How Evernote Saved me $120

I saw a Twit recently from someone named mrdoornbos saying "After a year of daily @evernote usage, it's now as important to me as email. And no I don't get paid to say that :-)" I know how he feels, and I've only been using it steadily for 2 months.

Think of Evernote as a giant box that you can throw any information into, and then easily find it; scans of documents, notes of phone conversations, blog ideas, shopping lists, lists of prescriptions, PDF's of gadget manuals etc. And since you can get all this material back from your phone, it is like having someone following you around with your filing cabinet.

About two months ago, I started just dumping information into it. Back when Delicious first hit the scene, I dumped bookmarks into it for months all the while wondering why I was bothering. Eventually, I started going in to retrieve dimly remembered websites. I have over 4000 bookmarks now in Delicious. I thought I'd try the same approach with Evernote; just dump things in and see i I ever went back in for them.

Entering in prescriptions seemed a natural. How often have you had to fill out paperwork at a Doctor's office and had to give a list of prescriptions you take? For some reason, I also put in a prescription our dog takes.

A month or so later, I had my Ah Ha! moment. My wife and I were shopping at Costco. She suggested next time I come, I bring the prescription for the dog. The vet charges us $15 a month. We could see if Costco had it for less. I whipped out my Instinct, and fired up Evernote's mobile page (they have native apps for the iPhone, Palm Pre and some Blackberrys but a generic web page for the rest of us) and found the prescription. Costco had the pills for only $5 a month.

Evernote's first outing saved me $120 a year!

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