There have been many a times when I forgotten to carry out tasks I was supposed to do just because I plain forgot them. I do write them down but sometimes those notes get neglected too. Tasks as simple as calling someone on a specific day or your doctors appointment can be forgotten quite easily.

To overcome this I use a simple method so that I can get a SMS message a couple of hours before I am supposed to do something. You do not require to pay anything except if your cell phone provider charges you for incoming SMS messages.

Ok before I start the explanation, here are the tools you require for getting SMS Reminders of your tasks on your cell phone. First a cell phone itself and the second tool is a Google Calendar account.

Google Calendar is a very popular Calendar tool that allows you to add events and manage them online. Google Calendar also has a nice little feature that sends you a SMS reminder before the event is to occur. Using this feature you can get SMS Reminders for all your tasks and never forget another appointment again :-).

Here are the instructions on how you can setup SMS reminders for your tasks.

1. Create and setup Google Calendar

If you do not already have a Google Calendar account, you can sign for one at http://calendar.google.com. Once you have signed you will be shown a screen to setup your country and time zones. Once you have done that you can start using Google Calendar.

If you already have a Google Calendar account you can skip this step and move to the second step.

2. Setup your Mobile in Google Calendar

In order for you to receive a SMS message from Google Calendar you will first have to setup a cell phone in the settings. To do that click on the Settings link in the top right hand corner and select Mobile Setup sub tab.

You will see that your Phone notifications is disabled. To enable it you will have to provide your Country, Phone number and Carrier. You can see a complete list of supported carriers for your country to make sure your carrier is supported.

Once you fill up the above form and click on the Send Verification Code you will receive a  SMS with your verification code in it, enter the code into the same form and click on Finish Setup. That’s it you can now start receiving SMS alerts for your events.

Once you have finished setting up your mobile, the next step details on how you can start creating events and receive SMS reminders for them.

3. Setup your Notification Options

Once you have successfully validated your cell phone you will be taken to another page where you can setup your default notifications for invitations and events, you can choose to receive them via Email or SMS. I left this screen as default as I only want to get important reminders via SMS.

If you want to get SMS reminders for all the invitations and events you can do it in this options page.

If you select global notification for all events to be sent to your cell phone via a SMS then you have completed the trick and can ignore the next step. If you have not done it yet then you can follow the instructions in the next step.

4. Create a Event in Google Calendar

Since we will be using a calendar let us call the task a event that has to occur on a particular date. Login to your account at Google Calendar account and setup the time zones and country and mobile as detailed in the earlier steps if you have not already done it yet.

Do not use the Quick Add option to add the event instead use the Create Event link as we will have to setup the reminders to be sent for the event.

Once you are in the main create event page, add your event and then select the options tab below the event. In this since in the earlier step I had only selected the pop-up, I will have to add the other reminder options by clicking on Add a reminder link.

I setup a event for a appointment with my dentist and as a reminder option I have setup to be reminded by SMS 2 hours before the event. This event is fake and just an example to show you how to setup the SMS reminder :-).

Once you have done that click on save and your all done. 2 hours before the event you will receive a SMS reminding you about the task you have to do :-).

You can add any number of events to receive SMS reminders. Do check with your local carriers first if you will be charged for incoming SMS as this may differ from carrier to carrier.

Important Note: To make sure that you get the SMS at the right time, do ensure to verify that you have setup the proper time zone in your Google Account. To do this you can go to Settings -> General and select your proper time zone.

Hope you like this trick and it will help you to never forget a task again. Do let me know your views on this through your valuable comments. Looking forward to hear you experience with using this trick.