If you read this blog often you’ve probably seen a trend – I’m obnoxiously organized. And while a lot of my tendencies are natural habits I’ve picked up over the years, I recently acquired a secret weapon: Trello. Trello is an online project management tool that allows even the most unorganized person to take control of all the crazy projects (big or little) they have going on in their life.
Trello to me is a way to make checklists, give yourself reminders, and stay organized all in one place. Trello creates “boards” for each project you have going on. And on each board you can add “cards” which can have anything on them. So let’s walk through this really quickly…
Let’s take a look at my wedding board – I do not think I would have gotten through the wedding planning process with all of my hair still intact without Trello. When things started to get overwhelming at the very beginning of planning, I made a board. I first split things up in two ways: 1) things I need to do and 2) things Blake needs to do. I made a card for each item that I thought of and put it either in Blake’s list or my list. Then I assigned each task a due date so I could prioritize them.
Since Trello is free and super easy to sign up for, I added Blake to the cards that were his responsibility. Now, when a due date approaches, Trello will email Blake a friendly reminder for any card that his picture is on and I will receive an email reminder for all of the cards that I’ve given to myself. I went an extra mile by assigning color labels to some of the cards (purple for anything related to my dress, orange for anything having to do with our vendors, and blue for decorations) and you can also attach images, files, and link to cards to keep all your resources in one place!
I use Trello for everything and Trello is such a flexible tool that it allows me to shape every board in a unique way that works for me. In my photography business each client has their own board so I can keep track of emails I need to send, due dates based on their wedding timeline, and of course when their big day is. I also have a personal board that I set up with both small reminders, like when the bills are due, and long lists, like things I need to get done around the house.
As I mentioned before, Trello will send you an email when a due date is approaching, and again when something is due to keep you on top of things. I still hop on Trello about once a week to update my boards – when something is done I drag it from “To Do” to “Done” – and keep an eye on things that I want to get done over the next few weeks.
If anyone out there is looking for a free, easy tool to help them organize their lives – check out Trello. And I especially recommend it to anyone out there trying to plan a wedding – it will save you from quite a few meltdowns!
Keep smiling!
Kaylina
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