Folks are criticizing this as too much or coming from too much anxiety. I might have agreed before owning a home and having kids. But I totally get it. A typical week involves dozens of random tasks like those you mentioned. Then there's the long backlog of stuff that's important but not urgent.

I've used Todoist for the last few years. It's not perfect. But it's been game-changing in terms of reducing anxiety because I never worry that I'm forgetting something.

Like you, I don't know how folks in similar positions manage. I think a lot of people just drop the ball on a lot of stuff or wait for stuff to become suddenly urgent. I don't think that's a terrible approach -- I still drop a lot of balls because there's just too much. I just try to do it more intentionally.

I'm not knocking folks with other systems, text files or otherwise. Do what works for you!