I enjoy living a very organized, productive life. It’s taken me a lot of hard work and figuring things out, to get to the level of comfort I’m at now. Apps and technology have played a huge part in my current successes. I’m here to share with you what apps I have found most helpful and how I use them. Do with this what you will!
I’ll start with my favorite app. The one I use every single day is ‘Insight Timer’. This is a mediation app. One of my favorite things about it is it has a consecutive streak counter. If you’ve ever had ‘Snapchat’, you know how fun it can be to keep a streak. That drive helps hold you accountable and adds some playfulness at the same time. Also, if you realize its 11:55 pm, and you really want to keep that streak up (and of course reap the benefits), you can filter the mediations by length. This app has many guided meditations under five minutes. Don't lose site of why you're using the app though. Being present is much more important than keeping up a number! You can also use it to create your own timer with custom sound bowl tones for anything from yoga, to journaling, to walking. They also have sleep meditations for those of you with insomnia. This app provides all of this and much more, but listed are the basics that I use it for.
Two apps that I have been using for years now, to track my moods and more are Moody and Daylio. I use Moody to track my cycle, symptoms, mood so much more. You can customize your list to whatever things you want to track, and you rate each one on a slider scale from 1-5 every day. It's specifically made for people with a cycle, but Riley actually uses it too, and we send screenshots of our Moody check-in each morning, as a way to touch base with each other on how we're feeling. There is also a journal section where you can add notes. Here, I write my spoon count first thing in the morning. If you aren't familiar with spoon count, google it, but hopefully I'll write an article on it soon! The Daylio app I use at the end of the day. I rate my overall day 'rad, good, meh, bad, horrible,' and add what activities I did that day, as well as a one sentence summary. These two apps have made it possible for me to track long term patterns in my mood, body and life, as well as keep perspective when things are feeling low.
Up next, we have an app that can be used for so many things, you just need to know how to use it productively! Pinterest is one of my favorite apps of all time. And yes, I know how white girl of me that sounds, but I’m telling you, it’s life changing! For me, it’s main use is finding healthy recipes. It’s pretty crazy how easy it can be to find and cook healthy meals. The best part is once you find and save recipes you like, algorithms will keep finding you more and more things that I promise you will enjoy. I cooked as part of my job for one client, for four years, and they never got sick of my food. I owe it all to Pinterest. If you’ve never used Pinterest, it’s also great for all things inspiration, from home design to kids crafts, you will find it all!
From here, we will move on to the financial management apps. The first one, you’ve probably heard of, ‘Credit Karma’. It's basic, it’s your free credit score, something you should definitely keep an eye on. This app makes it easy to manage and check any time. I also used to use 'Mint', however I just use an excel spreadsheet now. This helps me be more consistent at looking at and internalizing my spending.
The next app is for if you need to track you miles for any kind of work. ‘Mile IQ’ does cost $60 for the year, but it is a tax write off, and makes your mileage tracking effortless. It tracks whenever you are in a car through location settings. When you open the app, you categorize each trip as business, personal or you can delete it if it was public transport or not your car. Your accountant will thank you for this one!
As a bonus app, I’ll throw in that I’m learning Spanish. I use ‘Duolingo’ which I believe is one of the more popular apps. It has a game feel to the lay out and is very easy to use. It, yet again, has a consecutive streak tracker you can use. I’ve been using it for over three years and have a 1867 day streak!
Alrighty, eight apps later, and you have the basis for a healthy, organized life! The last part is up to you… you just have to use them! Wishing you the best of luck in your journey. As always, please reach out if you have any questions or need help! Aho!