Tuesday 18 June 2013

My Month in Numbers: the communal count - opinions wanted!

Hi, hi.

How's things? It's been a wonderfully sunny day here and tomorrow is tipped to be the warmest of the year ... which reminds me ...

During May's Month in Numbers post I floated the idea that occasionally we might all keep a count or record the numbers of the same sort of thing so that we can compare our vital statistics ... and temperature was one of the categories I had in mind. Not that I'm quite sure how that'd work ... but maybe it could be something like we all note down the average temperature where we live one month? Maybe!

But while I'm still not certain on the details ... I am sure that, as a general idea, it would be worth trying because, really, we've done it before. Remember? ...
Last year many of you joined in with my Height of Summer project where we blogged about how tall [or not] we were.

And, after sharing those figures we suddenly all had a clearer picture of how we'd measure up if we all got together and lined up in size order. Just those 3 little numbers somehow revealed so much more about us and made for some great blog-reading.  [OK, so many of us cheated and tried to add extra numbers-  I personally added the all important 1/4 inches to my otherwise measly 5ft 2!]

And so ... I'm hoping that this new communal [and entirely optional] addition to My Month in Numbers might give us a similar - but more regular - glimpse into how we're alike ... and where we differ!

And I'd love to hear your ideas on what we could measure and record ...
If you saw my May Month in Numbers [or the scrapbook page I made afterwards] you'll have seen the tally-chart I made while keeping count of all the hours of crime drama I watched during the month. And, in a similar vein I already document the number of books I read each ... and I thought maybe in a future month we could all count the number of films we watch.

But what else is there?

I know it's inevitable that whatever topic I choose there'll be someone who doesn't feel it applies to them [like if I asked you to count how many episodes of The Archers you listened to or how many Root Beers you drank. Or how many Root Beers you drank while listening to The Archers.]

So, I'd like to get a feel for what you think.
  • What could you count up, collate, document, scribble on a notebook throughout a month?
  • What is there that's specific enough to keep track of ... 
  • ... but general enough that someone else could play along with?
Once you've thrown some ideas at me I'll try to pull out the common threads from your responses and come up with some categories for future My Month in Numbers posts ... and we'll see how it goes from there!

So, get thinking and get back to me - you don't need to be a My Month in Numbers blogger to lob in a suggestion. The more ideas the better. Thank you in advance.

 Right, I'm going to duck out of the way while you start throwing ...

Julie :-)

19 comments:

  1. Maybe I should count how many coffees I have a month! Eeerrrr ok maybe not lol.

    I didn't join in with your height quest last time, but the shock of meeting a online friend in person last Saturday to hear her first words " gosh your so much shorter in real life", makes me glad I didn't join in lol

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  2. As long as I don't have to share my weight it'll be fine.
    I record books too and also how many photographs I've taken would be a good one. I love the idea of what we've watched but mine would be weird cos I don't watch TV only online. Maybe how many modes of transport we use, how many times we visit the supermarket or buy scrapbooking supplies, eek! Or how about how many blog posts we do or layouts we make.
    Jo xxx

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  3. I never got around to height before, but could do that - or the combined height of our households.

    Books is an easy one for me as I've been keeping a written record of it for 10 years at least now. I don't watch many if any films, so that would be a non starter for me.

    I'd hate to record my coffee consumption for a month - and know I would never manage to keep track of it over that long a period.

    Miles driven would be good, and easy to record. Miles walked would be a nice contrast, but not as easy to record.It would also be interesting to compare with each other.

    No of rainy days or dry days or no of days I had washing on the line (but only in summer please!) would give interesting comparisons across the world.

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  4. gosh they are good...I was thinking of wine consumption!
    I always keep a record of photos taken each month and this month i've recorded Films! I recall Sian recording her food essential shopping one month and liked the idea. I've thought of recording the number of steps i take each month using a pedometer(although probably not good for me at the moment!). It would be good for everyone that takes part to record the same things for a month and see how the numbers vary.

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  5. How many meals eaten out? How about how many days in a month we do something crafty?

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  6. Miles driven, tv dramas watched - and what they were, number of craft things made, number of meals out, number of instagrams shared, photos taken,or texts sent.

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  7. I'm thinking something simple to start off with, like number of photos taken with phone versus camera. Or a specific food item that is most common like bread or milk

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  8. I like the idea of number of photos taken or maybe number of blog posts or days it rained if we are on a weather theme!

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  9. I like the weather theme , it would be great to see the weather around the world over one month.

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  10. Haven't done a month with you guys yet but looking forward to telling you all about June. However having a specific item to count would be fun, I like it when there is a theme to what we are doing although I like ranbdom too. Sorry no ideas at present as just getting my head round what to record in June, although maybe it could be 'how many loads of washing we all do in a month!'

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  11. I like number photos taken as an early one because it is a retrievable number - or number of crafty things started /finished

    I liked the height comparison as it was one number and you could do a one number weather - max temp on a given day? Or the cost of a loaf of bread or time you generally get up and go to bed or time you generally have dinner - I'm always interested in how these things differ across countries

    for recording some basic food ones would be interesting, and lots of us seem to record books read.

    for other things that need to be tallied how about number of actual items in the mail addressed to us

    looking forward to more counting fun - anything to allow me to count odd things without comments of autistic tendencies !!

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  12. This sounds like a very good plan. I'm not a natural counter, so any suggestions would be gratefully received :)

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  13. I haven't joined in yet but I'd love to (and have started counting things for June).
    Suggestions for a collaborative count:
    number of visits to the petrol station (and the price of fuel - could be interesting international comparison here!)
    number of visits to grocery store or supermarket
    number of times grocery shopped and only bought what was on the list (!)
    number of visits to the library
    number of pins to pinterest

    Looking forward to playing along!

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  14. hmm.. lets see... books read, hours of tv/movies watched, hours spent in front of a screen any screen, hours spent scrapping or layouts completed, suppers made, meals purchased, number of times you said "Stop that!" to your kids, loads of laundry in a week...

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  15. For a one-time communal count (like height), I would suggest age or number of people in your family (could be really interesting to see how people define family).
    For a thing to count each month, I like the number of blog posts.
    Rinda

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  16. What a great idea Love it :) All of the above really and I also like number of tracks on your iPod.

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  17. Super idea - I loved last year's! How about ... Number of days with rain ( because I am going to win!), lowest daily temperature (I get to win again!) ?.. But seriously, I like number of times you go shopping (and perhaps with whom? Self/others), how many times you check your email in a month or how many emails you get in a month, how many letters in the post, how many times you forget something, how many times you put the washing machine on or do the ironing ... Not sure these would show geographical variations though ...

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  18. I don't know if I could remember to count for a whole month, that is why I don't join you each month. So maybe something that could be done in a day or a weekend during that month. Like a list of weather details (temp, rain, wind etc) for a particular day, or distance driven on a weekend (I liked that one above). While I could easily count books, the non-readers among us might find that daunting. Or something like how many times you ate chicken or an orange vegetable in a month ... good luck with this question!

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  19. I like this idea - how about mail? actually addressed to you personally, or how much junk mail, or emails as opposed to spam mail? How often we bought a specific item - bread perhaps or potatoes - a "staple" type food in each persons regular shop?
    Just a few ideas that floated around my head.

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