Parenthood is busy. From school to extracurricular activities to playdates, moms and dads always seem to be on the run. Luckily for our generation, technology is at our fingertips making it easier than ever to keep us organized with some specific phone apps for new moms to help. Between our own schedules and our kids’ schedules we are now able to have everything at our fingertips – a quick glance or an alarm can remind us of what we need to be doing. But none of that does us any good if we don’t utilize the different tools available to us!
Searching through your App Store to find a program that works for you can be overwhelming. There are phone apps for new moms that are specifically for scheduling, for grocery shopping, and for list-making. There are apps to remind you to pay bills, compare prices of products, and for recipes. If you need it, it’s out there. The hard part is, that it’s often hard to fish through them all. But worry no more! Below is a list of 8 phone apps for new moms that will help keep you organized and a little less stressed.
Cozi is an all around organizational tool that allows you to schedule appointments and reminders. You can even color code each item according to each family member to make it easier to see who needs to be where at what time. It also has a grocery list and to-do list, as well as a recipe box. It has a journal where you can store pictures and notes so you don’t forget about those all important little moments of your crazy days!
Google Keep is one of the best phone apps for new moms that love list-making. It allows you to make several different kinds of lists like to-do lists, grocery lists, gift ideas, and appointment reminders. You can color code the lists to help you organize either by category or priority, and you can do a quick search right on the app to pull up the list that you’re looking for when you need it.
One amazing feature is that you can set reminders by geo-location – so when you pull up to the grocery store Google Keep will remind you to pick up that gallon of milk. You are also able to share Google Keep with family members. They are able to add to lists or check stuff off, so you can see that it has been done and everyone can be on the same page.
Grocery IQ is a grocery list app that helps you organize your shopping list. It breaks down your list by category, making it easy for you to run through the store to get what you need, and not wander aimlessly through each aisle. There are tons of grocery list apps out there, even ones dedicated to your particular grocery store of choice, but Grocery IQ is different.
Not only does it store your grocery list but it also has a recipe database with over 200,000 recipes for you to pull. For all those savvy savers out there, it also has a coupon database where you can search for coupons related to the items on your list and either email them to yourself or send them wirelessly to your printer.
One way to help with simplifying your life during the busy school year is to meal plan. Meal planning can allow for stress-free dinner times and grocery shopping. Pepperplate is an app that helps you organize your recipes and helps build a grocery list for the items needed on your menu. You can save recipes you find online by adding the URL or add in recipes manually. When you decide you want to cook a particular meal for the week, just add it to your meal plan and Pepperplate generates a grocery list using the items listed on the recipe. You can even share your list so someone else can do the shopping for you!
Available on: iPhone, Android, Kindle, Nook, Desktop, iOS
At first glance Evernote looks like just a list maker, but it is so much more than that. If you find yourself often piled up underneath mountains of papers, Evernote can help you get organized. You can scan whole documents, insert photos and videos, add notes and then automatically sync everything to your computer to be stored online. You can create to-do lists, set reminders, take pictures as memory keepsakes, and everything is stored into Evernote. You can access your account on your phone or desktop, and you can share items with friends, family, and coworkers. It’s an all-around organizational tool great for busy parents trying to keep everything together.
Available on: iPhone, Android, Desktop
Cost: Evernote has three different plans available: Basic, Plus, and Premium. Basic is free, Plus is $34.99/year, and Premium is $69.99/year. Each plan has varying levels of storage and options. To find out more, click here.
Remember the Milk is another option for a to-do list app. It allows you to set reminders and priorities for tasks and search for items and/or lists using tags and common words. It also allows you to share your lists with others by email. One great thing about ‘Remember the Milk’ is that you can set it to remind you to check an item off your list via several different media platforms such as email, Twitter, text message, iMessage, and their mobile app. This way you can make sure you’re never missing out on your honey-do’s, even if you want to ignore them.
Google Calendar is one default app that many people already use, and it’s not without reason. This app is readily available to anyone with a Gmail account. You can set appointments with specific times -managed reminders, as well as share the calendar with anyone. The best part about Google Calendar is that it syncs with many other programs including other apps, software programs, and organizational tools. Many people use it as their go-to mobile calendar because of its ease of use and familiarity with other tools.
Qeepsake is a unique app designed just for busy parents in mind. Qeepsake’s designers wanted to make an app that made it easy for parents to store the little moments that we often forget about in the hustle and bustle of our every day life. With this in mind, they created a program that allows parents to journal their child’s lives on the go.
This app takes the thinking out of it – each week you will get questions texted to your phone to answer about each child, and Qeepsake adds it to their “journal”. You can even add pictures and your own memories if you upgrade your plan. You can order a hardcopy book of your child’s journal! The downfall? There is a waiting list to join, and it can take a few months for you to be able to start journaling with them.
Available: Any phone that receives text messaging!
Cost: Pricing varies from free to $7.99/month. Click here to find out more.
As parents, it seems as though more and more is constantly being added to our plate. Between shuffling kids from school to extracurricular activities, to work schedules and home life, it’s hard to keep everything organized. Luckily for us there are thousands of tools out there to help keep us sane using something that virtually never leaves our side: our phones. With the phone apps for new moms mentioned above, you can help turn your chaos into organized chaos.
Lauren is a mom of three girls and a proud USMC spouse. She is the managing editor of Daily Mom Military, one half of the YouTube military spouse channel, #TheDependas, and owner of Lauren Lomsdale Creative Studios. She loves to run, lift, and do yoga in her spare time. Lauren is currently in Camp Pendleton, CA with her family and loves to meet new and inspiring military spouses.
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