In this new blog series, The Ultimate Guide to Trello for Organization, learn how to use Trello to organize your home and business, for project management, and to schedule your time. Part 1 is all about my most frequently used Trello boards!
The Ultimate Guide to Trello: My Most Frequently Used Trello Boards
I love Trello and use it to plan, track, store, and organize tons of information!
In this new blog series, I’ll be sharing how I use Trello for organization. You’ll learn how to use Trello to organize your home and business life, for project management, and to schedule your time on a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual basis.
Today’s post is part one in the series, and it’s all about my most frequently used Trello Boards.
These boards are perfect for busy moms who are managing a home and a small business. And be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom of the post for your chance to snag free Trello board templates!
New to Trello?
If you’ve never used Trello before, this post will likely be confusing and overwhelming for you!
I highly recommend that you check out these posts from Trello to become familiar with this platform before you jump into this post.
I developed this set up and the boards discussed in today’s post over the past couple of years of using Trello.
As a Trello newbie, take your time and become familiar with this platform, then come back here to check out this post!
Now, let’s take a look at my most frequently used Trello boards.
Board 1: Weekly Workflow
My weekly workflow board helps me organize my household tasks and my daily client work.
I have a separate workflow board for my blogging tasks (see below).
My Weekly Workflow board includes:
- a list for goals
- several general and reference task lists
- a task guideline list
- daily lists, one for each day of the week
- and a list for completed tasks
Let’s talk more about each list included in my Weekly Workflow Board including the purpose of each list and the information stored there!
– Goals
The first list on this board is my for my goals and includes cards for quarterly goals, monthly projects, 2-week sprints, and weekly household and family goals.
The cards included in my Goals list are primarily “at-a-glance” cards where I can see everything just by looking at the card title. I use a vertical slash to separate tasks and make the title more visually appealing/striking by adding emojis through the Trello app on my phone.
– General & Reference Lists
The next three lists on my Weekly Workflow board are general and reference lists.
#1 Master Task List
The first list following my Goals is a master task list. Currently I have a card for Household & Family Tasks that includes a running checklist for tasks.
This board is a drop zone for tasks. When I think of something or complete a brain dump, the tasks are placed here first.
#2 Tasks That Need Scheduled
The next list is for tasks that need to be scheduled or assigned a deadline. This is the next stop for tasks in my pipeline.
On this list, I create cards for individual tasks rather than using checklists. I use this approach because I’m so visual and like to see each task at a glance. Plus, it makes assigning deadlines easier.
#3 Upcoming Tasks
The third list is for tasks that have assigned deadlines or that need to be completed as soon as possible.
Almost all of the tasks on this list have a deadline. It might be an arbitrary deadline that I assigned or an external deadline. These deadlines are at least a week in the future, because cards with earlier deadlines (during the current week) are on the appropriate daily list (see below).
– Task Guideline
The fourth list in this board is a daily task list guideline that I created for myself.
To be honest, I don’t use it much. Over the past few months, I’ve fine tuned my daily tasks so I don’t need to follow the guidelines quite as rigidly. I could probably just delete this list.
– Daily Lists
The next seven lists correspond to each day of the week and include cards for my daily household and client tasks.
For the most part, I use a single card for a related group of tasks (Weekly Office Straighten, Declutter & Clean) and a checklist within the card to track my progress with the individual tasks.
I occasionally create cards for individual tasks, especially if it’s an important client project.
At the end of each day, I update the current day’s list by moving cards to another day if the tasks weren’t completed, updating due dates for recurring weekly tasks, and moving completed cards to the Done list. Then, I move that list to the end of the “week” (the back of the list). This way I’m always looking at the list for the current day.
– Done
Finally, there’s a list for completed tasks called “Done.”
I don’t use this list that frequently because so many of my tasks are recurring. But it might be helpful for you. Plus, it’s a nice ego stroke when you’re feeling unmotivated or less than productive! 😉
My Weekly Workflow board is a board I use many times each day. It helps me to organize, store, and assign tasks and definitely keeps me organized!
It’s so helpful to sit down at my desk and know exactly what I need to get done that day. It saves me times, energy, and cuts down on decision fatigue.
Board 2: Blog Weekly Workflow
Another one of my most frequently used Trello Boards is my Blog Weekly Workflow.
This board is similar to my Weekly Workflow board but with a few tweaks that make this board a better fit for how I structure my blogging time and tasks.
Let’s talk more about each list on my Blog Weekly Workflow board!
– Goals and Planning
As with my Weekly Workflow board, the first list in my Blog Weekly Workflow is all about goals and planning.
These are “at-a-glance” type cards that give me a quick reminder of the goals I’m focusing on during each time frame. There’s a card for quarterly goals, monthly projects, 2-week sprint, and weekly blog goals.
– Master Task List
Following my Goals and Planning list, I have a master list for my blog tasks.
This list functions similarly to the master task list in my Weekly Workflow board in that this list/card act as a task drop zone.
Tasks are placed here as I think of them, brainstorm them, or record them during my brain dumps. Then I move them to the appropriate focus week or daily checklist, as needed (learn more below).
– Blog Block Tracking
The next list on my Blog Weekly Workflow board is for tracking the time I’ve spent working on my blog.
I originally set a goal to work on my blog for 10 hours a week based on Rosemarie Groner’s 10 Hour Time Block Strategy.
If you’re struggling to balance and prioritize the many different tasks involved with blogging like I was, I highly recommend this affordable and extremely helpful blogging cheat sheet (not an affiliate link; just a product that made an insane difference in my blogging focus and productivity).
This list is less relevant for me now, as I recently shifted to batching tasks and using a weekly theme for my blog work (see the next list). This new approach makes tracking my time less necessary, but I wanted to include it in case you need a resource for managing your blogging or online business time!
– Weekly Themes
The next list lays out the theme for each week of the month.
There’s one card for each week. The title includes the week of the month and the dates as well as my focus theme for that week: Email & Social Media Marketing, Training & Special Projects (2 weeks in the month), or Content Creation.
There are task checklists within each card to help me track and complete individual tasks within each focus theme.
This weekly theme approach has made a HUGE difference in my blogging and is allowing me to improve my content output and quality, productivity, and my ability to engage with my readers and followers.
– Daily Tasks
The next list is for my daily tasks and includes one card for each day of the week.
On each card is a checklist for that day’s recurring tasks.
There are more regularly recurring tasks (ie, each week on Monday) on my Blogging Workflow than on my Weekly Workflow board, which is partly why this board is structured differently. And I love the organization and simplicity of the task tracking on this board!
Hmmm, I should try to recreate some of that on my Weekly Workflow board, which feels more overwhelming. A post for another day, perhaps! 😉
– Task Tracking
The final list on my Blog Weekly Workflow board is for tracking the social media scheduling for my blog.
These are at-a-glance cards that quickly and easily tell me where I’m at with my social media scheduling.
My Blog Weekly Workflow board shows me exactly what I need to focus on each day and each week, which allows me to get straight to work instead of using up my valuable business time making a plan!
As I mentioned above in the Weekly Workflow section, I love being able to sit down and get right to work instead of deciding what to work on and prioritize. This board makes that so much easier!
Board 3: Home Central Station
The central station board concept is something I picked up from Kate Doster when I took her “Trelloing for Traffic” course (now called Trello Magic). This course was my first deep dive into Trello, and it was so helpful. I definitely recommend it!
My Home Central Station board is a repository of information and a way to track purchases, tasks, home decor, and more.
This board includes lists for:
- Reference (links) & Reading – broken down by topic (house cleaning, laundry, TV & Movies, etc)
- Family Information – which includes a card for each family member that houses any pertinent information I need access to
- Current Big Projects – including checklists of tasks for each project and links to products and tutorials
- Auto Tracking – this list includes a card for each of our vehicles with pertinent information and a maintenance checklist
- Shopping – there are cards for household items, home decor, and medicine cabinet; each card has a shopping checklist
- Gift Ideas – I create a card for each gift recipient and a checklist for gift ideas and links (primarily birthdays; Christmas has it’s own gift list)
- Christmas – this list houses everything I need to track, organize, and store for the holiday including menus and food shopping, home decor, gift lists, etc.
This board is truly an information storehouse that I reference regularly!
Board 4: Blog Central Station
My Blog Central Station board is similar to my Home Central Station board, but the information is specific to my blog and online business. I use this board just as frequently as my Home Central Station board, maybe even more frequently!
I primarily use this board for storing frequently referenced information or information I want to read and implement.
These are the lists included:
- Reference – this is the list I use the most on this board, and it includes things like my blog color HEX codes, links to my email opt-in landing pages, etc.
- Research/Read
- Workflows – I don’t do much with these as my workflows have their own boards or are included in my Blog Weekly Workflow board.
- Testimonials/Shout Outs – I don’t have anything on this board, but now that I see it, this would be another really helpful reference list!
- Social Media Post Bank
- Pinterest Information
- Canned Replies – another list I would like to make use of.
- Affiliate Links
- Income
This board makes it so easy to reference information I need, so I don’t waste any of my valuable business building time searching for it.
Board 5: Courses & Products Purchased
In case you didn’t already know, I’m a self-confessed course and education junkie. I love learning new things and get seriously excited to take in-depth, well-written courses.
Buuuuttt…
This zeal has a tendency to take over and lead me to purchase courses then never commit to completing them.
This board not only helps me stay organized, it allows me to see how many courses I currently own, my progress within each, and helps me to make better decisions about whether to purchase more courses.
I LOVE this board, because everything I need to access and work through my courses is here!
So, when I’m waiting for an appointment or to pick up a kiddo or a dog or whatever, I can grab my phone and earbuds, click into the card of the course I’m working through, log in, and make some progress.
So easy and so convenient!
If you’re a course addict like me, definitely peruse this board, make it your own, and create a little learning magic! 🙂
Snag Copies of These Boards!
Want copies of these boards to use to organize your life and business?
You’re in luck!
Just fill in the form below, and I’ll send you links for my most frequently used Trello Boards.
The Ultimate Guide to Trello: My Most Frequently Used Trello Boards
I LOVE Trello and as you can see, I use it to plan, track, store, and organize loads of information!
Today’s post was the first in a new blog series, The Ultimate Guide to Trello, and it was all about the boards I use most frequently.
Stay tuned for more posts in the series to learn how I use Trello to organize all the things. You’ll learn how to use Trello to organize your home and business life, for project management, and to schedule your time on a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual basis!
Related Posts
If you enjoyed today’s post, you might find these related posts helfpul:
- How I Stay Organized with Bullet Journaling
- 16 Practical Lists You Need to Organize Your Business
- How to Prioritize Your To-Do List by Asking 5 Simple Questions
- How to Use Google Calendar to Organize Your Home Business
Do you use Trello? What are your favorite and most frequently used boards?
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Excellent information about using Trello to effectively organize both home and business. I enjoyed seeing the thought you put into organizing daily and future tasks. Nicely done. Thanks.
Hi, Cheryl ~
So glad to hear you enjoyed this post and found it helpful! Good luck with your digital organizing and with Trello. And thanks for stopping by today!
Tiffany
Tiffany I just came across your project management trello boards blog post and it had a line to snag the boards for free, but I couldn’t find the link. Could it be that its no longer available for download? Your post is just what I’ve been seraching for. Thanks!!
Hi, Olga ~
Thanks for the heads up regarding the sign up form issue. I’ve fixed it and sent you the template links! So glad to hear this post was just what you needed! Thanks for stopping by.
Tiffany