Reminder App Organization Tips for the Criminally Retentive and the Insanely Forgetful

Yes, I stand by that title! In the venn diagram of life, where one side has individuals who forget what they ate for breakfast and the other side has individuals who are “great with names”, lies one true commonality, they need help. You might be the most retentive individual in the world but still get overwhelmed by a huge number of tasks. For example, you could remember to get to a party on time, but forget to buy a gift. It happens to the best of us! I’ll be sharing some reminder app organization tips and also be sharing some riveting thoughts I have on the use of reminder apps.

Pre-reminders

Reminders for your reminders.

I don’t think enough people are aware of the necessity of pre-reminders. I define pre-reminders as preparatory or preliminary reminders of upcoming events. No, they’re not the main reminders. They keep the task or event fresh in your mind, so you don’t get shocked when the main reminder comes up.

Let’s say you have a job interview by 2pm on a Wednesday, and you set a reminder for 10 am on the Wednesday. That gives you enough time to set alarms and do some final prep work or scheduling for the upcoming interview. But ….what if? What if you scheduled this interview about two weeks earlier and forgot about it? Or what if you just thought you had more time based on your imaginary schedule? It would be quite a shock to get a reminder for an interview on the same day, even with all the hours available.

That’s where pre-reminders come in! You could set an additional reminder for the Monday of that same week or even early on the Tuesday. This would give you enough time to schedule the day and prepare for your interview properly.

What you should set reminders for

Everything?

If you’re anything like me, you go between being insanely organized and being unintentionally lazy about day to day tasks. That’s why I don’t take any chances. If I know I need to remember something, big or small, it’s going on my reminders. My reminders range from “send out project proposal” to “eat breakfast today”. 

These are a few things I’ve set reminders for that you should consider setting reminders for too.

Appointments

Doctors, salon, interviews, MRI, coffee chats, you name it. Scheduling these not only protects your time but considers the other party as well.

Sub Appointments

These are appointments that don’t have a strict time stamp but still need to be completed within a specific time frame. Examples include; picking up from the dry cleaners, buying gifts, buying groceries.

Bill Payments

Network providers send the bill email way too early these days. I sometimes get the email three weeks before the bill is due. Remembering my bill due dates has become a necessary strength, but there are more important bills that need to be considered and scheduled, such as credit cards, mortgages, rent payments, car payments, and even parking tickets.

The Daily Reminders

These scheduled tasks should be completed daily, but usually aren’t. That shouldn’t stop us from scheduling them and getting a little bit of motivation when those reminders pop up. I’m talking about those gym reminders you keep snoozing. And the prayer or meditation reminders you try not to ignore. Who can forget the “Drink 3 litres of water today” reminder? And of course, FLOSSING! Gotta remember that. Ohh, if my phone could talk…

The Weekly Reminders

Don’t be afraid to schedule garbage day! If you’ve ever walked outside your home and felt sadness by the sight of empty trash cans and compost bins outside your neighbours’ homes, don’t fret because you’re not alone. Nothing worse than keeping garbage for another week 😅

Work Stuff

I try not to trust Outlook too much. It has failed me once or twice. It’s possible for me not to notice or ignore my outlook reminders but not my phone. I pick it up every 5 minutes so there’s no way I would miss a reminder like “Performance review by 2pm” (slight phone addiction to be discussed in a later post 😅). Blogging is a full time commitment as well. I need a reminder every now and then to create and publish content.  Procrastination is way too fond of me.

Life Stuff

We need to schedule some very important tasks like when to take medication, or when to switch up tires or even a reminder to book flights.

Fun/Relaxation

Yes!! I’m suggesting you schedule fun. You could schedule a time for taking walks or watching movies or even when to watch certain games. My brother keeps reminding me of the time I slept through the 2022 World Cup finals. I completely forgot when the game was showing. And in his words, don’t bother watching the match, if you didn’t watch it live. It was a once in a lifetime experience. A quick reminder could have saved me the indignity of going to youtube to watch highlights 😂

Communicating with Loved Ones

I’m the kind of person that wants to call my family and loves to speak to them, but sometimes forgets to actually make the call. My parents and I are in different timezones (6 hours apart). So calling them after work or later in the evening doesn’t really work. I need to call them during the day and ideally before 5pm. But I also have work and life stuff to deal with from when I wake up, up until that time. It’s hard to remember and to prioritize sometimes. Scheduling a call ain’t never hurt nobody!

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