Face it. There are always more things to do than there is time to do them, even before the new semester began. However, we have a choice. We can throw ourselves into the abyss of work, grabbing on to tasks like vines to slow our fall, or we can get organized.

It is important to understand that time and task management is not about denying ourselves what we want. It is about making sure we have time to enjoy life while getting everything done.

Getting organized is about knowing, organizing and prioritizing what we want and need to get done. A to-do list serves as a quick reference for the things we need to accomplish. There is also an inherent satisfaction of crossing off a completed task from the list. Another advantage of the to-do list is it provides a kick-start when wondering what to do next.

It used to be that pen and paper were enough to get the job done. But in the digital age there are new options, ranging from feature-heavy Getting Things Done compliant tools to simple web-based to-do lists.

Here is a quick look at some of the top, free web based task managers:

Thingler is an easy-to-use tool amounting to nothing more than an online to-do list. It is by far the simplest tool: type a task in the box, hit enter and your list is updated. Reorganizing your list is as simple as click, hold and drag. However, this tool is usable online only and is missing features for e-mail notification and deadline setting.

Tueduex is a bit more complex putting eight to-do lists on one page. The lists are divided between days of the week and future projects. Again there isn’t e-mail notification but it does allow us to schedule deadlines. Unfinished tasks turn red and shift to the next day. The future tasks do not behave this way, instead they hang out week to week until you get around to them.

Todoist is the perfect middle ground between being too simple and needing a one-unit course to understand how it works. This tool allows us to create projects and add tasks and due dates. In addition, it offers a clean and simple interface that lets us see each project as well as how many tasks are in each. Todoist does not have an app, but it does have mobile accesses via the web and Twitter and e-mail integration.

Remember the Milk is the only tool on this list to offer an iPhone or Android app for mobile use. However, it sacrifices simplicity to provide more features. Among these features is offline storage of your tasks: text, e-mail or Twitter reminders, due dates and the ability to tag tasks for better organization.

mGSD is a powerful and feature-rich, project-driven task manager. Unlike others on this list, mGSD requires some extra effort to understand. It is powerful, allowing you to designate actions as next, waiting or future. You can group tasks by project, context and area. Projects can be sub-projects of one another and you can leave detailed and easily accessible notes for each action.

Whether you want to save trees, increase utility or are tired of having scraps of paper cluttering your desk, online task management apps are a great way to keep track of all the things you need to get done.