Do you ever wonder how your mom did it back in the dinosaur age?
Seriously, how did she carry around that big planner in her purse?
How did she keep track of her important information?
How did she remember what she needed at the grocery store when she accidentally left her list home?
How did she not drown in endless art project and developed rolls of film from 6 kids?
Smart phones – and even smarter apps – have practically made these problems extinct. Technology has changed the way we manage our home and family, and one of the best parts of my job as a coach and professional organizer is to connect you with resources that save time, increase efficiency and reduce clutter. Here are a few of my favorite apps that do just that.
 
Keepy

If you have a creative child that keeps generating masterpieces, you are probably running out of space on the refrigerator. The million dollar question is how to encourage the artist without drowning in the art! Keepy is a new app that preserves the artwork and your sanity. Just snap a picture of your child’s work using your iPhone and save it on the Keepy app. Invite Dad or Grandma and Grandpa to view your child’s gallery, leave a comment, and send a video to praise your child. Keepy even helps you create great personalized gifts or make photo books – which is a perfect idea with Mother’s and Father’s Day around the corner.
Project Life

I’ve been searching and searching for this one. I’m just old enough that I made my oldest son’s scrapbook old style – with stickers and paper and actually printing and developing pictures. I’m glad we’re past those days! But even still, the task of sitting down and creating photobooks is yet another project to add to my endless list. Chat books are a great solution, but I like to add more than one picture per event – but it’s so hard to find time to scrapbook. The solution? This amazing new app from Becky Higgins – Project Life. Right from your phone you can upload photos into a template, change the background color or even add a pattern if you want to get fancy, edit the pictures or journal using Siri – seriously, this was genius! My sister-in-law went to Disneyland, and while she was waiting in all of those lines she created her scrapbook pages and they were ready to print before she even made it home!
 
Wunderlist

Let’s shift to some productivity. How many things are we keeping track of as Mom’s? The daily to do’s, the errands, the gift ideas…it goes on and on. I’ve tried a lot of apps, and Wunderlist is currently my favorite. I just create a list for each day, and then I can add a task to any day of the week. One of my favorite features is if I don’t get it done on that day, I can drag it to a different list. I also like how I can prioritize certain tasks with the red star, and it gives the most satisfying ding when you check something off. Definitely helps me stay organized!
 
Last Pass

Finally, we live in a world where we can’t be relaxed about online security and financial information. With all the online ordering and accounts we have, it’s a must to have a convenient and safe way to organize all your passwords. Last Pass stores, syncs and fills your passwords for all your personal devices. The best part is that you only need to remember one master password to access every website you use. Totally secure – and once you start tracking your passwords this way you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.
 
What are Your Favorites?
I bet you’ve discovered a few apps you can’t live without. Be sure to share them in the comments below, and tell us why you love them!