Monday, January 13, 2014

New Years Resolutions - There's an App for That!

It's that time of year - an new year, a new start, a new chance get the things right that you didn't get right last year.  According to an article I read in Parade Magazine, the 10 most common resolutions among Americans are:
    healthy food fresh vegetable salad and fork
  1. Lose weight
  2. Improve finances
  3. Exercise
  4. Get a new job
  5. Eat healthier
  6. Manage stress better
  7. Stop smoking
  8. Improve a relationship
  9. Stop procrastinating
  10. Set aside time for yourself
Are any of these on your list?  Are there any resolutions you made that didn't make the list?  I've never made any resolutions myself, but #9 is definitely something I could work on.  I also think we could all benefit from eating healthier, and I'd like to start buying and using more organic foods.

According to another one of those articles in Parade, the statistical success rate of New Years resolutions is 8%.  That doesn't sound very encouraging, does it?  Still, it's a bright shiny new year, and we'd all love to do better this year, wouldn't we?   Also remember that, even if you make a resolution and fail, you do not have to wait until the beginning of another year to try again.  Pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and try again.

Did you know there are apps you can put on your smart phone or tablet that can help you stick to your resolutions this year?  I mean, why not?  There's an app for everything else, why not apps to help us live better lives?  Isn't that what it's all about anyway?  If our technology isn't helping us, then we might as well not have it, right?  It has to be more than just games and Facebook. (though those are pretty fun)

Here are some apps that might just help you keep those resolutions this year or get started again:
  • To help us eat healthier - Fooducate.   This one looks really cool.  It lets you scan barcodes in the grocery store to get nutrition information about the products you're thinking of buying and offers healthier alternatives. 
  • To help me stop procrastinating, I'm sure there's a Productivity app that will help me.  The Parade article mentioned Finish, which is available on iTunes for the iPad Air.  It looks pretty handy because once you enter the stuff that you need to get done and when it needs to be done, the app reminds you until you actually get it done.  I wonder if you'd just go ahead and do whatever the thing is just to shut the app up?  Worth a try, anyway.
  • If you want to stay in touch with your friends and family (besides on Facebook), Skype is great.  It lets you talk face to face with someone, even if they're hundreds of miles away.  For free!  It's one of the best ways to talk to our grandson Jason, now that we don't live in the same town anymore.  He'll talk to us longer when he can see us than when we're just using the phone.
  • For managing and improving finances, there's Mint.  I've been using the Mint website for a while - and I use the term 'using' loosely because I really don't take advantage of all the features.  Mint can help you track spending, create budgets, and send alerts for upcoming bills or low balances.  It's a great way to see where your money is going and take charge of your finances.  I'm going to download it to my U.S. Cellular Samsung GS4 and see if I can keep better track of ours.
Those are just a few of the very helpful apps available to help us take control of our lives.  Whatever your resolutions or goals are this year, I bet there's an app for that!  Be sure to visit Google Play or iTunes and search for the apps that will help you.   If you've found some that have been very helpful in your life, be sure to share them.

Disclosure: I am being compensated for my participation in the U.S. Cellular Better Moments Blogger Brigade as well as receiving a new phone.  My experiences with and opinions of U.S. Cellular are 100% mine.