Right now I have all of my lists, except the grocery list (which I share with my wife using AnyList) in OF. An example would be maintenance items for my vehicle. As I think of things, e.g., replace wiper blades, I add them to the maintenance list in OF. Packing lists would be another example.
I’m wondering if it makes more sense to restrict OF use to Projects/tasks and use a list app for just that, lists. The advantage of placing lists in OF is that most everything is in one app. That is also a disadvantage as it can create clutter in OF.
You can make any kind of list in Anylist - I have my packing list there, for instance, as well as lists for non-grocery stores (eg hardware, clothes). Since you already have the family Anylist plan why not use that app?
My main reason for asking is that there is something to be said for consolidating as much as you can in as few apps as you can. But in this instance, I’m thinking that keeping lists and OmniFocus may not be the best practice. I appreciate your input, thank you.
You can easily create and collaborate real-time on lists in free apps from Apple Notes to Pages.
I don’t use OF but since you’re already using and paying for Anylist, so my question is why not use it to its fullest capabilities since it will meet your needs? I don’t quite get your reply.
I’d think the organisational hassles of trying to manage potentially overlapping content in two apps would be much greater than finding a system of projects and tags that works in OF alone.
The only thing I don’t put in OF are temporary shopping lists. Everything for your car should be in a repeating schedule anyway.
I apologize for not being clear. I have 1 shared list in AnyList, the grocery list. I’m not paying for AnyList—I’m using the free version.
My question is related to the principle of consolidation. In general, I think it can be more efficient to minimize the number of different apps one uses. This is why initially I put lists that I use often (e.g, vehicle maintenance, groceries, shopping, packing, etc.) in OF. But, there is also the drawback of having too much in one’s productivity app, which adds more clutter and stuff to shuffle through. I’m considering transferring all lists from OF to AnyList but before doing so I thought I’d seek the wise advice from this forum.
The thing is that the items do not overlap. Even vehicle maintenance tends to be a list of one-up items like wipers, tires, etc., with the exception of routine maintenance based on mileage, which the vehicle will pester me about with warning lights until I have it taken care of. You are right about juggling two apts, thus my quandary. I’m probably making this harder than it needs to be, ironic I think!
So this is more of a philosophical question? Because if it’s financial then just create and real-time edit/share with Apple Notes. Second would be an $11.99/year Anylist family plan. Personally I think it’s silly to spend the extra $$ to buy a person OF (in any of its relevant incarnations) just to share a list that they can also edit - especially in an app that’s way overkill for the purpose.
Apple Notes is built-in and does sharing and real-time editing perfectly well for free. If you don’t want to buy into Anylist (which I have - and do - and think is great) Apple Notes is all you need.
If you’re sharing with someone outside that ecosystem: yes, obviously!
It’s only clutter if it’s not scheduled, deferred, added to a project, etc. In the car example, it seems all you’d need would be a single action project set to review once a month. Dump your car items in there and you can forget about them until your review (or until you need to call a tow truck )
And what if his wife wants to add something to the list? To me it seems a major issue here is utilizing a good collaborative option. That’s why Notes or Pages makes sense as free options, and why Anylist, which the OP already uses, is an excellent affordable add-on option. OF does not offer inexpensive, simple collaboration; it seems slightly perverse to impose it on someone purely for the purposes of collaborating on a list or two.
I take the view that if the person I am collaborating with actually contributes to the list, their effort that I then don’t have to make will compensate for the overhead of having items split across apps.
I’m surprised there has been no mention of Reminders. It’s perfect for setting up shared shopping lists, and everyone (at least with iOS/Mac) has it. Also integrates with Siri.
For car/home maintenance I use OmniFocus because it’s easy to schedule repeating events. I don’t have any reason to share this and it works better than Calendar for such things.
You are right about juggling two apts, thus my quandary. I’m probably making this harder than it needs to be, ironic I think! 
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