Thing #16

Get Organized

I first clicked on Ustart for my start page and I chose my horoscope, google drive, and tasks. There were a lot of options that I could have on my start page that I have no interest in such as video games, movies and stocks. I wasn't really impressed with this start page. It does have a calendar, weather and a place for gmail which made it easy to access everything from one page. It kind of reminded me of our APSU OneStop page that has all the information we need on one page. I'm not sure if I would ever make this my home page. I have a MacBook and I am used to how that is set up and I don't think I would have a start page in addition to the widgets on my computer. 

I liked the name of the tool rememberthemilk so I tried it out. Not a big fan on signing up for things even if they are for free. I feel like it is just an extra step and extra e-mails in my mailbox that I need to spend more time to delete, making me less productive. I wonder if I had done it on my phone first if I would have needed to "sign up". I always make "to do" lists for myself on a daily basis. In fact the first thing on my to do list is to make a to do list, that way I can cross it off after I make the list. I feel like something is lost when it is on my phone or computer. I enjoy the actual act of crossing things off my list. I have tried other apps on my phone that were to do lists. One actually marked things in red if I didn't get them done from the list. That app was quickly deleted. I find it a lot easier to write my to do lists on paper than on my phone or computer. I don't think I will be doing anymore to do lists like this. I liken it to reading an e-book compared to an actual book. I need to physically turn pages and I need to physically cross things off of my lists. 

My other tool I chose was the mint.com, I feel like this would be a good tool for me to use. Once again you need to sign up for it but sometimes I fee like I need something to show me where my money is going. I feel like one day I have money and then the next day I have no idea what I spent my money on. This tool displays the information for you in pie charts and in bar graphs. Maybe if I keep track of my spending I will get my credit cards paid off this year.  The only downside I see from this tool is that it has all my financial information on it, if it were to get into the wrong hands, but then again everything is on line and if someone really wanted my information, they would get it.

I think the tool that would be most useful would be an online calendar. Whenever I have observed teachers in their meetings, they are constantly planning things for their students, whether its testing, computer times, guest speakers or everyday activities. I feel like I am going to need some type of calendar to keep myself organized. I would like to see what other teachers use as far as calendars goes before I commit to one.