No matter what the activity is, I seem to find the hardest way to do it. Even using the microwave, I don’t use 60, I use 1:00. A tiny difference, sure, but a difference that other people seem to grasp readily.
I don’t make grocery lists. I tell myself that I’ll remember. Of course, I don’t remember it all which means doing without or a second trip.
It’s like I’m just naturally inclined to make my life harder.
How about you?
I’m all about the easy way. It makes life more fun.
Seriously, on your microwave, I would put in 1:11 or :55, because it’s easier to punch in and close enough.
I’m so lazy I microwave things for 11 seconds instead of 10 or 55 instead of 60, just so I won’t have to move my finger.
So I guess I go the extremely easy way.
I’m sure I still do some things the hard way, but I can’t think of a good example off the top of my head.
Our microwave has settings in tens-of-minutes, minutes, tens-of-seconds, and seconds. So if I want to cook something 1 minute I hit the minute button once, not the tens-of-seconds 6 times or the seconds button 60 times. I guess I’m missing something here. Maybe we don’t have a modern enough microwave?
I have always wondered if I tie my shoes correctly…
OMG, I thought I was alone in this.
No offense, but you’re like my husband and you would drive me batshit crazy. 
Not only do I not use ‘1:00’ on the microwave for one minute, I use ‘:66,’ because it’s quicker to just hit the ‘6’ twice than have to move over to the ‘0.’
I am an obsessive list-maker. Grocery store, Target, for running errands, for chores at home, whatever. I need order in my life.
I had a bunch of errands to do this morning. This was what my list was like:
Post office: Mail bills, buy stamps
Blockbuster
Dry cleaner
Grocery store: Hamburger, rolls, cheese, milk, tea, dog food
Target: CD player case, Band-Aids, Father’s Day cards, sandals
It made it so much easier knowing exactly where I had to go and what I had to get.
I’m a Jazz fan.
I’ve got a nice CD collection, purchased in the locally-owned used CD store.
I walked in, Sunday afternoon, lookin for anything by a certain artist.
Mental Block.
I stand in the Jazz section for 15 minutes, trying to think.
Louis Armstrong.
BAD BRAIN! BAD! BAD BRAIN!!
I tend to make a mental list but we were having a lot of people over for lunch and my SO offered to do the shopping if I wrote a list. I did this and he came back most annoyed because I hadn’t written the list in the order that you find the aisles in the supermarket… :smack:
You and me both. My lists look just like that.
My microwave is analog; I have to gasp TURN THE DIAL. No punching numbers for me. 
Wow. Do you still have the Conestoga Wagon your microwave came out west in? 
I’m so organized that it only seems like the easier way.
My grocery lists are organized by the order items appear in the isles as I browse the store. In a counter clockwise direction. Always.
Changing grocery stores can be a challenge.
I do things the easiest way possible. People in my office will ask me how to do something, knowing I will give them the easiest possible answer.
I’m just not wasting energy on running all around the barn if I can open the door and walk through it.
I, too, do the microwave the way SmackFu, Ghanima and BiblioCat do.
I do everything the absolute hardest way possible. I also have to make every mistake for myself, never learning from the mistakes of others.
The fact that I can now admit this is progress though.
I do this but in the other direction: the frozen foods are on the right side of the store, the produce on the left.
For some reason, I insist on making things difficult for myself. I don’t use my dishwasher, it doesn’t get the dishes as clean as I do so I wash them by hand.
I got a pasta maker from my mother a couple years back. It hasn’t been out of the box. I still make it by hand. Ditto my way cool bread maker. I just don’t see the point. Not that I don’t like kitchen gadgets; I love 'em. But I know I’ll do it right. I’m not sure it’s going to taste as good if I let the machine do it. Silly, I know. It’d probably be perfect.
Im the hardway type of person. I never read directons, manuals, FAQ’s, or pointers. I refuse to believe I cant do something, by just simply doing it. Reading directions is for wussies
My grocery list goes in the order in which I discover that I need things. If I was going to organize it by aisle, I’d either have to re-write the list, which is too much work, or I’d have to just remember everything I need until I’m ready to leave for the store, and then write it out in the right order, which would defeat the reason for making a list, which is that I have a hard time remembering what I need from the store unless I write it down.
I like figuring out efficient ways to do things. In general, “efficient” means “requiring little thought” rather than not requiring labor. I love routines, because I can do them as “background processes” while I’m doing other things. Because I do the same thing every day, I don’t have to waste any mental energy—even if it means I end up doing some things more often than they really need to be done. I scoop the cat box every night and clean the toilet every morning, for example. I could probably save time by only doing it every other day, or every week, or whatever, but then I have to spend mental energy remembering when was the last time I did it.
Crap . . . “while I’m doing other things” doesn’t make much sense. It’s supposed to be “while I’m thinking about other things.”
Funny how I feel less alone in this universe now, knowing that others do the Microwave Thing.
My wife is a hard way gal. She learned it from her dad. There are projects I can’t bear to do with her. She’ll derail my linear path and find the most difficult method. It’s amazing that we were able to build a 3700 pound block wall around the new flower bed without throwing things at each other. We both knew that neither one could do it alone, so there were compromises. Because each block weighed 23 pounds, I insisted on the minimum number of times each block would be picked up. She grudgingly agreed. When she noticed one side had a rise in the middle, and she wanted to shave the ground underneath, I went off to do something else. I would have gone over the edge if I’d been there. I lined the bottom of the flower beds with wire mesh (hardware cloth) to discourage the burrowing rodents. She measures better than I do, but I’m glad I did that part while she was at work. It was really hard on my knees, and she would have found some way to make it take more time.
Picking out the plants was a big deal in itself. After doing web research on sunny, semi-shady, and shady plants for the three sides, we went shopping. We ended up with 14 different kinds of plants, most of them perennials. One spot remains bare, reserved for a fall-blooming something. Sneaked in among the flowers are one thyme plant and two banana-pepper plants.