It's a trick I learned from my friend N, who I worked with ages ago - she'd email herself to-do lists each day, and since we live in our email at work, it was a good place for the lists to be front and center. But it becomes unwieldy.
I love Microsoft OneNote. Love, love, love. But I use 3 different computers regularly, *and* my (now Android) smartphone. And I didn't know how that would work with OneNote since the notebooks were usually saved locally. But in OneNote 2010 there's a really easy, built-in way to sync with Windows Live SkyDrive, so you can access your notebooks anywhere. That's EXACTLY what I need. Except that I haven't made time to sit down and set up a personal notebook.
Things I want in that notebook:
- A place to stash URLs to projects or crafty resources with some notes. I could keep chucking them in my Favorites/Bookmarks etc but I can't make notes there to remind myself of why I saved it, or what I want to do with it.
- My daily, weekly and monthly task lists. I need to get a little more structured about chores, especially the maintenance stuff like doctor checkups, swapping disposable contacts, giving the dogs their flea protection, downloading/processing photos from cameras, etc etc. I may chuck these all into a Google Calendar specifically for that purpose since it might be better to actually schedule time/days for these things.
- Vacation notes. We have SO MUCH to do before our Ireland trip. I also want to make a short list of the things we want to see there so we can plan our day trips. I'd also like a compact place to keep things like the address and phone number of our house rental, our local cell numbers, flight info, etc.
- Personal projects and to-dos that aren't urgent. Potential blog posts. Unfinished craft projects that I'd like to get done eventually. Expiration dates for unused Groupons (also need to put them on the calendar).
- Ideas for activities to do with T. I have a ton of books with age-appropriate home activities for learning and fun. We never do them because I rarely remember to plan ahead. Maybe a sort of "lesson plan" for more fun things to do at home once a week or so.
- A living Mondo Beyondo list that I can refer to often and update. There are things I can check off the list I posted on the blog, and new things begging to be added.
- Some way to store passwords and links to the accounts I use regularly. This one freaks me out so I need to figure out the right solution for it that's secure but also can be accessed from anywhere.
- Meal planning. A list of what we should *always* have in our fridge/pantry. A stash of easy, standard meal ideas. Why this is so hard, I don't know. But I haven't yet gotten it together and I swear THIS will be the year.
This is on my to-do list for the weekend of Jan 20-22. Why then, you ask? Because I am taking my Mama Weekend Away. It's one of the items on my Mondo Beyondo list. The magic just keeps happening. I finally *asked* TJ for the time, and he agreed, and I've actually scheduled it. Before Mondo Beyondo, it was an amorphous "someday maybe" idea. Now it's happening. Next week. Me, a fancy hotel room, big plushy bed, no alarm clock, free wifi, and a spa. Heaven!
borrowed from www.panpacific.com |
It's a little retreat to get my thoughts together and plan the upcoming year. I obviously have the big things laid out already but I need some time and space to really get down to business and plan and organize the details.
So. If you had a weekend like that, how would you spend it? If you were putting together a notebook for yourself, what would you include? What am I missing?
I have to admit, I'm envious. =) That's a really awesome idea. The last time I got away from my girls was a girls weekend with my sisters, and that was a couple of years ago. I've been thinking that I need to do it again, but I'll have to think about how to make it possible. And I don't think I'd want a weekend alone--I'd rather get to see people that I haven't seen in a while, by myself so I don't have to worry about what my kids are up to all the time. DC and Seattle are probably at the top of my list for that.
ReplyDeleteI have tried for YEARS to go all technical with my lists and stuff like what you wrote. And I ALWAYS go back to a little 5X7 spiral notebook I carry everywhere with me.
ReplyDeleteI use OneNote a lot. LOVE it. But agree that it's hard when you have 3 computers. Too bad OneNote isn't built for the cloud.
Keep me posted with what you find. The techy girl in me would love to give away my spiral notebook.
@Di - yes, come to Seattle :) I think this is the first time I'll be away from T overnight.
ReplyDelete@Jenn - I hear you, but now OneNote syncs with Windows Live SkyDrive pretty seamlessly. I think I can also replace the purse notebook with my phone. So I can either take notes to transfer to OneNote later, or buy a connector to use OneNote on my phone.