My 5 Favorite Apps

I don’t know what I truly did before my smartphone.  I mean, I know what I did – my address book was handwritten, as was my calendar (which I have to confess – I have an AWESOME “old school” planner that I swear by) and I would take pictures with my point and shoot camera.  Answers to burning questions had to wait until I got home and was in front of my computer. Crazy, right?!

Here are 5 of my favorite apps:

COZI: I learned about Cozi from a fellow coworker YEARS ago.  It is an amazing solutions for organizing busy families such as mine.  There is a free and Gold version.  The main differences between the two is that the Gold version doesn’t serve you ads, allows you to store important birthdays as well as contacts, amongst other little perks.

My husband and I have Android phones and didn’t really like using Google calendar, so I was looking for a shareable calendar that we’d both be comfortable using – enter Cozi!  You can color code each family member and assign calendar entries to the intended family member that they apply to.  Sadie even has her own color.  Now we can never say, “Hey I didn’t know you were going to dinner with so-and-so tonight?”  Oh really…it was in Cozi!  Did you check Cozi?

The shopping and to do lists are AWESOME.  You can create a shopping list for each store that you shop at.  As I run low on items, I simply add them to the correct store’s list.  This alleviates the calls from my husband asking if I need anything from Publix.  Um, Babe – it’s in Cozi!  I have to-do lists for myself and my husband (although I think he ignores that one like the plague), as well as lists for shipments, returns, a packing list, you name it…

EVERNOTE: My friend introduced me to Evernote and I almost got rid of my notebooks.  I am a creature of habit – when I am learning something new or chatting with a client I have to take notes with a pen (preferably a Le Pen pen and Cambridge notebook) BUT Evernote has helped me organize my thoughts in a different way.

I use Evernote solely for my blog and business.  When I’m on the go, or working on my laptop, I can easily access a “notebook” and jot a note down.  Each client has their own notebook, as does my blog.  To me, Evernote is like one HUGE electronic notebook with tabs except in Evernote I can take pictures of things of interest and store them as a note in the proper notebook.  I can save a file or cool infographic as a note, knowing that it will help me down the road AND be easily accessible.  Less paper is more these days.

KINDLE AND ZINIO: If you know me, the Kindle app is expected – I love to read and having the app on my phone allows me to catch up on reading while on the go.  It syncs with my Kindle Fire so I’m not scrambling to find what page I last left off on.  For magazines I downloaded Zinio.  Here I can peruse my favorite magazines in digital format, saving a tree or two.

EBATES: I am a diehard Ebates fan.  When I am ready to shop online, I always check Ebates to see if my website destination is part of their network.  By network, I mean that they have collaborated with Ebates to offer a percentage of cash back if I shop through Ebate’s portal.  You can do the same thing on your phone!  I love getting what Ebate’s calls the “Big Fat Check” every quarter.  It’s like found money!

MIND GAMES: Sometimes you just need to workout your brain.  I learned of this app on the Airport Express in Hong Kong, of all places!  On the way to our destination, I downloaded it and have played it ever since.  Different games test and train different areas of your brain.  There are some times when you feel like you just need to exercise your brain.

What are your favorite apps?