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In today’s digital world, we have access to way more information than we can handle. Because of this, it is harder than ever to stay organized and on top of things without feeling overwhelmed. You are probably wondering, “Is there an app for that?” Actually there are more organizational apps than you can imagine, but don’t worry, I did all of the digging for you. Below are the ten tools I currently use to organize my life. Check them out and see if any solve a problem you may have.
If you have any apps that you use for organizational purposes, please let me know! I am always searching for the best option on the market.
Fantastical 2
Fantastical is a Calendar app for both your desktop and phone. In 2015, it won the Apple Design Award and it is apparent why. The design leads to all functionality and organization you would want in a calendar app. Fantastical’s greatest strength is its ability to allow you to describe an event in natural language and the app would convert what you said into a properly formed event. For example, if you entered “Meeting with Mark at work tomorrow at 2pm for an hour” It would create an event at 2:00pm tomorrow at your work location an hour in length with the title “Meeting with Mark”. Additionally it has both reminders and calendar event option built in, so no more need for two separate apps. If the price point seems too steep for you, use the free trial to see if it is a right fit.
Pricing
- Price for desktop: $54.99 (one time fee)
- Price for Phone: $3.99 (one time fee)
Evernote
Say hello to my second brain. Evernote is a note taking app for both desktop and mobile that lets you capture, nurture, and share your ideas across any device. I use Evernote for everything – from planning an event to-do list, to brainstorming, to snap pictures of sketches, to writing notes for my blog posts (guess where this was brainstormed). Once you make a note, it’s accessible wherever you go.. One of the best features is Evernote’s search function, where you can search for tags, note titles, and even handwritten words buried deep within your notes. Like Fantastical, Evernote uses the foot in the door technique, so use the free trial to see if it fits your lifestyle.
Pricing
- Basic (60MB storage/month): Free
- Plus (1GB storage/month): $49.99 / year
- Premium (10GB storage/month): $89.99 / year
Asana
Asana is a web and mobile application designed to help teams track their work. I use it for myself to organize my to-do’s and prioritize my work. It is great because for every task, you can create sub-tasks, checklists, notes, assign the task (if in a team), create deadlines, and link to documents. This allows all my thoughts and work for a specific task to be in one central location. It is a place where everything from the most immediate details to the big picture are organized.
Pricing
- Free up to 15 users. After that, pricing increases based on the number of users
Mint
Mint pulls all your financial accounts into one place – your bank accounts, cards, and investments. This allows you to track your spending, create budgets, receive bill reminders, and get customized tips for reducing fees and saving money.With Mint, I never have to go to my bank, american express, and Wealthsimpleaccounts to see my financial situation.
Pricing
- Free
Spark
This is my email app of choice. Spark is much more than a mailbox due to its smart capabilities. It collects all of your emails and automatically categorizes them for easy processing. Additionally, it has a customizable snooze feature, where if you cannot finish a task or respond to an email today, you can swipe your email to snooze it for another date, time, or month (if you like the snooze button on your alarm, you will love this feature). The best part is Spark’s smart search. Like Fantastical, you don’t have to think like a computer to search your emails, you can use plain English searches like “attachments form Mark last month”. That plain English is always an easy sell for me.
Pricing
- Free
Stocard
Stocard is a mobile application that lets you store all of your loyalty cards in one place. No longer do I have to carry around 5 cards that i use once per month to collect points. You can scan the digital card and receive all of your rewards as you normally would. The app will even send you promotions for the companies that you have cards associated with.
Pricing
- Free
RescueTime
RescueTime helps you understand your daily habits so you can focus and be more productive. It automatically runs in the background of your browser, tracking your activity. At the end of the week, you get a report in your email on how many hours you spent on productive sites (e.g. Google docs) versus unproductive ones (I’m looking at you Facebook!).
Pricing
- Free
Jumpcut
Jumpcut is an application that allows you to copy multiple things at once and store it in a clipboard history, allowing you to paste any previously copied text. No more worrying about losing the text you have copied even when you have cut or copied something else.
Pricing
- Free
Google Drive
If you don’t already use a cloud service, it is time to get one. Whether it is Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud, or Box, a cloud service allows you to have access to your files anywhere on any device, both online and offline. It is as if you computer or phone is now simply a device that accesses your data as opposed to one that holds it. I use Google Drive over the other options because I use all other google applications, so it syncs seamlessly with the rest of the Google ecosystem, but choose the cloud service that you find easiest to use.
Pricing
- 0 – 15 GB: Free
- 15 – 100 GB: $1.99 / month (What I use)
- 100 GB – 1 TB: $9.99 / month
Noisli
Noisli is a background noise and color generator for working and relaxing. Online soothing ambient sounds like White noise, Rain and Coffee Shop that allows you to increase focus or relaxation, which ever you are trying to achieve.
Pricing
- Free
