An Ignoble Experiment: [Parent Hacks] 2 new posts in Parent Hacks

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Evernote: How do you use it? Talk amongst yourselves.

Parenting stretches one's ability to keep track of details, especially in this data-heavy age. With paper calendars, sticky notes and address books straining under the pressure, an ongoing stream of Web- and mobile apps have stepped in to take up the slack.

In Parenthacker circles, Evernote gets mentioned quite a bit as exceptionally useful, easy, and flexible (and free). Evernote has been around for quite a while, is trusted by millions of users, and is available on just about every platform imaginable, including the iPad 2's nifty smart cover.

Evernote lets you take notes, or clip digital files, then save them in collections called "notebooks," which you can annotate, tag, and search, and then access anywhere. There's more to it, but that's the gist. It's one of those apps that lends itself to so many different uses it's difficult to pigeonhole.

I thought it would be fun to find out how Parenthackers are using Evernote, given your collective intelligence and problem-solving creativity.

I use Evernote to clip Web-based crochet patterns so I can tag and search them, then access them on my phone. The Evernote blog profiles a bunch of interesting uses.

If you're an Evernote user, leave a comment telling us how you use it. I'm sure there are plenty of ideas the rest of us hadn't considered.

If you don't use Evernote, which notetaking apps do you use?

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Keep medical- and health details accessible with Evernote

Opher's tip for keeping hard-to-remember medical details at one's fingertips:

I've been using the free Web app Evernote for business purposes for a couple of years. Evernote lets you clip any electronic file (documents, spreadsheets, web pages, photos, etc.), add notes, comments and tags, then keep it on their servers for free, forever.

There is an Evernote app available for just about every smartphone and browser plus client applications for Windows and Mac that extend the functionality and make it easy to type, sort and organize notes into separate notebooks.

I'm now using Evernote to store my kids' medical details: innoculations and vaccines, notes from doctor visits, medication and dosage information, any hospitalizations, surgeries, etc. Once entered, I can pull up this critical information even if we're in a remote city on vacation, or if my daughter is at summer camp and needs to have records sent to a local doctor. [Or while chatting with the school nurse. -- Ed.]

There is a paid version of Evernote with some extra features, but so far the free account has been fine for me.

This is a fantastic use for Evernote, which I also use on occasion. Simple questions like "when was your son's last tetanus shot?" often stop me in my tracks, and this is a good way around that.

While I think the threat is extremely small, it's wise to consider security and privacy. Evernote has encryption and security protocols in place, but it's still something to keep in mind..

If using a Web app for this purpose makes you uncomfortable, other Parenthackers have suggested record medical details in a spreadsheet and/or storing it on a portable thumb drive which you keep with you. Or, you could keep notes in your phone's notepad (most mobile phones have one, including non-smartphones). And, of course, there's the old pen-and-paper route!

Other ideas? How do you keep your kids' medical details handy?

Related: Keep a list of domestic details on your cell phone or PDA (my favorite: clothing- and shoe sizes)

And: Evernote: how do you use it?