Fav Five: Organizational Apps

Remember Apple's old slogan when the iPhone first came out, "there's an app for that"?  Well consider that advertising money well spent, because I bought into it hook line and sinker.  And so did the rest of the world.  What used to be a catchy ad phrase, has become a fact of life.  There is an app for this, that and everything in between.  So of course, there are apps to help you organize your hectic life.

But with so many thousands of apps out there to choose from, how do you know which ones are the best?  It can be very time consuming to sort through every single to-do list or note taking app to find the right one for you.  So I have rounded up my five favorite organizational apps for you guys today, to hopefully make it a little easier.

I have tried a lot of apps (I may or may not have ended up with 300+ on my previous phone...I know, I have a problem) and these five are the ones that I keep coming back to, and find most helpful in simplifying and organizing my life.

Note: since I own an iPhone  these apps are based on their availability in the iTunes App Store. They may not be available on other smart phones.

1. Evernote

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Evernote is an amazing app.  It's versatility is really what make this note-taking app stand out and take the clear lead.  Accessible from your phone, tablet or computer, Evernote makes it easy to get to your notes wherever you are.  What I truly love about this app is the ability to 'clip' things from many sources (such as a website or an email) and immediately create a note.  You can tag your notes, add lists in a notes, even insert pictures.  The possibilities are truly endless.  And the best part is it can be as simple or as complex as you desire.  I definitely don't use Evernote to it's full potential, but I learn new things it can do every day.

2. Cozi

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Cozi is designed to help families organize all members in one simple place.  It's many features include a calendar, to-do lists, shopping lists and a journal.  Each family member gets their own login to view and edit the family account.  The app updates instantly, so everyone is always up to date.  Melissa and I use this most for our grocery shopping.  We both add things to the list throughout the week, then whoever ends up at the store has a complete list of everything we need!  I can even add something to the list if Melissa is already at the store.

3. Mint

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I only just started using this app about a month ago, but I am already so in love.  Mint allows you to link all your bank accounts, assets and investments in one central (and secure) location to give you a comprehensive overview of your finances.  You can also add personalized budgets, and view full reports of your spending in various categories over time.  Mint also gives helpful tips for managing your money based on your personalized spending history.  I'm so glad I started using this app from the time I started my first job.  I can't see ever not using this app.

4. Remember the Milk

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Remember the Milk is my go-to to-do app.  It's simple enough to not be overwhelming, but complex enough to be able to sort and manage multiple to-do lists with ease.  Adding tags to each task allows you to sort them by category.  For example, I have lists for personal, school and the blog, among others.  You can also personalize tasks by rating them as high to low priority, setting reminders and adding due dates.  This app can handle anything from long terms home projects to simple grocery lists.

5. Home Routines

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Home Routines is the best app for tracking and remembering all your cleaning and home maintenance tasks.  There are many different areas to this app, so you can customize and personalize it to fit with your lifestyle and cleaning patterns.  You can add daily routines (like your morning or bedtime routine) as well as weekly routine (like household cleaning).  Home Routines runs on the 'zone method' (each zone being a different room or type of chore), which I've always been a big fan of.  All you have to do is load in your cleaning schedule when you get the app, then it will tell you what you need to do each day!

So there are my five favorite organizational apps of all time.  I definitely use all of these in conjunction with my pen and paper systems (I will always be a hard copy kind of girl), but the ease and simplicity of these apps make them a great resource for when I don't have the time or desire to write things down by hand!

Do you use any of these apps?  Tell me what you think of them.  Any other amazing organizing apps you couldn't live without?  I'm always up for trying a new app!  Let me know in the comments.