Favorite Lifestyle Apps

Let me preface this by saying that I am not a paid advertiser/blogger of any kind.  I’m just a mom trying to do her thing so this post may seem like one giant advertisement but these are truly some of the most helpful apps I have found to make my life easier, better, happier, etc….

I, like most people in this day and age, have a smartphone that I use for a variety of purposes.  In fact, I have an iPhone 6S to be precise.  Like anyone that remembers a time before smartphones, I honestly am not sure where I would be without it.  I use it to remember/do so many things for me that I used to have to allocate towards my brain that I’d like to believe that it frees my brain up for more complex tasks of adulthood but sometimes that’s just not the case, we all know that but I do rely on my phone for an awful lot for good or for ill.  I am a “tech” person so I do enjoy using the technology but I use my phone as a tool not just a giant distraction, time waster, or amusement.  Of course I use it for those things as well but I try to get my phone to work for me instead of me just being a slave to it.  Here is a list of my top favorite apps for making my life easier or better:

1. Forest (Apple and Google Play) – This app allows you to “turn off” your phone for a period of time from 10 minutes to 120 minutes.  Your phone “grows” a tree to add to your forest and that tree shrivels up and dies if you leave the app to, you know, go check social media.  When you pop on your screen it’s a nice reminder that you’re supposed to be doing something else OTHER THAN CHECKING YOUR PHONE.  I’ve used this to help me stay focused while working on something or while just playing with the Munchkin or attempting to engage with people IRL (I know, who wants to talk to people?)
2. SleepTown (Apple and Google Play) – Along the lines of Forest (I believe it might even be the same developers) where you build a town while you sleep.  You set your sleep/wake up times and if you don’t start building on time (i.e. put your phone down and go to sleep instead of frantically checking your phone ONE LAST TIME) or if you stop building too early your city doesn’t grow.  Or in the case of screwing up your wake time, you end up with rubble in your city.  This helps me put my phone down and get to sleep in a timely fashion which then makes me a better, healthier person.
3. Wunderlist (Apple and Google Play) – This app allows me to make lists and allows me to save/share these lists with the Mr.  We have a few standard lists and can add things to the list as we need them.  This helps me when I’m in Target or other places to not forget stuff and it allows the Mr. and I to be on the same page.  

I hope if you haven’t found these apps yet you give them a try (I’m !  Smartphones are here for the long haul, if anything they will most likely become even more integrated into our lives and I’m not necessarily against it.  (Of course I’d like to go back to some of my math teachers when they told me I wouldn’t have a calculator in my pocket all the time and show them how wrong they are.)  There are times and places where phones shouldn’t be the center of attention and we should be using them to make our lives easier/better/healthier but not worse.