As a working mom, I need all the help I can get with streamlining my to-do lists so they don’t take up too much time – precious time I could be spending with my son. I’m always on the lookout for apps that will help me with time management, meal planning, getting answers to my most pressing parenting questions, and staying in touch with friends and family.
The following apps are my current favourites – they make a big difference to how I manage my day.
1. Happier
Happier is a beautifully designed app that makes it easy to record your happiest moments or accomplishments during the day – for free. It’s so easy to get caught up in the rush of work and then home with the kids, and to end your day thinking about everything you didn’t get done. This app encourages you to post just three things to be grateful for – an unexpected compliment, an ice cream break with a colleague, catching an earlier train home, a giggle outbreak with your baby.. I find that I now actively look out for these wonderful moments during the day.. It’s made my toughest days well… happier.
2. Any.do
Any.do is the first to-do list manager that has actually worked for me. It’s simple design makes it easy to quick-add specific chores, shuffle tasks around, group and view tasks by timeline or category.. I look forward to opening it up each morning, and ticking off each task progressively throughout the day – then reordering tasks ready for the next day before I leave work.
3. Evernote
With so much awesome content on the web, my day could easily whittle away without me getting anything done if I stopped to read and follow every link. By emailing or bookmarking article links to my Evernote app, I can rest assured that when I do get a spare moment to review the latest TED video, viral parenting bit, or recommended book, I will just need to make one stop – my Evernote account.
4. BabyCenter
As a first-time Mom, I’m certainly learning as I go! BabyCenter has tips and advice that are organized by your baby’s age, so that when you open up the app, you’ll immediately see content that is relevant to your baby’s current stage – like games and activities suitable for your baby at his or her age, feeding and settling tips, and health and safety tips.
5. MealBoard
I’m very lucky — my husband loves to cook and has taken over the weekly chore of grocery shopping and planning meals. However we do like to sync up on the menu plan for the week. MealBoard makes it easy to import recipes from our favourite recipe sites and add them to a meal plan for the week. It will then automatically generate a shopping list from the ingredients list that we can tick off before we leave to shop with items we already have in the cupboard.
6. Password Safe
The number of passwords I need to keep up with seems to double every month. To make sure I don’t waste time searching through my email or my memory for a much needed password, I use Password Safe. It makes it easy to record your passwords as you create them, and to create randomly-generated passwords for each new account so the same password doesn’t get used multiple times.
Are there apps that you can’t live without? I’d love to hear about which apps save you time and make your life easier or richer. Share your favourite apps in the comments below.
6 Must-Have Apps for Working Moms
