Organization is important. Whether you’re an anal neat freak or can’t see your floor, if you can keep track of what’s going on in your life you’re relying on some sort of organizational system. Adding itself to the array of time and task management tools available today is My Life Organized (MLO).

MLO is a software that helps you keep track of your life via an outliner and to-do list. As with any calendar, you can set the time, date, and location for specific events or just keep track of your personal goals. Tasks can be linked to specific projects and detailed notes can be taken for each. Recurrances for events are set as often as every hour or as rarely as once a year, and you can plan out how much effort will be required for each of your tasks. MLO prides itself on being simple and powerful and aims to help people approach and think about their goals differently.

Though MLO is fairly simple to use, I feel the outline view is very cluttered. Unfortunately, it is not possible to switch to a calendar view, as that is not what the function of MLO is meant to be. MLO is meant to be used in conjunction with your calendar and planner to help keep things more organized. Because of that, in addition to the fact that it is software and not a web application, MLO is probably not the best choice for everyone. I prefer using 8apps or Scrybe, which I can keep track of from any on-line computer.

MLO is avilable in the following editions: Lite (free), PocketPC ($29.95), Standard ($49.95), Professional ($59.95). Learn more at www.mylifeorganized.net.

Catalog Choice, sponsored by the Ecology Center and funded or endorsed by various environment-friendly groups, is a free Web service that allows you to opt-out of unwanted catalogs/mailings that you receive. This service is provided in hopes that it will reduce mailbox clutter and save the environment at the same time.

The Catalog Choice Website states that the current statistic of production and discarded paper catalogs adds up to more than 19 billion paper catalogs per year! I actually receive several catalogs per week that I’ll briefly flip through and eventually throw away. Many of the catalogs, I have no clue why they are even being sent to me. Many companies send out catalogs by profiling demographic areas, in hopes that indivduals will place an order.

The Catalog Choice Website also has a list of astonishing enviromental facts that I encourage everyone to read. This list may open your eyes to the severity of the environmental changes that are occuring as a result of the way that we live on this Earth.

Joining Catalog Choice is simple. Users simply sign up by providing their current home address (where you are receiving unwanted catalogs). Once the sign-up page is complete, you can begin searching for catalogs that you no longer wish to receive. You find the catalog and decline its receival. You can invite friends to do the same and decrease the number of trees destroyed even more.

The only slight downfall is that you have to know the names of the catalogs that you no longer want to receive. I know that when I receive a catalog that I don’t want, I usually throw it away immediately and I don’t recall their names. I am assuming that it’s best to keep a stack of unwanted mail until you have the chance to look them up and decline them in Catalog Choice.

Catalog Choice is a nice service and it’s completely free. It is relatively easy and it is sure to make you feel good when you do your part in saving our Earth.

Attention all computer users! Where does your time go? Many of you spend 8+ hours a day at work surfing the Web and then you come home and get on your computer some more – what are you working on…looking at…wasting time doing?

Many of you are unaware of what keeps you so busy and it’s likely that you would rather not spend time tracking your actions. There is a new product in Beta called RescueTime that calls itself “Ridiculously Easy” time management and it is simply just that. RescueTime takes the difficulty out of analyzing your activity and allows you to make changes to your work processes and increase your productivity.

RescueTime is a Web-based tool, coupled with a light download, which keeps track of everything that you are doing on your computer. The download is simple and it sits in your task tray, periodically sending updates of your activity to your own personal RescueTime Dashboard. The Dashboard is genius, appealing to the eye and tracks what you are actually looking at, rather than the several screens you may have open. When you click on “My Data”, your charts automatically refresh.

One chart breaks down your activity by time, displaying the times of day where your activity peaks and plateaus. Another chart displays your top ten visited applications or Websites.

There is also a tag chart that allows you to tag apps or sites that you visit frequently with tags such as communication, email, work and wasting time. The tag chart gives you a quick look at what your time is being spent on. I personally had a skyrocketing email bar – maybe I should take a break!

Tags are easy to assign. The tag screen has a simple, one input bar area where you can type any descriptor word you feel fits and click “Save Tag(s)”. The site is instantly labeled and is grouped with other sites that you similarly tagged – it couldn’t be any easier!

I think this could be an excellent tool for a company with hourly employees. Each employee computer could have RescueTime installed on it and the “boss” or person in charge could get monthly, weekly or daily reports on individual productivity. It could be an outstanding deterrent for disallowed Web surfing.

RescueTime is currently in private beta. If you visit www.rescuetime.com, you can submit your email, requesting an invite. RescueTime is set to offer a time management goal tool and the option for comparison against others in your industry for those who are serious about increasing their efficiency and finally getting a handle on their technology-driven life. I give RescueTime and A+ and I look forward to the full product release.

I like everyone else has had a time when they could really use something to keep track of what they had to do, where they had to do it, and when it was supposed to be done. This task used to be the job of data planners and other hand held scheduling devices; however I had always wondered when task management would finally come to the web. That time is now, and Remember The Milk (RTM) is one such application.

this application is a wonderful find, finally I have an online tool that I can use to manage my time more effectively. I can now assign not only the tasks I need to complete and when I need to complete them, but I can also set priorities to make sure I know what tasks are the most important.
I will be honest; my biggest fear when I found this nifty little application is that it would be another tool that promised to make my life simpler while actually creating a situation where I had to spend more time using it then actually getting stuff done. To my joy and surprise RTM is no such thing. It only takes moments to enter the information into a variety of customizable fields and bam! You’re tasks are now organized by date, time, and priority.
Another fear I had was that the interface would be overly complicated requiring me to input the same information in multiple fields. Again this was not the case, the interface is incredibly user friendly and almost anyone can get up and going with this app quickly and easily.
The only real negative I have about this site is that it has a rather boring appearance, but given the nature of its function I can let this go. Besides the program is still in Beta and I am sure they will release a much smoother and flashier program soon.

You can sign up for RTM free at http://www.rememberthemilk.com

So you’re ready to jump on the online organizing bandwagon, but you’re not sure which one to pick? First, take a moment to assess your needs; if you need to be able to keep a calendar of your tasks, a place to take notes, and the ability to share without being committed to a social network, Scrybe might be the organizer for you.Whether you’re detailed or vague, Scrybe will support you’re note-taking style. Organize your Planner by keeping separate lists for related tasks and set dates, times, and reminders for the things you need to complete. Add important events directly to your calendar and view it by the year, month, week, or day. If you need to finish doing something else when you receive a reminder, snooze the event so that you don’t forget about it. Use your ThoughtPad to jot down quick notes or enhance your brainstorming with links, photos, and video. Create your own labels to enable sharing of tasks and notes and enable OfflineSync to continue using Scrybe even if you’re offline. When you’re done updating Scrybe for the day you can print it out with PaperSync.

Scrybe is ideal for anyone who wants a straight to the point organizer. While you are free to share your tasks, invite contacts, and–in future versions–assign tasks to others, Scrybe isn’t built around a social network. Plus, since it utilizes special printing formats, Scrybe can be used to create or enhance a physical planner.

Scrybe, in addition to being a very functional organizer, is a great looking web application. It’s no shock that it’s receiving lots of extremely positive reviews. It is currently invite only, but to learn more visit iscrybe.com.

If you need an invite, leave a comment below.