Organization apps; Feel more in control of your life

This post is a continuation of my series on organization. I’ve been an organization nerd since childhood. When asked what I wanted as a gift, I’d tell people I wanted office supplies so I could “play office.” Now, instead of excitement about new office supplies, I get excited about trying out new productivity apps and websites. I love using technology to organize.

The apps and websites I use to keep my life organized

Tasks Apps; To-do Apps

  • My favorite task app is Wunderlisttodo
    • Free
    • Available for Mac, Android and desktop
    • I like having the ability to create subtasks under a task. I also like the options for recurring tasks
  • I know many people who love the productivity app Asana
    • Free
    • Available for Mac, Android and desktop

You can check out my tips for organizing tasks and getting this done on this post.

Calendar & Contacts

I previously used Google, but I’m currently using the default iPhone apps. Regardless of what app you use, I beg you to pick something that syncs to the cloud to avoid posting the “send me your phone number because I lost my phone” message.

Email

  • I use SaneBox to keep email from overwhelming my life.sanebox
  • Why do I love (and pay for!) it? By simply transferring an email to a folder I can ensure one of these things:
    • I will NEVER see an email from that sender again
    • This email will come back to my inbox when I need to deal with it in a week (or some other timeframe)
    • This email will get grouped with all my other promotional/bulk emails that I may want to see but I don’t want to clutter my inbox

Notes

I used Notes to create a drawing indicating the measurements in my bathroom

The apps I use are:

  • iPhone Notes
    • Apple keeps adding features that make this app so useful. Now you can draw in it and add photos.
  • Evernote
    • When I started using it in 2012 it was the best option. I still use it because
      • I have over 1,000 articles saved and I don’t feel like moving them anywhere else.
      • I like their web clipper extension for Chrome
    • They’ve changed their pricing model, so the free plan only allows 2 devices and 60MB of uploads per month.

Finances

mintI highly recommend using a tool that aggregates information about all your accounts so you can quickly see how much cash you have on hand and how much debt you’ve accrued.

  • The website I use: Mint.com which is owned by Intuit (the makers of TurboTax). Mint automatically categorizes your purchases so you can see where your money is going and you can set budgets that alert you when you’ve overspent.
  • If you use another website/app for this, make sure they are owned by legitimate companies.

Traveltripit

  • I use TripIt, which is a website and app that organizes all your travel reservations into one place. It can even automatically grab your reservations from your email inbox if you want it to.

Password tips. Use technology safely

Don’t use the same password everywhere1password. To keep all these different passwords straight:

  • Come up with a password algorithm so every password is different but you can still remember them. Learn more about creating password algorithms.
  • Buy an app that stores (and/or generates) passwords.
    • Please don’t use a free app
    • Make sure the app you use is encrypted.
    • I use: 1Password

Check out the rest of this series

This blog contains affiliate links.

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