Plain Text Productivity: Replace 4 Apps in 40 Minutes
Ditch four productivity subscriptions for one plain text folder. A 40 minute setup with sync, capture, and search that costs nothing to run.
## The 40 Minute Setup That Killed Four Subscriptions
I cancelled [Notion](https://www.notion.so/), Todoist, [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/) Sync, and a $12/month AI note-taker in the same afternoon. My replacement is a folder of plain text files. That was eleven weeks ago and I have not missed a single feature.
Here is what surprised me: the workflow that stuck was not the one with the cleverest system. It was the one I could explain to my mother over the phone. The same principle applies to **how to crochet for beginners step by step with pictures**: the winning guide is not the one with the most stitches, it is the one where each step produces something you can see. Productivity software forgot that. Every tool now wants to be a platform, and every platform wants a subscription.
This guide takes about 40 minutes. By the end you will have a working plain-text system, four fewer apps, and a monthly bill that dropped by roughly $47.
## Why the Apps Kept Losing
The WIRED piece that nudged me over the edge made a simple point: a text document does not have a roadmap. It cannot add a kanban view you did not ask for, cannot move your data behind a new pricing tier, and cannot send you a re-engagement email because you skipped a week.
The numbers back the frustration. Notion's Personal Pro runs $10/month billed annually, Todoist Pro is $5/month, Obsidian Sync is $5/month, and the AI note apps cluster around $10 to $20/month. That is a real line item, and it buys you four search boxes that all disagree about where your tasks live.
The deeper problem is decision fatigue. Every open is a small negotiation: which database, which view, which tag taxonomy. Plain text has one view. It is the text.
### What you give up (be honest)
- Reminders that fire without you opening a file
- Mobile capture that works offline out of the box
- Collaboration, if your team lives in the same workspace
- Pretty graphs of your completed tasks
If any of those are load-bearing for your job, keep the app. For personal task and note management, most of us never needed them.
## The Setup: 7 Steps, 40 Minutes
### Step 1. Create one folder and four files (3 minutes)
Make a folder called `brain` in your Documents or home directory. Inside, create exactly four files:
```
inbox.txt capture, unprocessed
tasks.txt everything actionable
log.txt dated entries, newest at top
notes/ one file per topic
```
**What goes wrong:** You create twelve files because it feels more organized. Three days later you cannot remember which file holds what, and you are back in Notion. Four files. That is the whole system.
**How to tell it worked:** You can name all four without opening the folder.
### Step 2. Adopt one syntax for tasks (5 minutes)
Plain text needs a tiny convention, not a framework. Use this:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `- [ ]` | open task |
| `- [x]` | done |
| `@2026-10-15` | due date |
| `!1` to `!3` | priority, 1 is highest |
| `#work` `#home` | context |
A real line looks like this:
```
- [ ] Renew passport @2026-11-02 !2 #home
```
**What goes wrong:** You invent six symbols and use them inconsistently. Pick these five and stop. If a task needs more metadata than this, it is a project, not a task.
**How to tell it worked:** You type a new task without checking this table.
### Step 3. Wire up search (5 minutes)
Everything above only works if you can find things. Two options:
- **ripgrep** (free, cross-platform): `rg "passport" ~/brain` returns every match in milliseconds.
- **Your editor's built-in search.** VS Code, Sublime, and Zed all handle a four-file folder instantly.
On macOS, `mdfind` already indexes your Documents folder. On Windows, Everything handles it. You do not need a sync service to search local text.
**What goes wrong:** You install a plugin ecosystem and spend Sunday configuring it. Resist. Native search is enough for the first six months.
### Step 4. Set up capture on your phone (10 minutes)
This is where most plain-text attempts die. Solve it once.
- **iOS:** the built-in Notes app plus a Shortcut that appends to `inbox.txt` in iCloud Drive.
- **Android:** Markor (free, open source) pointed at a Syncthing folder.
- **Anywhere:** email yourself. Ugly, reliable, zero setup.
**What goes wrong:** You try to make mobile editing as smooth as desktop. It will not be. Mobile is for capture only. Processing happens at a keyboard.
### Step 5. Process the inbox once a day (5 minutes daily)
Open `inbox.txt`. For each line, do one of three things: turn it into a task in `tasks.txt`, move it to a note, or delete it. Empty the file.
**What goes wrong:** You skip three days and the inbox hits 60 items, so you abandon it. Cap it. If the file exceeds 20 lines, delete the bottom 20 and move on. Nothing important survives three days of neglect anyway.
### Step 6. Sync with Git, not a subscription (7 minutes)
A private GitHub or GitLab repo costs nothing and gives you version history, which is the one feature note apps charge for.
```
cd ~/brain
git init
git add .
git commit -m "initial"
git remote add origin
git push -u origin main
```
Commit once a day. Conflict resolution on text files is trivial compared to a proprietary database.
**What goes wrong:** You commit your tax documents to a public repo. Make it private before the first push. Check the repo visibility setting twice.
### Step 7. Review weekly (5 minutes, Sundays)
Read `tasks.txt` top to bottom. Delete anything you have moved three weeks running. That task is not pending, it is dead.
**What goes wrong:** The file grows to 300 lines and becomes unreadable. If you cannot scan it in five minutes, you are using it as an archive, not a task list. Archive completed items to `log.txt`.
## Our Take: What We Actually Recommend
For the editor, **VS Code** (free) or **Zed** (free, faster on older laptops). Both handle plain text, search, and Git without ceremony.
For mobile capture, **Markor** on Android and the native Notes app plus a Shortcut on iOS. Both are free.
For sync, a **private GitHub repo**. Free, auditable, and you can leave whenever you want. If you want a hosted option with a friendlier interface, Obsidian Sync at $5/month works fine, though you are back to paying for a text editor.
Skip: Notion for personal [task management](/blog/the-three-layer-productivity-system-in-google-keep-that-replaced-my-apps), any AI note app above $8/month, and anything that requires you to export your data to leave. The export always loses something.
## FAQ
**Do I lose anything by ditching Notion?** Databases and relational views, mainly. If you genuinely query your notes across linked tables, keep Notion. If you mostly write and check boxes, you lose nothing.
**Is plain text safe for sensitive notes?** As safe as your disk encryption and your Git host. Use a private repo, enable two-factor authentication, and keep anything truly sensitive out of sync entirely.
**How long before this feels normal?** About two weeks. The first week feels primitive. The second week you notice you stopped opening four apps to find one phone number.
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