If you are crazed list maker like I am, kneel at the altar of the internet gods in thanks that there are many sites that can help you either simplify your list making, or, at worst, turn you into a obsessive person who never actually gets anything done because you are too busy keeping the lists up to date.

• Springpad – Thank you Barbara Weltman for mentioning this site in your Idea of the Day. This online application organizes information for you in a very efficient way. You choose the type of information from a drop down list – books, tasks, restaurants, movies, etc. – type the info or paste a link and the application automatically stores it in a list of ready made folders that is beautifully simple and uncluttered. If you are creating a task it prompts you for a due date, and gives you a list to categorize it – such as family, work, chores. There is a single point of entry for all items, which I like.  You can share items to Facebook and Twitter or via e-mail. It is free right now and, yes, there is an iPhone app for that.
• Remember the Milk – A benefit of this application is that you can use it offline. You also have a mailbox so that you can e-mail an item to yourself and it automatically becomes a task in your list. You can assign dates and the estimated amount of time you think a task will take. You do have to create different categories of tasks in separate tabs and there are only 3 – work, study, and personal. You can set tasks to recur and the lists can be sorted and assigned priorities.The basic online app is free but you can upgrade to get more features.
• Gubb – This free online application starts out by letting you select your list names from a variety of categories. If you are planning a wedding or a move there are special list titles for that. I loved the suggestion of a “One Day” list of Things to Try, Life Goals, and Places to Visit. However, I was then disappointed that they did not group the lists according to category, which was what I expected. You can add to the list via e-mail or text message, and you can have the list sent to you. Others can view your list if you choose to share it with them. A cool feature is that you can choose to be reminded of a task at a date and time via e-mail or text message. This app would be a match if you do like to create a lot of different lists, and you like to color code them.

I am still hopelessly attached to my old Lotus Organizer desktop program, which I think is great but since IBM isn’t developing it anymore I don’t recommend it to people. It also doesn’t have an online version. If you are looking for an online organizer, check out all 3 above to see which clicks for you in terms of look and feel. For my followers who instead need enabling and wish to forget lists, remember, if you procrastinate long enough, the task becomes either impossible, unnecessary, or done by someone else.