Organizing grocery lists, getting a notification when you’re near an item you need to pick up — with today’s technology, organizing your life may be only an app away. And with the impending hustle and bustle of holiday meals and family visits, these apps come in handy now more so than ever.
“When people say they are so busy they can’t remember what they’re supposed to be doing, I ask if they are keeping a list,” explains Carleen Eve Fischer Hoffman, organization specialist and owner of The Clutter Doctor, Inc. “Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there who don’t even use the free organization applications available on their phones.”
List apps provide a great way to stay organized, whether it’s corralling that nagging 2 a.m. thought or adding cereal to your grocery store list — while you’re at the dentist. Hoffman notes that making lists allows people to focus on important matters by literally getting the information out of their heads and into an easy-to-access format.
If you need to…
To be alerted when there’s an opportunity to finish a to-do list item, get the reQall app for iPhone. It lets you make notes as you go and sends alerts and messages when you’ve hit the right time or place. (Free)
Find a centralized location for all your lists, get the OmniFocus app, also for iPhone. It keeps track of tasks and gathers lists into one spot. ($19.99)
Grocery iQ learns the grocery store’s layout and organizes your shopping route by aisles. It also lets you print WiFi coupons, and will sync up with your partner’s list when you add a forgotten item. Compatible with iPhone and Droid phones. (Free)
Still relying on sticky notes? Try Evernote for Droid and iPhone instead, which captures practically anything that catches your online eye and every thought that threatens to escape from your memory. (Free)
While multiple lists can be beneficial, Hoffman warns against using multiple calendars. “When you have a big family, having one calendar on your phone and another calendar in your mud hallway is one of the worst things you can do, because sometimes you forget to put things on both calendars,” she says. “I’d recommend getting the family involved in something like a Google calendar, where everybody has access to the same thing online.”
Smartphone lists for organization there’s an app for that
Organizing grocery lists, getting a notification when you’re near an item you need to pick up — with today’s technology, organizing your life may be only an app away. And with the impending hustle and bustle of holiday meals and family visits, these apps come in handy now more so than ever.
“When people say they are so busy they can’t remember what they’re supposed to be doing, I ask if they are keeping a list,” explains Carleen Eve Fischer Hoffman, organization specialist and owner of The Clutter Doctor, Inc. “Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there who don’t even use the free organization applications available on their phones.”
List apps provide a great way to stay organized, whether it’s corralling that nagging 2 a.m. thought or adding cereal to your grocery store list — while you’re at the dentist. Hoffman notes that making lists allows people to focus on important matters by literally getting the information out of their heads and into an easy-to-access format.
If you need to…
While multiple lists can be beneficial, Hoffman warns against using multiple calendars. “When you have a big family, having one calendar on your phone and another calendar in your mud hallway is one of the worst things you can do, because sometimes you forget to put things on both calendars,” she says. “I’d recommend getting the family involved in something like a Google calendar, where everybody has access to the same thing online.”