When Apple launched the App Store, I fell into OCD/organized heaven. As of late there are five applications I cannot live without. They help keep me organized so I can be focused while Brady’s napping and disconnected during playtime. OH the life of a working mama! In no particular order:
BASECAMP ($0+)
Basecamp is fabulous for client management. It’s a system that allows your projects to happen in a virtual office – or at least that’s how I like to think about it. There’s a place to store files, a place to share and edit text together, a message board that organizes conversations, to-do lists and templates, a calendar and even a chat room. It can be edited to match your brand and is super easy to use. Love Basecamp. I’m on this site eight thousand times a day. Pricing varies, but most biz owners can get by with the $24 – $49 packages.
WUNDERLIST ($0)
No, really, when this one launched I did a huge happy dance. Now… rumor has it Apple is introducing a new task management system called Reminders with iOS5 (among a host of other Apple amazingness) – so Wunderlist might be replaced as best-task-management-app-ever. Wunderlist recently beat out Things which really just stopped working for me once I became a mom. I need something fast, at a glance and something that syncs across my iMac, MacBook and iPhone. Wunderlist it is. Not to mention, aesthetic is important and this is PRETTY!
PINTEREST ($0)
Besides being the ONLY thing that could keep me awake during 4am feedings in those early new Mama days, Pinterest is just plain cool. It is an image cataloguing (and semi-social-networking) site. I’m using it now to catalogue design inspiration, headshot concepts (yay, Gina!), client experience ideas and really amazing recipes I’d love to make but probably will never have time. I LOVE when a Making Brands Happen client comes to Lara and I with a Pinterest board full of inspiration. YES, PLEASE! Constant inspiration here. Follow me on Pinterest.
REEDER ($10)
I could never get into Google Reader. Mainly because I’ve never been a big “Google” person. Admitted and shameless Apple snob over here. I don’t read many blogs, mainly because I hardly even have time to wash my hair most days, but Reeder helps me keep up with the (less than ten) blogs I read on a daily… ehh… weekly basis. It’s easy, sits in my little tray on my iMac and Macbook and is pretty to look at. (As I’m writing this, I’m realizing that a simple aesthetic is just as important to me as a simple interface. Interesting.)
FLUID ($5)
Are you ready for this. Fluid is an app… that lets you turn websites into apps. Yes, apps that sit in your little tray with a little icon just like Photoshop or iTunes or that cool little yellow and black Tweetdeck bird. I used Fluid to make an app for Basecamp, so now all I have to do is click my Basecamp app and it opens in a simplified app window rather than with my eighty four other webpages I have randomly opened. Way. Cool.
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What apps can you NOT LIVE WITHOUT? Tell me! I want my life to be simpler in every way. Why, you ask? So I can spend less time spinning my wheels, sorting through stuff, searching for what I need and do what normally takes ten minutes in three…. and spend my precious time on my amazing, inspiring clients and with my sweet, slobbery Bman.
CONTEST: The best “way to simplify” recommendation gets their very own copy of FLUID AND REEDER! Contest ends Friday at 5pm EST. Ready… GO!
