22 AMERICANWAY
JANUARY 1 2008
S T A Y O N T O P O F T H I N G S
Oneof thebiggest problems in today’shigh-techworld ishow to streamline
thewaywekeepnotes and reminders.Manyof us rotatebetween stickynotes
pasted toofficewalls and various onlineorganizationprograms, computer
calendars, and soon. The result?Weoften endup forgetting the thingswewanted to remindourselves about
because everything is, quite simply, scattered.Determined toput an end to the craziness,wedecided to test out
someof the latest to-doand reminder services—andgive theold-fashioned, low-tech systemof just aplainol’
notebookanother go— todeterminewhichmethod really is thebest. —J.S.
Product How It Works
Success Rate
Where to Get It
Moleskine
Large
Ruled
Notebook
Jott
Gootodo
Memo
to Me
Write down reminders, keepbookwith you, and look at it.
Call the free service and leave yourself a reminder, and itwill
automatically send you a textmessage and an e-mail.
E-mail your to-dos to theweb-based service. It creates a single
to-do list that includes just the tasks for theday at hand, thus re-
ducing to-do clutter. Gootodo.com is part of aprogram that helps
users increaseproductivity and reduce “informationanxiety.”
Enter to-dos andother things youneed tobe remindedof into
theweb-based service. Then, when the time is right, it sends a
reminder to your e-mail or, if youupgrade to theplatinum edition,
to your pager ormobilephone.
It didn’t end our sticky-note dependence, but at least
we had a place to keep them all. Best part: A notebook
doesn’t force you to enter the information in a particular
way— soweweren’t limited inwhatwe could use it for.
But on the daywe left the notebook at home… oy.
Pretty good.We still ended up adding the reminders
to our calendar or in our notebook, butwhenwewere
standing in the supermarket remembering thatwe re-
ally, really had to pay a bill the next day, wewere glad
the reminderwas just a cell-phone call away.
We liked the idea of a pared-down to-do list, but it felt a
bit limiting. Andwhile it couldwork for peoplewhofight
against clutter, we (sadly) thrive on some clutter.
We suppose it’s handy, but in the endwe can’t see it
replacing our computer calendar, which also has a re-
minder service. And it’sweb-based, whereaswith Jott
you can call anytime, from anywhere— such as from
the supermarketwhen you remember that bill.
Final verdict:
Therewasn’t anyoneproductor service that
met all ourneeds, so, in theend,we’regoing tokeeponkeeping
onwithacombo system— thoughwedidmanage towhittleour
systemdown to just threeelements: aMoleskinenotebook, Jott,
and thecomputer calendar.Notbad, if youaskus.
Most stationery stores
andbookstores, including
StrandBookStore (www
.strandbooksaa.com).
Sign up for a free 30-day
trial atwww.gootodo
.com. After the free trial,
the service is $3 amonth.
Today’s
Reminder:
Get
Organized
Onan extra-organizednote:
Ifwe reallywanted togooverboard (andwe
do, we do!), we’d add in theSmartShopper Voice-ActivatedGrocery List. A test
runproved fun (andhelpful). Tell itwhat youneed tobuy, andwhen you’re ready
to shop, press print—out pops a list dividedupby supermarket department.
Dandy.Whydidn’t someone think of this earlier?$150.
