hour. (It’s 5 o’clock somewhere!)

Perhaps in another year or two, I will need those too. I need flashcards for people’s names but I’m not sure how to do that without drawing attention.

What do you do to remember stuff?

 

70 thoughts on “And back to flash cards again”

  1. I like your colorful cards. My daughter has two cats, and with all their ins and outs, sometimes it’s hard to remember who is still out when it’s time to lock the door and go to bed.

    We have name tags for our neighborhood parties. Even though I know most of the people, it’s nice to have something to fall back on if you forget.

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    • I love that. I campaigned for nametags at our local Starbucks so I could address them by name. At my husband’s last reunion, there were name tags but people didn’t put them in prominent spots. I ended up talking to one woman’s chest.

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  2. Lots to unpack here.
    First of all – the term “flash cards” means something totally different to me. They are more learning devices than reminders. But that aside, I am not at all surprised that cat feedings (“Squawk! Squawk!”) and happy hours need no reminders. The “laundry” and “sprinkler” reminders are understandable. The pineapple juice one is a bit of mystery.

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  3. I use an app called Wonderlist. It syncs to all my devices, and I can make multiple lists. That said, I once fluffed up AIR for three days. I thought I had a load of clothes in the dryer, just needing to be “fluffed up” and folded. After forgetting those clothes for three days in a row, I found they had never made it out of the washer! Talk about Ewwwwwww…..Shoulda had a flash card!

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  4. This quite brilliant. No doubt the kids these days have an app for this stuff, but it’s not the same. Seeing something in my physical space is so much more of a reminder. Although, I am also good at just NOT seeing the thing in my physical space.

    I use a to do list in outlook at work and now I need a post it note to remind myself to make sure I did all the things on my to-do list because I forget to check it before I leave.
    Then I don’t see the post it anymore. It’s a never ending layers of forgetting reminders. 😉

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    • I don’t keep a cell phone with me so reminders there wouldn’t work. I use outlook too but just for appointments and events. The problem with notes is that if there are too many you don’t see any of them. The card “in the way” does help us as long as no one moves it to the back counter where we won’t see it. You have to keep tricking your mind.

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  5. I like your flash card system! That’s a really good idea. I put reminders and alarms on my phone for some things, but I think your system might work better! I find it amazing you don’t need any added help keeping the cats’ food straight. LOL!

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  9. I’m a list maker ~ I’m that lady who has her grocery list organized by the store aisle (saved to computer). I’ll probably be found dead one day with that damn list 🙂 And I use my calendar on my iPhone with reminders. Live & die by those.

    Love the “Hazel in.” “Morgan out”

    MJ

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    • The cat locations would be hard to put on a phone and I would go through a pack of post-its in a night. The cards are brilliant for that. When I go to the big box store I made my grocery list by aisle. I like to get in and out as quickly as possible.

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  10. I have been using post-its as flash cards for quite a bit now. A post-it on the freezer door when I pop a bottle of wine in… I love super cold white wine. Post-it on my bathroom mirror so I remember to get my hair cut. Post-it to use marinade on the chicken before we grill. You get the picture… I am sure! Your flash cards look more fun what with the Sassy Cats and all! I am finally, finally done with jury duty after a month! Yay me!

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  11. Hey, whatever works, right? Good system. Lately, I’ve been setting reminders in my phone. I tell Cortana to remind me to take my supplements (something I almost always forget), she asks me when I’d like to be reminded, and I tell her. Then, she repeats it back to make sure she has it right. Sometimes, my phone is going off with reminder bells all day long. 😛

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  13. I have a “to do” list. One for each day, one for the month. The problem is remembering to put things on the list.

    My husband created shared a “Store Reminder” list for our iPhones. It’s handy.

    It would be even more handy if he could use his phone at work, though. Because if he forgets to put an item on the cyber reminder before work, there’s no accessing the list until he leaves work.

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  14. We’d be lost without our paper calendar. If it’s not listed there, it doesn’t exist. We also put items (books to return to the library, mail to go out) leaning on the front door so we can’t forget to take them with us. We don’t use flash cards yet, but I can see where they might come in handy.

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    • We don’t have a paper calendar and we should. I have birthdays, appointments and events in my Outlook on my desktop which is not synced. If I lose it, they are gone! My husband puts outgoing mail against the toaster so he remembers as he goes out for the newspaper. We’ve learned that we have to put things that we are taking somewhere directly into the car or we walk right past them. We use a lot of different methods to remember depending on what it is and sometimes we still forget! Argh!

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  15. At this point, I mostly rely on my memory to remind me what needs doing on a daily basis, but I do keep a grocery list and use a paper calendar to mark down future events (doctor’s appts., parties, birthdays, anniversaries).

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  17. Flash cards, good idea. I have put notes on the back of the front door for things I need to remember when I go out and hubby put a note where he can flip it up and down to remind us about street sweep (we have to move the cars every 1st and 3rd Tuesday so they can clean the streets). I am going to make a magnet for the dishwasher to tell us clean or dirty since our new roommate can’t seem to remember the system we had been using of not to lock the door until it is full. Whatever works. Yes, names, tough one!

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    • Our dishwasher doesn’t lock, not even when it’s washing. I have opened it while it was cleaning because there are no flashing lights. There is a tiny one if I remember to check first. I was thinking of a magnetic sign that says “in process.”

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    • The dishwasher is our bane of existence. We have washed a load twice in a row several times now because the other wasn’t aware that what was in there needed to come out. We’re going to have to work on some kind of magnet routine because the lights on the door aren’t self-explanatory enough. The only thing about this that makes me feel better is that I think I’d have been confused about this in twenties too. Or at least I’m going to stick with that.

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  18. On the boat, we had a small chalkboard on the tea cupboard. It was OK if we could write small, but chalk isn’t exactly a fine writer like a felt tip. We now have a cork memo board in the kitchen on the side of the fridge housing. Drawing pins await memos, and I hung a small note pad for shopping reminders. Appointments etc will be tacked to the board too, so all being well we might remember where we’re at (or should be!)

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  19. A digital calendar with reminders works for me. That’s for appointments and such. Lists are for everything else. Like you, I write out the menu when guests are here I had to laugh at the “dog-eared” cards. What about laminating the cat notices, which are used all the time?

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  20. I have a small inexpensive wired notebook that I use to scribble notes or make lists. The notebook lives in the kitchen and by checking it daily I seem to remember what I’m supposed to be doing. Of course, having blogged yesterday a confession about being free from the tyranny of lists, I may be contradicting myself here.

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    • I don’t think anyone is free of lists. Maybe the tyranny part where you badger yourself about them, but they are necessary especially as we get older. I also keep a notebook by my computer and will put comments there. Sometimes I see something that I think I would like but I’m not in the market at the moment. I’ll jot it there so I can find it. It’s something I did at work and it still works for me. End of summer projects are on a list that I gleefully cross off as they get done one by one. It’s not a race or competition but I don’t want to realize in December that I didn’t winterize the hoses.

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  21. It helps that I’m a bit OCD (truth). I use an old fashioned, paper agenda and write lists and check them off. If I’m going somewhere where I need to remember a bunch of items to bring, I’ll make a list of the items and stick it on the door handle so I HAVE to see it as I leave. Reading through the comments it looks like everyone uses some sort of flash cards or lists with at least the hope that they’ll work. Discreet flash cards for people’s names, whoever figures that one out will get rich!

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    • I have tried all the gimmicks with people’s names but most don’t work. The worst is when you are introduced to 30 people within 30 minutes. No way I’ll remember anyone but the few who truly stand out.

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  22. My problem is, that even tho I have the notes posted, they become invisible! I am not sure how that happens. They are brightly colored. I use a dark marker to write on the paper. I make the words large…but somehow, they are just invisible…

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    • I found that overusing notes made them all invisible and I had to be more creative. I post them on the door to the garage or the kitchen counter (where I will move them to work and not read them). What I really need is a better memory and less notes but at this point that’s not going to happen. Even when I have people over I have a list usually on the fridge that says what I’m serving or I’ll forget to put it out!

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    • The thing about flash cards that makes them successful for me is that they are on the counter in the way. I won’t allow myself to move them until I do it. Otherwise, they would move to the table, then back to the counter, then get shuffled under papers…well, you know how it goes.

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    • It started with post-its plastered on doors and counters but some items were so routine that they traveled to a reusable index card. Some stuff like “take food out of freezer for supper” still end up on a post-it because it’s not as frequent. BTW I can walk right by notes too.

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  26. I guess I do the same thing but not as a formal flash card. I leave notes for myself at different places if I need to remember to bring something with me or do something when I wake up or go downstairs. I used to tie a rubber band around my car keys. It didn’t tell what I needed to do before I left work or the house but it reminded me that there was something I needed to bring. But there was always the risk I wouldn’t remember what it was and is gave to search to jog my memory so I just write it down now. Though there are times I’d put my keys in the refrigerator if we made something we had to bring somewhere. Can’t leave the house without your car keys, right? I think your idea of flash cards is much more clean and formal. I’ll have to give it a try..:)

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  27. I will adopt the idea with the flash cards… we miss two teeth cleaning sticks since yesterday… no idea where I parked them… I also miss my phone since 2 days… and I switched it off so no chance to find it via call but maybe via card…

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    • Oh no not the phone! I lost eye drops this past summer and had to get a refill. Cha-ching, cha-ching! I still haven’t found them. That mistake cost $40. I can’t “temporarily” put something down to do something or I forget where I put it. Somehow I don’t think it will get any better as I get older!

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