Electronic Reminders

Problem: You keep forgetting important tasks, appointments or events.

Solution: Try a Web-based service that will send email, text or telephone reminders. Plug in a mobile number, date and time you want your text alert sent as well as a message, and ohdontforget.com will take care of the rest. Gottakeepup.com offers customized templates that remind you about birthdays and anniversaries and prompt you to schedule tasks related to car maintenance, pet care and vacation planning. Sportstvinsider.com allows sports fans to schedule text alerts telling them what time and on what channel they can watch their favorite teams play, based on ZIP Code--ideal for, say, the Stanford football fan living in Chicago. For dentists, doctors, spas and other service providers who want to keep in touch with patients or clients, smilereminder.com ($399 activation fee, $249 a month) will send out reminder alerts for appointments, maintenance care or cancellations by email.

Caveat: Check with your mobile carrier to find out if you will be charged any fees for receiving alerts.