For many of us, the start of the new year gives us the urge to get organized. Whether it’s an official resolution or simply the hopeful momentum that comes with using a fresh calendar, there’s just something about January that gives us the incentive to get our act together. So, what is that you’re looking to streamline in order to free up some time, energy, and peace of mind in 2024? From meal planning, cooking, and coordinating your family members’ schedules to budgeting, cleaning, and assembling a home management binder of all your vital documents, we’ve got some tools to make your life easier.
Meal Planning
SuperCook is a free online meal planner app that helps you decrease food waste, save money, and get cooking quickly by allowing you to find menus based on the ingredients you already have at home. The filters allow you to add dietary restrictions and cuisine preferences and each recipe includes nutritional information. You can also import and organize your own recipes, organize them by category, and identify them with keywords.
- Available: As an app for iOS, Android and Desktop
- Get it: www.SuperCook.com or in your device’s app store
Family Calendar
Cozi’s free family organizer is perfect for active families. Features include individual calendars for each family member that combine into one shared calendar with different colors assigned to each person, the ability to store recipes and share grocery lists and to-do lists via email or text. Although the free version is ad supported, you have the option to upgrade to the premium version, which includes a search function and contacts. This mobile app works with other popular calendars, such as Apple, Outlook, and Google Calendar.
- Available: From any mobile device or computer
- Get it: www.Cozi.com or in your device’s app store
Cleaning
If you’re looking to help schedule and organize your home chores in real time, Home Tasker’s free app can help. Features include customizable templates, more than 150 chore presents for each room, task sharing, and interactive widgets. View your progress as you clean, arrange task based on urgency, set reminders, and use notifications.
- Available: As an app for iPhones and iPads
- Get it: in your device’s app store
Budget/Finance
The NerdWallet app lets you track your budget, finances, and credit all in one place for free. See your spending from all accounts at a glance, track your home equity, check your credit score and get alerts when a change occurs, monitor your credit report, and earn points and rewards based on your spending trends.
- Available: As an app for iOS, Android and Desktop
- Get it: https://www.nerdwallet.com/l/nerdwallet-app or in your device’s app store
Home Management
Looking for a way to store all your important information and documents in one location? The free iScanner app uses your device’s camera to “scan” ID cards, passports, documents, business cards, and more right to your phone. Create customized folders for tax records, prescriptions, warranties, etc. and easily search documents in seconds. The app doesn’t collect any personal data without your knowledge or consent and the app uses end-to-end encryption so neither the iScanner team nor third parties can access the contents of your document. The free version includes 200 Mb of clous storage and there are no subscriptions required, no pop-up ads, or watermarks. The premium version offers a variety of additional features, including Math Mode (to solve math equations), Count Mode (to count items), converting images to text and more.
- Available: As an app for iOS and Android
- Get it: https://iscanner.com/
Looking for more tools and systems to make your life easier?
Check out these episodes with balance strategist Leah Remillet where she shares specific tools and frameworks to get more done in a day without burning yourself out:
- Managing Your Mind and Energy with Systems to Organize Your Life
- The Mother Load: Finding Balance When Your Life Feels Off-Kilter