I thought I was a fairly organized person before I had kids. I handled myself well at work, got to my community college classes, knew where my ever-traveling fiancé was in the world at any given moment, and planned our wedding. Then came the kids. The level of organizational acumen needed to run a family made me have to step up my game. Enter soccer practice and games, theater rehearsals, Boy Scouts, medical/dental/orthodontist appointments, school and homework, birthday parties—not to mention keeping track of my husband’s travel and my own work deadlines. Check out some of the best free apps I use to simplify my busy household; they will help you to get your house in order quickly.
Evernote — Instead of jotting notes down on envelopes and napkins, try Evernote. It’s the perfect place to park all your thoughts and reminders, including links, photos, graphics and more. Think Pinterest but with notebooks instead of boards, so you can create different notebooks for different purposes and share the notebooks with others. The search feature is a lifesaver.
Manilla — Stop searching for lost papers! Manilla is a secure online filing system that lets you minimize paper clutter. Everything is in one place: email, bills, documents, things like subscriptions and accounts. This app also allows you to set reminders.
Cozi — Ever get to the grocery store and realize you left your list at home? With Cozi, that’s not a problem anymore. Cozi will keep your store-specific lists to go along with the meal plans you also have stored in the app. My favorite part of this app is the feature that lets me journal (goodbye, iPhone Notes). But Cozi is no one-trick pony: It will also keep your color-coded calendar and send you reminders via email or text.
Remember the Milk — This reminder app will take a load off your brain by letting you add all your tasks to it and then prioritize them. Then you can set alerts so the app will remind you about those tasks however you like: text message, email message, even a tweet and more! Includes a search feature and connects to Dropbox and Google Drive.
Ringya — Oh, the endless communication that comes with having kids! School, sports, afterschool activities, playdates and birthday parties all require far more messages than I can keep up with sometimes. Ringya makes it easy to create groups you need to keep in contact with on a regular basis … and then quickly contact them all at once without having to remember every single person every time you send a message. Set up an event, reschedule, cancel and more with Ringya.
Kerrie McLoughlin is the seasoned homeschooling writer mom of five. Check her out at TheKerrieShow.com.