5 Best Organizing Apps for 2016

In 2016 it’s easier than ever to get organized.  Whether it’s a to do list, your budget or calendar, apps take on the heavy lifting!  Over the years, I’ve grown more and more accustomed to relying on apps to streamline my life and I must say, it’s given my overloaded mind a break.  Reminders for everything from bills to appointments are set up within my apps, which allows me to think more about what’s at hand than worry about remembering everything.  All it takes it a quick set up and creating habits of letting the app work for you, and you’re good to go.  Below we take a look at some of the best apps to keep us organized in 2016.

Don’t forget to check out our other helpful blog posts in Apps and Organizing.

5 Best Organizing Apps for 2016

To Do List

Todoist  I can’t function at my best without making a to do list.  I used to rely on the “Notes” app on my Mac to create to do lists, but realized it wasn’t efficient.  What’s the point of creating a to do list if you’re never going to remember to check it?  So recently I downloaded Todoist on my iPhone to help me out.  I needed something simple and easy to use that would become a part of my everyday life.  What I like about this particular app is its efficient user interface.  It allows me to create tasks in different areas (called “projects”) such as work, personal, errands, shopping and even movies to watch.  And of course you can create custom projects as well.  It sets reminders and keeps my to do list organized and easy to complete, which is the best part.

Calendar

Sunrise  I have to admit, I’ve never been the best at keeping up with a calendar.  I’ve tried both Apple and Google calendars, but neither seemed to connect with my way of working.  I prefer to work off of a to do list, rather than going to a certain date and penciling in (manually and virtually!) what needs to get done.  And now I’ve found the solution in the Sunrise app, which makes me a really happy camper.  You see, with Sunrise I can connect my Todoist account and my to do list is automatically imported into my Sunrise calendar!  This works for me, because I do love the set up in Todoist as far as entering what needs to be done and I prefer to do it on there.  Then to get an overall view of what my calendar looks like, I just have to hop over to Sunrise, which also connects to Facebook as well as other apps such as Google, icloud, Office 365, Evernote, Basecamp and even Meetup.

Email

CloudMagic is a semi new app that I’m excited to use. I normally just use the mail app on my iPhone, but recently decided to switch over to CloudMagic for more efficiency.  I can add my email accounts including Gmail, Hotmail/Outlook, Yahoo, Exchange, iCloud and even IMAP accounts (which includes email accounts from companies like GoDaddy).  The user interface is much easier to get around in than in iPhone mail.  I love having the option of seeing all of my emails from every account in one inbox (you can view individual account inboxes as well).  There’s also an option to have a streamlined signature across all emails.

Want more? Be sure to check out these other posts on how to stay organized:

6 Realistic New Years Resolutions for Your Home

Do You Make These Mistakes With Spring Cleaning?

The Cheat Sheet That Makes Moving a Piece of Cake

4 Easy Steps to Organizing Your Apartment

Budget

Mint There are a lot of home budget apps out there and I’ve tried a few of them, but I keep coming back to Mint.  Mint is an app that’s been around for awhile and for good reason.  What I like about it is that it’s so comprehensive.  I can link all of my accounts with it including checkings, savings, credit cards, loans and even investments.  It automatically gathers your spending habits from your bank and credit card accounts, giving you an accurate overview of what you’re using your money for, which in turn helps you budget.  You can also create goals to work towards within this app.  I’ve tried others budget apps, but I love being able to log into Mint for all my financial needs.

Check out our super helpful (and easy-to-follow) blog post, The Secrets to Making a Budget Work.

Notes

OneNote I used to use Evernote, but recently switched over to OneNote when I bought my new iPhone.  Evernote is a great tool, but I wanted to try out OneNote by Microsoft because I’ve heard so many great things about it and so far, it has come in really handy.  Like I said earlier in this post, I was an avid user of Mac Notes for to do lists and notes in general.  I am a big note taker!  But Mac Notes is almost too simplified.  What I love about OneNote is the ability to have color coded notebooks highlighting different sections of notes…sort of like my Todoist to do list!  I love being able to keep all my notes organized in different sections and also having sections within those sections.  Also, OneNote allows me to simply integrate Microsoft Word documents into my notebooks which is great for my writing projects.  I can also save my emails from CloudMagic to OneNote!  Score.