The Best To-Do List App

“To do” by Nikki Buitendijk, found on Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons

What’s the best to-do list app? Lots of people have opinions about that.

• In September 2014, Casey Newton of The Verge said, “Wunderlist is the best to-do list app for the average person.”
• Robert McGinley Myers of The Sweet Setup says that the best simple to-do list app for the Mac, iPad and iPhone is Clear; the site also recommends Wunderlist for shared lists and Omnifocus for those who want a GTD suite of apps.
• In March 2014, Lifehacker asked its readers for the best to-do list manager; the top five nominees were Google Keep, Any.do, Wunderlist, Todoist and HabitRPG.

And you’ll find plenty of recommendations for other apps, too.

But I was just listening to a podcast (Cortex, episode 7) where CGP Grey perfectly captured my feelings on the subject. He said:

If you look on the App Store, there are a bazillion different to-do apps. And you have to find a to-do app that just fits with your mind very well. ... People think about their to-dos in very different ways, where one app is good for someone and it’s just a terrible fit for somebody else.

And this idea applies to more than just to-do apps. Grey also spoke about various email apps. Regarding Gmail, he said, “It does not work with the way I think about email, for whatever reason.” And what about the popular apps that work in combination with Gmail?

I think a lot of these Gmail apps like Inbox or like Mailbox — if they happen to line up with the way you think about email, then they’re amazing. But if they don’t fit the shape of your mind, then they are terrible.

This is exactly what I’ve found. It’s like every other organizing challenge; what works for one person won’t necessarily work for another. It might take some trial and error, but when you find the apps (or paper solutions) that fit with the way your mind works, you’ve got the right ones for you.

Cool Containers: Canvas Buckets and Baskets

Canvas buckets can hold all sorts of stuff and look really nice while doing so. They come in many sizes and patterns; these lovely ones from Dagmar’s Designs are 6.5 inches tall. You can also get ones with birds, bicycles, butterflies and more.




Unison has canvas bins in a few different patterns; they’re 7 inches tall.




These canvas baskets from Lemonni come in two sizes: 9 inches by 10 inches, and 13 inches by 14 inches.




This bucket — one of many from Maika — is also available in two sizes. The small is 4 inches tall while the large is 9 inches tall. It’s made from recycled cotton canvas.




And finally, here’s one of the bucket baskets from Good Company. It’s 12 inches tall, as are most of the others — but there’s one that’s 16 inches tall. All of them have nice leather handles.

7 Bookends: Going Beyond the Purely Practical

Bookends are often a practical necessity to keep books upright. They can also be fun and decorative — especially if you have the bookshelf space to show them off. And bookends come in a wide array of materials and designs.

ThinkGeek’s Build On Bricks Bookends allow you to add your own bricks: LEGO, K'NEX and more. At first glance I wondered how supportive they were, but then I learned that there are metal pieces that slide under the books, so that should help.




These granite bookends from Field, designed by Daniel Emma, aren’t cheap — but they should certainly be effective, and they are lovely. They come in a black version, too. [via Better Living Through Design]




E15 provides these Stop marble bookends in two sizes. They’re sold by various sites around the world; The Residents is one in the U.S.




Rough Fusion makes these concrete bookends, which cost a lot less than granite or marble ones.




While these wool felt bookends come from RH Baby & Child, the company says they are “stuffed and weighted to stand up to a library of books.”





Powder coated steel bookends can be interesting, too; just look at these from Block, with two different shapes in the pair. Both have tongues that go under the books.





Bookend Singles are sold individually for those who need just one bookend, not a pair. That can easily happen if the books take up just part of a bookshelf; the shelf itself props up one end, and you only need a bookend for the other side. They bookends are made of polypropylene and they ship flat, so they're easy to store when not in use. There are also “grippy feet” on the bottom to help them stay in place. Here’s one place to buy them.


Related posts, with more interesting choices:
Nice Bookends Don't Have to Cost $685
Treat Your Books to Some Nice Bookends: The Elephant Edition
Bookends for Those Who Haven’t Totally Converted to the Kindle, Nook or iPad
5 Bodacious Bookends
For Book Lovers: Fun and Functional Bookends
A Bookend Menagerie — and More
Got Books? Get Bookends!
Heavy-Duty Bookends: Plain and Fancy