Gransnet forums

Chat

Any tips you use to remember the little (or big) things?

(58 Posts)
Moocow Mon 30-Jul-18 11:58:39

I have just been discovered a reminder I had taped to my old vacuum cleaner to remind me to check the smoke alarm regularly. Needless to say I haven't checked it in ages not since replacing it. So now i have stuck it on my new one. I have tried reminders for other things like a hot wash for the washing machine and using a cleaner for the dishwasher but I do not remember as regulrly as i would like to. Anyone have any tips or care to share what works for them?

AlieOxon Tue 31-Jul-18 11:02:55

This has reminded me that I've been forgetting to make lists!

.... the kind that have 'electrician' and 'write to X' on......and sit in front of my computer until I do it!

ValC Tue 31-Jul-18 11:19:57

Phone, wall calender and I also have a pad on the end of the kitchen workshop so that every time I walk past I notice what is written. Have been known to still forget. confused

sarahcyn Tue 31-Jul-18 11:25:34

Best list-making app is Paperless

GabriellaG Tue 31-Jul-18 11:27:38

I use my phone to remind me of things such as the date of my next blood donation or train ticket reminders but they send texts the day before so I really don't need to bother. I have an excellent memory, so rarely need prompts.
Many android phones have a post-it note facility which you scribble on and the day before (or hour prior to) the event, it pops up on your screen with a tune of your choice. Mine is a knock, so similar to a door knocker that I've 'run' to see who it is...then laughed at my foolishness. It happens regularly. blush

travelsafar Tue 31-Jul-18 11:30:49

I use both diary and calender,plus i have a list on my kitchen window sill and one on my dressing table. I have so much going on usually i would be totally lost without them all. Bowls matches, committee meetings, hospital, gp and dental appointments, dates with my daughter and two of my three sons, birthdays, visitors, days out with friends, clubs that i attend with my sister, and my shifts at work. How could i expect my brain to retain all that!!! smile

Mary59nana Tue 31-Jul-18 11:36:38

Alexa is amazing
Daily meds at a certain time
Hospital app
The list s endless
Also if I need help and not near my phone
Just ask Alexa to call for someone to help
Amazing

Bathsheba Tue 31-Jul-18 11:40:27

Phone calendar is my default for reminders - today it reminded me to email someone; every week it reminds me which colour bin to put out; every Friday there's a reminder about a particular sewing site which does 'freebie Friday'; and appointments, lunch dates, even my DC's appointments, they all go in there and sound an alarm in advance to remind me.
Shopping list, though, are done the old fashioned way - I have a magnetic board on the fridge with a paper pad attached to it and DH and I each add things to it as we notice it running out, or think of something we want.
My DS has said why don't we create a list on our iPhones, much easier he said. No it's not, because then we have to keep signing into our phone while we're in Tesco and that just irritates me wink

GrannyMosh Tue 31-Jul-18 11:58:49

For shopping lists, there is a very useful phone app called Bring!, which enables you to make lists for different shops, and also allows different family members to add to them. My son introduced me to it a few months ago, and it really is very easy to use.

rubytut Tue 31-Jul-18 11:59:44

Notes next to the kettle, or if I need to take something with me when I go out I put my car keys next to it.

Rosina Tue 31-Jul-18 12:10:20

I have a desk diary that I make a point of looking at every day when having my second breakfast 'cuppa'. There is so much to remember - flea treatments for the animals, birthdays, not to mention the appointments, and without it I would be completely at sea.

cornergran Tue 31-Jul-18 12:15:02

A number of lists. I have a book where I write a list with dates alongside when each task should be completed by - a sort of self nagging system.

There's also a list on the side of the fridge reminding us both of day to day items around the house and garden, so small repairs, that type of thing.

The fridge also holds a calendar where appointments are written, they are also in individual diaries. The poor old fridge also holds a magnetic shopping list, we both make additions when we think about it.

Not sure what I'd do without the fridge smile

sarahellenwhitney Tue 31-Jul-18 13:06:03

Relieved its not just me who has to decorate their house with brightly coloured post its.

quizqueen Tue 31-Jul-18 13:57:27

Write notes in a diary for the months ahead. When I de-flea my cat I put a sticker on the calendar which comes with the product so I remember when I did her last.

grandtanteJE65 Tue 31-Jul-18 15:03:49

I always write shopping lists .
Other things like dental appointments, cats' re-vaccinations I write on the wall calendar in the kitchen. If they are in the first week of a month I write a reminder half-way through the previous month, so I don't finish up with a dental appointment and the cats' rabies vaccine at 10 a.m. on the same day!

Other things are done on the same date every year: the Christmas baking starts the day after my birthday, always has, always will.(my birthday is late in November)

gerry86 Tue 31-Jul-18 16:53:20

A good old fashioned diary and then at the end of the year you can transfer anything necessary to a new one.

Baggs Tue 31-Jul-18 16:57:36

A good new fashioned to do list on my iphone that I can set to bleep at me as and when.

Luckygirl Tue 31-Jul-18 17:30:03

My diary is my life - without it I do not exist.

Apart from anything else it allows me to find an answer if someone asks what I did yesterday! grin

Kim19 Tue 31-Jul-18 18:09:41

Very amusing Luckygirl but ditto. I often think if somebody snatched my bag I'd shout 'keep the cash but leave my diary'. Nuts, that's me!

Baggs Tue 31-Jul-18 18:18:52

My dad was the same, lucky. It started in earnest after he had a brain op and he maintained they'd cut out his short-term memory as well as the problematic cyst. The umpty-ump volumes that my mum still has include everything from WTC (Weetabix, toast, coffee) for breakfast every day to all the bird species he'd seen that day in the garden or at various bird reserves and along the Fylde coast.

Edithb Tue 31-Jul-18 19:24:00

I have a diary/organiser called Life Book. If it’s not written in there, it doesn’t happen! I also have a birthday book which I consult a few times a year (written reminder in diary) I then buy cards for a few months ahead and make a note in the diary when to post them. I write down everywhere we are going, including my husband’s appointments as he is the opposite to me. Luckily I enjoy being organised, it’s the civil servant in me!

morethan2 Tue 31-Jul-18 19:45:41

Siri is a life saver for me

Purplepoppies Wed 01-Aug-18 07:29:01

Moocow how about a white board/chalk board? I know you say you don't see lists but if it was a little bigger maybe?

harrigran Wed 01-Aug-18 08:44:26

DS and DIL have a white board in their kitchen, wish I had done that when mine were small.
Now I write on a calendar and also add to computer calendar which brings up reminders until I dismiss them.
I write shopping lists but usually manage to forget items, mostly the items I really needed.

gillybob Wed 01-Aug-18 11:03:07

The mention of Lists reminds me of an ex colleague of my DH.

He's French and was contracted to the North East of England side of the "operation" for a couple of years. His English was excellent and he even picked up a bit of Geordie too.

After one particular meeting he very proudly announced that everyone should put together a "toe-doe" list. He never lived it down.

melp1 Wed 01-Aug-18 11:04:40

What a great idea Patticake123 re smoke alarm I'll try this one.
For shopping I've made a list of the things I buy over the course of each month which is saved to the computer. Printed off several copies. Then check weekly to see whats needed, cross off whats not required.
Calender for appointments/bithdays.
Post it notes are stuck to kettle at night with reminders of things to do next day.
The only thing that gets confusing is feeding the dog ( shes worked out that if one of us feeds her she then waits for the other one to be in the kitchen on their own and then knocks the empty bowl round the kitchen and Hey Presto she gets fed again) grin