Organization tip: Use nicknames in your cellphone contacts

Every so often I read organization tips on the web that seem ridiculously simple ("Keep a to do list." "Use Post-It notes."), but when I follow them, they turn out surprisingly useful. I won't claim that the following tip rises to that level, but it worked for me.

Over the past two weeks I sold two of my family's cars (a Honda Civic and a Honda Pilot) on Craigslist. This meant I got lots of calls from strangers all over the Bay Area. Many identified themselves by first name only, and in any event I didn't really care what their last names were.

For leads that sounded promising, I saved phone numbers in my cell phone using nicknames like "Pilot Lisa" or "Civic John." This is better than just "Lisa" for a couple reasons. When I get calls from Lisa and the caller ID pops up with the name, I know not just who it is, but why she's calling -- better than "who the heck is Lisa?" Plus, when the transaction is complete, I can run through all the "Pilot" and "Civic" names, which are sorted alphabetically in my address book, and delete them.

This is a nice way to manage temporary contacts related to a short-lived project.