Many people are more concerned about losing their contact lists if ever their mobile or cell phone goes missing or is damaged. And yet, we also want to keep all numbers in one place…so as we add and add in new numbers, we find ourselves with a cluttered phone number list.
The sign that we need to do housekeeping on our mobile phone’s contact list is:
- we are unable to save new numbers because the tel number storage has maxed up
- takes awfully long time to scroll down that list of phone numbers
- there are 2 different persons with the same name and we no longer know who is who
Solution to decluttering the mobile phone:
Simple: Just buy a durable book– perhaps one that comes with alphabetical arrangement- and then jot down ALL the contact numbers there by alphabetical order. Never mind if the book does not come with alphabetical order. You can manually count the number of pages and allocate the alphabet yourself- as some alphabet tends to have more names and some less (example Q, X or Z)- and you can take that into account when allocating pages.
This will free your mind of the worry that you may one day need to call a friend whom you have not contacted in the past 5 years.
Another alternative- perhaps better one:
- Open a Microsoft excel file: type the names and phone numbers. You can even create a remark column to state where you have known the person.
- When need be, you can sort by name or search by phone number by doing a simple <Ctrl F>.
The benefits:
- Inexpensive and simple
- Frees your mind of worrying about deleting the number and need to use it later
- Save you money to pay your telco to backup your SIM information for you (some telco offers service to back up the telephone directory at a fixed fee per month)
- A good backup when the handphone goes missing- so that the contact number does not go missing with it
Especially the final point- it’s vital. I cannot tell you how many times my friends have lost all their contacts when their cell phones were being stolen- and in one case, dropped in the toilet bowl as she had placed the phone on her pant’s back pocket while visiting the loo.
When you first create the list, it is only a one time pain- after that, you can maintain the numbers few months’ once- ie just go through the list and before you decide to delete any number, ensure it is in your excel file or note book. I maintain the phone list with a pencil as my contacts may change their numbers from time to time.
Now, I need not worry about losing phone numbers- because I wrote them down and have the book kept safely.
As we move on to every stage in life, we would find that the group of people that we interact with would change. There is also a sense of moving on as transfer phone numbers of those who are no longer in contact with us more a year or more.
