Quick Click Fixes

An older mom said to me recently, “You know, we managed just fine without all this technology years ago.” And she’s right. Our moms and all the moms before them used pencils and paper to jot down reminders. House phones to schedule appointments. And the Sunday paper to look for ads and coupons. In some ways, our lives are easier today will all technology has to offer. In others, life is busier and more complicated than ever before—so thank goodness we have these apps to help us out! Here are a few favorites among local moms who say their lives are far easier to manage with the help of a little modern technology.

​Cozi

Immensely popular throughout the mom-circuit, Cozi promises, “Bye-bye, chaos. Hello, Cozi.” The site describes this app as “the must-have organizer for families.” Cozi “helps coordinate and communicate everyone’s schedules and activities, track grocery lists, manage to-do lists, plan ahead for dinner and keep the whole family on the same page.”

Some features found on the Cozi app include the Family Calendar, where reminders can be set, agendas can be emailed and activities, meetings, school schedules, practices and games can be organized in one place. Cozi also offers To-Do Lists, which can be used to create a shared packing list, list of books to read or a chore list for kids, and Shopping Lists for the family to organize what groceries, school supplies or other items are needed. Finally, Cozi also includes a Recipes section—here you can store recipes, add ingredients to your shopping list and get dinner ideas for meal planning.

Online Grocery Shopping

This is quite possibly the greatest thing to happen to moms and dads in the history of parenting. I think back to when I had a 2-year-old and a newborn in freezing January temperatures and I bundled them up, ready to head out to the grocery store, only to have the newborn and toddler poop through all three layers of clothing they had on. Oh, if only I’d had this option back then! Thankfully for today’s parents, most stores are offering online shopping, and some even deliver.

Walmart and Hy-Vee are two local examples. Check out Grocery.Walmart.com, where you can order groceries and pick them up the same day for free! They’ll even load your car. Or visit HyVee.com and start adding items to your cart! They’ll deliver to your house for free if you spend $100. If you are under $100, the fee is $4.95 for delivery and $2.95 for pickup.

Not a Hy-Vee or Walmart shopper? Check your local grocery store! It may offer a similar service.

Amazon Prime

I’m not sure how I functioned before Amazon Prime. Gone are the days of paying for shipping and waiting more than two days for my package to arrive. The $99 annual fee pays for itself by the end of the month we pay it. Between ordering school supplies, Christmas and birthday gifts, shopping in the Amazon pantry, watching Prime TV and movies, buying books and listening to podcasts, Amazon Prime is basically our life source.

And now you can shop with Alexa! Just tell her to add an item to your cart and boom! It’s done. She’s a great household addition!

Life360

This app is popular especially among parents with teens. The site says, “Welcome to your new family circle: Part location, part communication, all awesome. Life360 keeps millions of families and close friends connected, no matter what chaos life throws their way.”

Life360 offers what they call “Complete Awareness Package.” With Life360, you won’t have to worry whether your child made it safely to her destination, as the app tells you where she is, as well as everyone else in your “private circle.” You also can message the whole group at once to save time if you need to tell your entire family something important.

ChoreMonster

What?! An app to help my kids get their chores done? Sign me up! Parents can create and schedule chores with point values, as well as add rewards their kids can purchase with points. ChoreMonster says, “Watch your kids willingly and enthusiastically do their chores, without the need of chore charts.”

Kids can sign into the ChoreMonster app, see their chores, review all the possible rewards they can get and how much they’ll need to save to get them. ChoreMonster says kids will “suddenly find themselves wanting to do chores!”

Feed Baby

Baby Connect

Both of these apps help moms chart when and how much they feed Baby and how often Baby has a diaper change. I would have loved an app like this when I brought my first baby home and was deliriously tired and confused.

With Feed Baby, moms can “track all the important aspects of a baby’s development really easily. It includes breast/bottle/solid feeding tracking, diaper changes, sleeping patterns, growth measurements and pumping sessions.”

Baby Connect is popular among parents and childcare providers. According to the site, users can “track daily information about children: feeding, diapers, sleep, mood, activities, medicines, photos and more” and share that info with other authorized users throughout the day.

PlanToEat

Allrecipes.com

Meal planning and grocery shopping are the bane of my existence. Apps like this make the chore of feeding my family on a weekly basis less painful. PlanToEat lets you collect recipes from anywhere and save them directly into the app and drag and drop recipes into your planner—plus it makes your grocery list for you. AllRecipes.com helps if you don’t know what to make but have a bunch of ingredients at home. You simply plug your ingredients in, and the app shoots you back a recipe with step-by-step instructions. You also can specify that you need a recipe that’s gluten-free, diabetic, vegetarian or low calorie.

Ibotta

Ebates

Groupon

Living Social

Everyone I know likes saving money. These apps help you do just that. Ibotta and Ebates give you coupon offers and cash-back rewards when you shop with them. They tell you what items and stores are currently offering promotions. You shop and, like magic, you get cash!

Groupon and Living Social are favorites in our house. You can tailor the settings so the sites send you deals that match your interests. We love getting discounts on our favorite restaurants and local businesses! And we often have tried new places and discovered new parts of KC after purchasing a Groupon or Living Social deal that looked fun.

So go check out these parenting apps and make your life a little bit easier in the 21st century!

Olathe mom Karen Johnson has three kids, ages 8, 6 and 4. She writes at The21stCenturySAHM.com.