Elliott Kosmicki is the founder of GoodPlum.com, a productivity and personal development blog for home business owners. You can also follow Elliott on Twitter.

It's an addictive little habit, that Twitter. But what if there were ways for you to still keep your ugly tweeting habit while staying productive at the same time? Since I can't fully support the total indulgence in the tool that has the tech-world (and beyond) glued to their favorite Twitter client, I thought I would share a few very useful ways to make the service much more productive while you're living inside of it.

Here are 10 things you can accomplish while never leaving your TweetDeck:

1. Manage to do lists

This one is my favorite, simply because the two sites here make it so easy to never forget - even when your brain is lost inside the Twitterverse. Both Remember The Milk, and Toodledo have commands you can use to add to do items. Next time you're telling your followers what you ate for lunch, you can also make a note to call the cute waitress you met while you were there.

Read: RTM's Twitter instructions | Toodledo's Twitter Instructions







2. Set a timer

If the best place for you to get an event reminder is inside Twitter, I need to write a whole different post just for you. Kidding aside - for those occasions where you'd like to set a quick alarm/timer - just direct message @timer with the details.

3. Add a Google Calendar item

I actually love this. By following @gcal and authorizing your Twitter account with Google Calendar, you can add calendar items directly into your Google Calendar. Sweet.

Read: Twitter Calendar

4. Get your flight information

Easy. All you need to do is follow @myflightinfo and direct message them with your flight number.







5. Track your expenses

I have not personally used this, but they do have a free version right now with paid versions to come. Free or paid, the service looks really slick (Read Mashable's previous coverage here). You can IM, SMS, Email or Twitter your expenses to be recorded into your account.

Read: Xpenser

6. Get news alerts

This is a very flexible tool that allows you to send news alert requests to @daylife_feed with the details and they'll tweet over notices to you when news matches your requests.

Read: Daylife Twitter Tools

7. Track packages

If you're like me and spend too much time tracking your latest Amazon order, TrackThis allows you to send them your tracking number, and they'll message you back each time the package changes location.







8. Freelancers: track job time

Managing several projects at once and still trying to keep up with your Twitter feed? Tempo has free and paid versions of its time tracking software that allow you to send in time via Twitter. Now you have a (better) excuse for billing clients while Tweeting.







9. Keep track of gas mileage

With MyMileMarker, you can tell them whenever you fill up, answer a few simple questions, and they'll keep track of your mileage with charts and everything. You can send them your info via Twitter and mobile phone.

10. Get the weather forecast

I'm in Wisconsin and there's one thing that I know for sure: if you want the weather to change - just wait 10 minutes. Now I can get my changing forecast anytime by direct messaging @forecast.

Add your own productivity tools

This is an interesting, but far from exhaustive list of tools you can use from right inside of Twitter. What tools would you have added? Requirements are simply that you must be able to enter information into the tool from your Twitter interface!

Elliott Kosmicki is a web developer and marketing specialist for an Internet Retailer Hot 100 company in Madison, WI. When he’s not absorbing marketing strategy and personal development material, you can find him writing for Good Plum - a productivity and personal development blog focused on the thoughts of home business owners, freelancers, and dreamers. You can also find Elliott on his personal summary page, and on Twitter.

More Twitter Resources From Mashable

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, DNY59