Trying to take care of yourself is hard enough. But it’s even more difficult when you’re also trying to keep track of the innumerable tasks, appointments and other needs of your family members.
Thankfully, mobile technology is catching up with modern home management needs and is unveiling new tools to share some of the workload. A number of cheap or low-cost applications can be installed onto your mobile phones and tablet PCs to make many daily routines easier and more efficient. Here are five home management apps that can help you manage your home better while freeing up more of your time.
Tendril Vantage Mobile
Tendril Vantage Mobile is a great tool for managing home energy use. Consumers can link the app to their electricity usage to view their energy consumption in real-time. The app will also eventually allow users to control appliances connected to the app, and thermostats can be managed remotely. Other features, such as carbon emissions reports and text-message updates, are planned for the future.
RemindYou
Developed as an upgrade over the iPhone’s traditional time and appointment management apps, RemindYou allows for a ticker display of upcoming appointments to appear on the lock screen of the iPhone. And the app can also sync with iCal and other time management tools offered by iPhone.
The only trick is that, in order to install RemindYou onto iPhones, the phone itself has to be “jailbroken,” or modified to expand its customizable features. But RemindYou may be worth the extra fuss: even at $9, the app has become one of the highest-selling apps for jailbroken iPhones.
Digital Locker
If you tend to misplace your belongings, the Digital Locker app may offer welcome relief. With this free app, you can store photos of all your belongings, categorized by room. Not only can the app be used to help you track down belongings that you can’t seem to find, but it’s an important tool to have, if you should ever need a record of your possessions for an insurance claim.
Shopper
Grocery lists are now easier to create and maintain through the Shopper app. This tool allows you to make multiple grocery lists for different stores, and you can also track the cost of items to make sure you buy products at their cheapest price among all the stores you frequent.
Organize your lists however you want them, and add or remove items easily as your shopping needs change.
You Rule Chores
It’s tough to sell kids on the idea that chores can be fun, but the You Rule Chores app may be your best bet. While parents are able to assign, manage and monitor chores assignments among their children, kids can earn points for completing their tasks. Incentivizing chores as a computer game has proven one of the most popular ways to convince kids to help out around the house.
Of course, new mobile apps are released on a daily basis, and many of these can make our lives easier in various ways. As mobile technology becomes more integrated with everyday tasks and even installed into run-of-the-mill appliances, the usefulness of these tools will only increase. But there already exists a veritable suite of tools that can revolutionize how you go about your day to day business in your home.
