How To Remember Stuff You Need To Do

Have any of these scenerios happened to you?

• You’ve headed out to run errands and realized you forgot your list.
• You went shopping but forgot to grab the coupons you were going to use.
• You wanted to drop off some clothes for alterations the next time you were out but you keep forgetting.
• Your daughter came over and you were supposed to send some stuff home with her but she came and went and you completely forgot.
• Your son or daughter needed picked up from school but you got wrapped up in a project and it slipped your mind.

You get the idea. There are so many things to remember and it’s hard to remember everything at the right time. Sometimes our memory lapses aren’t a big deal but sometimes they cause BIG problems. So here are some practical things you can do to help yourself remember:

• Use timers. If you have a short time before you have to do something, use your kitchen timer. I use mine to help me remember to switch the laundry. I use it to remind me when I have to leave for an appointment. The closer it gets to time to leave, the more apt I am to forget. So I set the timer to remind me I need to leave.
• Use the reminders/alarms on your cell phone.
• Put post-it notes in strategic places. My daughter was over the other day and I wanted her to take home her doll cradle and her sewing machine. I forgot the week before so I wrote a post-it note and put it on the front door. When I worked full-time, we used to order lunch every week. Sometimes I ordered extra for my husband’s lunch the next day. But I almost always forgot to go to the kitchen and get it before I went home. So I started putting a post-it note on my keys. I never left work without my keys, so when I reached for them, the note was there reminding me to grab the food. Worked like a charm. I also put post-it notes on my steering wheel, my laptop, my debit card, my phone, my purse, the outside of my planner when it’s closed – you name it.
• Put items in a location where you’ll trip over them. If the post-it note for my daughter hadn’t worked, I would have put the sewing machine and cradle in front of the door so we couldn’t get out without moving them. When I’ve had library books to return, I’ve put them in the bag and put the bag on the driver’s seat of my car.
• Put a note in your planner. That’s assuming you have a planner and that you look at it. But if you do, a note on your daily page should have some effect.
• Some people have watches with alarms.
• Write a note on your hand. I’ve never done that but I’ve actually seen people who do it regularly. It seems to work for them.
• If you’re at your computer all day, you can set up reminders that will pop up on your screen.
• If it’s something you do regularly, try to always do it at the same time. For example, I pay bills on Fridays. So when Friday comes, I automatically know it’s time to pay bills.
• Put a rubber band on your wrist or a string around your finger. Again, things I’ve seen lots of people do but I’ve never done. Supposedly the rubber band or string helps them remember a specific task.
• Use the “Reminder” function in your I-Phone that allows you to make a list for Wal-mart, for example. When you pull into Wal-mart’s parking lot, a reminder pops up. I haven’t used this feature yet but it sounds interesting.

What strategies do you use to help yourself remember the things you need to do?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You might also like:
5 Examples of Planning As You Go
A Simple System for Managing To Do’s
The Many Uses of Timers

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Related posts:

Use Your Planner! 11 Tips for Staying on Track 10 ADHD/ADD Organizing Strategies That Work For Everyone The Many Uses of Timers 6 Reasons You Should Take Your Planner Everywhere Making the Most of Your Planner’s A-Z Tabs Start the Year Right – Get Your 2012 Calendar Ready NOW!