With 2 kids, a full time job, an active household, and my own lifestyle, creating shared lists with Wunderlist is what keeps my head above water! I have tried numerous methods for staying on top of all of my to-dos and after years of trying various methods, I have 2 favorites. My ultimate favorite method is what I call “The Brain Dump Method“. If you haven’t tried this method, do it!
My second favorite method for managing all of my to-dos and list is through Wunderlist. Wunderlist came into my life after Neal and I got married, but I didn’t appreciate it until I had kids. For me, using the shared lists is the reason I continue to use Wunderlist every single day. Let me show you how to use this amazing app!
Within Wunderlist, you can create categories of lists and then lists within those categories. You can keep your lists private or you can share them within someone who also uses Wunderlist. Over the years I have shorted my list into 4 categories: To Do Lists, Pantry and Groceries, Around the House, and Life. I’ll walk you through each of these categories and how I use them.
I use the To Do List category every single day. Within the category I have found that having a Today List, a Big To Do List (which is my brain dump), a Weekend To Do List, and Neal’s To Do List. For us, we share the Weekend To Do List and Neal’s To Do List. Since we use the weekend to accomplish various errands, it works great for both of us to have access to the list as we tackle things on Saturdays and Sundays.
For Neal’s list, he prefers that I just add stuff to his list, that way he doesn’t forget things we’ve talked about him getting done and I’m not nagging him. Neal and I would both tell you that this shared list has been so huge for our marriage! I can’t imagine I’m the only wife (or husband) who gets frustrated when her partner forgets to do something, like pay a bill, so this shared list has been a game changer! It’s awesome!
My “Today” list is literally a list of things I want to accomplish on a specific day. I keep everything else in my Big To Do List. This way I don’t get overwhelmed by the 1800 things on my Big To Do List. Each morning I take a look at my big list and move things to my today list. It works really, really well for me.
My Big To Do List is amazing for those moments when something pops in my head and I don’t want to forget it. It’s really a running list of things on my mind, but I don’t want to keep them in my mind and they shouldn’t go on today’s to do list. There’s nothing worse than remembering you need to do something and then forgetting about it 6 hours later. “Gosh! What was that thing I needed to do again?”.
Within the Pantry and Groceries category, Neal and I share almost all of the lists (he doesn’t shop at Trader Joe’s). This is so, so, so helpful when it comes to grocery shopping. Neal and I both add things we need to buy to the corresponding store’s list and whoever is shopping can just look at the list. It’s awesome! We don’t have to waste time with the “what do we need” conversation and it also helps us to save money as we have a clear list of what we need to buy.
The Around the House category contains lists for things around the house. Projects we’re working on, projects Neal and his dad are working on, and things we want/need to buy. We created these lists after buying our house in 2015 and have used them quite a bit.
Last but not least is my “Life” category. This category holds all of my random lists. Wish lists for birthdays and Christmas, a list of things to talk to our pediatrician about, and a list of the Disney movies we don’t have (obviously important). Neal and I share most of these lists.
If you’re looking for a way to organize your to do lists, I can’t recommend Wunderlist enough! I personally use the free version, but you can upgrade to Pro or Business. I have also used Wunderlist at work, but have since stopped using it as our office moved to Microsoft 365, using Outlook and One Note to organize our to dos.
I hope this is helpful! If you have any questions about Wunderlist and how I use it, please find me over on Facebook or Instagram.
