Save Time Running Errands with One App

Being an adult is lame sometimes. You’ve got bills to pay. You’ve got to work 40+ hours a week so you can pay those bills. You’ve got to feed and groom yourself so you can get the job you need so you can pay the bills. You’ve got to use your free time to get all the supplies to feed and groom yourself so you can have sustenance for your job that you need so you can pay your bills.

Pretty soon, all your free time becomes errand-running-time. Or, at least that’s how it used to be for us.

Maybe it’s still the selfish, immature side of me talking here, but my downtime is precious me time. I don’t want to muddy it with running errands.

I remember a Saturday a few years back that was completely consumed by running errands. My husband and I started our adventure with Starbucks lattes (yay!) and high hopes that this trip was going to take a modest hour or two of our morning. We would spend the rest of the afternoon working around the house and the evening enjoying a date night. Not the case. From Starbucks we moseyed over to Home Depot to pick up lawn bags and other assorted lawn tools. That led us next door to Wegmans for our weekly grocery shopping only to realize that – wait! Don’t we need face cleaner? Wegmans doesn’t carry our brand! So we headed over to Target. Whilst there, we remembered that – uh, oh…didn’t we need new lines for the weed-whacker ? I can’t remember. Can you?… So we headed back to Home Depot to pick up line for our weed-whacker – just in case. Now walking into Home Depot for the second time, our eyes delighted in the new tile display that dazzled our imaginations of the new bathroom tile project we should/would/could begin. This led us down the lighting aisle, which led us to the paint aisle…

Anyway, you get the point.

What should have been a simple 1-2 hour task turned into a whole day affair. By the time we got back to the house and unloaded the car, we were too exhausted and irritated to do any of the projects we’d ambitiously set our minds to that morning. Not to mention, whatever free time left to our Saturday evening was spoiled by the remnant brooding of how in the WORLD did that take us all day?

Sadly, this wasn’t an isolated case. This was becoming our average adult life. We began blaming adult responsibility instead of blaming our ineffectiveness at running errands. I’m pretty sure the phrase “Being an adult is stupid” was the Kane family catch phrase at that time.

That is, until we found Evernote. Ah, technology; that which can make our lives so simple if we just know how to use it properly. I should give my husband a plug here. He’s the one who introduced it to me, and where I was once a skeptic, I’m now an addict.

If you’re unfamiliar with Evernote, it is a free app for your computer, smartphone and/or table that helps you keep track of your life. It is a cloud-based app that allows you to store business cards, receipts, personal (private) or shared notes, to-do lists, etc. It syncs between your phone, computer and/or tablet and it keeps your organized. So long as you have access to the Web, you have access to Evernote (in the free version). I like to think of it as your computerized, free personal assistant.

Why Evernote is better than a physical list

Some friends of mine have really involved grocery checklists posted on their refrigerators. They claim they update them as needed throughout the week/month, and when it’s grocery shopping day they take the list and run. I’ve always ogled at this level of organization, but it’s never worked for me.

For me, a physical list gets lost, spilled on, or worse – outdated. Yes, outdated. From the time the list gets pulled from the fridge and makes it to the store, it’s already irrelevant. It’s amazing how urgently we need toilet paper once we’ve stepped out of the house.

The beauty of Evernote is that it is live, shareable and editable. It connects phone to computer and visa versa. So, in the instance of the emergency toilet paper, I could be inside the store while my husband types “TP – STAT!” into our shared Evernote file. I see the update immediately and grab the toilet paper just in time to save the day.

You never forget what you need.

Because we tend to have our smart phones near us most, if not all, the time it’s safe to assume that your Evernote list with always be within reach.

I don’t know about you, but if I don’t write something down immediately, it’s gone. Poof! That’s why the fridge checklists don’t work for me. I would have to remember what we need, remember to walk to the fridge and check it off the list. This may not sound cumbersome to most, but it’s a near impossible feat for me. Inevitably, something would be forgotten. By using Evernote to streamline my errand running, I can update the list at any point without interrupting whatever I was in the middle of doing.

Case in point: While in the shower the other day, I discovered that our body wash was dangerously low. For fear of having to rely on bar soap, I finished my shower and grabbed my phone from the window sill. I dictated “body wash” into my list and continued on with my morning routine without ever leaving the bathroom.

Compare that to the time my husband told me to pick up more dog food while I was lumbering out of bed last week. I promised him I’d remember, and deep down I meant it. I even repeated “dog food” in my head seven times – because that’s supposed to be a trick, right? – so that I wouldn’t forget. Sure enough, I forgot. Why? Because it wasn’t written down immediately. Between making the bed, getting dressed, brushing my hair, washing my face, my dog’s food needs escaped my mind. At the end of the day, my husband was disappointed in my forgetfulness, I was angry at my ineptitude and my dog was hungry. It was a lose-lose all around.

But it’s not just me who can benefit from on-the-spot list additions. The same can be said for my husband, who often thinks of things he/we need(s) while he’s at work. Let’s just say he realizes that he used the last Kleenex before walking out the door that morning. He forgot about it completely until he blew his nose at the office, which triggered the memory. He simply types into the shared list “Kleenex” and either he or I will pick it up that night on our way home from work. Once the item is bought, we delete it to save the other person from double-purchasing.

Evernote allows for shared responsibility.

By allowing anyone shared on the Evernote file to contribute, responsibility is also shared. Not only will everyone have a say in the items that appear, but anyone can take responsibility for shopping for the items on the list. So long as the items are then deleted, there is no issue with buying multiples.

Different families have different protocol. In some families one person is the go-to person for doing all list making and all errand running. If this is what works for you, that’s fantastic! It didn’t work for me. When I was the sole list maker, I always overlooked a few necessary items at home and thus forget to buy them at the store. I vehemently refused to go back out once I got home, and so I managed to sulk in my stupidity for the remainder of the night only to vow to try again the next day.

Since using Evernote with my husband, we’re both frequently contributing to the list, which eliminates our need to do inventory before going to the store. This saves a remarkable amount of time. Further, because we both have access and check frequently, we both can shop for items on the list at our own leisure and edit the list as items are purchased. This has been particularly handy for me because my husband passes a grocery store on his way home from work. If there’s anything I need, I type it up on my computer at home, he checks his phone before leaving work and VOILA! He walks into the house with the goods I need, and it didn’t require him to call home or me to remember a thing.

You can divide and conquer tasks.

Going along with the last idea, Evernote also makes it easy to divide and conquer tasks on the list. We now use Evernote to expedite the shopping process by dividing who and where we will shop. When the weekend rolls around to errand time, we have a quick powwow about items on the list. Then we decide who’s going to what store and off we go. It’s like the Amazing Race of regular, old adulthood. Sometimes he might go to Target while I head to the grocery store. Other times, I head to Starbucks (twist my arm) while he goes to Home Depot. While I’m ~~sipping on my coffee~~ getting us breakfast, I can see what he’s buying in live time.

How to get started

Evernote isn’t perfect, and it does require some semblance of comfort with technology to use it. Once you dive in, however, I should warn you that it’s incredibly addicting. We use it for (almost) everything. Because it is cloud-based, I do not use Evernote for sensitive items like passwords, credit card info, etc.

My first suggestion for those who want to test it out is to start an account on your desktop/laptop. While you’re at it, have everyone in your family create an account. It’s free, and if you plan to use it for personal use you don’t need to spend any money. I still use the free service and I haven’t felt the need to upgrade. You will need to be comfortable with linking your email to this account, but note that I have never received spam from Evernote.

Once you’ve got your account started, download the Evernote app to your smart phone. You’ll be prompted to log in using the information you used to create your account on your computer. Now, you’re all set to start your first note that will sync between your phone and your computer. Evernote even provides tutorials on how to best utilize its features.

If you’re using your Evernote to share lists like I do with my husband, be sure to share the note(s) you create. Again, Evernote does a great job of walking you through the process, so I encourage you to watch a tutorial on how to effectively share your files.

Hindsight is 20/20. I wish I had Evernote ten years ago when I started being an adult in real life. What started as trial-and-error became an obsession.

How do you use Evernote with your family? Do you have another trick to expedite the errand-running process with your family?