---
url: "https://berkaycubuk.com/2025/08/12/tracking-todos/"
author: "Berkay Cubuk"
description: "Why I ditched todo apps and switched to a simple notebook with dashes and plus signs to track tasks and shopping lists."
date: "2025-08-12"
---

# Tracking todos

Just like you I'm sick of tracking my todos, including shopping list. As an engineer I tend to use software for fixing problems but I think software is not enough yet for this problem. This is something I struggle with for years
and I might be landed on a solution now. I'm doing something that most people do and did for years. I use a small notebook and a pen. Each note has a dash (-) in the first line and I turn them into plus (+) when the task is
completed. This is dead simple but effective solution that I found. This includes shopping lists too! I just write what is missing in my kitchen and tick it when it's complete, that's it.

Example:

```markdown
- Deploy berkaycubuk.com
- Eggs
+ Fix leaking bathroom pipe
+ Lemon
- Watermelon
- Write thank you letter for friend
```