Lifehacker: The Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, and Better, Third Edition

Hack 35: Organize Your Life with Remember the Milk

Level Medium

Platform Web

Cost Free

Even in this advanced age of software, keeping track of your work and personal to-do lists, projects, and due dates isn’t easy. Chances are you use a system at the office to track your tasks — such as Microsoft Outlook — and use something else at home — such as a whiteboard on the refrigerator. But the lines between work and life are blurring. You spend more time using different computers and handheld devices while you’re on the go. You have work, school, family, home, and side business matters to track. Now it’s more important than ever to consolidate your lists into one, always-accessible place. There are dozens of robust, free online organizers out there, but one of the most stable and mature in the bunch is a web application called Remember the Milk (http://rememberthemilk.com).

Because it’s a web-based service that you control, you can merge your personal, work, and family lists in a single place with Remember the Milk. Let’s take a look at some of Remember the Milk’s basic and then more advanced features.

NOTE If you’re accustomed to storing your information in desktop software such as Microsoft Outlook, depending entirely on a website like Remember the Milk may seem like a scary prospect. But as dynamic software moves off the desktop and onto the Web, the greatest advantage to users is its accessibility and portability. Using a web application such as Remember the Milk, you can get to ...