Lasagne is a classic, a regular on the table in our household and it's the meal I'd choose from the local pub food menu too. I have perfected my own yummy yet easy lasagne recipe and I'm excited to be sharing it with you. P.S. You're welcome :) Not only will I show you how to make lasagne step by step, but I will share with you alternative ingredients to easily swap this into a vegetarian recipe. I'll show you exactly what pots, pans and utensils you'll need and how you can store the lasagne. Why should you use my recipe over all the others on Google? Lasagne is my absolute favourite. I've tried many of the recipes you'll find on a Google search, I've taken inspiration from the best and tastiest ones and used them to create my easy (yet yummy) lasagne recipe. I may not be Gordon Ramsay or Nigella Lawson, but I know my Lasange. I hope you enjoy it, here it is: This post may contain affiliate links. That means I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through one of the links. Thank you for your support. Jen's easy lasagne recipe (UK) Serves: 4 Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 25 minutes on the cooker, then 45 minutes in the oven What you'll need: Casserole dish (roughly W21cm x L30cm) 1 large pan and 1 medium pan Scales Measuring jug Sharpe knife and 2 mixing spoons Cheese grater Hand whisk Chopping board Ingredients: Ragu: 1 white onion 2 large carrots 5 garlic cloves 1 tbsp oregano (dried) 500g beef mince 1 tin chopped tomatoes 3 tbsp tomato puree 350ml beef stock (I use Oxo) 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce Splash of olive oil Pinch salt & pepper Pinch of sugar White (Béchamel) Sauce: 60g butter 60g plain flour 650ml semi-skimmed milk 75g cheddar cheese Pinch of salt & pepper Layering: 8-10 lasagne sheets (dried) 150g cheddar cheese 50g Parmesan cheese Easy lasagne recipe step by step 1. Prep Dice the onion and carrots, finely chop or grate the garlic Grate the cheeses Make the stock Measure the white sauce ingredients Check you have all other ingredients to hand Preheat oven to 200c (180c for fan-assisted). 2. Ragu Heat olive oil in a large pan on medium heat Once hot, add onions and carrots and cook for 2 minutes Add the garlic for an additional minute Add the mince until browned all over (approx. 5 minutes) Once browned, add oregano, tomato puree, Worcestershire sauce, chopped tomatoes, sugar and stock, mix well Turn up to high heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the liquid has vastly reduced (be sure to stir occasionally). Begin step 3 whist your ragu simmers. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper once reduced 3. White Sauce Melt butter over low heat in a medium-sized pan or saucepan Once melted, tip in the flour and use a whisk to mix for 1 minute to create your roux Add a large splash of the milk to the roux, mix well Continue adding more large splashes, making sure the milk mixes in before adding the next portion until it's all in the pan. Keep mixing and let the sauce thicken Once the sauce has thickened, season with a pinch of salt and pepper and mix in the cheese (75g from sauce ingredients). Take off the heat. 4. Layer up and bake Spread half the ragu on the bottom of your baking dish Cover the ragu with lasagne sheets butting them up the best you can to each other without overlapping too much. Spread half of the white sauce over the sheets Repeat the layering: ragu, lasagne sheets and white sauce Sprinkle over the cheddar and parmesan cheeses (from the layering ingredients list) Bake in the centre of your preheated oven for 40-45 minutes, until the cheese is nice and golden brown ... cut into 4 portions and serve, yum! What to serve with lasagne in Winter? Try roasted tender stem broccoli, sprinkled with a drizzle of oil, well seasoned and roasted in the oven for 10 minutes. If you have any leftover parmesan sprinkle some shavings on top, yum! What goes well with lasagne in Summer? A popular choice is a brightly coloured salad; my favourite side salad consists of lambs lettuce with cherry tomatoes, spring onions and a lemony dressing. Perhaps some homemade garlic bread using a french stick and plenty of garlic and butter. How can you store cooked or part-cooked lasagne? Cooked lasange keeps for around 3 days in the fridge or up to 2 months in the freezer, so why not make a double batch! Be sure to thaw the frozen lasagne in the fridge fully before heating. You could prepare the lasagne up to the point of layering. Refrigerate the prepared lasagne (once cooled) and be sure to cover it so the sauce doesn't form a skin. Then cook in the oven when you're ready, ideally within 24 hours of refrigerating, for approx 45-50 minutes on 200c, or 180c if fan assisted. How long to cook lasagne For this recipe the baking time is 40-45 minutes, however, your dried lasagne sheets should be cooked after around 25 minutes. I personally cook for longer to get a crispy topping, mmm yum! How many layers in Lasagne? There's no official number of layers that a lasagne should have, this is likely due to the conflicting origins of the lasagne, some say it originates from Italy, some say it's Greek, I say as long as there are at least 2 layers it'll be well structured, shouldn't fall apart and it'll taste delicious! How to keep lasagna from falling apart Be sure your ragu reduces down to a non-runny consistency, this will help avoid the layers slipping off each other as you take your portion out of the pan. You could try leaving the lasagne to rest before serving, or even cook one day and serve the next (refrigerating between) allowing the contents to firm up a bit. Is there a vegetarian version of this lasagne recipe? With a couple of simple swaps, you can enjoy this recipe meat-free! Swap beef mince for: Quorn mince, McCartney's Vegemince, soybean tempeh or even a homemade nut-mince! Swap parmesan for: Additional cheddar cheese, breadcrumbs for a little crunch, or Pecorino Italian hard cheese. Fresh lasagne sheets or dried? This recipe uses dried; that's because I always have a stock of the dried sheets in my pantry and I hate waste. There's more chance of the fresh stuff going to waste if I don't get around to using it. However taste-wise, I can never really tell the difference between the two in a lasagne. It takes half the time to cook the lasagne using the fresh sheets as it does the dried. Yet, you're going to want to cook your lasagne for at least 30 minutes anyway to get a nice golden brown layer of cheese so you may as well use the dried lasagne. Add this recipe to your recipe journal I have a Moleskine Recipe Journal and it's one of the best gifts I've ever treated myself to. I note down all my successes and yummy creations in this beautiful journal. This journal is not only a fun activity, it's a potential family heirloom all rolled into one. The journal has an elastic closure and cardboard case to keep the book in great condition. There are sections to add appetisers, first courses, main courses, side dishes and desserts. On each recipe page, you can note the recipe difficulty, prep time, cooking time, serving size, cooking gadgets required, and even add a wine pairing and star rating. I love my Moleskine recipe journal. I add at least one recipe to it every month and plan to pass it down to my future children. I added this lasagne recipe to mine a few months back, if you think you'd enjoy the journal too, take a look at it here on Amazon. Why not try the Mindful Chef version? Are you a Mindful Chef customer or thinking of becoming one? Mindful chef deliver nutritionist-designed recipes to your door and guess what, they have a banging lasagne recipe too, trust me I've tried it and by now you know how much I love lasagne! As much as I want you to cook my recipe, I can't deny how yummy this one is. Classic beef lasagne by Mindful chef Succulent, grass-fed beef mince, fragrant oregano, silky béchamel. A ‘mindful’ take on the family staple – gluten- and dairy-free, as always – is just as delicious as the original. (From Mindful Chef Website) Did you enjoy this recipe? If you enjoyed this recipe, why not take a photo of your masterpiece and tag Tried and Loved on Instagram, I'd love to see it and share it! Have a browse of this website for more recipes to come and inspirational ideas for you and your loved ones. Do you have a lasagne recipe that you love? Feel free to send it to me, I'd love to give it a try. Have a great day! Jenny - Author of Tried and Loved This post may contain affiliate links. That means I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through one of the links. Thank you for your support. As an Amazon Associate, we may earn from qualifying purchases. Be sure to cook safely and responsibly, for advice, visit: https://www.food.gov.uk/

Never forget important tasks again, learn how to make Todoist tasks and sub-tasks recur easily using these simple steps with natural language. This page is the ultimate guide to Todoist recurring tasks and sub-tasks, it's the only one you'll ever need so be sure to bookmark it, then you’ll always have the scheduling instructions you need to hand. Here's a handy table of contents for this info-packed recurring task guide What is a recurring task? How to set Todoist recurring tasks What instructions can you shorten? Lists of Todoist task recurrence instructions Things to note before checking out any of the lists or examples on this page Ultimate List: Todoist recurring task due dates How to specify a start and end date for Todoist recurring tasks Ultimate List: Start and end dates for Todoist recurring tasks Start Dates End Dates Using recurrence start and end dates together How to make Todoist recurring tasks with sub-tasks Setting sub-task due dates the same as the parent task Setting different sub-task due dates to the parent task Setting a recurring parent task with no date incompletable sub-tasks Other things you need to know about Todoist recurring tasks How to stop Todoist natural language using a date in the task title What other date formats can be used in Todoist? How to use the @ symbol in Todoist Does Todoist recognise leap years when scheduling tasks for 29th February? What does the '!' do in recurrence scheduling? Using natural language with integrations and other devices It's easy to use starting the wrong way What other natural language dates can you use if not recurring? What thing you not do when scheduling a recurrence in Todoist Every day except The day and the repetition format exclusions Putting the date digits at the start of the scheduled instruction Combination of dos and donts Recognising national holidays Todoist recurrence ideas you could use to help you get organised Conclusion Not only am I going to show you how to set up recurring tasks and sub-tasks in Todoist and all the different instructional language you can use, but I'll also give you examples of how you can use recurrences to reach new organisational heights. Ready? Let's do it! This post may contain affiliate links. That means I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through one of the links. Thank you for your support. 1. What is a recurring task in Todoist? Do you have tasks that happen more than once in set intervals? Perhaps it's a task to download bank statements each month or feed the cats every day at 7:00am and 3:00pm, or maybe shop for a Valentine's card on the 10th February every year? If you have tasks like these, they are recurring tasks. Fact: Why recurring and not reoccurring? Recurring is usually repeated at set intervals; Reoccurring is also repeated but not always at intervals. A recurring task in Todoist means to have a task that once checked off as 'complete', resets itself as a new task for the next scheduled date and time. A recurring task saves you the effort of re-adding tasks and the worry of forgetting to reschedule. Before we get into how recurring tasks and sub-tasks work together, let's cover the essentials of recurrence scheduling: 2. How to set Todoist recurring tasks Using what's commonly referred to as Natural Language, you can instruct Todoist to repeat tasks by typing in the task's title box in regular or quick-add view, or in the scheduler box. Fact: Natural Language in Todoist is what it says on the tin, a natural way to speak/type that Todoist can recognise and use as instructions. For example, if you set a task and type every 1st Tuesday of the month, Todoist will know to schedule it repeatedly on the 1st Tuesday of every month from that day forward. 3. What recurring instructions can you shorten? You can use natural language in long or short format to instruct Todoist of your required recurrence. For example, the same instruction above could be written as ev 1st Tue of the month, shortening every to ev and Tuesday to Tue, or go even shorter to just ev 1 Tue and Todoist will understand clever stuff! Take a look at what other instructions you can shorten to save you typing time. Change Every to ev Change pm or am to p or a Change 4pm to 16 (same applies to any time) Change 2nd to 2 (same applies to any date or number repetition) Change Monday to Mon (same applies to any day) Change March to Mar (same applies to any month, but note this shorter month name doesn't work with all start and end date instructions, more on this later) Change starting to start Change ending to end Change today to tod Change tomorrow to tom Fact: If you naturally write a sentence that includes repeat every day, Todoist will also scoop up the word 'repeat' as part of your instruction. Not that you need to write repeat when you are already using every or ev of course. You can also choose to omit 'on', 'in' and 'at' in most instructions and Todoist will still understand. 4. Lists of Todoist task recurrence instructions Things to note before checking out any of the lists and examples on this page: There are variable numbers/words in the list below that you can swap-in to fit your required recurrence, these include the specific day, date, time or number. I have used the long format of every, day, time, month, and date, however, you can use the short versions (see the section above). In the lists I have capitalised the first letter of each instruction and the days, you can use all lower or upper case letters, or a combination of both, and Todoist will still recognise your instruction. I have not omitted 'of' 'on' and 'at' in the lists below. You could remove these words and get the same result. There are a number of other date and time instructions (listed later in this article) that use Todoist's natural language but cannot be used for recurring tasks. Workdays and the start of the weekend I have assumed to be Monday to Friday and Saturday respectively in my examples. You can change these assumptions in your Todoist settings. Fact: Your recurring instruction can also specify a start and end date, but before we get into that, let's take a look at the list below of recurrence instructions which are based on task due dates. 5. Ultimate List: Todoist recurring task due dates Every Hour Every hour starting from now Every 8pm Every day at 8pm Every day @ 1800 Every day @ 18:00 Every 20:00 Every day at 2000 Every day at 20:00 Every @ 2000 Every @ 20:00 Every day at 8pm Every morning Every day at 9am Every afternoon Every day at 12pm Every evening Every day at 7pm Every weekday Every workday Every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday Every weekend Every Saturday Every day Daily Every day starting today Every other day Every other day starting today Every Tuesday Every Tuesday Every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday Every Tuesday and Thursday and Saturday Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday (separated with any combo of ',' & 'and') Every week Weekly Every week starting today Every other week Every other week starting today Every month Every month starting today Every other month Every other month starting today Monthly Every month starting today Every quarter Quarterly Every 3 months starting today Every year Every year starting today Every other year Every other year starting today Every new year day Every new years day Every 1st January Every new year eve Every new years eve Every 31st December Every Valentine Every Valentines Every Valentine Day Every Valentines Day Every 14th February Every Halloween Every 31st October Every 6 hours Every 6 hours starting now Every Wednesday at 6pm Every Wednesday at 18:00 Every Wednesday @ 6pm Every Wednesday @ 1800 Every Wednesday @ 18:00 6pm every Wednesday 18:00 every Wednesday Every Wednesday at 6pm Every 2 days Every 2 days starting today Every 3 weeks Every 3 weeks starting today Every 4 months Every 4 months starting today Every 10 years Every 10 years starting today Every 2nd Wednesday of the month Every 2nd Wednesday Every 2nd Wednesday of each month Every 15th 15th of every month Every 15th of each month Every 21st, 1st, 10th Every 21st and 1st and 10th Every 21st, 1st and 10th Every 21st , 1st , and 10th of the month (separated with any combo of ',' & 'and') Every 20th of January Every 20th January Every 21st February, 1st April, 10th July Every 21st February and 1st April and 10th July Every 21st February, 1st April and 10th July Every 21st February, 1st April, and 10th July (separated with any combo of ',' & 'and', max 8) Every last day Every last day of the month Every last day of the month Every last Tuesday Every last Tuesday of the month Every last Tuesday of the month Every mid March Every 15th March (or 15th of March) Every end of the month Every end of month Every last day Every last day of each month Every last Wednesday Every last Wednesday of the month Every first workday Every first working day of the month (Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu or Fri) Every last workday Every last working day of the month (Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu or Fri) After 3 days Starting today then the task repeats every 3 days. So if I set it on a Saturday, it will recur Tuesday. NOTE: The task cannot be checked off as completed until the next date of the recurrence. 6. How to specify a start and end date for Todoist recurring tasks The start and end dates relate exclusively to when the repetitions begin and end, not to when a task should be started or the due date. For example, say you want to do Christmas shopping every Friday at 6pm throughout November you'd add something like: Long format, Every Friday at 6pm starting on 1st November ending 30th November Of course, you can use short instructions such as: ev fri 6p start nov 1 end nov 30 7. Ultimate List: Start and end dates for Todoist recurring tasks This list includes natural language start and end date instructions that work for recurring tasks, there are start and end date instructions that work solely on non-recurring tasks too (listed later in this article). I have put an example of a due date recurrence surrounded in brackets '( )' in the list below, you can use other recurrences from the above list to replace my examples in the brackets. The brackets ( ) in these examples are not to be typed as part of the instruction. Start dates: Below are variations of starting and from instructions Tip: you can use them together as starting from, Todoist will still recognise that instruction, but you may as well just use one or the other to save typing time. (Every day) starting Friday Every day starting on Friday (Every hour) starting Wednesday Every hour starting on Wednesday at 12am (Every hour) starting 8pm (Every hour) starting 20:00 [Every hour) starting at 8pm [Every hour) starting at 2000 [Every hour) starting at 20:00 Every hour starting from 8pm (Every day) starting 27th September Every day starting from 27th September (Every day) starting May Every day starting from 1st May (Every day) starting tomorrow Every day starting from tomorrow (you wouldn't need to say every day starting from 'today', as 'every day' automatically starts a recurrence today) (Every day) starting in 3 days Every day starting in 3 days time (if it's a Sunday today, the task recurrence would start Wednesday) (Every day) from Tuesday Every day starting from Tuesday (Every day) from 27th September Every day starting from 27th September (Every day) from May Every day starting from 1st May (Every day) from tomorrow Every day starting from tomorrow (you wouldn't need to say every day 'from today' for a today start, as 'every day' automatically starts a recurrence today) End dates: Fact: Todoist doesn't currently seem to support hourly recurrence end times using any of these: ending, end, until or to. I have put in a feature update request with Todoist, fingers crossed that issue gets fixed, as you can do so much with natural language it seems a shame to fall at a simple hurdle, although nothing can put me off Todoist, I'm a super fan! (Every day) until Friday Every day, the last day of recurrence is Friday (Every day) until 27th September Every day, the last day of recurrence is 27th September (Every day) until May Every day, the last day of recurrence is 1st May (Every day) until tomorrow Today and tomorrow (Every day) ending Friday Every day, the last day of recurrence is Friday (Every day) ending 27th September Every day, the last day of recurrence is 27th September (Every day) ending May Every day, the last day of recurrence is 1st May (Every day) ending tomorrow Today and tomorrow (Every day) ending in 3 days Every day ending in 3 days time (if it's a Sunday today, the task recurrence would end Wednesday) (Every day) for 3 days Every day starting today PLUS 3 days (so 4 tasks) (if it's a Sunday today, the task recurrence would end and include Wednesday) (Every week) for 2 weeks Every week starting today PLUS 2 weeks (so 3 tasks) (if it's a Sunday 14th today, the task recurrence repeats on 21st and 28th, ending on 28th occurrence) Fact: Any date length, including months and years, can be used in the same way as the three examples just above. Using recurrence start and end dates together You can use a combination of natural language instructions together, for example, you don't need to use starting and ending together, you could swap ending to until. Take a look at the examples below. You can also use to as a joiner the between the start and end dates in a full sentence format such as: [Every day] from 1st June to 8th June Every day from the1st of June to the 8th of June 8. How to make Todoist recurring tasks with sub-tasks I love a sub-task! Sub-tasks break down the big daunting tasks into manageable portions, but how should you attack setting recurrences for sub-tasks? I'm going to show you 3 possible ways so you can pick the best one to suit you. Here are the 3 options for choosing due dates in recurring sub-tasks: Setting sub-task due dates the same as the parent task Setting different sub-task due dates to the parent task Setting a recurring parent task with no-date, incompletable sub-tasks The first thing to note is the natural language is the same for sub-tasks as it is for parent tasks, so no need to learn anything new, phew! Let's look in more detail at the 3 options above... 1. Setting sub-task due dates the same as the parent task Let's say the parent task is housework and your sub-tasks are kitchen, bedroom and bathroom, and you want these to recur every Friday. If you set the recurring due date on the parent and sub-tasks the same, every Friday, all 4 tasks will show up in Friday's task list. With this format, you can check off each completed sub-task as you do it, then check off the parent task when you're sitting down with your cup of tea and all sub-tasks complete. Is this the most efficient way to schedule sub-tasks? There's some duplication upon checking off the last sub-task and the parent task. My best advice to make the sub-tasks 'feel' more separated from the parent task, is to change the priority levels. For instance, the parent task could be a P1 (top priority) and your sub-tasks P4's (lowest priority), then order your view by priority level, you'll see the parent task near the top and then the sub-tasks at the bottom. Tip 1: I would use double Asterix '**' (Or double exclamation '!!') before and after the parent task title so it appears in Bold and stands out as 'the big one' to check off. Tip 2: You could also use a single Asterisk '*' on either side of an additional word like 'sub-task' preceding your task title, to make the word stand out in italics and help to indicate that it's not a parent task (see example below). 2. Setting different sub-task due dates to the parent task This would be my preferred option for my weekly workout task. The parent task being weekly workout with 3 sub-tasks for the actual activities: dance classes every Monday, spin x 30 mins every Wednesday, and walk x 30 mins every Saturday. I would set the recurrence for the weekly workout parent task to every Sunday. With this option, each task or sub-task appears in a different day, the day I need to complete it. At the end of the week, I get the satisfaction of checking off my weekly workout as done! 3. Setting a recurring parent task with no-date, incompletable sub-tasks Let's use the same example of the weekly workout tasks above, but this time making the sub-tasks incompletable. To make a task incompletable you'll need to type an * then leave a space and write the sub-task title. There's no need to type a recurrence for the sub-task as incompletable tasks attach themselves to the parent task's recurrence dates. You could set the sub-task recurrence dates, but then you'd end up with a similar outcome as option 2. You won't be able to check off the sub-tasks as they are incompletable and the circle to check them as 'done' is not there, this does mean that the full list will be visible when you click the weekly workout parent task regardless of what day of the week it is. Think of this option more as a list of notes. 9. Other things you need to know about Todoist recurring tasks How to stop Todoist natural language using a date in the task title Sometimes a task title needs to mention words or dates that are the same as used in natural scheduling language, for example in a task I want to do every day titled: chase director for a reply to my 1st June email., Todoist will automatically highlight 1st June as the due date. To stop that connection, simply tap on the highlighted date and Todoist will stop highlighting, allowing you to add your scheduling instruction on the end: every day Other ways you can stop smart date recognition: Type your date within these brackets [ ]. For example: [every Saturday] Hit backspace after typing the instruction Of course, you could select no date from the scheduler, or even type no date or no due date in the task title, but that will mean there's no due date at all attached to the task. If you'd prefer, you could turn off Smart Date Recognition all together by going to your account settings in the general tab. What other date formats can be used in Todoist? Throughout this article, we've used full format dates such as 1st of January, 1st January and short versions including 1st Jan,1 January and even 1 Jan. Here are some more date formats: 1/1/21 1/1/2021 01/01/21 01/01/2021 How to use the @ symbol in Todoist The @ symbol has two purposes, dependant on if you put a space after it or not. If you use @ with no space any labels you have set up will pop up awaiting your selection as @ is the shortcut for label selection. However, if you use a space after the @ symbol it then changes the meaning of its use to 'at', so you can use it in a time recurrence like every day @ 2pm. Does Todoist recognise leap years when scheduling tasks for 29th February? Good news, tasks scheduled for the 28th February won't get lost every 3 or 4 years, Todoist reschedules those automatically to the 1st of March, phew. However, if you're looking to schedule a task for the end of February you should use the language end of Feb (or February) instead. What does the '!' do in recurrence scheduling? By adding an ! after the word every the recurrence date changes from the due date to the completion date. An example would be a task to change the water filter every 6 weeks. If you said: change the water filter every 6 weeks and today's date is 1st Jan, your first occurrence would be today 1st Jan. If you completed the filter change today (1st Jan) then the next recurrence would be the 12th of Feb. That's fine as your filter is due a change. But let's say you don't do it today and you leave it 3 weeks before completing the task (22nd Jan). The change the water filter task will still recur on 12th Feb, 3 weeks after you completed it, but your filter has not run out yet, right? By adding an ! after every change the water filter every! 6 weeks, Todoist will know to recur 6 weeks after you complete the task, so if you completed on the 22nd Jan instead of today, the recurrence would be on 5th March. Using natural language with integrations and other devices Do you use Siri, Alexa or Google Home? Good news, these voice assistants can all recognise Todoist's natural language and schedule tasks for you accordingly. You can say for example "Alexa, record new Netflix series tomorrow at 9pm", you can even do the same on your Apple Watch, and I believe Android watches too. However do note, if you're using an Alexa skill for example or an IFTTT recipe to achieve this integration, you won't be able to set recurring tasks, just singular scheduled ones. It's easy to use the word starting the wrong way This is something I've mistakenly done a few times so I'm giving you the heads up so you don't make the same mistake. Every day starting at 9 am will not set you a recurring task every day with a due date time of 9am, even though this language is a natural way to describe a task. Instead, it will recur your task every day with no set time, the recurrence will start from 9am. If it's 8am then this task will be in today's task list with not due time, only due date, if it's 11am your task will be in tomorrow's task list in the same way. So the language starting is taken as a recurrence starting point, not the actual due time of the task. What other natural language dates can you use if not recurring? Here are some examples in long format scheduling instructions Todoist recognises, that are not used in recurrence instructions (short versions will work too) . Tomorrow morning Tomorrow afternoon Tomorrow evening tomorrow night Tomorrow at 9am, 12pm, 7pm and 10pm respectively In 1 hour / in In 6 days In 10 weeks In March In 2 months in 3 years Due in 1 hour, 6 days, 10 weeks, 1st March, 2 months and 3 years from today respectively 1 hour before 7pm 2 days before Sunday 3 weeks before 1st January 1 month before November Due at 6pm, Friday, 11th December and 1st October respectively 1 hour after 7pm 2 days after Sunday 3 weeks after 1st January 1 month after November Due at 8pm, Tuesday, 22nd January and 1st December respectively +3 days +4 weeks +5 months +6 years Due in 3 days, 4 weeks, 5 months and 6 years respectively 10. What things can you not do when scheduling a recurrence in Todoist Every day except Sadly you have to enter all the days you want a recurrence to repeat, as the term every day except is not recognised in Todoist. If you want a task to repeat for 6 days of a week you need to type all 6 days separated by a ',' or and. Tip: You could shorten a 6-day repeat using a phrase like every weekday and Saturday if missing the Sunday fits your schedule. The day and the repetition format exclusions There are a small number of formats of instructions that are not recognised here's an example; to set a task every Monday, you need to use language like every Monday, every Mon, ev Monday, ev Mon or on Mondays, you cannot use Monday every week or every week Monday (or short versions of either). Putting the date digits at the start of the scheduled instruction There seems to be a bug when scheduling a recurring task starting with the date digits. Todoist highlights the instruction as if it's recognised it, but actually, the recurrence doesn't work. Let's say you want to add a cleaning task to recur on the 20th of every month, if you write cleaning 20th of every month, this won't actually recur. Instead, write cleaning every month on the 20th for the recurrence to work. You can of course use other shorter variations of the phrase as long as it starts with a version of every. For example, ev month on 20. Have no fear though, the bug issue has been raised with Todoist, so cross fingers they'll fix it. Combinations: do's and dont's It's best to note which parts of the instruction are about the due date and which parts are indicating the recurrence start and end dates, as longer combinations require you to separate them to help Todoist understand. Here's an example: Do: Use the following language for homework (example) task repeating every weekday in March at 6pm (this example is in long format): Homework every weekday at 6pm starting 1st March ending 31st March Notice how up to 6pm is where the recurrence due date instruction ends and starting 1st March to the end of the instruction indicates when the recurrence is active. Don't: Use the following language for homework (example) task repeating every weekday in March at 6pm (this example is in long format): Homework 6pm every weekday in March Todoist recognises 6pm every weekday as a recurring due date, but in March as a singular date of the 1st March and therefore can not schedule the active dates required. Recognising national holidays Leap Years: Todoist doesn't recognise the instruction every leap year, but that's ok there's an easy workaround simply recur every 4 years. Memorial Day: Todoist does recognise memorial day (USA) as the first Monday of May every year. As you know from the sections above Todoist also recognises new years day, new year's eve and Valentine's. Sadly that's where the holiday recognition stops. Of course, there's normally another way to overcome the lack of holiday language. Here are some examples of when you can add holidays as recurring tasks and when you can't: UK Remembrance Sunday: Always the 2nd Sunday in November so every 2nd Sunday in November works. UK Mother's day: 3 weeks before Easter Sunday, Easter Sunday falls on the first Sunday after the full moon, usually on or after 21st March, however, this differs each year so this date cannot recur exactly. Tip: How would I overcome this? I'd have a recurring task on the 1st of January each year to Google the national holidays and add them all to Todoist. Anyway, enough of the negatives, there aren't that many so let's not bring the mood down. 11. Todoist Recurrence ideas you could use to help you get organised We all work differently so recurring tasks will be useful to users in different ways, here's some that I use or ones I think are great as a little inspiration: Pay taxes every quarter Update CV every 6 months Keep on top of weekly cleaning chores Weekly workout plan and track progress Get the kid's school supplies each term every 1st Jan, 1st Apr and 1st Sep Schedule staff appraisals every 2 years Schedule car service and insurance renewal yearly Birthday reminders every year Goal setting and tasks to achieve those goals every day, every week, every month 12. Conclusion Before Todoist, I used Microsoft OneNote as a task manager and I'd often find myself lost in pages of long lists of tasks with no scheduling structure. Since moving to Todoist Premium, I am in my organisational element and my productivity has increased at least 2-fold. Being able to use natural language in so many varying ways to schedule tasks is yet another solidifying reason why I love Todoist, my other top two reasons being its label and filter features. Bonus Tip: You can use the same natural language you use for due dates with reminders! Admittingly there is the odd action you can't do with Todoist recurrences as listed in this article, but for me, none of them are essential functions and I don't feel they hinder the app's awesomeness! I hope this article has been a great help to you in learning about using recurrences in tasks and sub-tasks in Todoist. Again, please do bookmark the page so you can use it as a reference for future scheduling questions and feel free to share with other Todoist fans. Jenny - Author, Tried and Loved P.S. Feel free to subscribe to the Tried and Loved weekly newsletter (see footer) so you catch new Todoist posts as they get published and many other helpful guides for you and your business. This post may contain affiliate links. That means I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through one of the links. Thank you for your support. As an Amazon Associate, I also earn from qualifying purchases. Information correct at the time of writing

Are you considering buying some Personalised Cadbury Chocolate as a gift, and want to make sure it's worth the asking price? Are you getting the best Cadbury product for your money? I've purchased Personalised Cadbury Chocolate bars many times for family and friends' gifts, as well as buying in bulk as company 'thank-you' gifts. I'm going to give you my honest opinion on the value-for-money of the bars and their personalisation quality. We'll also look at what's inside a Personalised Cadbury Hamper, Postal Selection Box and a Dairy Milk Letterbox Gift so you can make the best selection for your giftee! Let's get into the details. Personalised Cadbury chocolate bar sizes Bar Sizes Available : 850g at £13.00 360g at £10.00 200g at £5.40 110g at £4.00 45g at £2.69 More about Cadbury Bar sizes and their calories per square here This post may contain affiliate links. That means I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through one of the links. Thank you for your support. What can you personalise on a Cadbury chocolate bar? All personalised bars come with a card sleeve; even the smallest 45g has a sleeve. This sleeve is where your personalisation is printed, meaning your gift recipient can keep your special personalised message long after they have demolished the chocolate! There are three areas where you can personalise your dairy milk bar. All five sizes of bar have the same three personalisation spots, though as the bar increases in size, so does the font and picture. So, what parts of the sleeve can you personalise? The front: The first area your recipient will likely see can be filled with a short, bold message or greeting up to 27 characters long. Perfect for a 'Happy Birthday Matt xxx' or 'Love You Dad, from Jen xxx' The back (text): An area on the back left of the bar can take up to 150 characters of text, allowing you plenty of space to leave a sentimental message and claim the glory for sending this fabulous gift! This message area was a nice touch for when I purchased bars for staff and volunteers at my company. I was able to thank them individually for the specific work they had done in this message box. The back (image): You can add a square-shaped photo to the back of your bar too. Don't worry if your favourite photograph isn't square; the website allows you to zoom, rotate and crop your image. However, if you don't want to add a photo, that's OK; it won't leave you with a blank square on your chocolate. The best thing about the personalisation function on the website is the ease of use. You can see a live preview of your personalisation and go back and edit at any point. How much does it cost to post personalised Cadbury bars? Orders up to £10 in value cost £3.95 for delivery, orders over £10 cost £5.50. You can also pay a little extra for next day delivery too, which is around £6. The standard delivery time (according to the Cadbury Gifts Direct website) is two days, I ordered a test bar for this article on Sunday evening and it arrived Tuesday, so that timeframe seems accurate. The only negative to the postage pricing structure is that there are no discounts for multiple addresses; you pay the fees I mentioned above, per address. When I placed my bulk order (approx 30 bars), I had them all delivered to my address and I handed them out myself, costing only around £10 in fuel, instead of the £3.95 minimum per address. The positive about sending to multiple addresses on the Cadbury Gifts Direct website is that you can easily add addresses and assign each bar a different delivery address in just a couple of clicks. What are Cadbury chocolate rewards? Register as a customer when you make your purchase to be eligible for Chocolate Chunk Rewards. For every £1 you spend, you'll receive one virtual chocolate chunk. Each chunk is worth 1p off future purchases. You can top up your chunks quicker by purchasing items with multiple chunk reward promotions, plus you'll get 100 chunks free when you sign up! Think Tesco's Clubcard but with more mouth-watering results, yum! Value for money of Cadbury personalised Dairy Milk bars The quality of the personalisation warrants a fair price. I wasn't put off by the personalised bars' costs either time I've made a purchase. The only disappointing element to the price was the delivery charge. The 850g bar is a large, heavy item and understandably has a cost, whereas buying a small 45g bar with a delivery fee of £3.95 seems expensive by comparison. In conclusion to are the personalised bars good value for money, I'd say yes they are, purely for the quality of personalisation and that you can personalise in 3 places. Cost per gram for personalised Cadbury Chocolate Bars (rounded up to nearest penny): 850g is £13.00 = £0.02 per gram 360g is £10.00 = £0.03 per gram 200g is £5.50 = £0.03 per gram 110g is £4.00 = £0.04 per gram 45g is £2.69 = £0.06 per gram Cost of standard Cadbury Dairy Milk Bars with no personalisation vs the exact sizes with personalisation: Tesco Dairy Milk Bars with no personalisation 360g £3.00 (with personalisation = £10.00) 200g £1.80 (with personalisation = £5.50) 110g £0.98 (with personalisation = £4.00) 45g £0.60 (with personalisation = £2.69) (The 850g bar is not available at Tesco) Amazon Dairy Milk Bars with no personalisation 850g £9.45 (with personalisation = £13.00) I believe the 850g bar is the best value for money because the chocolate is the cheapest per gram, and the personalisation price is the closest to the non-personalised price relatively. In conclusion to the personalised Cadbury chocolate bars from Cadbury Gifts Direct I'm sure your recipient will enjoy the thoughtfulness and quality of the bars of all sizes, and yes I believe they are well worth the money. I'd recommend the 850g bar as the perfect gift if budget isn't an issue. Not only does this larger bar have the wow factor of its size, but it's a product that is less available in standard high street stores, so is more uniquely appealing too. Does Cadbury offer low-sugar or vegan alternatives? Short answer: Yes to low-sugar, and kind-of to Vegan chocolate. Full answer: Dairy Milk launched it's '30% less sugar' bar available in 35g and 85g sizes in 2019. The lower sugar bar is a nutritionally better alternative to the classic in terms of sugar content, reducing carbs per 100g from 57g to 42g (of which sugars from 56g down to 37g). The lower sugar bar is available in the postal selection box gift, but not the other customisable gifts and sadly not available for personalisation as of yet. In terms of Vegan options according to a few articles from February 2020, Cadbury have been working hard for the last two years to bring a Vegan alternative to the market for the Dairy Milk product range, all whilst keeping the products classic taste. This seems to be still in the pipeline. In late 2020 however, Cadbury did launch their vegan-friendly Bourneville Fingers, available in Sainsbury's according to this article. Other custom chocolate gifts at Cadbury Gifts Direct Before we look at what's included in these other gifts, note that they are not personalised items like the Dairy Milk bars, instead, these are customisable items in which you can edit the contents. These custom gifts can be sent with a gift card in a choice of 8 designs, including 'I love you', 'Congratulations', 'Happy Birthday' and so on. You can add up to 250 characters of text in your message and send your gift directly to the recipient. The same postal charges apply as the personalised Dairy Milk bars. So what's in each gift? Make your Cadbury hamper: This is the most customisable product on offer at Cadbury Gifts Direct and could be chocolate heaven for a chocolate-loving giftee. Add as many items to your hamper as you like; there is no limit. You can select from a whole range of different types of products too, including: Boxes Bags Bars Eggs Trays Drinks Foiled Chocolates Toys Selection Boxes Mugs Biscuits And more... Choose anything from a bag of 25p Dairy Milk Buttons to a £24.72 box of 48 Creme Eggs (yum!), you can create a hamper full of your giftee's favourite treats by simply clicking the '+' button to add items to your hamper. You can see the price of your hamper in real-time on-screen as you add items, so you can mix and match to fit your budget too. But do note, should you choose to have the hamper packaged this is an additional cost, as well as the delivery charge. You're offered three hamper packaging options: A Gift Bag at £3.50 - Organic with strong handles A Wicker Hamper at £15.00 - Beautifully displayed A Gift Box at £2.50 - Card box in Cadbury Colours The wicker hamper may seem pricey on the surface, but if you buy one yourself they can range from £7 to £20 (on Amazon), then you need some internal decor, plus the skill to make it look pretty (which I don't possess), and of course, the cost and effort to post it from your address to theirs. So I'd say to save the hassle, the £15 to Cadbury is well worth it. Overall the Cadbury Hamper is a fantastic option for those with a more flexible budget or who have a giftee with particular Cadbury favourites! Creating a Cadbury postal selection box Another brilliant option for a recipient who loves particular Cadbury bars or those that can never choose a favourite! This one's super reasonable, perfect for shoppers on a budget. You can pick 10 Cadbury products to include in your selection box, most of which are the standard sizes you'd see on a convenience store shelf. There are 30 items to choose from, mostly chocolate bars (including the 30% less sugar dairy milk bar), but there's mints and wine gums available too for good measure. However, if your giftee is a chomp bar lover, and you add 10 of them in the box, it might be worth considering if it's worth it; chomps are 25p and a selection box is £11 regardless of the contents. I'd expect to pay over and above for the presentation and convenience, but chomps or Freddo's alone might feel a little pricey. Good news, at the time of writing, there is FREE delivery on selection boxes! Would I purchase this gift? Absolutely! The chocolate comes in a basic but well presented Cadbury purple cardboard box, and of course, I can add my gift card to the recipient, well worth the money in my opinion. The Dairy Milk letterbox gift The cheapest of the customised gifts at only £10 and free delivery. You can select 4 of the following Dairy Milk bars: Cadbury Dairy Milk 110g Dairy Milk Fruit & Nut 110g Cadbury Dairy Milk Whole Nut 120g Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramel Bar 120g Cadbury Dairy Milk with Daim 120g Dairy Milk Oreo Mint 120g Dairy Milk Oreo 120g Just like the selection box, in this Letterbox gift your bars are displayed in a cardboard Cadbury coloured box, and, of course, you can add your gift card message. I would purchase this as a gift for its ease and convenience. A round-up of all the 'make your own' Cadbury Gifts Direct options. There's a gift for every budget and palate, custom products are well presented, and the interface is super easy to use. The convenience of the product's customisation and delivery options are the most significant selling point for me. I will continue to use Cadbury Gifts Direct for the foreseeable future. I hope you enjoyed this article and I've got your mouth watering talking about all this delicious chocolate! Got a Cadbury product that's special you think I should taste and then review? Get in touch and let me know. Jen - Author of Tried and Loved We may receive commissions when you click our external links. However, this does not impact our reviews and comparisons. Prices and product details correct at the time of writing. References https://www.cadburygiftsdirect.co.uk/make-your-own.html

Do you want to calculate your engagement rate without doing any mathematics, right here, right now? The good news is that you can right here, read on. Do you want to find the perfect accounts to engage with in your niche? I'm going to show you an easy way at the end of this post. I'll also cover: What Instagram engagement is, why your engagement rate is significant, why you should avoid buying followers and likes, and how you can increase your Instagram engagement, all in this article. With a background in event marketing and 20 years of experience marketing my own businesses, I trust this article will give you the guidance you need to better understand and improve your Instagram engagement, no matter if you're a start-up, small business, entrepreneur or just an Instagram loving individual. You're here to calculate your engagement rate, I won't ask you read to the end to get it. Your engagement rate can be calculated here, just below this paragraph thanks to Analisa.io. However, why find out your engagement rate and not understand what it means or how to improve it? Read on to find out how to improve your engagement. Calculate your Instagram engagement rate: (IMPORTANT: This tool works for influencer and brand profiles, to check engagement rate of a personal profile try here, then come back and enter your rate in the poll below) Now you have your engagement rate, what does it mean? In short: Instagram engagement rate is a measure of how others interact with your content on the platform. In more depth: Follows, comments, likes and shares are all taken into account to calculate engagement rate. The calculated measurement is used to assess if your Instagram efforts are effective compared to industry benchmarks. Essentially, you can track how much your audience is enjoying, aka engaging with, your content. This post may contain affiliate links. That means I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through one of the links. Thank you for your support. How is your engagement rate calculated? There is some debate over the exact formula for calculating your Instagram engagement rate. Followers, likes and comments factor in, and some say your reach too, yet the calculator you used above by Asalisa, the AI-powered Instagram analytics tool, uses this formula: The number of likes and comments divided by the number of followers, multiplied by 100, equals your engagement rate. What is a good engagement rate on Instagram? Don't panic if your engagement percentage is under 4%, that's normal, phew! The critical detail is whereabouts you sit between 0% and 4%? On the flip side if your engagement is above 4% then big hi-fives to you, it sounds like you're nailing it, keep up the good work! According to a RivallQ* study, Instagram wide engagement has dropped by approximately 25% in the last year. The average engagement rate across industries in 2021 is 1.22%. Is your Instagram engagement rate higher or lower than the average 1.22%? Select your answer below and see what other readers rates are. Do bear in mind this is a mean average of cross-industry results. It's helpful to note what the rates are for the two top engaging industries: Higher Education = 3.57%* Sports Teams = 2.33%* These two industries' engagement rates stand-alone in measure and are relatively high. All other measured industries' engagement rates vary between 0.67% and 1.75%. If you are not in higher education or a sports team, and you rule out those engagement rates, a quick re-calculation brings the industry average closer to 1.1%. How does your engagement rate compare now? So now you know your engagement rate you know where you stand in comparison to industry benchmarks. What do you do with that information now? Why is engagement rate significant? Engagement rate, in a nutshell, is how appealing your content is to your audience, an indicator of how you are keeping up with the demands of the moment, and of course, it proves you have happy customers! The benefits of using engagement rate in more detail: Engagement rate is a measure of audience interest. What do I do if I come across a post of my niece looking happy playing in the sunshine? I like the post, I may even leave a comment, maybe an emoji; why? Because I enjoyed seeing the post, it made me happy. Likewise, suppose Neil Patel, a digital marketer I follow and admire, posts a carousel of images, the first image stating, '10 reasons you don't want to post on Facebook', my interest is heightened. I start swiping through reasons 1, 2, 3 and so on, at the end is a CTA (call to action): 'double tap if that helped you', and I do, why? Because I enjoyed learning something interesting for free. What's the lesson here? The more appealing your posts are to your audience, the more they are likely to engage with them by likes, comments and shares. The higher the engagement rate = The more your audience is interested in your posts. You can learn from your previous posts; what posts get the most engagement? Are they photos, videos or carousels? Are they behind the scenes style posts, happy customer posts, educational posts etc? Find what works and create more content based on your best-performing factors to increase your engagement. Quick Tip: According to Bannersnack**, carousel posts get the highest engagement rate on average across industries. This is followed by images and then video. Of course, look at what works for your audience based on insights (below), but if you need a place to start experimenting, jump on the carousels! How do you find your top engaging posts? Profile - Insights - Overview - Content Interactions - Top Posts You're welcome :) The engagement rate shows if you are a strong player. The official term is 'social proof'. A reasonable engagement rate helps to prove that you are worth following. Seeing many others following and engaging with you can be a significant factor for non-followers deciding whether you're worth them hitting that 'follow' button. A healthy engagement level indicates that you have happy customers, even further solidifying your social authority and gaining you that 'follow. For example, I came across an Instagram account that possesses 14'000 followers. I almost hit 'follow', then I checked out their recent posts, they only had 2 to 3 likes each and no comments, showing a relatively low engagement rate, so I decided against following. That's not to say that you shouldn't follow those with low engagement, I've been there myself, but for what I was looking for, I needed to see brand trust and therefore higher engagement. The engagement rate helps determine if you're still the cool kid. The official term is 'brand relevance.' Are you still the cool kid on the block that all your friends (followers) want to hang out with? Perhaps you are right now, and your engagement is high, but what about in 6 months when trends change? Do you still have your finger on the button? Are you still the cool kid everyone wants to spend time with? Monitoring changes in engagement rate can help track if you are staying relevant and shows where you can take action if you aren't. Why shouldn't you buy Instagram likes to increase engagement rates? Hopefully, by this point in the post you can answer this question yourself, but so that we are on the same page: It smells of cheating, an Instagrammer will likely sniff out the fact that you have, for example, 1000 likes but 200 followers. Your engagement rate is essentially false. You won't get an accurate picture of your progress from your insights and truly learn what your audience enjoys. It's not allowed, don't risk getting banned from the platform. It's a waste of money. If you want to partner with brands, you'll likely ruin your chances as they'll sniff out fake, paid-for accounts Tempting as it might be for a quick fix, don't do it. Be real! How to increase your Engagement Rate - 3 Tips 1. Know your audience, post for them Marketing skills 101: Who is your model customer? What pain points (problems/needs) or desires might they have? How can you solve their pains, give them what they desire or simply make them smile with your post, whilst still relating to your product or service? The key here is to solidify your intention behind the post, not just post blindly. Whether the post is a contest, a fact, a peek backstage or any other type of post, have clear user benefiting intent. Next, what format of content does your audience prefer? Carousels, images, videos? As I discussed above in the section: 'How do you find your top engaging posts via insights?', you can see your top engaging posts and what format they were in via your Instagram insights. Can you match the post intention with this top-performing format? If yes, great! Finally, do you know when your followers are online? Your Instagram insights will tell you: Profile - Insights - Your Audience - See All - Most Active Times Post at days and times when your followers are online the most. However, still mix it up occasionally, then you're not missing out on engaging with a completely different set of customers, even if there are fewer of them online. 2. Grab attention and say hello to AIDA, "Hi Aida" Who's Aida? I hear some of you asking. Aida is a well-know marketing model that is useful when planning Instagram content. Aida stands for: A - Attention (or Awareness) I - Interest D - Desire A - Action Attention: Your follower, or followers-to-be, can only see the first 125 characters of your caption in their feed. You need to grab their attention with a headline or first sentence that will make them stop scrolling and open the rest of your caption. You can drive attention through the media in your post as well. Interest: Pique the reader's interest; can they relate to what you're saying? Can they benefit from reading on? Desire: Instagram's algorithm measures how long a user spends looking at your post. You can write up to 2200 characters in your caption, so why not capitalise on the number of words you can add to keep them on your post for longer? During that time, it's your chance to get your user to connect with what you're saying on a deeper level, to make them want your product or service, and build their desire to take action. Action: Have a clear call-to-action (CTA). Whether that's in the form of a written instruction in the caption, a 'double tap' and heart icon on the post image or an actual CTA button, make sure what you want the user to do is crystal clear. Remember, the actions the user takes are recorded in your engagement rate. 3. Most importantly, be social! The whole reason it's called social media is to share and interact socially. So be sure to do that! Simple ways to be social include: Like posts of the people you follow Comment on posts of the people you follow Follow other accounts within your niche Comment on accounts with # hashtags relevant to your niche The 4 points above may sound obvious, but with our increasingly busy lifestyles, it's easy to ignore these integral but straightforward steps that will help increase Instagram engagement. I have a solution! I run two successful small businesses as well as write for this blog and run a household, yet I have a game-changing way to find time to engage with tens of relevant Instagram users every day, using very little brain-power! I use Gary Vee's Dollar Eighty Instagram Strategy and Dollar Eighty Chrome Extension. What Is Gary Vee's Dollar Eighty Instagram Strategy? World-renowned marketer Gary Vee suggests you leave your '2 cents', your meaningful opinion, on 9 posts for 10 different hashtags. 0.02(cents) x 9(posts) x 10(hashtags) = $1.80 When you leave your 90 comments a day, you have increased profile awareness and connected with the right type of user in your niche. Most importantly, you're naturally encouraging new followers and engagement for your profile. For those of you who may be thinking, WHAT 90 COMMENTS?! Trust me, it doesn't take that long thanks to the Dollar Eighty software, in fact, 30 mins on average. Read on to see why I think that 30 minutes is well spent if you're serious about growing your following. How does the Dollar Eighty Chrome extension work? The extension connects with your Instagram account. You select locations, hashtags and profiles to target. Dollar Eighty will then show you all the recent and top posts from your targets, making it quick and simple for you to add your '2 cents'. Make your comments meaningful though, this will encourage further engagement with your profile. The best part is, Dollar Eighty saves your replies, so you can reuse them later on in another post, saving you valuable time. Don't be a spammer though; mix it up and be real! Instagram only actually allows 30 comments an hour. Dollar Eighty solves that issue by queuing your comments and posting them automatically in intervals, so you don't have to worry about remembering to come back and post. By grouping all relevant posts in one place, saving comments for reuse, and queuing your comments, you can save tonnes of time, as I do. There's an easy-to-read analytics section in the extension too, in which you can track your engagement rate in real-time! Who can use Dollar Eighty? I use it for one of my business profiles, yet influencers, brands, products, social media managers and even personal profiles can all make great use of it. Is Dollar Eight Free? Yes and no. There is a free version; you can post up to 10 comments a day with just hashtag targeting. The free version is a great way to test the water, see if Dollar Eighty is for you and check out proportionate results. The full version is $15 a month. I use this and I feel it's worth the investment. I target 10 locations in my business service areas, 10 hashtags relevant to my business niche, and 10 profiles of my industry's big players. I spend 20-30 minutes a morning with my coffee in hand, putting my '2 cents' on as many posts in the extension as I can in that time block. I can reach the full 90 posts in 30 minutes when I focus! I know some might think spending 20-30 minutes intensely on social commenting is too much, but I assure you, I'd spend way longer writing odd comments throughout the day and scrolling trying to find something relevant to comment on. I also use Todoist, the task management software, to time block my day so I don't deviate from the plan of 20-30 minutes on Dollar Eighty. I highly recommend Dollar Eighty; it's a game-changer for a small business owner like me who juggles many business activities every day. In Conclusion To How To Calculate Engagement Rate On Instagram Did you use the engagement calculator from Analisa? Did you enter your answer to see if your engagement rate was above the cross-industry average? Hopefully, you did and now have a better understanding of where you may need to progress. Full disclosure: I am a massive culprit for having skills and depth of knowledge in a subject, but I'm not always great at implementing them! One of those subjects being my Instagram strategy! I'm working on that and Dollar Eighty is helping me along the way. So we're on this journey together you and I! Engagement rate is an excellent measurement to judge your posts' quality and effectiveness, plus it's real-time and free. Why not bookmark this webpage so you can come back and check or compare your engagement rate in the future? I hope you enjoyed this post. If it helped you, please feel free to share it with a friend or other small businesses trying to get the best from Instagram. Jen - Author, Tried and Loved References https://sproutsocial.com/insights/instagram-stats/ *https://www.rivaliq.com/blog/social-media-industry-benchmark-report/ **https://www.socialinsider.io/blog/instagram-carousel-research/ https://analisa.io/blog/How-to-Boost-Instagram-Engagement-with-Instagram-Analytics/#What-Are-The-Components-of-Instagram-Engagement Note: We may receive commissions when you click our external links. However, this does not impact our reviews and comparisons.

Are you stocking up on more and more portable devices? How do you keep them all charged without creating a spaghetti junction of cables? Thankfully Qi and MagSafe technology allow us to wirelessly charge our tech. I’m going to share with you my 3 best all-in-one wireless charging docks for iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods. All which are under £100 I'll be delving into the pros and cons of each of my top 3 charging docks, including how the tech works, charging power and more. Top 3 wireless charging docks Belkin 3-in-1 Wireless Charger (7.5W Wireless Charging Station for iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods) Mophie 3 in 1 Wireless Charge Pad (Qi Wireless 7.5W Charging Pad for Apple iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch) Teminice 4 in 1 Wireless Charger (for Apple iPhone, Watch & AirPods & Pencil) I’m a wireless charging station user myself, I use the Teminice 4-in-1 charger in my office. The Belkin and Mophie models got themselves in to my top 3 after extensive research into more than 30 popular wireless charging options. This post may contain affiliate links. That means I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through one of the links. Thank you for your support. Let's take a closer look at why these are my top 3: No.1: Belkin 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Station for iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods. Price: Approx £99.00 | Colours: Black or White | Size: H12.14 x W10.24 x D19.05cm Power: Qi-enabled iPhones at 7.5W, Apple Watch and AirPods at 5W Works with: iPhone 12, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max, 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max, XS, XS Max, XR, X, 8, 8 Plus, Apple Watch 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, AirPods 2, AirPods Pro Charges through a case? Yes, up to 3mm thick Pros of the Belkin 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Station Upright charging The iPhone charging stand holds an iPhone at approximately a 15 degree angle. The angle helps make notifications and message pop ups easy to read. Intuitive design With obvious places to pop your devices, there is no fiddling to get the charging spot right. Suitable for nightstand mode The Apple Watch charging point is upright, enabling you to use your watch in nightstand mode. Nightstand mode shows the clock on your watch in full screen, as well as date, charge and alarm time. LED indicator No need to tap your devices to check if they are charging, the small LED indicator shows that for you. Singular cable Only 1 wire exits from the back of the charging dock, keeping your space tidy. Good price for top brand Belkin are the No.1 third-party supplier of wireless charging devices. Therefore this 3-in-1 charging station is a bargain for under £100 Cons of the Belkin 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Station All plastic The all plastic design brings a cheaper look to the product and obviously means it's not environmentally friendly either. AirPods and Apple Watch charging points close together Charging points are closely located, if you're not careful you can knock one or the other off their charging positions. Apple Watch charging point is a different colour The charging circle on the black model is a lighter colour than the rest of the dock. When an Apple Watch is not charging you can see the circle doesn’t match the colour of the rest of the dock which spoils the aesthetic design. Overview of the Belkin Charging Dock When I purchased my charging station, I chose a budget brand, a low price was the strongest factor in my decision. Money aside, I would choose this Belkin charging station for the brand reputation and the nightstand mode ability for the Apple Watch. No.2: Morphie 3-in-1 Wireless Charge Pad for Apple iPhone, AirPods and Apple Watch Approx: £95.00 | Colours: Black (plastic), grey (fabric) | Size: W7.25 x H4.0 x D4.0 in Power: Qi-enabled iPhones at 7.5 W, Apple Watch and AirPods at 5 W Works With: iPhone 12, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max, 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max, XS, XS Max, XR, X, 8, 8 Plus, Apple Watch 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, AirPods 2, AirPods Pro Charges through a case? Yes, up to 3mm thick Pros of Morphie 3-in-1 Wireless Charge Pad for Apple iPhone, AirPods and Apple Watch Classy material Dark grey suede covers the top flat area of the pad, giving it a classy look. Perfect for the bedroom or office. Singular cable One wire from the back of the charging dock keeps your space neat and tidy. Suitable for nightstand mode Like the Belkin model, the Apple Watch charging point is upright, enabling you to use your watch in nightstand mode. Nightstand mode shows the clock on your watch in full screen, as well as date, charge and alarm time. Extra support A small protruding notch helps to hold the Apple Watch and stops it slipping off. Intuitive Design The Airpod charging area is easy to find via an indentation in the material Cons of Morphie 3-in-1 Wireless Charge Pad for Apple iPhone, AirPods and Apple Watch Limited iPhone charging positions You can spot iPhone charging area by the Morphie logo. Yet the phone position must be matched exactly over the coils to be able to charge. AirPod Pro’s don’t fit The case for AirPod Pro’s is larger than the indented area for AirPod charging. AirPod Pro's may not sit in the charging slot properly but are still able to charge. Overview of Morphie Charging Pad Customer reviews were super positive on the most part about this Morphie product. Based on reviews alone I’d be tempted to buy, but due to already owning a pair of original AirPods (non-wireless charging), this limited my choice which is why I brought the Teminice 4-in-1 charger. If you own a pair of Wireless charging AirPods the Morphie Charging Pad would work for you. No.3: Teminice 4 in 1 Wireless Charger for Apple iPhone, Apple Watch, AirPods & Apple Pencil Price: Approx £30 | Colours: Black | Size: W17 x H8.5 x D1 cm Power: 7.5W/5W for phone, 5W for AirPods, 2W for Apple Watch, 2W for iPencil Works With: iPhone 12, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max, 11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max, XS, XS Max, XR, X, 8, 8 Plus, Apple Watch 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, AirPods 2, AirPods Pro Charges through a case? Yes, up to 3mm thick Pros of Teminice 4 in 1 Wireless Charger for Apple iPhone, Apple Watch, AirPods & Apple Pencil Design is intuitive With obvious places to pop your devices, it's easy to dock and run. You won't have to wait to see if the device is charging, there's not really any room for error. Airpod charging dock The Airpod charging area may not be wireless, but it accommodates all AirPod models. That includes the original AirPods which do not have wireless charging technology. Non-slip mats at the base The extra support means the charging station is stable on all tabletop materials. Portrait and landscape charging You can charge your iPhone vertically or horizontally. This feature allows you to watch a movie, play a game or chat to friends whilst charging. One cable Like the other models in this article just one wire comes from the back, keeping your space clear. Led Indicator Checking if your devices are charging is easy with the LED indicator. Adjustable angle The Teminice charging station offers 2 leaning angles for your iPhone which you can adjust these easily from the back of the station. It’s super cheap Best of all, this device is under £30! I’ve had mine for 6 months and it works perfectly for my needs without breaking the bank. Cons of Teminice 4 in 1 Wireless Charger for Apple iPhone, Watch, AirPods & Pencil All plastic Not as professional looking as the Morphie 3-in-1's suede design, and of course, like the Belkin model being all plastic, it's not environmentally friendly. Only charges original Apple Pencil The Teminice Apple charging station offers wireless charging for iPhone and Apple Watch, but docked, lightening charging for Apple Pencil and AirPods. Only original Apple Pencils can charge through this station, the Apple Pencil 2 only charges wirelessly and doesn't have lightening docking ability. I have an Apple Pencil 2 and I am unable to charge my pencil on this device. Not that it worries me, as I continue to snap the pencil to my iPad (magnetically) for charging. Overview of Teminice Charger I am 100% happy with my Teminice 4 in 1 Wireless Charger. I spent less than £30 on a device I use every day at my desk. I love the upright iPhone stand as I can read notifications as they pop up. The plastic design doesn’t make the product look or feel high quality, yet it’s simple and reliable functionality makes up for that. For anyone on a budget, this is the charger for you. My conclusion of the best wireless charging dock for iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods If you’re looking for a budget multi-device charging station, then the Teminice 4-in-1 is a winner. However, if money is no question, I'd personally go for the Belkin 3-in-1 charging station. You may be asking, what about Apple? Do Apple offer any products for wireless charging? They do yes, but to better describe the options from Apple, let's look at the wireless technology in a little more detail: What is Qi? Qi is wireless charging technology (through very short distances) and allows for easy charging, no cables, no fuss, no mess. What iPhones have Qi wireless charging? At the time of writing Apple iPhone: 12 Pro Max, 12 Pro, 12, 12 mini, SE 2020, 11 Pro Max, 11 Pro, 11, XS, Max XS, XR, 8, 8 Plus Can you wirelessly charge older Apple iPhone models? Short answer, yes. Long answer, you’ll need an adapter. The adapter plugs into your phone's port, however that then renders your port unusable for anything else. How much power should a charger or charging station have? Qi enabled iPhones can charge at 7.5 watts, and up to 5 watts for Apple Watch and AirPods. Some Android devices can charge a lot faster, but I’m sure Apple won’t sit in the slow lane for long. I’ve found my 7.5 watt wireless charger will charge my iPhone XS Max approx. 15%-20% in half an hour. What is MagSafe? MagSafe is a technology made by Apple, and is a magnetic ‘snap on’ technology. MagSafe chargers for Macbooks have been around for years and was introduced for the iPhone 12 in 2020. The biggest benefit of MagSafe wireless charging for iPhone is the speed of the charge; doubling the previous wattage in Qi versions to 15 watts. The downside to MagSafe is that you can only use MagSafe tech through Apple currently. What iPhones have MagSafe functionality? The iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max and likely future iPhones. What are some MagSafe for iPhone Chargers? Apple MagSafe Charger Apple MagSafe Duo Charger Are there other note-worthy charging docks? As I said at the start, there are so many wireless charging stations to choose from, picking a top 3 was tough. Here’s another 3 wireless chargers that almost made my cut, or might be off topic slightly but are still worth a shout out: Anker Wireless Charger Belkin Boost Up Wireless Charging Stand Satechi Trio Wireless Charging Pad In Conclusion My best advice would be to consider what devices you have and what charging stations cover all your device needs. Consider when you might upgrade your devices, plus if you will be getting a MagSafe capable device. Try and shop for a combination of both now and the future. Which charging dock did you go with? Let me know if there's an alternative station you feel is a winner too. If you'd like to read more technology or office gadget articles take a look at my 'For Business' page. Jen - Author, Tried and Loved. Notes: Prices and features correct at the time of writing. As an ambassador, I may earn a commission on purchases made through links on this page.

I'm here to help you decide whether Todoist is for you! Here's my easy-to-read, Todoist Review 2021. Todoist has 100% transformed the way I work here for the better! I'm going to share with you, the pros and cons, the features, the costs, and how to get started with Todoist. Let's get into it! Bottom line; Todoist offers an easy to use, customisable to-do-list type app that works seamlessly across devices. Why is the Todoist App good? Easy navigation Quick add tasks Many integrations Organise projects easily There's a free version Works on many platforms Handy Chrome extension iPhone Widgets available Customisable view options Additional team and filter features What are the disadvantages of using Todoist? None for me! This post may contain affiliate links. That means I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through one of the links. Thank you for your support. What is the Todoist App used for? Todoist is used for task management and tracking productivity for individuals and businesses, or both, like me! Here's a snapshot of how my Todoist dashboard looks. Each of the main categories tasks fall under are known as 'projects'. I can 'filter' 'tasks' down into cross-project categories, see each day's tasks clearly laid out and colour coded by time/priority order, plus each task shows what project it belongs to. Take a look... What App is better than Todoist? In the past, I'd given Trello and Asana a go, iPhone Reminders, and even good old trusty Excel, but nothing hit the spot for my needs... Then came Todoist. How much does Todoist cost? Is the Todoist app free? There is a free version! You can add up to 5 projects on the go and connect 5 people on projects, get reminders and set up prioritised or reoccurring tasks with the free version. Yet I use the premium (Pro) version (from £3 per month), and I 100% recommend this version for anyone who's serious about getting organised. Feel free to read my article on Todoist Free vs Premium (Pro). Comparison of some popular To-Do app prices * Todoist FREE version or from £3 per month for Premium (Pro) Any Do FREE version or from £2.99 per month for Premium Evernote FREE version or from £4.99 per month for Premium TickTick FREE version or from £2.40 per month for Premium As you can see, they are all around the same monthly cost for a premium version. In my personal opinion, Todoist Premium is so worth the cost of less than 10p per day. What's my favourite feature of Todoist? Labels I use labels a lot to 'tag' similarities in tasks across projects. For example I have a label called 'WAITING' which I add to any tasks where I'm waiting for a response from someone. I then have a separate weekly reoccurring task to chase all tasks with the 'WAITING' label, which Todoist shows me as a list in priority order. 2021 update: Todoist announced they will be adding labels to the list of features available in their free plan, winning! What is Todoist Premium (Pro)? Is going Premium (Pro) worth it? There's a number of additional features on the Premium (Pro) version; for a full list of features, select Pricing on Todoist's website. Of all the features included in the Premium (Pro) version, there is one we wouldn't be half as organised without: Filters Geeking out now, but I love to write an instruction for a filter! I can use simple '&, ! and @' symbols I can instruct Todoist to show me bespoke filtered task lists. For example I use a filter to show me all tasks in priority order that haven't been scheduled yet, and that I'm not 'WAITING' on a reply for. I use this filtered list to select top priority tasks that I want to schedule for 'this week'. 2021 update: Todoist has stated that they will be adding filters to the list of features available in their free plan, however with a limit of 3. This wouldn't be enough for me, as I reply on filters. Here's what the filter instruction would look like: What can you do with the Todoist App? You can organise your tasks down to the minutest detail. Since using Todoist I've been a lot more productive and efficient with my time. All of my projects get the time and attention they deserve, and I've been able to schedule a time for tasks that shouldn't have been neglected before, but were due to getting lost in long lists of notes. This has all been fixed thanks to Todoist helping organise my time. Tip: Check out my ULTIMATE guide to Todoist recurring tasks and subtasks here Here are some other examples of what the Todoist app could help you achieve: Track your personal goals Organise your finances Set meeting agendas Track campaigns Create & publish videos Manage your clients Plan your classes Plan appointments Track fitness and much more What are the best features of the Todoist App? The 3 best features other than labels and filters in my opinion, are: 1. The Board View With a board view, you can drag and drop tasks easily; each 'section' of your project sits at the top of the view rather than in one long list. I use this feature in a few ways, but my favourite is to brainstorm content by week. So across the top, I'll have sections: Week 1, Week 2 etc, and underneath, I can drag and drop my blog, social media, and other content ideas and map out my future content plan. Here's an example (screenshot of Todoist's Social Media Calendar template): 2. Custom Sorting A newer feature on Todoist is the custom sorting and grouping options; you can choose to sort tasks by priority, date, or name. You can also group by one of those types and then sort within that group. I tend to use the priority sorting feature and then I have an unwritten code to the way we use the priority flags. Priority 1 - Things that must be done NO MATTER WHAT Priority 2 - Things that have consequences if they are not done Priority 3 - Things that I'd ideally like to get done Priority 4 - Notes and gentle reminders 3. Natural Language Instructions There are so many features to use in Todoist (even though it doesn't feel overwhelming at all), and Todoist have enabled natural language instructions to speed up the way we can use those features. For example, you can use the # key to pop up a list of projects, the / key to pop up a list of sections, 'P' to quickly type a priority level, @ key to quickly add a label, and even use short words to add schedules like 'ev mon' = every Monday. For example, let's say I want to add the task 'take the bins out' to my 'personal' to-do's project under the section 'house', and it's a top priority every Monday, I would write: "Take Bins Out ev mon # personal /house p1" Get started with Todoist Signing up to the Todoist App is really quick and easy to do on any mobile or desktop device. However, my advice before getting excited to start adding tasks, is take 5-10 minutes to jot down what your projects would be and what your sections might be within that. For example, I have an 'Accounting' project that includes a 'weekly tasks' section, 'things to pay' section, and 'things to be paid' section. Then under each section are the 'tasks' / invoices etc. Map your project and section headings out for 5-10 minutes first, and you'll likely save time and effort down the line adjusting things on the app. If you're not sure if you'll be needing the Premium version yet, that's natural; you can download the app and start with the free version, then upgrade without a hitch once you're ready. Do you need some inspiration for project ideas? Take a look at Todoist's templates; you can view them for free by clicking Resources then Templates from the Todoist menu. Check out my article about the 5 Best Todoist Templates. In conclusion, is Todoist good? It's not just good, it's a no-brainer in my opinion! My anxiety levels in terms of keeping on top of work and life, in general, have dramatically dropped, I absolutely love the seamless use across platforms and how my iPhone widget gives me a clear picture of where I am with tasks that day. I even get Todoist lists on my iWatch, not that I use it on there much, but still, how cool! I've also set up my home Alexa to add items to my Todoist when I say 'Alexa add XYZ to my to-do list' or add items to my Shopping List project when I say 'Alexa add XYZ to the shopping list'. I've also integrated my Google Calendar to add appointments automatically to Todoist as well. As you can probably tell, I geek out about this app, I absolutely love it! If this article helps another individual or business get inspired to get as organised with Todoist as I am, then that's awesome, I'm excited for you! If you have a question about Todoist, I'd be happy to help Jen - Author, Tried and Loved *Prices and features correct at the time of writing. As an ambassador, I may earn a commission on purchases made through links on this page.

Trying to decide if you should spend the money on the Premium (now pro) version of Todoist? Do you want to see the differences between Todoist Premium and Free? I've got it all right here. Note: This article has been updated to include Todoist's new 2021 free plan feature updates. Todoist also announced they are changing the name of their 'Premium' plan to 'Pro' in 2021, so when we say 'Premium' in this article we mean the new 'Pro'. Got it? Good, let's move on. Firstly, let me give you my personal opinion immediately, go Premium! Not to say the Free version isn't a great place to find your feet if you're new to the app, but if, like me, you juggle a multitude of projects, you'll likely want to swiftly move to Premium to take advantage of its incredible features. Let's back that up with some reasons and comparisons. We'll look at these areas of comparison for Todoist Free vs. Premium: Cost Projects and Tasks Labels and Filters People and Teams Comments and Files Would you like to see Todoist Free vs Premium features in a comparison table that includes the new 2021 free plan rollout? You're in luck! Take a look below. A little context, I'm a proud Todoist Ambassador, who loves all things 'Todoist'. As a busy company director, I've tried many different task management apps over the past 20 years. Todoist is the first and only one that takes away my anxiety of forgetting something. In fact, I've never been more productive! I'm super pumped to share my comparisons of Todoist Premium vs Free with you. This post may contain affiliate links. That means I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through one of the links. Thank you for your support. 1. The Cost: Todoist Free vs Premium At the time of writing this article, Todoist Premium works out to $3/£3 per month if you pay annually. It increases slightly to $4/£4 per month if you choose to pay monthly. I personally pay £36 upfront for the year. I can hear you saying 'Ok…but £36 is a lot different from Free'. Correct, but let's look at the value it brings: £36 over 365 days of the year is less than 10p per day. So now ask yourself this question: would you pay 10p per day to get your personal and work tasks in order, feel super organised and give yourself the best chance of increasing productivity? Or put it another way - would you consider swapping the £36 you spend on 10 x coffee house cappuccinos in a year, for a piece of software that helps you every hour of every day to get organised? I know I would, and I do! So the Free version is obviously no cost to you, yet there are some feature sacrifices for the freeness, and we'll go into some feature differences further down. But if you are tentatively looking to download Todoist, the Free option is perfect for getting an overall opinion of the basics of the software in my opinion, so I'd use it (and did use it) as a limited feature trial or taster period if you need to. Fact: I recently ran a survey on Reddit in a Todoist subreddit, asking who was a Free, Premium or Business user and why they chose the plans they did. 60% of the 600+ voters said they we're Premium users and 29% said they where free users. Of the premium users, many commented on their belief in paying for a tool they rely on, which I understand and completely agree with. Here are some of those comments: "I want to support the on going development" "I believe in paying for software that I rely on" "It's mportant for me to support the app developers" "I want Todoist to be here in the long run" "I rely on the tool and want it to be sustainable going forward" 2. Projects and Tasks: Todoist Free vs Premium Let's look at the basic project and task facts first... Todoist Free: Active Projects: 5 (new update 2021) Active Tasks Per Project: 300 (new update 2021) Active Sections Per Project: 20 Reoccurring Dates: Yes Task Priorities: Yes Reminders: No Todoist Premium: Active Projects: 300 Active Tasks Per Project: 300 Active Sections Per Project: 20 Reoccurring Dates: Yes Task Priorities: Yes Reminders: Yes Tip: Check out my ULTIMATE guide to Todoist recurring tasks and subtasks here The biggest difference in the area of projects and tasks is the number of projects you can add. I personally use only 16 of the possible 300 active projects available in Premium, yet I utilise sections to split them up, then add tasks and subtasks. I keep my project subjects very broad. However, if you prefer to use projects for each slight variant of work, you may find yourself running short of projects with the 5 limit in the Free version. Fact: Todoist's free version update rollout sees a drop in the limit of active projects (down from 80), however, they have added some helpful features to the free version that weren't available before without Premium, so don't be too disappointed at the drop to 5 projects just yet (more on this later). Fact: If you are already a free version user and you have more than 5 active projects you will be able to keep those, but you will not be able to add any more. Most of my own tasks are repeatable, so I use the reoccurring date feature every day. I also have a code for how I use flags (task priorities) Red P1 for tasks that cannot be left or must be done. Orange P2 for those I should do and if I don't, there will be consequences. Blue P3 for the ones I'd ideally like to get done, and P4 for unimportant items or notes. This code helps me manage my time - Red's first, oranges second etc, no deflecting from the plan. So in conclusion, when it comes to the number of tasks within projects, the reoccurring date feature and task priorities, in my opinion, Free and Premium come out almost equal as you can do the same on both, yet, if you are someone who'd split projects up with more detail, then you're likely going to need the Premium service, or utilise a project's sections instead. The reminders feature is only available in the Premium version too. I don't personally use the reminders as my Todoist app is always open on my computer screen, and the widget of upcoming tasks sits on the front page of my iPhone, so reminders are not a major contender in my preference of Free or Premium here. However it's worth noting that in the Reddit survey I conducted (as mentioned in the section above), some free users commented on upgrading to Premium purely to be able to use reminders. 3. Labels and Filters Fact: Todoist's free plan update includes Labels and filters! What a game-changer! Until the update was announced, Premium was the only choice for me so I could get access to filters and labels. These are my favourite features on Todoist and the main reason I chose Todoist over other task management apps. I use labels to 'tag' tasks across projects. For example, I have a label called 'WAITING' which I add to any tasks where I'm waiting for someone to do something or reply in order for me to be able to complete the task. I then have one weekly reoccurring task to chase all tasks with the 'WAITING' label, which Todoist cleverly shows me as a filtered list in priority order. What I also love about labels is how their colour can make a task stand out amongst a long list of tasks. Again if I use my 'WAITING' (red) label as an example, in today's view, I might have a task with that label that stands out in red, so I know to do that task first in the morning. This allows the person whom I'm waiting on time to get back to me, so I have a chance of completing the task that day. Geeking out now, I love to write instruction for a filter! Using simple '&, ! and @' symbols, I can instruct Todoist to show me bespoke filtered task lists. Let me give you an example: I use a filter to show me all tasks in P1 (top priority), that have not been scheduled yet, and that I'm not 'WAITING' on a reply for. I then use this filtered list to select top priority tasks that I want to schedule to do 'this week'. Here's what the filter instruction would look like: no date & !@WAITING & !recurring & P1 It's not as scary as it looks, see: no date = select all tasks without a date & !WAITING = and select tasks without the label 'WAITING' & !recurring = and select tasks that are not recurring & P1 = and select tasks that have Priority 1 flag Once you get the hang of how to use these symbols as instructions, the world is your oyster! Or at least Todoist is! This is why I chose Todoist over other task management apps, as I can customise lists to suit the way I work, I'm not governed by what the app developer thinks I need to see. Fact: In the new free plan update, you can add unlimited labels and up to 3 filters. My conclusion comparing Todoist labels and filters in both plans is they come out almost equal now that you can add them in the free plan. I'd side slightly towards the Premium plan however as filters are a genius way to see exactly what you need and if you're like me, and many other Todoist users (according to Reddit survey), your Todoist dashboard will be governed by them, so 3 might not be enough. 4. People and Teams Let's look at the basic people and teams facts first... Todoist Free: People per project: 5 Shared team Inbox: No Admin & member roles: No Team Billing: No Todoist Premium: People per project: 25 Shared team inbox: No Admin & member roles: No Team Billing: No As you can see many of the team features aren't available on either the Free or the Premium versions, meaning they are only available on the business version, so for this comparison, team features don't come into play. However, you can add 5 times as many people to projects in Premium as you can in the Free version of Todoist. How big is your team? How many team members would need access? Or perhaps consider if contractors or freelancers would need access? For me personally, at the moment, I only have my web developer and co-director using Todoist with me, so I could essentially use the Free version. However, there are limitations to what sort of interaction you can have with your team, take a look at the next section about file attachment limits and you'll see my point. Fact: The new 2021 free plan update doesn't include any changes to people and team limits 5. Comments and Files Fact: Big news! In the new free plan rollout in 2021, Todoist is adding commenting ability to tasks and comment attachments up to 5mb. Before the update, this feature wasn't available at all to free Todoist users. I find that I don't use the comments feature for my own tasks, however, using comments in tasks that are in shared projects with other team members is super helpful. For instance, I can ask my web developer a question about our site conversion, he can respond in the comments, and I can ask subsequent questions and so on, I can see where we got to in a conversation without needing another app, or set of notes, or in fact any brainpower! Comments, therefore, are great for both free or premium users that need to track the progress of a project. I have a similar conclusion on the file upload feature. It's ideal for sending a team member a file without the need for another app like a cloud service. Overall, if you work with at least one other person you'll most likely find this feature very helpful in terms of efficiency and timesaving. The difference between the free and premium versions (after the 2021 update) is the file size limit on attachments. In the free plan you can only upload up to 5mb, ideal for a word doc, or excel sheet, yet on the Premium plan you can attach files up to 100mb, ideal for heavy design files, videos and so forth. What other features have been upgraded or added for users in the 2021 Todoist free plan update? Activity History Free users can now view their activity history for up to 1 week previous. Users will be able to see past added and edited tasks, completed or uncompleted tasks, and any they deleted. All integrations Free users are able to make use of all Todoists integration options. I use Google Alexa all of the time with Toodist for my shopping list as well as quick-add-task brain dumps! Integrations all users are now able to utilise include: Google Drive Dropbox Outlook Airmail Mailbird Google Assistant Google Alexa Toggl Track Time Doctor Pomodone Powr of You Forwarding emails as Todoist tasks and comments Previously only available on Premium and Business versions, free users can now email a special Todoist email address that uses the subject line as a new task name and the email's body as the comments on the task. Useful especially when there are actionable items in an email conversation! 2-way calendar sync Using either Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook Calendar, all Todoist users can sync their scheduled tasks with their calendar. The 2-way sync allows changes from either Todoist or your calendar platform to update the other in real-time. Templates Previous to the update, Free Todoist users couldn't get access to Todoist's 50+ project template library. I have used many Todoist templates as starting or reference points for my own projects as a Premium user, now free users can get inspired too. Productivity Trends I personally don't take much notice of this feature as a premium user, I feel like if I achieve 'Todoist Zero' in my dashboard on a given day I'm winning. However for those interested, the feature basically tot's up how many tasks you've completed over a day or week and compares against your set goals. Now free users have access to these insights too. In Conclusion In all 5 main categories of comparison, Premium Todoist comes out as the winner for me. Todoist Premium also comes with other additional features to the Free version, including premium themes, automatic backups and priority support. So if you're on the fence as to if Todoist is for you in general, you could try the Free version then upgrade to Premium as soon as you're settled in and see the potential power of Toodists full features. You could also check out this Todoist Review too for a little more on how to utilise Todoist Premium features. If you're a Free version user already, what are you waiting for? Get organised with lists that fit your way of working every day for less than 10p per day with Todoist Premium. How do you get Premium Todoist? Simply go to your user icon, select Settings and click manage plan. Simple. What's your conclusion? Are you a Free user or a Premium user now? Will you be upgrading, let me know. For more software and technology articles take a look at my 'For Business' page, or ideas for you personally, check out the 'For You' page. Jen - Tried and Loved Author *References https://todoist.com/pricing https://todoist.com/help/articles/whats-included-in-the-new-free-plan https://www.reddit.com/r/todoist/comments/lv5cba/are_you_a_free_premium_or_business_user/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 https://todoist.com/help/articles/integrations Short Disclaimer: Feature and pricing information is correct at the time of writing. We may receive commissions when you click our external links. However, this does not impact our reviews and comparisons which are fair and balanced, in order to help you make the best choices. For more information read our Full Disclaimer

Todoist, the task management software, offers an inspirational range of templates for projects, but which are the best Todoist templates? Are you an experienced Todoist user looking for templates that will help your productivity and organisation? Or perhaps you’re somebody looking to try Todoist for the first time and checking out the templates on offer? Either way I’ve got some awesome templates for you in this article. What do I think are the best Todoist templates? We have so many to choose from it's hard to pick a top five, however I'm going to share with you the five Todoist templates I've used, or have used then adapted, to suit my business or personal needs, and therefore to me, these are the best. My 5 best Todoist templates are: 1. Social Media Calendar 2. Blog Post 3. Book Writing 4. Accounting Tasks 5. Goal Tracker As a Todoist user myself, and a proud Todoist Ambassador, I can say with 100% confidence that this task manager has transformed the way I work, helping me manage my time better to increase business productivity, and keep my personal life in check. Running two limited companies requires careful use of my time. Previous to using Todoist I had tried other tools including Microsoft OneNote to manage tasks. OneNote has some great features, however I never felt that I was on top of juggling projects and campaigns with it. I was using it more like a notepad of things I shouldn't forget to do, but with no scheduled date to be completed by, I ‘d always find myself a little lost as to where I was in any given project. I also used OneNote as a place to take notes at meetings or to brainstorm. I'm sure there are many helpful features to OneNote that I'm unaware of and need to learn, yet I was finding myself more and more out of control of the continued increase in tasks as my businesses grew… Enter Todoist. This post may contain affiliate links. That means I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through one of the links. Thank you for your support. Can you use Templates on the Free Plan? Good news, with the Todoist 2021 free plan update, you can use Todoist templates on the free plan! Todoist’s premium and business plans offer a whole range of additional features, which used to include the use of templates, but now they're on the free plan too. To find out what other features Todoist added to free plans take a look at my Todoist Free vs Premium comparison post. How many templates are there on Todoist? At the time of writing, there are approximately 50+ templates available for premium or business users of Todoist. Whether it's to help you organise your personal finances, help plan an event, or to track a campaign, Todoist has it all covered with templates, select Resources then Templates on Todoist to see all the templates on offer. My 5 Best Todoist Templates In Detail 5. Social Media Calendar template Screenshot of social media calendar template from Todoist resources* The social media calendar template was the very first template I added to my Todoist projects list. I use Buffer to schedule my social media campaign posts, and I use that because it's one of the cheapest social schedulers on the market for the simple tasks I need it to do. Then I use Todoist’s social media calendar template as a place to plan and brainstorm content that I can then create and schedule in Buffer. From what I've seen, the social media calendar template seems to be one of the simplest templates that Todoist offers; separating the project into sections by week. I took that template and adapted it for my needs. I now have sections for general reoccurring social media tasks like commenting, adding ALT tags and posting on reels etc. I also brainstorm TikTok video ideas and plan out the next week of social posts. Take a look at the screenshot Todoist example of how I use my social media calendar with Todoist boards: 4. Blog Post template If you're new to blogging this is a great template to get you started and make sure that you don't miss an important part of creating a successful blog. Screenshot of blog post template from Todoist resources* I added this template to my Todoist purely to get inspiration. Let me explain; the blog post template on Todoist comes across to me as more of a general template in terms of researching ideas and what to do from that initial research. Whereas I already have a blog research and brainstorming section in Todoist that work for me. Once I've decided upon the article I'd like to write, I create a task for that one article with subtasks reminding me of all the steps I need to take to ensure its success. That's where the blog post template comes in handy, it acts as a checklist for my subtasks, so I don’t miss an important step of getting the article published. Take a look at the screenshot of how I’ve used subtasks inspired by the blog post template: 3. Book Writing template This template is one I've used pretty recently, I've always wanted to write a children's book that encouraged youngsters to dance and showed them the benefits of dance in a fun characterful way. Never having written a book before, I obviously hit Google up with questions like where to begin writing a children's book? How to get a children’s book published? What's the best format to plan a book? At that point I checked Todoist to see if they had any templates to help. Screenshot of book writing template from Todoist resources* I found the book writing template which gave a basic outline of the tasks I would need to complete to get a book from my brain on to the printed page, along with some tips and tools to help with planning the content of my book. Good news, at the time of writing this article, my children’s book is being illustrated! 2. Accounting Tasks template Screenshot of accounting tasks template from Todoist resources* I initially installed the accounting tasks template when I first used Todoist and I found on the most part, it helped me as a checklist of things not to forget. It’s ideal for any small business finding their feet in trying to initiate a process to their accounting. However, as time has gone on I've created my own accounting project in Todoist which has been inspired by the accounting tasks template. I wanted to keep a log of outstanding invoices in and out, in the same place where my repeating tasks for accounting were. So now I have sections for invoices and sections for reoccurring accounting tasks. I also use subtasks with similarities to the list on the accounting tasks template, take a look at the screenshot of my accounting project: 1. Goal Tracker template My most recent addition to my Todoist is the goal tracker template. I've only recently found this one, and I am extremely excited to use it. I haven't penned in my exact goals as tasks yet; I've been taking the time to brainstorm the most important goals for me. I hope to be ready to add my goal tasks within the next week. Screenshot of goal tracker template from Todoist resources* I get excited imagining how satisfying it will be to hear that little sound that Todoist plays when you complete a task from this goal list. In Conclusion I have personally found that Todoist templates are a brilliant framework or source of inspiration for projects that can then be adapted for any individual or business. Take for example the social media calendar template I mentioned; I took the basic elements and adapted it with new sections and tasks to suit my way of working. If you're still unsure after reading this article whether Todoist is for you, why not download the app and try the free version first? Or even better, take a look at my comparison of free vs Premium Todoist Thanks for taking the time to read this article on the best Todoist templates. If you want to find out what I really think of the key Todoist features, you can read my review of the software as a whole. Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter to be the first to see new Todoist article or other business based articles. Let me know what your favourite templates are. Jen - Tried and Loved author *References and screen shots https://todoist.com/templates/marketing-sales/social-media-calendar https://todoist.com/templates/marketing-sales/blog-post https://todoist.com/templates/creative/book-writing https://todoist.com/templates/work/accounting-tasks https://todoist.com/templates/2021-goals/goal-tracker Short Disclaimer: We may receive commissions when you click our external links. However, this does not impact our reviews and comparisons which are fair and balanced, in order to help you make the best choices. For more information read our Full Disclaimer