Organize 8 Key Areas of Your Life With These 17 Smart Apps

ShareThis

There's no doubt the phone in your pocket is a great time killer while in a crowded waiting room, but the truth is that smartphones are actually amazing little tools that can really improve your productivity — both personally and professionally. Here are eight tasks you can do on your phone, with the help of 17 apps, that will help you organize your life and even boost your savings account with almost no effort on your part. (See also: 10 Great Productivity Apps for Really Busy People Like You)

Track Your To-Do List

Skip the Post Its, notepads, and notes scribbled on napkins. Take your pick of task management apps, depending on how simple or robust you'd like it. Some will integrate with your calendar while others can be shared with friends and family. Find the one that will keep you on task and ditch the pen and paper for good.

1. Wunderlist

Wunderlist allows you to create to-do lists, set due dates and reminders, and even assign to-dos for others.

2. Todoist

Todoist manages all of your projects — both personal and professional. You can also seamlessly manage all your tasks and events from any device.

3. Any.do

Any.do lets you link your calendar and to-do lists, so you always know what's coming up. You can set reminders for both so you never lose track of deadlines again.

Log Your Time

Have you ever wondered how much time you waste every day on things like social media or TV? The first step to managing your time effectively is understanding how your time is currently being spent, and where it's being wasted. Use a time tracker app to determine where your time is going. Some apps will work in the background, automatically gathering data on where you spend your time, whereas others allow you to manually select activities.

4. Awesome Time Logger

Awesome Time Logger Free features an intuitive interface that allows you to quickly track and log your time throughout the day and get custom reports that you can use to improve productivity.

5. My Hours

My Hours works as a stop watch, tracking time you spend on each task. The app also allows you to assign billing to hours if you are a freelancer or contractor.

6. Toggl

While Toggl is an ideal time tracker for teams, it's also great for individuals seeking an easy way to track time spent on tasks and bill accordingly.

Take Notes

There are few things more frustrating than needing to jot something down, and not having a pen and paper to do so. But luckily, this is 2017, and you no longer need traditional writing tools to record your thoughts. Note taking apps have moved way beyond just allowing you to type a few words on a file. Some allow you to create useful filing systems, set reminders, collaborate and share with others, and include everything from links to photos to screenshots.

7. Evernote

Evernote lets you create full project to-do lists that can be shared across multiple platforms.

8. Google Keep

Google Keep allows you to take quick notes, add lists, photos, and voice memos to track your every thought. Seamless integration with Google Docs makes it easy to turn those quick notes into longer documents.

Organize Your Projects

You're busy. I'm busy. We're all endlessly busy. Sometimes we don't even know where to start, when to stop, and how much to do. Use time management apps that will allow you to schedule your tasks throughout your day.

9. Trello

The Trello app helps you create "boards" for all the projects you're currently working on and lets you easily add notes, to-do lists, photos, videos, and even customized workflows for your projects.

10. Asana

Asana lets you track projects from start to finish, and easily chat with project collaborators as you go along.

Protect Your Passwords

In an era of cyber security breaches and identity thieves running amok with personal information, protecting passwords has become serious business. You want to make sure your passwords don't all match, are not easy to guess, and are updated frequently enough to protect yourself from data hacks. But you also need a way to remember or access all those secure passwords! There's an app for that.

11. Keeper

Keeper creates, organizes, and auto-fills strong passwords on your behalf for all your accounts.

12. LastPass

LastPass keeps all of your precious passwords in one safe space, and alerts you to any duplicate passwords that may put you at risk for being hacked.

Control Your Documents

Even after signing up for paperless delivery for all our accounts, we still can't escape the daily receipts, business cards, and other documents that we end up collecting on a daily basis. Use an app to quickly scan and file these away.

13. Shoeboxed

Shoeboxed lets you scan receipts and business cards, track mileage, and even send expense reports with receipt images attached.

Save Effortlessly

If you've made it a financial priority to build up your savings accounts in 2017, you know it can take time and due diligence to make it happen. Personal finance apps help you manage your money, pay your bills on time, and also effortlessly save money.

14. Acorns

Acorns automatically funds your savings for you by rounding up your purchases and adding the change to your Acorns savings account. They'll even invest the "change" for you so you can potentially make much more than what your savings account is currently paying. (See also: Here's What I Learned About Money After Using Acorns)

15. Digit

Digit is the perfect savings sidekick. Once you link the app to your checking account, Digit analyzes your spending and sets aside small amounts of cash to save. (See also: Can a Robot Called Digit Really Help You Save More?)

Schedule Appointments

Tired of having to open up your calendar each time a meeting request comes in via email or text? Integrate your emails and even your text messages with your favorite calendar app to see everything in one place.

16. Gyst

Quickly determine potential meeting dates with Gyst, both with friends and business colleagues by linking your text messages and emails with your calendar.

17. Handle

Handle does just what it says and handles your life by linking your emails, to-do lists, and calendar, so you always know what's expected of you and where you need to be.

Like this article? Pin it!

Disclaimer: The links and mentions on this site may be affiliate links. But they do not affect the actual opinions and recommendations of the authors.

Wise Bread is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.