Google announced it’s new BUZZ social networking features today and I’m looking forward to seeing how these will work with my current google favorites. Facebook just made some very unpopular changes and I can see this announcement resulting in a rise in gmail registrations through the week. Right now, only gmail users will be included in the network, so I’m not sure where that leaves the rest of my friends and family. I use gmail for everything but so far, only my mom has joined because I asked her to. 
I’ve had a few questions lately on just HOW I use gmail for everything so here’s a little rundown. It’s not JUST gmail, it’s a whole suite of useful gadgets I can access from pretty much anywhere. I have a google Android based phone (T-Mobile g1) so that makes my data even more accessible to me.
The feature I use the most is google calendar. I used to use Outlook, but in order to use my calendar on my phone, too, I had to sync my phone and desktop often. And I’m not good at ‘often’. With gmail and my G1, wherever I enter an event, it is entered online and instantly available anywhere I have an internet connection or cell service. Even the library public computers. No software to install, no user account to create on other machines. Just send it to the ‘cloud’ and it’s there.
I use google calendar to schedule everything. I can create new calendars for anything and turn them on and off as I please. My kids each have their chores on google calendar in different colors. They come home from school, have a snack and check their gmail/google calendar. If I forgot to add a chore, I can enter it on my computer or phone seconds before they finish loggin on(happens all the time ). I can be as detailed as I need to be in the event details section (i.e. Chore: Clean Room, Details:UNDER YOUR BED, too!) I can have chores repeat, such as garbage every Monday. I can set reminders for them as well.
I also use the calendar to do my meal planning. I can drag and drop meals we have often to the next week. If I have beans or a roast on the schedule I set an email reminder for 4 or 5 hours before so I remember to get them on early. I keep some of my recipes in google docs and link to them in the calendar event details so I can pull it up when I’m ready to cook. If I’m cooking one of Molly’s Soups I include the link in the event details and it takes me right to the web page when I’m ready. (I put my phone in a plastic ziplock bag when I use it for recipes while cooking!)
From my meal plan, I create a grocery list using the tasks feature. I think it should be called lists, but that’s just a name. It works like lists. I create one for groceries and fill out the list before I go to the store. While at the store, I pull out my phone and pull my list from out of the ‘cloud’ and check off each item as I get it.
This is just the beginning of the google home management possibilities. My google home page has all the blogs I keep track of, current TV listings, movie showtimes, news. I’m still exploring google voice, picasa, youtube and google books…and more. I really am a google/Android girl and I hope they keep coming up with tons of features for me! I’m a tech mom and it makes me happy to organize and run my home with fun programs and features. My next step is to get a touch screen netbook to hang on the wall like a calendar where we can go to check everything, enter events, pull up recipes, add items to a list etc. WITHOUT SITTING DOWN at a computer! Quick and efficient! GO, GOOGLE!
