I use a software called AnkiSRS (http://ankisrs.net/) for daily vocabulary study. It works upon a spaced repetition principle to help lodge words into one's long term memory. In general, it is easier to remember things which have been learned in context, rather than memorized by rote. A method of learning vocabulary in context, of which I have heard but have not yet extensively used, is "sentence mining". Sentence mining works to familiarize one with a word by gathering example sentences in which the word is used. In this, you may find the The Tatoeba Project (tatoeba.org) to be of use.

something that have helped me remembering words, its to listen songs i like, then i traslate the meaning of the words i dont know, perhaps could help you

also, we may do it by classification, association... more importantly, we need to "use" the words. ^^ read a English novel / Textbook / Magazine....

You could create note cards or flash cards and on one card, write down many nouns. On another, write all the verbs you want to remember, on another, some adjectives. Or write sentences so you can look at them and memorize what you wish throughout the day. Or read your lists on a recording machine and listen to them on your way to work, or whenever.

The suggestion from Francis to use a SRS program such as Anki is a very good idea. I use an SRS program for reviewing new words in Chinese. An additional suggestion: Use a memory technique called anchoring. This is when you attach a new concept to something that is already in your long term memory. An easy example would be if you met a new business colleague whose name was the same as your father and easily remembered his name by telling yourself "same name as dad". I found it easy to recall the hanzi for bright or clear (明) because I already knew the hanzi for moon and sun and it would be very bright if both were in the sky. Sometimes you have to make up something silly, like an english speaker remembering that the Chinese word for tall (高) sounds like the english word "go" by thinking "he would GO far if he were TALL". Don't waste energy making up such things for ideas that your mind easily absorbs, just do it for more difficult things. If something is extra difficult, making the story outrageous and/or personal can be very helpful. It is easier to remember a clown robbing a bank than a business man in a suit.