Comments on: Asking the Readers: What’s Your Dream Productivity Tool?

By: Roundup, Link Love, Site Update and Stats July 08 Edition

Roundup, Link Love, Site Update and Stats July 08 Edition — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 11:08:12 +0000

[...] Your Thinking And Deal With Adversity @ My Supercharged Life Gotta Make A Decision @ Money Blogga What’s Your Dream Productivity Tool? @ Simple Mom Inspiration and Learning: Five Things I Learned from Randy Pausch @ Uncommon Cents [...]

By: Dream productivity tool | Make your website love you back: with Sarah J.Bray of S.Joy Studios

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 02:25:51 +0000

[...] read this article by the talented Toblerone the other day, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. What is [...]

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:57:40 +0000

Oh and the meal planner list where as I place meals, it drops the ingredients into a shopping list and collates it ie if I drop 3 chicken recipes, I don’t have chicken on the list 3 times but just once with the total amount required. This would require inputting ingredients of course but if that could be done as the meal is added to the master list (A master list of meals that can be dragged and dropped onto the meal plan.), it wouldn’t be to onerous.

Everything needs to be printable too.

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:50:06 +0000

Electronically: I would love something with a drill down function. I like to see things on a monthly, weekly and daily basis. I’d love a base system where if I add something to the monthly page, it gets dropped into the appropriate weekly or daily page. If it could then set an automatic alarm rather than having to write the time down and then go and set an alarm on another system, it would be great. Then some way to organise clippings or things seen online (snapshots of pages with the link for trackback reference) also.

Then again I love working in pen and paper. If you can create something that does that but in pen and paper – I’ll love you forever!

At the moment I’m starting to use your daily docket ( making my own version) and have that in my A5 filofax with a weekly page on the left and the daily docket ( one for each day that week) on the right. Now I need to work a monthly and or annual page into that too.

Thats for day to day organising but I also need a space to jot down notes and then file them into my main areas as I note them down. For example I am always thinking of house ideas, garden ideas, food ideas, shopping/gift ideas etc so I am always jotting down notes that then get lost. If I could file them straight away, I’d find them again and not end up writing it down several times. Again something to organise clippings is needed too.

Writing this I realise I need 2 systems – a paper and an electronic one – but how to get the 2 to work together without ‘double handling’ tasks.

By: Mary

Mary — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:57:14 +0000

I’m a freak for forms – I used to check DIY Planner all the time. I think my ideal productivity tool would be the exact forms I need with a pretty binder (covered in cloth not shiny vinyl) with a pocket inside each cover and a loop for a pen tucked inside somewhere.

I love the look of the forms you have designed by the way! They are clean, un-cluttered and attractive. The daily docket is my favorite – I started using it right away. There is plenty of room to write and I love the place to write a scripture along with everything else.

Something that I have struggled with is integrating work (I work outside the home full time) with a personal calendar. I prefer to keep them separate but often forget when I have an early meeting esp. when it’s at a different facility than my office building. I *think* my smart phone is the answer for that – but that’s the only thing I use my Treo for … therefore I often forget to add a meeting. As I’m writing this, I’m realizing there are meetings this week that I forgot to put in my phone. Rats! Also – when my phone dies, I’ll get a laptop before I get another Treo. I don’t think a Blackberry is the answer either – not for me anyway.

So I’d be interested to see if you have any ideas – what if you were notified about meetings away from home but had to remember them from home? A similar example is doctor’s appointments – I’m constantly forgetting them!

Thanks for an inspiring blog -

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 02:10:04 +0000

wow, lots of really great suggestions!! i definitely need help in this area. i’m ashamed to admit my husband told me several months ago that as a mom, i get an A++, but as a housewife, not so much. but he’s right – i’m terrible at keeping up with the cleaning and meal planning and home organization. i used to blame it on working outside the home, but now i’ve been a sahm for 7 months since having my twins, so i can’t use that excuse anymore (although to have grace with myself, i am taking care of a 3 yr old and 7 mo old twins! ).

i, too, think some sort of hybrid system would be best for me. while i love my laptop and am on it too much, i tend to be more organized with a paper, hands-on system. i love crafts, scrapbooking, etc, so something pretty and inspirational and fun, at the same time as being practical, would really help. i need something that helps me figure out every single task that needs to be done and how i’m going to work it into my schedule, and then that allows me to move tasks around as needed to be flexible. just thinking out loud – like maybe some sort of clear sleeve-sheet with task-cards that can be slid into the sheet for that day or that week, but can be moved around as needed?? like a task card for vacuuming the carpets, dusting the upstairs, dusting the downstairs, cleaning the bathrooms, dust mopping the tile floors, etc – you get the idea. same thing for meals – cards of some sort with meal ideas – either pre-printed or my own – that i can slide into a clear sleeve to organize the meals for the week. maybe with the meal layout and recipes on one side and the shopping list on the other side? i don’t know. if we could personalize the task and meal cards on the computer and print out multiple copies, so we could have the entire month set up (so, like if i vacuum weekly, i could have a card in a sleeve for whatever day each week). the great thing about this, too, is if i can’t get to a particular task on a certain day, it’s easy to take the card out and move it to another day.

can’t wait to see what you come up with!! i just discovered your blog last week, and i love it already!!!

Jennifer’s last blog post…Lots of good news!!! (and lots of pics)

By: Sarah Park

Sarah Park — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:01:55 +0000

I just wanted to add one more thing… I’d love to see a binder- or notebook-based system, where the inside flap or cover is a place for inspiring quotes, Bible verses, photos, anything… basically I’m envisioning a mini-version of your inspiring bulletin board from The Creative Family post… just tucked inside the front of the home management notebook! I’d really love that kind of encouragement right in the place where I’m keeping all the work of the home together, you know? And it would be a wonderful way to personalize a system…

Sarah

By: Crystal

Crystal — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 16:50:12 +0000

So I haven’t read all the comments. What the previous commenter mentioned about the mom agenda–I want something like that on Outlook. I LOVE Outlook, and it changed my life once I aquiesed (i know I didn’t spell that right) and started using it. I just wish it had some extra “gadgets ” that worked more with SAHM. So, added to this is I would like a phone that I can get my outlook on. I used to have a palm,but I didn’t like having to sync them up and remember to charge, and carry around an extra gadget, etc.

THe thing I like the most about Outlook is how easy it is to update my husband’s calendar with mine. SO easy. Keeps us all on track.

By: meredith

meredith — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 14:04:53 +0000

I was a household notebook junkie until I discovered the “momAgenda” a few years ago. Small enough to take everywhere (I have a large purse)…it is my LIFELINE!! I’m a pen & paper gal- writing it helps me remember it.
momAgenda has both month-at-a-glance and week-at-a-glance calendars. Space for my schedule, my 3 kids, my husband’s travel and dinner ideas. There are seperate pages for books to read, movies, music, restaurants, wines to try (or never try again), gift ideas, party planing, vacation ideas, blank pages & more.
The front has valuable web sites & phone numbers for airlines, hotels, car rentals, credit cards, gov’t & more (perfect for when your flight gets cancelled and you need to talk to someone ASAP!). The address book in the back also has pages for personal info: medical info, schools, dr’s, babysitters, neighbors, contractors, beauty salons, banks, vet, accountant, lawyer…even a page for websites, usernames & psswds.
What the momAgenda lacks is decent space for my daily “To-Do” list & grocery list. This I solved with ‘Real Simple” magazine’s TO DO/TO BUY magnetic notepad that hangs on the frig. I tear it off and pop it in my momAgenda daily. This allows me to cross off the “To-Dos” as I go. I use the “To-Buy” side as a running grocery list.
My now retired household notebook is used as a guide for the babysitters (they LOVE it). It holds the kids schedule, meal ideas, emergency numbers, favorite books and activities. The pocket folders hold magazine clips, articles, recipes and decorating ideas for me.
I believe momAgenda has a professional agenda for the working gal as well. Get your hands on one…check it out!! I was always on the hunt for a better planner…no more.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 02:47:19 +0000

I had to mull this one over for a couple of days. It hit me today when I walked past the days of the week magnets on the vent hood for our stove (don’t ask…) that Santa put in my husband’s stocking a couple of years ago. My tool allows me to think one week at a time, allows for plenty of customization and gives me a way to move tasks around easily if something comes up and I can’t get to things when I thought that I would. It would also have a way to include standing things that have to be done every week, so I wouldn’t ever forget to say, clean the bathroom or dust, vacuum and mop the house. And I think it would be in board form so I could hang it somewhere in the house. I’m all for keeping my calendar in a palm-type device, but I’ve never found that those things help me get the daily tasks of running the house hold done. I’m a work at/from home mom with two little ones. And I mean little, my oldest just turned two and my younger one is just 3 months. Hope this helps you; it’s forced me to really think about setting something up. If I do, I’ll post about it on my blog and send you a link.

Jennifer’s last blog post…Down time