Are you overwhelmed when it comes to balancing a budget? Do your nerves get frayed with challenging people? Would you like to be more organized and stress-free —and wonder how technology can help?
Apps are a great way to help you stay organized, clear some clutter and find peace of mind. Apps can be clutter as well, so make sure you are culling the apps on your phones and tablets on a regular basis. You will probably have to play around with them and see what suits you the best, but here are some to get you started.
Mmmm… Good
We all have to eat. Food can bring us pleasure, keep us nourished and bring people together. Here are some apps that can help you with meal planning, shopping lists and recipes:
Meal plan meal and grocery planner
is wonderful if you are new to meal planning.
Pepperplate
organizes your recipe collection, plans meals based on your recipes, creates shopping lists, and helps you cook the recipes you want to try.
With over one million recipes in its database, Yummly is the ultimate resource for chefs looking to whip up some fresh ideas. Filter app searches by prep time, nutrition or type of cuisine, then save favorites to your “Yums,” a virtual recipe box.
Timer+
is a simple free timer app that can run multiple countdowns at the same time. That means you can have a timer for your different dishes running simultaneously to keep your cooking on track.
Cha ching
Be able to budget, whether it is for your home or business, can help reduce stress and keep you on track from overspending.
Mint.com
This popular app gives you all the tools you need to manage your earnings, spending, saving, and budgeting. It syncs up all your accounts, from bank accounts and mutual funds to your 401(k) or IRA.
Good budget
is a great app for people who are ready to start creating a budget based on their cash flow. The envelopes system is similar to putting allocated amounts of cash into actual envelopes per month.
BillGuard part of prosper daily
has two goals: to make sure you completely understand your spending habits, and to protect your cards from fraud and unauthorized transactions. This app syncs your bank accounts and then brings up your total balance and the amount you spent this month.
Expensify
lets you photograph, categorize, and tag receipts, and then add them to expense reports if needed. You can also enter the merchant name, total amount spent, and date for each expense. “Add Expense” offers the categorizing options. You can also note if the expense is billable and/or reimbursable.
Fudget:
This no-frills, list interface is best for folks who have a handle on their finances but want an easy space to keep organized. Good for tracking short-term budgets for the holidays, vacation or for tracking work expenses.
Oh, you shouldn’t have. No, really you shouldn’t have!
Simplify your gift giving with some apps.
GiftPlanner
covers all holidays, events, and birthdays you have to buy for; lets you balance the budget for each; has a bookmarklet that adds items to your lists while browsing online; and can send gift cards from the app. If you can’t remember what gift is for whompost wrapping, you can snap a photo and store the info.
Planning, sharing, shopping, reminders and much more:No More Socks.
ShopularCoupons
bookmark deals from your favorite retailers right on your phone. Thanks to geo-locating, this app pushes relevant deals to your smart phone as soon as you walk into a store. Coupons are updated daily.
Find my car! free and MyCar locator free
use GPS to record when and where you’ve parked, and store the info in your smart phone. These apps give you walking directions to find your vehicle.
Transportation/travel
Whether for business or pleasure, make traveling less stressful with this technology.
Google maps & City Maps2 Go
for detailed map information.
WalkJogRun
if you are looking for safe routes for exercise;
Flight track pro
lets’ you find your flight information easily.
Travel list
helps you create checklists for your travel.
Pocket first aid and CPR and ICE
apps self explanatory
TripCase:
This app allows users to organize multiple flights, hotel reservations and plans in one place. Users can also follow along with each other’s itineraries, allowing families or friends to keep tabs on someone’s travel, without constant updates.
BringFido:
For pet-lovers, this app helps users travel the world with their furry friends, from mapping out parks where dogs are welcome to booking pet-friendly hotels.
Meditation
Have one of these on your phone so you can escape into the bathroom and take those five minutes to re-center. If you haven’t developed a daily mindfulness or meditation practice, now is a great time.
Here are some apps to check out: Relax Melodies, Buddhify, Meditation Timer Pro, Take A Break, and The Mindfulness App.
Looking to simplify? A good all around app is Evernote. Because of it s great search capability and that you can create notebooks and organize by gifts, party planning, social events, etc.
Awesome Note HD
(+To-do/Calendar) not only helps you keep all of your thoughts and ideas in one place, but also assists you in your scheduled needs throughout each day.
Sticky notes for iPad
is a very helpful and productive way to stay organized. Complete with voice dictation (available on newer iPad models), boasts gorgeous “digital sticky notes.”
Remember, apps can become clutter too, so if you test it and it doesn’t work, delete it.
Take actions:
- Apps are a great way to help you stay organized, clear some clutter and find peace of mind. Apps can be clutter as well, so make sure you are culling the apps on your phones and tablets on a regular basis.
- Think about the different apps you will need to keep you clutter free, organized and sane: food, budgeting, entertaining, relaxing, gift buying and travel.
Apps can become clutter, so if you don’t use it, delete it.
