Arrghh! Christmas! Tools to help us get organised

Ok so I’ve contemplated how many gifts I feel comfortable bestowing on my children, now I need to get my head around what gifts for who, and all the other Christmas things I need to organise. Presents for family, events we have to attend, costumes for preschool plays… I need some super awesome way to keep track of all these things, because my brain just doesn’t hold on to that kind of information like it used to!

I am a list writer. I love a good list and fill notebook after notebook with lists, and calendars and ideas. But when I’m at the shops and see this cool item that would make the perfect gift for my nephew, of course I never have my trusty notebook with me to find out if I already bought him a gift of happened to buy him this exact same item two Christmases ago. Notebooks work great for day to day things, but for things that I need to refer back to again and again over a longer period of time, well the notebook just doesn’t cut it for that.

Here’s where technology gets involved in my Christmas. I need my Christmas lists to always be in my pocket, and what’s the one thing that is always in my pocket? My phone.

I’ve tried a few different iphone apps for Christmas lists but I’ve never really liked any of them. So I stick with two apps that I already use and love, and that sync with my desktop easily… Pinterest and Evernote.

Pinterest

I use pinterest as my ‘nifty idea collector’ for when I am at home. If I see something cool online that I think would make a great gift for someone, sometime, I pin it to my ‘gifts and giving‘ board. That item just sits there, waiting for me to be desperate for inspiration, and when that moment strikes I can thumb through all those pins wherever I happen to be and hopefully find the perfect gift idea.

If you are not playing around on Pinterst already pop on over and check it out. You can find me here, but beware it is a little addictive for some.

Evernote

Evernote is my ultimate, portable, add everything, Christmas list.

I love Evernote.

I love that I can easily snap a photo of an item that I think might make a good gift and easily add it to Evernote, with a little text note to tell me who it’s for, where I saw it and how much it was.
I love that I can create a new tag/category for Christmas each year and add a list of who we are giving to and what we are giving, so that when I come to the next year, or the year after I can quickly go back and see what we already bought.
I love that I can add photos from my phone, from my hard drive or from a web page, and that I can add links, and text all so easily.
I love that it syncs between my phone, desk top, lap top and an online version I can access everything anywhere.

Yep, I love Evernote and would be totally lost without it!

You can download a free or paid version of Evernote for desktop and smart phones. You get more storage space and more options (including not seeing the small ads) with the paid version, but for the last 3 years I’ve been more than happy with the free version. It may take you a while to get your head around how to best use Evernote but it is well worth the effort.

More Organisational Goodness
Organisation is not my strong point, but I know a couple of people who have it down to a fine art.
If you are looking for more motivation, bright ideas and tools to get your organised for Christmas you should pop on over and visit The Organised Housewife’s Organise Yourself a Merry Little Christmas series, and then head to Planning With Kids for Nicole’s Christmas 2012 series.

Now it’s your turn….
What tools do you use to stay organised at Christmas?
Got a great phone app or printable or web site to share?

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Tagged as: christmas, organise