Remember The Milk Lists & Tags: 5 Clever Uses

Streamlining Your Workflow with Remember The Milk
Do you find yourself struggling to manage a growing number of tasks? Remember The Milk is a highly regarded task management solution, frequently highlighted on platforms like MakeUseOf for its broad platform support. This includes compatibility with Linux, iOS, and even browser extensions.
The basic iPhone application is now available at no cost. However, features like automatic synchronization and push notifications require a Pro subscription.
Discovering Hidden Potential: RTM Tips & Tricks
A valuable resource for maximizing your Remember The Milk experience is the official RTM blog. It features a dedicated "Tips & Tricks" section.
This section compiles innovative suggestions from the RTM user forum, covering everything from Smart Lists to tagging strategies.
Five Useful Tips for Everyday Task Management
Here are five recently shared tips that can significantly improve your daily task handling:
- Leverage Smart Lists: Utilize Smart Lists to automatically organize tasks based on specific criteria.
- Master Tagging: Employ tags to categorize tasks beyond simple lists, enabling flexible filtering and grouping.
- Prioritize Effectively: Assign priority levels to tasks to focus on the most important items first.
- Utilize Due Dates: Set realistic due dates to maintain accountability and prevent tasks from being overlooked.
- Explore Keyboard Shortcuts: Learn keyboard shortcuts to expedite task creation and management.
Staying informed through the official RTM blog will help you unlock the full potential of this powerful application.
Reducing Food Waste at Home
Preventing spoilage of items like vegetables – a common issue in many households – can be effectively addressed using the following strategies. These techniques, though initially highlighted in separate posts, work synergistically.
Utilizing Smart Lists for Prioritization
Employing an RTM Smart List is a highly effective method. Prioritize vegetable items with approaching expiration dates by assigning them higher importance within the list.
Conversely, products boasting a longer shelf life should be designated with lower priority. This ensures focused attention on items needing consumption soonest.
Expiration Date Reminders
A proactive approach involves setting expiration dates as individual tasks. This can be conveniently done while waiting in line at the supermarket.
Furthermore, schedule reminders to consume these foods several days or a week before their expiration date. This provides ample opportunity for utilization.
Benefits for All Households
Originally conceived as a solution for a single individual seeking kitchen organization, this system offers broad applicability.
Regardless of living situation – whether living alone or with others – this method aids in tracking perishable goods and significantly minimizing food wastage.
The core benefit lies in improved organization and a reduction in discarded food, leading to both economic and environmental advantages.
Streamlining Household Chores
Many individuals find the prospect of cleaning their entire home daunting, often dedicating an entire day – typically a weekend day – to the task. This can result in a significant time commitment for activities like mopping and vacuuming. It’s a common sentiment, and fortunately, a resourceful Real Time Management (RTM) user has developed an effective system for simplifying these chores.
A Room-by-Room Approach
This system can be readily adopted by assigning each room in your house to a specific day of the week within a 'housework' list. Setting recurring weekly due dates allows you to then detail the specific tasks for each room in the task's Notes section.
For example, you might list cleaning shower tiles, scrubbing the toilet, and replacing towels as tasks associated with the bathroom.
Benefits of Task Segmentation
By breaking down the cleaning workload in this manner, you create a more manageable and less overwhelming schedule. Instead of facing a massive cleaning project, you address a smaller, focused set of tasks each day.
This approach allows you to fully enjoy your weekends without the anxiety of spending countless hours on cleaning.
Alternative Task Categorization
Beyond organizing by room, you can also categorize cleaning tasks by the type of activity itself.
Consider dedicating Monday to vacuuming, Tuesday to cleaning the toilet, and so on. This provides another method for distributing the workload evenly throughout the week.
Creating a 'Sanity Check' Dashboard
The Overview tab accessible upon logging into the web application can be significantly enhanced by consolidating all overdue tasks and those due today for streamlined editing. Fortunately, a suggestion from experienced RTM users provides a solution.
This involves creating a Smart List, effectively functioning as a Dashboard. Utilize search queries like dueBefore:monday to encompass overdue items, tasks due today, and those scheduled for completion before the following Monday. Subsequently, simply save this Smart List.

The Dashboard functionality extends to tracking items lacking assigned due dates. For instance, a Smart List can be constructed using the search terms due:never and status:Incomplete, allowing for monitoring of these tasks separately from other lists.

Discovering the following technique would have resulted in a more organized approach to my Smart List search parameters.
Utilizing tagContains for Exclusion of Unwanted Items
As previously mentioned, this technique provides a streamlined approach to managing NOT search parameters. Items that are irrelevant to your primary RTM task list – such as projects or items being watched – can be designated with a symbol, like "+" at the beginning of their tag.
This results in tags like "+projects" or "+watch". Consequently, instead of employing multiple "NOT tag:tag1 NOT tag:tag2" statements, your Dashboard can be configured to display NOT tagContains:+.

For users who maintain numerous Smart Lists, this method significantly reduces the amount of typing required when modifying search criteria. It offers a more efficient way to manage exclusions.
Tracking Bill Payment Schedules
A modified version of this system proves exceptionally beneficial for individuals managing bill payments, regardless of whether those payments are made online or through traditional methods.
Upon receiving a bill, whether physically or via email notification, create a corresponding task. Include the bill amount within the task name itself.
Assign the task's due date to align with the month the payment is required. While due dates often remain consistent, occasional variations may occur.
Utilizing Priority Levels
Setting a priority level – even any level – to these tasks will visually distinguish them with more prominent colors. This is particularly effective if priority levels aren't frequently used.
These bill reminders, coupled with a note indicating the minimum payment amount, will then stand out clearly within your task list.
Employing Tags for Efficient Searching
Consider tagging these tasks with the keyword bill. This allows for a quick and easy retrieval of all upcoming bill-paying dates using a search query like tag:bill.
Additional Remember The Milk Tips
The official Remember The Milk platform showcased a variety of these helpful Tips & Tricks.
More than fifty such techniques were available, each designed to enhance user productivity and organization.
Share Your Insights
Do you have any additional tips or strategies you'd like to contribute? Please share your suggestions in the comments section below!
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