Example: creating and using a packing list

My favorite use case for project templates is the packing list.

You can create a template project with all the things you want to pack for trips, so that when you’re packing, all you have to do is put things in your bag and check off the relevant items.

After you watch the video, you can open this packing list and copy and paste the items into your Things packing list template project: SmarterTravel’s Ultimate Packing List

Video transcript

[00:00:00] In the previous lesson you learned how to create a project template in Things. And we used the example of going on a weekend camping trip. Let’s do another example. Just so you really get the hang of how project templates work in Things. 

[00:00:12] And this is a good moment, by the way, for me to remind you that if you find anything confusing at all, just leave a comment on this lesson or on the relevant lesson. Leave a comment and ask me because I try to teach things so that everything makes sense. But sometimes maybe there are things that don’t immediately make sense to you. So just let me know about that and then I’ll be glad to help you out. And you can always email me as well at [email protected]. So just a reminder there. 

[00:00:37] All right. Let’s do the second example of a project template. Now, what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna make this a template for a packing list. This is the project template I use, myself, a lot. And it’s the one that I use the most, probably, because I like to go on trips. And if you like to go on trips as well, you’ll find this very helpful. Because when you go on a trip, you’ve got so much to deal with and packing is well, at least in my experience, not really fun. And it sucks to forget something when you’re going on a trip. So having a packing list is really neat because you can just work through the items that you have, one by one, on your list, and then feel confident that you’ve packed everything and you just don’t need to do as much thinking. And you have your energy, mental energy, right, left for all the other things that come with going on a trip or—or for getting stuff done before you get to go on the trip. 

[00:01:26] So what we’ll do is we’ll create a project template for a packing list and I will put a link as well in the text that goes with this lesson to provide you a—some—a list of suggested items that you can put on your packing list. But of course, what you’ll probably find is, the first time you use your packing list project template, you realize that there may be some things on there that you normally pack that were not on these lists already. So at that point, just go and add it to both the template and to your active copy of the list. If that makes sense. Of the project, right? So that the next time you go through it, that item that wasn’t on there the first time is also on there. Now, if you do that a few times, the list should be more or less settled. 

[00:02:06] So let’s go ahead and get started. New list, new project and I’ll call it packing list. It’s under templates again. We’re gonna go ahead and right away, just drag it to Someday. Okay. So what are some things that might go on your packing list? I’ll just put a few example items. But again, the text that goes with this video will have a link to a list that you can just copy and paste into your Things. So. Wallet, passport, computer, computer charger, phone, phone charger, house keys, stuff like that. You know, I mean, clothing, obviously. A lot—a lot of things will go on here. 

[00:02:51] And you use it the same way. So the way I like to do it is, for example, I got my road trip to the USA coming up. I’ll go to templates. Right-click the packing list, duplicate project, drag it under trips. Here’s the packing list. Just set the when to Anytime. There we go. And then I’ll just go ahead and change it I’ll say pack for USA road trip. So the way I usually have it is I have—for a bigger trip at least—I’ve got both a project that contains sort of all the non-packing stuff to do, as well as a project specifically for packing for the trip. And again, I can set a deadline here and that’ll be August 30th for me. 

[00:03:33] So this is one way to do it. Now, if you like, there is a different way to do it. You can make it a little bit easier. Under templates, you—instead of creating a project—you can also just create a todo and say pack for a trip. Use the checklist feature in the same way. Wallet, passport. Computer, computer charger. Phone, phone charger. And do it this way. And again, you can set this to Someday. And then just go ahead and drag this into your project for preparing for a trip and then you just gotta—ah, here it is. And then you just gotta make sure again to set this to Anytime. So instead of doing a project template, you can also create a todo template with a checklist inside of it. If you like that better. And then you can go ahead and check this off. 

[00:04:21] For something like packing for a bigger trip, I find that there’s so many individual items to pack that I kind of prefer to have a separate project for it rather than just a separate todo. But this is pure preference. And of course, you could also create a heading, right, and say pack for the trip. And then in there—oh, whoops—let’s drag this underneath. And then in here, start typing passport, computer, wallet, at all of those things. Right? That’s another way to do it. So you could create sort of a trip template even if you wanted to. That’s like this whole project template with maybe a heading for stuff to pack. Right? And some other items you might do. 

[00:05:08] So actually, let me just show you how you might do that. So I’m giving you options essentially in this lesson. I showed you the way that I do it. I have an actual packing list template, but if you want, you can create a whole project that’s, you know, prepare for going on a trip and you can have the packing list with wallet, passport, underwear, all of those things, right? And then you can have another heading that’s like buy food for on the trip. Right? And, you know, snacks and whatever else, things. And then, deal with housing and flights or something. So you can have check in for flight, book accommodation for first night. I mean, you can—so—so you can create sort of a more complex project as well if you’d rather have just one project for this whole trip. And again, let’s set the when to Someday. You can go in here and now you’ve got prepare for going on a trip. And you can do the same thing, duplicate it, set it to Anytime, drag it under trips. 

[00:06:17] So you got a couple options here. And depending on what level of organization you feel more comfortable with, you can pick one that works for you. So that’s how you can use Things and project templates in Things to help yourself pack for a trip or prepare for a trip. It’s the project template that I use the most. And I find it very handy. Now that you’ve learned this, let’s just go ahead and talk a little bit about how you might want to set up your own project templates.

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