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As we are playing the role of a home-maker, a mother, a wife, an employee, a DIL ... we come across a number of tasks ... small and big ... important and not-so-important.... but need to be done.

In a day, you come across tasks that add up to your task-list. And they all belong to different categories.

You realise you need to buy hing/asaefotida, then some repair work for some wardrobe, or some plumbing work, need to send your saree for drycleaning, Bank - the premium is due ... need to order for new chequebook, need to buy socks for the kid ... need to go to the parlor for a haircut and threading which is overdue ... want to buy a nice cover for your cellphone ...

The list goes endless. We all think our suitable ways to maintain a list, then plan and execute the tasks.

Some of make list on a paer, some use \" stickies\" or post-its, some use just the ' brain' and store the list in there!

some of you may be finding it a tough job to maintain a single list of tasks. We work in the kitchen, bed room, hall, garden, office, go out to the market ... and we get reminded of our tasks at all these places .... right when we do not have anything handy to note the task.

Result? The task is forgotten.

Or, you may be coming across other issues while maintaining, planning and executing your task-list.

I want to open this post to posts from all of you on -
How do you maintain your task list EFFICIENTLY? What approach do you use so that all your tasks are remembered and collected? How to you plan and execute them?
I know the women on this board. They are smart, intelligent. Those in the US/abrad where they dont have helpers, they invent their own ways and smart-tricks to shorten things. The women in India - working or non-working ... who are always exposed to rules and conditions of Indian society, invent their smart ways to deal with task-list.

Please share. Saheli replied. Thanks Ritika and Megha. I could pick up some really helpful tips for myself! Ritika replied. I use a palm for all this kind of stuff.

So, whenever I think of something that we need to buy - I just put it down in my memo pad - under the category of weekend shopping. Then I keep updating it. So at all times, it remains current.

About remembering birthday' s, anniversaries etc, I use the MS outlook calendar on my laptop for that. So every morning, I know if I need to wish any of my friends or relatives.

About cooking, I cook 3-4 main dishes on Saturday afternoon/evening and keep it in the fridge. So we just have to make rotis every night. The atta dough also keeps fresh in aluminium foil for 2 days. Then middle of the week, say Tuesday/Wednesday, if the food is over, then I prepare a couple more dishes.

And one of my dishes is usually pasta, macaroni etc, which is very easy to prepare..or baigan bharta (I just need to put it in the oven for 30-40 minutes and then mash and fry it with some onions and tomatoes) or some paneer dish.

We do the shopping on Saturday afternoons...from our palm list..and mostly it is done within 2-3 hours. :)

Megha replied. Well, I am in the UK . No help round the house and the overall lifestyle was a huge shock in the beginning. Firstly, if anything needs to be done it has to be on weekends. So one cannot afford to lose a weekend i.e if something has been forgotten it is delayed upto the next weekend.
I am not a very efficient person at managing tasks but surely after 5 yrs of marriage and a kid i have learnt to organize things.
For tasks to do, here is what i do.

1. PAPER - I have this sticker on the refridgerator on which you can stick and remove paper. when anything needs to be done i just write it on the paper. most of the times i separate each item shopwise and areawise from where it needs to be bought. like all veges under one column, groceries under another, household items under another..
Ofcourse, it happens many a times that i forget to take the list with me :))

2. MOBILE - I don' t fancy hving the most modern mobile handsets. I just need to have one feature in it and that is of a REMINDER. Yes !!! that is a great help. Dr.s appt, library due dates etc i manage it from mobile.

3. INTERNET - Yes, whatever i can manage from the internet, i do it. The big advantage is that you don' t have to wait for weekends or working hours ! mostly, browsing thru online catalogues give you a fair idea of what u want and where you need to go and buy. that saves time whihc u spend running around every shop for that same item.

4. Other thing is that ofcourse being at home cooking consumes a lot of time. I made it a point that when i have any imp task to finish which needs going out of the house, lunch/dinner will always be short and quick to prepare type, so that my the end of the day you are not exhausted.


thats it from me !! looking forward to tips from others and boost my efficiency !

great topic, saheli !