Naming your @Errands next actions by place

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jorge Ledesma DDS
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Jorge Ledesma DDS

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Good morning, I was driving to work today and I browsed my @Errands category and I noticed I had a nice list but I didn't have the actual place that the next actions could be done in the first place, for example,

buy bulbs and get mulch at Home Depot

as oppose to:

Home Depot: buy bulbs and get mulch

so when you glance at your list the actual place where your task can be done shows up first, I know its nothing super enlightening but for me it was, so I'm re-writing my @Errand next actions to match the latter format, I'm wondering how many of you actually do it like this or perhaps if you can share your best practices relating to this I would appreciate it.

thanks in advance
 
Good idea if you have a single big @errands list.

I just reorganized my equivalent of @errands into 2 categories with the town names of where they can be done. We live in a very rural area. Our town is 2 blocks long so everything I need to do in town can go easily on one list. We try to limit trips down to town to no more than 2 a week. We make a once a month trip to a larger city about 75 miles away where there are stores like Home Depot so we save up all that sort of errands for our big shopping trip. We have a route for our monthly list that saves us driving all over the place. We do things in the same order because we almost always have to go to the same small set of stores in the city.

I'm using SplashShopper for all lists of things we need to buy sorted by stores. The advantage is that many things can be found several places. So if I need say mulch, I have that as an item that's avail. at the Feed Store, Home Depot, Sam's Club, WalMart and Murdoch's and whichever store I find myself in first that's where I'll get it.
 
For us paper GTDers: I keep my @Errands on a blue index card in my Hipster PDA. I then split that card up into areas for each store, such as:

Code: 
	Home Depot:  Twine
	             1/4" deck screws

Target:  Fruit dehydrator
 
I keep my lists in Outlook and my Palm Z22 (using Datebk6). What I'll usually do is this: When I add an errand, it goes on my @Errands list in the form, "Bank: Deposit check from cilent". If I then discover I also have to pay my credit card bill, I'll turn the list entry to "Bank" and list the items I have to do there in a note attached to the item. When I review my lists, the note icon tells me there's more than one thing that needs doing at that place. (I use the same technique for my @Agenda list, too.)

-- Tammy
 
I stopped putting specific store names on my errands. This forces me to actually read the @Errands list whenever I'm out for errands, and allows me to complete many errands in venues that weren't initially planned. For instance, I had a specific Hallmark store in mind when I put "Get birthday card" on my list. I happened to review the list in a department store where greeting cards were 30 feet away, so I got them there. Unless there's a specific sale that's compelling enough to make a certain store the exclusive choice, I tend to focus on what I need to get or do rather than get too narrow about my options.
 
I don't usually put specific store names on my list, but I do group related errands. I don't care which office supply store I go to, but I want to make sure that I remember both DVD media and printer cartridges when I'm there. If I'm mailing a pile of bills, I want to be sure that the check to cover them makes it to the bank.

Obviously there are exceptions. If I'm picking up my dry cleaning, I need to go to the specific store that has it. But usually most of the more generic things that I need are available in that direction, too, so a "grocery" list is more useful than a "Safeway" list.

Katherine
 
I like to start my @errands with the store (office depot: pens; target: shower curtain line). Then when I do my errands I can see quickly what route I should take. Mostly its the same route, but sometimes a new place is included.
 
Jorge Ledesma DDS;58581 said:
so when you glance at your list the actual place where your task can be done shows up first, I know its nothing super enlightening but for me it was, so I'm re-writing my @Errand next actions to match the latter format, I'm wondering how many of you actually do it like this or perhaps if you can share your best practices relating to this I would appreciate it.
Click to expand...

The system I use (lifebalance) allows nested categories so I can look at my "home depot" tasks, but I can also look at all my errands including the home depot ones.

- Don
 
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