High and Low Tech Ways to Organize

It's Friday (well at least for the next 45 minutes). This is the day of the week I share my current organizing project. Problem is that since I can't lift anything heavier the a 1/2 gallon of milk right now I couldn't do much. It's driving me crazy. I have 5 more weeks where I'm limited in lifting. My Mom says I could really start lifting in another 2 or 3 weeks. She's had the same surgery and says my Dr is being too conservative. I'll just see how I feel and go from there.

Organizing doesn't just involve stuff, it also involves ideas and tasks. I have found some great tools that have helped me stay more organized.

On the Low Tech side:

My Life Planner from Erin Condern. I love the colors and the big spaces to write in each day. I have everything written in here, my appointments, ideas for blog posts, birthday's that I have to remember and the daily activities I want to do with Alexa. I also make a weekly to-do list for large projects on each weekly page. The best part is at the beginning of each month I have enough space to write my ideas for Saints and Feast Days I want to celebrate with the family, family fun day and date night ideas and the seasonal theme I want to explore with Alexa to help me organize activities for her. 

On the High Tech side:
I'm currently trying several different ways to stay on top of everything - It makes for a bit more work because not everything syncs together but the end results have been productive.

My three go to's - My iPod Touch, my Nook Color and My HTC Sensation phone. 

The apps I use are Springpad; Google Calendar, ColorNote, Evernote and Conqu. 

Springpad and Evernote are on all three of my very devices, they are very similar to Pinterest as it's a place you can keep track of things you find on the internet. Both apps also have the capability to create your own notes, tasks and lists. I use Evernote for work related items and Springpad for personal items. I have packing lists for vacations and retreats, ideas for Alexa and Jacob's birthday parties, my Christmas list, my plan for decluttering my house, gift ideas, recipes and so much more. 

I love Google Calendar and have been using it for a few years. I have the Google Calendar and Agenda app on my phone. Since I can also have it sync to Facebook I never miss a birthday now. 

ColorNote is another app on my phone that I use to set quick reminders. I can make a note and clip it to the status bar on my phone. Then every time I check my phone I see my reminder. This is perfect for those times you have to run to the grocery store for just a couple of items. I always think I can remember the three of four things I need but once I get in the store one of the items never makes my cart. Now I just check my phone. 

My final organizing app is Conqu. I originally had this on my Nook first. It's an amazing task organizer that is my lifesaver for work. Since I oversee several ministries and I have several projects going on at once Conqu allows me to organize all my tasks by project making my to do list so much easier to manage. When I bought my new phone I was able to download the app and was excited to have both devices to keep me organized. I was disappointed to find out that to create an account that syncs to several devices I would have to pay and I just wasn't willing to do that so I've erased it from my Nook and work strictly off my phone. 

I'm not sure if I will ever move to only high tech organizing, I'm very attached to my planner but as new apps get developed to help make life easier I might just convert totally. Who knows. What I've got going right now works for me and that's what's important. I have a family to treasure and I need all the time I can get.

Until next time,

Karri

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