Clutterpad is better than BaseCamp for project management and free!

So the free version of ClutterPad is simply awesome.

If you are planning a party, event or are in charge of a project then you should definitely check this application out. It can help you and your team (or just you) get organized and stay on track.

Clutterpad does offer paid accounts to track multiple events at the same time and add more resources such as being able to upload files. But for most of you the free account will work wonders.

You can check out the service here and get to the free sign up page here as well.

When you arrive at the home page you will see a screen that looks like this:

Click on the signup button and choose the free account. They will continually try and get you to sign up for a paid account like so:

If 1 project, 5 users, 50 contacts, unlimited to-do lists, messages and chat rooms are enough for click the No Thanks button and continue on. If you need more resources or space to save files then try the 30 day trial of one of the free plans with no obligation. But I used the free one.

Now we are ready to begin setting up our first project. For mine I am using my first vacation as a family to The Dominican Republic.

Add a title and description and click on the create this project button. That will take you to this screen:

If any of my family members were online I would have added them here as users. But alas I am all alone on this one. So I clicked on cancel. That takes you to your main Clutterpad screen like so:

From here you can get a overview of your project, create to-do’s, calendar items, messages, chat rooms and add or modify contacts. You also have a pad to take notes on but from the free account you can not upload files.

By clicking on the To-dos tab you will be taken to a screen where you can create a  new To-do list. Click the new to-do list button and give it a name like so:

I choose to make this a to-do list for my trip. You can choose if you want the list to be private from your other users or available to everyone. Then I named my first to do list DR To-do’s and clicked on the button that said create this list.

To add a new item start typing in the add one item to do in this list box. Then add its due date and select a user who’s responsibility this task will be. You can also have an email sent out to notify the user, In this instance it is me.

Users that can see the list can modify it or add notes. You can hover over the item with your mouse to get a glimpse of what has been added to the list like so:

Next up let us take a look at the calendar portion of ClutterPad:

We can add separate calendars for specific functions or use one calendar for the whole project. You can click on the day you want to add an event and fill in the pertinent information like so:

Next we can add a message simply by clicking on the messages tab and then selecting new message. That will bring up this dialogue box:

Similarly we can create a chat room or multiple chat rooms to confer and collaborate on issues and tasks by going to the chat room tab and creating a new chat room:

and after creating your chat room it will be available to all your users by going to the chat room tab. This is what the actual chat room looks like:

Text pad is similar to a message board with regards to the project and your contact tab will allow you to add people to assign tasks (or view the project to).

I really like this free application and will continue using it for small projects and parties. What do you use to collaborate or track a project? Is it free? Then we would love to hear about it in the comments.