Friday, July 31, 2009

From the Tips Box: Idea Tracking in Gmail, Hotel Laundry Tricks, And Phone B...

2nd tip from the top...

 
 

Sent to you by David via Google Reader:

 
 


We put on our DIY laundry hats in the hotel room, get some pointers about keeping our phone bills down, and get our whites whiter (or at least get the chocolate stains out of them).

Don't like the gallery? View all the tips on one page here.

Use Gmail To Keep Your Thoughts Straight

Jordan writes to tell us how to keep track of ideas:

Use Gmail to consolidate your thoughts and ideas. Whenever I have an idea or thought I send it to an alternate Gmail account that I opened. It is great if you want to keep a diary, you can just put the date in the subject and then it is very easy to search later on.

Jordan's idea is very similar to something I do: I have a filter for e-mails originating from my own e-mail address with the subject line of "Idea!!!" which will tag them appropriately and send them to the archives. It works like a charm to keep things easily accessible.

Get Chocolate Stains Out With Ease

Photo by shareski

BerthaSura tells us how to get some pesky stains out:

Chocolate stains—even set in, ran-it-thru-the-dryer chocolate ice cream stains—come out easily. Just scrape off the actual chocolate, then dissolve a tbsp of laundry water softener (like Calgon) in a little cool or tepid water. Soak the stained area for a few seconds and scrub. Repeat the soak and scrub if necessary, but honestly, I've never had to. It just goes. Poof.


Beware Of Extra Charges On Your Phone Bill

Photo by StephenMitchell

Nick warns us about potential charges due to Google Voice usage:

I recently got invited to Google Voice, so I was reading over your tips and I noticed that one of the screenshots you used shows that Google charges for calls to Alaska and Hawaii. As far as I know, most of the big mobile providers include "domestic long distance" in their plans, which usually includes Alaska and Hawaii. I imagine that this isn't a huge deal for most people, but my sister lives in Alaska, so for me, it's pretty obnoxious that I would have to pay extra to call her with my GV number when I could just call at the normal rate from my regular Verizon plan. I guess my point is that someone might want to point this out to other potential users so that they know what to expect.


Make Enough Time To Plan Your Day

Photo by Yandle

BishopBlaze has some thoughts on planning out the day:

It's far too easy to get caught up in firefighting mode. A quick review of your aims for the day keeps your mind on track. I would also recommend having your days goals in some clearly visual place - I have a whiteboard with the 3 or 4 things I have to move along today written on it. A desktop widget is also a good way. Just make sure you see it without having to specifically find it.

However I'd also suggest taking 5 mins a few times a day - say mid-morning, lunch and mid-afternoon, to stop working and take 5 mins to slow your mind down. I meditate, but a quick wander or some other excuse works too. As your mind gets tired & busier it becomes less focused and you end up reacting instead of setting your own agenda. That 15 mins per day keeps you at that perfect level of performance.

Its easy to think that you don't have time for this kind of stuff, but the golden rule of time management is that the busier you are , the more time you spend planning.


Get Your Laundry Done While Traveling

Photo by RachelH_

CoreyRichards has a tip on getting your clothes clean while staying at a hotel:

When traveling, getting laundry done is one the bigger challenges. As long as your hotel sink "stoppers", you can wash a shirt, underwear and some socks using shampoo. Now, how to dry before your next flight? Hairdryer or, lacking that, try to find a light bulb in your hotel room with some means of suspension over it, such as a table lamp. But be careful, I've burnt holes in a fair number of BVD's this way





 
 

Things you can do from here:

 
 

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