How far in advance do you prefer to plan?
what people are talking about
Nunniabiness B on Magic Eye neomama on Cheeseburger Soup Shelley on Cheeseburger Soup Dyahn Darvey on Salisbury Steak from Paula… irene trammel on Magic Eye Julianne on Cheeseburger Soup Vanna on How long do you shower? Michelle Colpus on Your children Tanya on Cheeseburger Soup Heather on Cheeseburger Soup Donna Dillard on Cheeseburger Soup Donna Dillard on Cheeseburger Soup Sharon on Cheeseburger Soup JoJo on Cheeseburger Soup Ellen on Cheeseburger Soup
Us Girls..Our Views 
I’m not sure I’d call myself a planner. Mostly I am just trying to catch up. And trying to get my routine right so I’m ready for almost anything that may come up. Because things come up unexpectedly around here a lot.
If I’m going to go on a trip or something, I like to know at least 3 weeks in advance in order to plan everything smoothly. The funny thing is, when it comes to vacation trips with my 2 friends, they are almost always “planned” at the last minute. Sometimes we even have to get expedited visas and such; and we miss the better prices you get if you plan ahead. Personally, I hate that, but my one friend’s style is “management by the emergency,” and the other one just follows along rather than make waves. I have to be the stick in the mud or grudgingly go along (which I usually do). At that point, since I can’t do things in my usual plodding style, I just state my main priorites, then sit back and merrily wait for the others to plan the details. So in that sense it’s low stress – and I actually do like the sense of adventure that comes with just finding out what’s going to happen tomorrow.
For Christmas, birthdays, etc., I like to get some basic structure at least a month in advance, then fill in the details as time allows. I usually end up scrambling to some extent no matter what.
I have to plan in advance, but I’m not obsessive about it. we don’t go on many vacations, mostly, we just make the five-hour trip back to see our families, so we don’t have to worry about transportation or accommodations – I drive, and we stay with either my parents or his.
But I do have to do the planning – if I don’t keep track of what’s on the schedule, we’ll miss everything. I use “Thunderbird”, which is the Mozilla answer to Outlook. Everything – all of Josh’s sports practices and school events, all doctor appointments and whatnot – go onto that calendar and also in my regular desktop planner, and I try to coordinate them once a week. That way, I have a traveling copy when I’m away from my lifeline/computer.
And still? I screw up. Josh missed a birthday party this past weekend because I didn’t enter it into the planner.
As far ahead as I can plan things the happier I am. I hate last minute things. I like to “be ready” for things and can’t stand last minute plans OR changing of plans. I’ve tried loosening up but I just can’t be spontaneous.
I definitely like to plan in advance in order to avoid anxiety attacks :p However, I’m also great at procrastinating… so sometimes I dont have as much time as I would like. However, I can be spontaneous or deal with change of plans pretty easily.
I like to plan at least a week ahead of time. I don’t mind spur of the moment things at all but with having 2 kids you have to have a little planning just to make sure you can get them to where they need to be.
My comfort is to be spontaneous, too many plans tend to freak me out a little bit. I guess I like to know that I can change my mind if I feel like it. I will make occasional plans and write them on the Calender. Like today, I have a plan to go meet a new friend for tea. I’m looking forward to that. I should take pictures of the place it’s the cutest little tea house.
It depends on what is being planned. If it’s a nice place we’re going I like a few hours to make sure I know what I’m going to wear and get ready.
You have to know that I really have no options when it comes to being ready for some things. My husband is always surprising us/me with things that I have no time to get ready for. I am better now, with getting older and so many surprises that I tend to just go with the flow now.