Extra: If you really want to go deep on Evernote check out the “Evernote Essentials” ebook.
Have you ever found yourself needing information you didn’t have, right when you needed it?
Of course you have, it’s happened to all of us, and it’s usually some little tidbit of information we feel like we “should know” but need so rarely it doesn’t get stuck in our heads.
Recently I found myself remembering that I needed to replace my printer ink cartridges. I don’t print much so I don’t have to replace them often, which means there is little chance of me remembering the exact cartridges I need. So I stopped in at Best Buy, took a guess, and of course got the wrong ones.
Back in the car and another trip out to trade them in for the correct ones, but before I left, I took a picture of the top of the cartridges and uploaded it into Evernote. Quick, simple, synchronized with every device I own, and it’ll always be there when I need it.
At current gas prices, that one extra trip cost me the $5 equivalent of my monthly Evernote Premium account (which I happily pay for), not to mention the time.
Evernote is great for keeping and organizing notes, and for keeping todo items in context. But what about those bits of info that you only need once in a great while, and rarely remember because you rarely need them?
Here are 5 “uncommon” things to keep in Evernote so you’ll always have them when you need them:
- Printer Ink/Cartridge Info and Printer Model Number: We already talked about this one but it was the inspiration for this post to it bears repeating.
- Vehicle Info: VIN number, License Plate Number, Oil Type/Weight, … all that little info you need occasionally, and sometimes without warning.
- Where You Parked: There are apps for that (sort of) but if you travel a lot it’s easy to pull into your parking spot, snap a quick picture of where you parked (hint: get the sign with the Terminal/Level/Row info in the shot) and upload it to Evernote for quick reference from any device. On the next trip delete it and take another.
- Running Grocery List: It doesn’t do you much good stuck to the fridge when you decide to stop by the grocery store on your way home from work. Keep it in Evernote, add to it as you need to and you’ll always have it. With Evernote’s sharing feature you can ensure others in your household have access too!
- Gift Lists: Inevitably I see things that I think “would make a great gift for so-and-so at Christmas/Birthday/…, I’ll have to remember that” but I never do. Keep a list of people you buy for, from family and friends to people you work with, clients, etc… so as you see fitting things you can note it, take a pic, whatever helps you remember where you saw it and how much. If you’re so inclined, grab extra data like a shot of the manufacturer, model number, etc… incase you go back to that store and they don’t still have it y ou can hunt on line or elsewhere.
I’m sure there are a ton of other practical things to keep in Evernote, what do you take note of so you’ll always “remember” it?
Extra: If you really want to get awesome at Evernote check out the “Evernote Essentials” ebook.
About Scott Ellis
I keep a picture of my passport, drivers license, insurance, credit cards (back also for customer service numbers), and medical insurance card in Evernote. I never have had to use it, but as soon as my wallet is stolen it will be invaluable!
smathena, watch out. I love the convenience of Evernote for financial data, too, but if anyone ever cracks your evernote account, they will have your whole life in there. They could use your credit cards to make false charges, use your medical insurance card to charge appointments, and use the identification papers to perform identity theft.
A higher security alternative is to create a zip file that is password-protected with all that data in it, then save it to an Evernote folder like “money” or “personal”. Use at least one upper-case letter in the password – that makes it vastly harder to crack.
Best wishes,
Dan
I archive all of my Tweets by having FeedMyInbox mail them there.I keep track of clothing sizes for everyone in my family, just in case I’m out and about & stumble upon a great deal.I work out Statements of Work for my consulting clients.Speaking of consulting, I webclip receipts for business purchases I make online. I also keep scans of paper receipts, made using the DocScanner iPhone app.I start my drafts of blog posts in a separate notebook, which is also the holding place for anything that inspires me. I just use the webclip or email-to-Evernote functionality.When I meet certian people, I start an Evernote about them, containing their photo and things I learn about them (number of kids, hobbies, etc.). That way, in case it’s forever and a day before I bump into them, I can recall what I knew about them.I recently shopped for new glasses lately, so I had a tag for “glasses” which was associated to pictures of all the frames I liked. On the iPhone app, it’s really easy to scroll through this content, as it displays thumbnails.
Great idea, @smathena
I love evernote. I use it to keep track of ideas. Snap a pic of something that inspires me, add a little description, and bam. I can access it anywhere.
@smathena Passport info is a good one, nothing worse than needing that stuff and not having it when you need it. I’d probably consider keeping the last 4 digits and phone numbers of credit cards but I wouldn’t keep the entire number in there, just in case.
@mcgaritydotme Interesting, how do you archive your tweets, that would be good to know for a lot of people. Sounds like you’re kind of using it as a lightweight CRM, also interesting. I’d like to see my profile!
Great ideas across the board.
@byanofsky Brandon, I think as an “idea” catchall Evernote is awesome. Especially since you can augment notes with pics and other info.
@vsellis It’s rather easy, although I’m sure there are better ways — I just use a free FeedMyInbox account to select my Twitter RSS feed and email its contents once per day to my Evernote email address. I’m not 100% convinced that Evernote is the right place for this, but it’s a good quick solution.
Going down the rabbit hole here: I also use the Twitter Tools plugin on my self-hosted WordPress site to haul in my tweets. Advantage: my tweets are in a database table, one tweet per row, along with all meta data (Tweet ID, timestamp, who I replied to, etc.). Downside: it fills up my own database, and I can’t easily search the data — however, I just do it as a backup in case of apocalypse.
Great list, Scott, I love Evernote — it beats the Notes app by about a thousand. I like the ideas you have here, particularly the car information. I never would have thought of that! At the moment, I’ve got a list of books I want to read on Evernote, and it only continues to grow. I also love @smathena’s ideas below. Definitely information you wish you could memorize, and now you don’t have to! Welcome to Livefyre, and please let us know if there’s anything we can help you with.
@annedreshfield Thank for that and glad to be using Livefyre it’s working great! Evernote is a killer app for me.