Estimating

Estimating

Wow, it’s been almost a month since I last blogged.  Time flies, I guess!  I’ve been busy wrapping up my Spring semester at Ohio State, getting back into some wedding planning, and getting our yard cleaned up after a very rough winter.  It snowed a few Saturdays ago, but since then we’ve been pretty lucky and had some great weekends (and we definitely earned them the hard way over the last 6 months!).

So, for this entry my inspiration comes from Anissa.  We were talking one night after we both got home from work and she was explaining that her students were learning the metric system.  They were applying it to some estimating problems and we were talking about how some of them were getting tripped up.  It got me thinking about what a useful skill estimating can be in our lives, and what a great application it is of math skills.  I thought I’d share some estimating I’ve had to do in the past few months, and talk about how hard it can be!

Yardwork:  Anissa and I have been itching to get outside and clean up our yard – weed the gardens, remove branches and other debris, and mulch.  We started trying to figure out how much mulch we would need, and estimating came into play twice here.  First, how many bags do we need for our beds?  We ended up deciding to get 30 bags.  We haven’t finished mulching yet, but 30 still seems like a good bet.  But it was hard trying to figure out how much you’d need.  How high of layer of mulch do you add to each bed?  How much is in one bag, and how far will it go?  I hope we remember any lessons learned for next Spring.  We also had to figure out if we could get 30 bags into my car.  We figured it would be no problem.  WRONG.  It was tricky, but we did manage to get them all in there, including room for ourselves to buckle in.  HOWEVER, my car was sagging.  I was very happy we live so close to Lowe’s, because I probably should not have driven with that much weight in my back seats and trunk.  The lesson here?  Order from the Boy Scouts at church and get the free delivery!

Painting:  Anissa and I have been painting rooms in our house and have made a lot of good progress.  But, wow, it is some grueling work.  We have had to do 2 coats on every wall we’ve painted.  We started by painting our bedroom first, and this seemed tough at the time but after painting our kitchen, foyer, stairway, and hallway, I am very excited for another easy, 4-simple-walls room next.   We are hoping to have the entire downstairs repainted before our wedding, and we’ve got the dining room, living room, and family room left to go.  So, where does estimating fit into this picture?  We had very little context for how much paint to buy for each room.  We read some guidelines about how many square feet can be painted with one gallon, but it’s hard to estimate the square footage of a space like a stairway or foyer with so many varying sizes and shapes to the space.  We have pretty much just guessed, knowingly over-estimating because we definitely didn’t want to run out mid-project.  So far, so good!

Food:  I can never get this right.  I think subconsciously I have a fear of not having enough food at a given meal to totally stuff myself like a pig, because I consistently over-estimate.  Pizza?  A large is probably too much for 2 people, but a medium might be too little.  Thus I order a large.  Coke?  Better get the 40+ ouncer.  Out to dinner?  Well, if we’re sharing an entrée then clearly I need a salad and an appetizer on top of the free bread.  Buying groceries?  I’d hate to not have enough to pack for lunch all week – better get 3 bags of chips!  See where I’m going with this?  Maybe I need to re-read this entry before every meal as a reminder of how ridiculous I can be.

Time:  Where I’m weak at food, I’m strong at time management.  Anissa can attest to this – I have a very keen sense for how long it takes to get things done.  Work.  School.  Errands.  Gym.  House chores.  Painting.  Yardwork.  I don’t know if this skill is something I just inherited from some pretty organized parents and siblings, or if it’s something I’ve developed out of necessity (call it a psychic obsessive-compulsive thing, or a lifestyle requirement based on everything I try to manage).

What types of things do you find yourself estimating?  Do you ever those “a-ha!” moments where you realize something you learned in grade school is actually very useful?