A Wishlist to Satisfy the Doldrums of Winter

Do you have little slips of paper everywhere with must-have-items scrawled on them? Or a bookmark list that is scary to open? Does anyone ever ask if you need anything and your mind goes blank? Or do you have items in mind that are so specific or complicated that you need to pick them out yourself? Are you on a limited budget and can't afford the luxury of "buyer's remorse"?

The winter doldrums have set in, and it's always nice to keep a current wishlist available for when someone asks if there is something that you wish to own, or would help you in growing your hobby or business.

I'm not one for resolutions, but taking one look at my folder of receipts and the mountain of tax forms, makes me want to start the new fiscal year the right way. It's a little depressing to see all those minus signs for costs of things, so I am practicing working with spreadsheets and databases with fun business related wishlists.

Spreadsheets and databases are very useful and can a lot of fun, and not too hard to set up. It doesn't have to be any harder than setting up your email. You can sort the lists alphabetically, or by cost, or even by store or genre. There's nothing more frustrating than trying to remember what it was you thought was a great idea and order it, only to realize a few minutes later, that you could have picked up a little something extra for no extra shipping! This happens to me all the time, so I think an accessible, organizable wishlist is a great way to prepare for the year, not to mention it eliminates all those duplicate or what-were-they-thinking gifts from people who mean well, but have no idea what to buy for you.

Well, for now, I'm off to collect my scraps... all the organizing, pricing and comparison shopping can come later...