In 2019, the average U.S. adult will have spent almost three hours a day on their phone. Three hours! I’m definitely guilty of clocking in some serious screen time here and there, and set a goal for myself at the beginning of this year to work on being more mindful about how and when I’m using my phone. Little things like turning off notifications for social media apps or setting reminders for screen time limits have definitely made a difference, but I still rely on my phone for a decent amount of day-to-day functionality so it’s a constant process of keeping things in check. If it’s true that we’re more attached to our phones than ever, why not use them to our advantage to help simplify and streamline our days, right? Here are a few of my favorite apps to help keep you organized:

1. Google - Calendar and Keep

Leave it to Google to come up with not one but two apps that are key players in helping things to run (fairly) smoothly at my house. I reference my Google calendar CONSTANTLY, with color-coded categories for family, work, birthdays, and even time blocking during my designated desk and home days. I love that my husband and I can both easily share and edit as well as receive a daily agenda email if we choose.

Google Keep is SO great, especially if you’re a list maker (raises hand) or someone who needs a good brain dump every now and then (raises hand again). I use Keep for more long-term or running lists, things like gift ideas or house projects that we may want to tackle in a given season, with Reminders as more of my daily To Do spot (more on that below). My favorite features of Keep are:

the joyful sort - professional organizer - columbus, OH - blog - top 5 apps for organization

Color-coding - for example, any notes related to our house are gray, kids are blue, my personal stuff is pink, etc.)
Photo notes and text translation - add photos to your notes as well as automatically translate any text from said images
Archive - instead of deleting notes that may not currently need to live on your landing screen, archive for later search and reference
CHECK. BOXES. - is there anything more satisfying than literally checking an item off of a list?

There are a TON of note-keeping apps out there (Evernote, OneNote, and Bear to name a few), but the simplicity and ease of Google Keep make it a great option for someone who doesn’t necessarily want or need all of the bells and whistles of a more granular setup.

2. Cozi

Cozi is such a great option for families, housing everything from calendars (color coded for everything from individual family members to pets to work events - sensing a theme yet?) to grocery lists, recipes (with the option to automatically add ingredients from any recipe directly to your grocery list), and even weather reports. Daily agenda emails are a great way to keep everyone in the family on the same page. When referring clients to Cozi, I tell them to think of it as a mobile command center, a great one-stop-shop for families that always seem to have a lot of balls in the air at once.

3. Keepy

One of the top questions that I’m asked about as a professional organizer is what to do with all of the artwork and paper that comes home from school, and Keepy is a great solution. Create a profile for each child and then upload photos of their artwork into albums which can be organized by grade, by holiday, by event, whatever you’d like. Individual pieces can be shared with private groups (such as grandparents or aunts and uncles) and there’s also an option to add a video note to each piece, a super cute way to record your child in that particular moment in time and tie that to their creation. The only downside to Keepy is that you’ll need to pay for the service if adding more than seven pieces per month, but $8/month seems a pretty reasonable price to pay for keeping all of that paper out of your home.

4. Reminders

This one doesn’t even require a trip to the App Store! The Reminders app just got a face lift and, so far, I’m loving it more than the original. I use Reminders for my daily to-do lists throughout the week, allowing me to easily shift things from one to day to another if something doesn’t get done - yes, even professional organizers have this problem! I also love it as a simple way to set reminder notifications for myself for certain tasks on a given day, such as remembering to take Before pictures at the start of a client session - (I’m the worst at this!).

5. Decluttr

One of my soapbox items is dealing with volume before you do any organizing, so of course I have to include an app that allows you to make a few extra dollars off of items that you no longer need, use, or love. The process is pretty simple: scan barcodes for things like DVDs, CDs, books, and tech items such as iPads and Kindles, review the offer price for items that Decluttr has accepted, choose your payment option (direct deposit, PayPal, or check), and ship everything to the Decluttr warehouse for free. This is a great alternative or additional option for places like eBay or Facebook Marketplace if donating isn’t in the cards.