Let me count the ways

My dear friend Dan turned me on to a beautiful new piece of software called Things last week and I’m just smitten. I’ve been using it for only about 4-5 days now but it has already made my life so much easier. As you know, the twins are keeping me busy, so much so I often found myself pausing in the middle of a room not knowing what I had intended to do in that room or even how I got there! Enter Things.

Things is a simple, yet robust, task program that works like a web 2.0 app, tags and all. There are also projects and areas to group tasks in, and a “Today”, “Next”, “Someday”, and “Postponed” section that works intuitively to make sure your tasks can always be found and acted upon just as you design them to be. Here’s how I’ve come to use Things so far:

Blogging made easy

For the longest time I’ve tried to find a simple way of jotting down (and remembering) my blog post ideas. I usually start a draft, then forget about it. Or, when I find there’s something I want to add to the idea or a snippet I want to write I have to open a web browser, login to my blog, find the draft, and then toss it into the post. It’s a nightmare trying to find the time, and then later trying to clean up my thoughts before posting it. Nine of ten times I just toss the idea altogether.

With Things I can hit a hot key, jot a note about what I was thinking, paste a link into the notes area, then tag it “blog”, “standards for life” and hit Enter.

To take it a step further, I’ve organized my blog ideas by area and project like so:

• I set up an AREA called “Blogs”
• Within Blogs, I use tags to assign a task to a particular blog
• Each time I get an idea for a post, I make a new task and tag it to a blog
• If a post is highly involved (like my 2007 list), I make a PROJECT for it
• Inside the project, I input a new task for each idea relating to that post, be it a quote, thought, link, etc.
• As I write the post, I check off ideas as they’ve been realized
• When the post is finished, I check off the project as a whole
• I might also be more specific and make the project name the title of the post
• Then I’d make each task a heading within the post
• And, in the notes, the body of that sub heading
• This way I can write the post in breaks here and there throughout the day without ever having to open a single blogging program

Not only does this help my writing go more smoothly, it also helps my productivity around the house because I no longer stop what I’m doing to go write down a note to myself only to forget it later. Instead, I take about ten seconds to hit my hot key (I don’t even have to open Things), type my thought, and save the task.

Blog maintenance tasks

As for the back end of my blogs, I can use Things to set up tasks for maintenance. For example, if I notice an image not appearing, or a comment that needs moderating, I can quickly make a task for myself and assign it to the right blog.

If I have a new blog, new design, or other larger task, I make a project for it and collect tasks within the project.

Things as a Chef’s Journal

Since I’ve started cooking regularly, I’ve found myself scrambling to find recipes my family will like. I bookmark my cookbooks like a mad woman and then I can’t remember which recipe I wanted to use, or what ingredients it will call for. With Things I can keep track of recipes I’ve made, those I still want to try, as well as a simple grocery list for each one. Here’s how it works for me:

• I set up an AREA called “Cooking Journal”
• In this area I have a task for each recipe
• Each recipe is tagged with:
  • the name of the cookbook, magazine, or web site it came from
  • the page number it is found on
  • and a 1-5 star (or bullet) rating
• Then, in the notes, I list the more important ingredients

Each time I cook something new I type up a task for it and have the family rate it so I know whether they’ll like it the next time I go to make it. With Things I can sort tasks by tag, so if I want to go back and make something again, I can click on the tag for “5 stars” (or •••••) and see all of the favorite recipes. Or maybe I’m looking for a particular recipe I know was in my Better Homes cookbook. I click the tag for Better Homes and find all of the recipes I’ve used, along with their page numbers because I tagged them that way when I put them in!

Recipes on Deck

Along with a journal of what I’ve already cooked, I use Things to keep track of recipes I want to try. I input them in the same way but I put them in a separate area. You could put them together and tag them differently; I choose to do it this way. As I prepare the weeks meals I look to my recipes on deck to see if there’s something new I’d like to try.

A plus, in the notes I’ve noted a few key ingredients (omitting things like salt, pepper, garlic, etc) so that I know if I need to wait until after the next trip to the grocery store. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve started cooking only to discover I’m missing something important and I have to scrap the whole thing.

Speaking of Groceries…

Things is just what I’ve been looking for! Seriously, I stared Things in the eyes last night and whispered dreamily, Where have you been all my life? It feels like I’ve tried every task app out there. I’ve wrestled with Ta-da lists and every other app from 37signals. I’ve tangoed with Remember the Milk, and even tried to figure out the use of TaskPaper, but nothing has been able to get me on track with my groceries. I’ve resorted to pen and paper for way too long and I’m thankful to Things in all its infancy and can’t wait to see it grow! Here’s my method now:

• I have an AREA called “Groceries”
• In this area I have a PROJECT called “Next Grocery Trip”
• As I think of an item, I create a new task and stick it in the Groceries area and add it to the NGT project
• Of course, all this sorting is done later; as I think of things I simply add it as a task to the “INBOX” and tag it “groceries”

Now, what’s great about using tasks as a grocery list is this: as I buy items, I check them “completed”. When I need them again, I uncheck them. So, let’s say tonight I need bread and milk. I go to my list and uncheck bread and milk. After I’ve got bread and milk, I check them off again. Once I’ve added something to the list, I never have to add it again - I just check and uncheck!

Tagging groceries for future features

Now, what makes Things great, or what will be great, is that (hopefully) I’ll be able to sort and print by any tag. So, I’m tagging grocery items now by store, aisle and price so that as Things develops I’ll be able to sort my grocery list by store and by aisle and flow smoothly through the store instead of weaving and bobbing across the place as I forget the onions clear over in produce and remember them way out in dairy!

Things as a simple calendar

Finally, I don’t have a lot going on outside the home these days, so Things works great for me as a simple event reminder. Instead of pulling up ical or google calendar, I just hot key a task and tag it “calendar”. I set the due date as the date of the appointment and just stick the time in parenthesis in the task title. I can have it remind me, or (as mine is set to do), it will just appear in my TODAY section the day of the appointment. When I want to look at upcoming events, I click the “calendar” tag and there is a list of my appointments. A downside at the moment is that tasks are always listed by default in the order you enter them (though you can manually move them around). I’m hopeful there will be better automatic sorting to come.

About AREAS vs. PROJECTS

This really confused me at first, but the explanation the wiki gives is essentially this: PROJECTS are larger tasks with subtasks that will eventually be completed. AREAS are like projects except that they’re more general and are ongoing. So, in this case, Blogs and Groceries and Cooking are all things I work with every day (areas). A blog post, recipe or grocery item may be things I’ll tackle and be done with, so those would become projects or tasks within projects.

Whew!

Well, that’s it… for now. If you use Things (or would like to), tell me how you use it or would use it!

One last quick thing…**Things is offering $10 OFF to everyone who signs up for their newsletter by the end of January!_*