It’s never too early to think about the holidays. I always find that time moves in fast forward motion right after Halloween and the next thing you know, it’s mid-December and you still haven’t decorated the house and shopped for gifts. Feeling stressed before Christmas is not the way I want to enjoy the most wonderful time of the year.

So my goal is to get organized early! One of the tools I use to keep everything in check is the good ol’ pen and paper.  Yes, I still use a paper calendar to keep track of birthdays, deadlines and appointments but I also use my smart phone because I know I’ll always have it with me anywhere I go.

There are some amazing apps that I use in my day-to-day that really help me stay organized, especially around hectic holiday times:

6 apps to help organize your life

Any.do

Any.do is your to-do list on the go, which I need as a constant reminder of what needs to get done. It has a feature too so you can schedule alarms in a calendar. This will come in handy when I’m running around from hockey practices to Christmas parties to checking things off my shopping list.

Google Maps

Google Maps is a must-have on your smart phone if you’re always on the road. I don’t have to bother printing out a map before heading out to a certain location; I can easily navigate with this app as my car is warming up. This will come in handy when I’m out playing Santa!

Yelp

Where can we find a good pizza in this area after an away hockey game? Yelp is an app that’ll give you the details on businesses, restaurants, stores, etc. in your search. What I like is the crowd-sourced reviews – I prefer reading what people’s comments are before I visit a location.

6 apps to help stay organized

BigOven

BigOven has over 250,000 recipes to help inspire your cooking – I’ll be looking for some Christmas baking inspiration soon. There is also a menu planner – you can add recipes to your meal plan, ingredients to your shopping list or save the recipe in your own database. I use the grocery list function here to keep track of my grocery shopping; no more losing lists on scraps of paper.

6 Apps to Help You Stay Organized

 

Key Ring

I have a dozen (or more) rewards cards which I use more frequently during holiday shopping – it makes sense to score bonus points! This simple app stores your rewards cards’ information so rather than having to carry around those cards on your key ring (or in your wallet), you can scan your phone in the store instead.

Pixlr-o-matic

Pixlr-o-matic is a super photo editing, app with hundreds of effects. It has a fun “randomnizer” tool which chooses a random effect for your photos. I’ll definitely be using this app to create cool family photos this holiday season!

 

Hopefully getting a head start on your holiday shopping with these tools will allow you more time for what’s truly important – spending time with your friends and family!

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Disclosure: This post was brought to you by WIND Mobile via Glam Media Canada. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of WIND Mobile.

 

 

Author

Maria Lianos-Carbone is the author of “Oh Baby! A Mom’s Self-Care Survival Guide for the First Year”, and publisher of amotherworld.com, a leading lifestyle blog for women.

2 Comments

  1. I love Yelp! Definitely going to check a couple of these out. Pixlr-o-matic for sure 🙂 Thanks!

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