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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?

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

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

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

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

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

Best list-making app is Paperless

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

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!

Legs55 Tue 31-Jul-18 10:55:07

I write appointments on my calendar & in my diary. Not foolproof as I have been convinced for weeks that I had a Blood Test on Monday 30th July. Text message from Surgery on Sunday to remind me of my Appointment on Tuesday 31st July, yes it's right on my calendar, bless the NHS for sending reminders.

I write shopping lists & leave them on the table or else take them with me but don't look at them until I get homehmm

petalmoore Tue 31-Jul-18 10:48:42

I often put a relevant object in a prominent place to remind me to deal with something for which there’s a deadline, e.g. when I used to subscribe to a veg box scheme, if I hadn’t remembered to order in plenty of time I would put a cherry tomato in front of my computer to remind me to do the order as I got up in the morning. Of course this only worked if I remembered when the deadline was, but since we had a monthly order I quickly learnt to expect it - I just didn’t always remember to confirm the details of what I needed that month. But seeing the tomato when I went to check emails worked instantly!

My current bugbear is keeping track of recurring debit card payments, particularly annual ones, such as subscriptions. One can save a lot of money by paying annually, but they tend to slip to the back of my mind, and it’s a bit of a shock to find that I’ve paid a three-figure sum for my anti-virus software or for an online newspaper when i’d Forgotten all about it. So I’m working on remembering to set an online diary alert as soon as each annual payment is taken. I don’t know why the bank can’t list them as they do with direct debits or standing orders.

I also realize how lucky I am to have a husbagnd whose brain has a built in system of reminders - for instance, he knows exactly when each of three different bins is due to be collected, and puts them out the previous night. He is an example to me!

sarahcyn Tue 31-Jul-18 10:45:53

I have 1 sensible son and 1 not quite so sensible son. The sensible son recently shared with me a tip he learned about time management, priorities and list making. You really need four lists: Urgent and Important; Urgent and Unimportant; non-Urgent and Important; non-Urgent and Unimportant and you need to review the content of each list daily

Kim19 Tue 31-Jul-18 10:29:14

I do reminders on post-it's and then dispose of them when the 'job' is done. Just as well they're bright yellow! I sometimes even manage a sense of satisfaction when one is binned. Ah.... I get my pleasures where I can!!

blueberry1 Tue 31-Jul-18 10:25:30

For things to remember the next day,I leave a list in front of the kettle as I know it will be my first port of call (after the loo!) in the morning.

David1968 Tue 31-Jul-18 10:24:54

Making lists, leaving out individual notes, regularly updating my diary and household calendar. All of these are hand-written. (I've "met" Alexa in other people's homes and I have a deep mistrust of the "data gathering" which is involved.)

Juggernaut Tue 31-Jul-18 10:18:31

Franbern
I'd forgotten grin until I read your post, I label wires and cables too!
Also put sticky labels around the cables of chargers, DH's big camera, DH's small camera, My still camera, video camera, underwater camera etc as I could spend an age trying different chargers and connections!
I write on the back of camera batteries too (with a white pen) so that I don't have to fish around in the camera bag for as long!

sazz1 Tue 31-Jul-18 10:17:45

I keep a diary and update it every night before bed. Appointments are written in straight away

Patticake123 Tue 31-Jul-18 10:13:12

With the smoke alarm we received a stick with a plastic hand on it to make reaching the alarm easy. We allocated on alarm to each grandchild and when they visit each week they remind us as they like to use the stick. Don’t know how we’ll remember when the children lose interest!

Terrystred Tue 31-Jul-18 10:04:09

Alexa will remind you of anything you ask her too. Constantly, in my experience!

EmilyHarburn Tue 31-Jul-18 09:59:58

I use a paper diary. If I do something this year which needs to be repeated next year I put it in the diary's forward planner for the following year and when I get my new diary transfer the activites to the correct months.

MiniMoon Mon 30-Jul-18 16:39:12

"Alexa" is wonderful for reminders. I put loads on the calendar on my Echo show. It's much more useful than Dot as it has a screen. I never miss anything now. Unless, of course, I've forgotten to tell "Alexa".

Franbern Mon 30-Jul-18 16:27:59

I do label wires on such things as TV.s Humax, DVD player, etc. There is always such a spaghetti tangle of these, I put a sticky lable each end stating whether it goes into TV or where. Also lable plugs on multiple use sockets, so I know which one I am disconnecting. Apart from that the only list I keep is the one on the tall freezer door stating what is in which drawer. Do always try to keep this upto date, but when I do my twice yearly sort-out and new list - it is always totally wrong.
I detest using a phone diary, much prefer a small one in my handbag, which has so very much information in it and is so easy to check what I am doing each day.
Must say that it remains a family joke that I put into that the day I am hoping to do my weekly wash!!!

BBbevan Mon 30-Jul-18 16:08:01

Same as Teetime. Lists ,lists and more lists. Also all important dates written on a large calendar, plus bill payment dates and appointments etc.

Juggernaut Mon 30-Jul-18 15:32:40

I don't write lists anymore, I can never remember where I've put them!

Jalima1108 Mon 30-Jul-18 15:25:30

Our smoke alarm is working - it went off at lunch-time when DH burnt some cheese on toast (smelly!)

I do write things down in the diary to remind me, eg MOT due and other aide-memoires
and there are little yellow stickers around me at my desk - reminders and handy tips

Moocow Mon 30-Jul-18 15:07:47

Nose grannyticktock that happens to me!

Getting used to seeing the note is what happens to me after so long. Also my house looks awful with lots of reminders that after a while i hid them away - out of sight doesn't help.

Tried phone reminders which upset others as my reminders woukd go off again and again but guess I'll go back to that.

grannyticktock Mon 30-Jul-18 13:25:31

I write things down on pieces of paper, post-its or a spiral-bound notebook that is just full of things like"Check car tyre pressure again" "Ring Jane" "Read gas meter" etcetc.

I don't know how many of you live alone, but it's all much more difficult when you're widowed, as I am now. As a couple, you tend to use each other as prompts: you say things like "Did you remember to ask Richard about the fence?" or "Remind me tomorrow about that library book!" The other person is, among other things, your personal Sticky Note, your external hard drive. When you lose that person, you have to remember everything yourself, so it's much harder.

Last week I was topping up the fishpond with the hosepipe. I wrote "hose" on a scrap of paper and laid it on the kitchen table so I wouldn't forget to turn it off. About ten minutes later I had indeed completely forgotten, and when I saw the note, I thought "What have I written 'nose' for?" Once I found my glasses, all became clear.