Moving to another city: thirty listings, three quotes, one decision
A long personal project, with a family and a deadline, needs one place where a passing thought can become the next concrete step.
Nina and Andriy are moving to another city with their seven-year-old by the end of August, because Andriy’s new job starts in September. By May they have looked at about thirty listings online, visited six, collected three quotes from movers and read more parents’ forum threads about schools than either of them would admit. All of it is in four apps and one shared chat.
The listing Nina liked in April has been found three times. The quote that included the piano has been lost twice. Last week they both called the same school.
Two weeks of throwing things in a box
Nina does not start with a plan. She starts with a notebook called Move and, for two weeks, puts everything in it the moment it appears: the listing from the clipper, the photo of the street, the voice note from the car, the movers’ PDF. One line each about why. By the end of the fortnight there are about thirty notes and no structure, and that is fine.
Then one evening she writes the goal in a sentence, answers a few questions, and the pile sorts itself into flats, school, movers and a long list of questions. The listing from April is in there once, with the date she saw it and what she felt.
The Sunday ten minutes
The questions become a checklist, and the checklist becomes the one habit they keep: Sunday evening, ten minutes, tick what got answered, add what came up. “Does the school take transfers in September” gets ticked on the third Sunday, and the answer is written under the school note, not in the chat.
Andriy edits the same notebook. The weekly argument about the third-floor flat with the balcony now happens in comments under that flat, and when it comes up again at dinner, the comment thread is still there with the date. His mother, who is helping with boxes, has view access and reads the movers’ note instead of asking.
They choose once
In July it comes down to two flats: bigger and further, smaller and four minutes from the school. They run it as two branches with the costs and the worries of each, compare by the criteria from the goal, and pick the smaller one. The decision note says why, what they gave up and which flat came second. The balcony is in there.
The move happens on 24 August. In September, when the landlord asks something about the contract, the email is in the notebook. In two years, when they move again, the movers who took the piano are still there, with the reason they were chosen.
Some projects live between everyday tasks for months: a move, a renovation, a trip you plan with your parents, a boat you build in the garage. The details arrive on different days in different apps. Below is how a personal project notebook is kept in Kartoteq, using a family move as the example, so nothing you found in March gets found again in July.
How the notebook is laid out
Start with the inbox, not the plan
Create a notebook called Move and, for the first two weeks, just throw things in: a listing link from the web clipper, a photo of a street you liked, a voice note from the car about the school, a screenshot of the movers’ price. One line each about why you saved it. No structure yet.
When the pile is about thirty items, switch on AI and write the goal: “Move a family of three to the city by the end of August, with a school within walking distance.” The interview asks what matters most, what the budget is, what is already decided and what is not up for discussion. It proposes sections; rename them to your own words.
Sort the pile into the sections in one evening. Anything that fits nowhere goes to Questions.
One flat, one note, one table for all of them
Each listing is a note in Flats: the link, the photos, the price, the floor, the date you saw it and what you felt. Add a table at the top of the section with one row per flat and the columns that actually matter to you: rent, minutes to the school, lift, when it is free. Update the row when the price changes; the note keeps the history.
The three movers’ quotes go into Movers and costs as attachments; the text inside their PDFs is searchable, so “piano” finds the surcharge. School and district gets the photos of the walk, the catchment map and the two paragraphs from the parents’ forum you want to remember.
Ask AI across the notebook: which flats fit all the hard constraints, what do we still not know about each, where do the quotes disagree. The answer links to the notes, so you can check it with your partner at the kitchen table.
Keep the questions as a checklist you actually empty
Questions is a checklist: “Is the lift being repaired in flat 7?” “Does the school take transfers in September?” “Will the movers do the piano?” Each item has a line about who to ask. Tick it when answered, and write the answer next to its source, not in the checklist.
Share the notebook with your partner with edit rights. The weekly argument then happens in comments under the specific flat, and the “I thought you called the school” thread is attached to the question it concerns. Your mother-in-law, who is helping with the move, gets view.
On Sunday evening, ten minutes: open the checklist, tick what got answered, add what came up during the week. That is the whole routine.
Decide once, write it down, stop re-deciding
When you choose a flat, write one note in Decisions: which one, why, what you gave up and what the alternative was. Link it to the two runner-up listings. The next time someone at dinner says “but the one on the third floor had a balcony”, the answer is written down with the date.
If a choice is really hard, run it as two branches: the bigger flat further out versus the smaller one near the school. Each branch keeps its own costs and its own worries; AI compares them by the criteria from your goal and shows where it got each number. Then you pick, and the losing branch stays for the next move.
After the move, the notebook does not disappear. The movers you liked, the landlord’s email and the school contact are all still there, next to the reason you chose them.
What is left when the project ends
A notebook you can open a year later and still understand: the sources, the discussions and the result, with the reason next to every decision. If the next project is similar, you start from here instead of from an empty page.
Where to go next
Save the page, the email and the chat into one placeStart with one notebook.
The Personal plan is free: notes, files and search. AI and shared notebooks can be added later, when a project needs them.
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