Saving Time | List Producer

Resist Your Inner Pack Rat and Clear Clutter

August 11, 2013/1 Comment/in Benefits of List Making, Decision Making, Home, Increase Productivity, Reduce Stress, Saving Time, Technology, Tool for Success/by Paula Rizzo

Cluttered shed (Photo credit: UnnarYmir)

I have a confession to make. I’m somewhat of a pack rat. I like to keep things in case I need them. But I really needed to strike back this weekend. I’ve been irritated and borderline obsessed with the clutter that was living in my desk drawer at home. It was filled with lots of papers and things I didn’t need and lots and lots of power cords.

There are chargers for 4 iPhones, a Blackberry, a MacBook, an iPad Mini, an iPad keyboard case and some wireless speakers — I can’t take it! I’ve been researching ways to tame the power cords and got exhausted.

How to Know You’re an Obsessive List Maker

August 8, 2013/0 Comments/in Apps, Benefits of List Making, Books, Decision Making, Learning With a List, List Making, Movies, Saving Time, Travel, TV/by Paula Rizzo

A friend of mine shared a Buzzfeed list with me a while back: 27 Signs You Know You’re an Obsessive List Maker. As I read through the list, I realized that, as so many Buzzfeed lists uncannily do, nearly every item applied to me!

So, in true List Producer fashion, I decided to make a list of my own.

Reasons to Take a Staycation

August 6, 2013/2 Comments/in Benefits of List Making, Books, Decision Making, Food, Health, Home, Increase Productivity, Learning With a List, List Making, Reduce Stress, Saving Money, Saving Time, Tool for Success, Travel/by Paula Rizzo

For the whole summer, everyone is daydreaming about jetting off for a beach getaway. I bet very few of you dream of staying near home for your vacation, but don’t sell it short! In hindsight, it’s easy to overlook all the bad parts of a taking a trip – the delayed flights, missed connections and lost luggage.

So next time you think you need a break, consider taking a “staycation” instead. This could mean that you stay in a hotel just down the road, or it could mean that you look to buy a “holiday home” near you. This way you’ve always got a place to go on the weekends or somewhere to use if you have guests staying with you.

Use Lists to Cut Out Clutter

August 4, 2013/0 Comments/in Apps, Benefits of List Making, Books, Boost Memory, Fellow List Producers, Increase Productivity, Learning With a List, List Making, Reduce Stress, Saving Time, Tool for Success/by Paula Rizzo

I love meeting people who are just as organized as I am and getting the chance to learn something new from them. I went to the BlogHer conference in Chicago last weekend (more about the productivity tips and tricks on outsourcing that I learned there to come soon!) and met Andrew Mellen, bestselling author of Unstuff Your Life. Needless to say, he’s an expert at staying organized and keeping it together! So I thought he’d be the perfect “list producer” to feature:

Q: Why do you call yourself a compulsive list producer?

A: I don’t. I call myself a practical list producer.

Q: What do you make lists about?

A: Things I need to do that need to get out of my head, onto a page, then onto my calendar.

These are typically:

Errands

Home Projects

Work Projects

Orchestra To-Do App is Discontinued

July 30, 2013/1 Comment/in Apps, Benefits of List Making, Increase Productivity, Learning With a List, List Making, Reduce Stress, Saving Time, Technology, Tool for Success/by Paula Rizzo

Another to-do app is shutting down! Orchestra is joining Astrid and closing up shop.

Here’s the story

Despite Orchestra’s great success (ranking as the App Store’s Productivity App of the year in 2011,) the Orchestra team is changing their focus. Part of what made Orchestra a great app was its compatiblity with email — you could forward an email to Orchestra and it would turn it into a task on your to-do list. Somewhere along the way, the Orchestra team decided that they wanted to take this idea a step further and created Mailbox, an app to streamline your email.