Essential Apps for Time and Money
Sometimes when you grow accustomed to certain applications they disappear as they’re always there and you use them all the time. In compiling a list of apps that I use every day, I forgot about the ones that are so completely integrated that I don’t really think about them as I just constantly use them. Oddly they are all related to money and time.
I get things done and (frequently) stay within a budget with the following apps for my iPod Touch: OmniFocus, Spend, and Grocery Gadget. Interestingly they all use lists and two of them use the cloud to synchronize the data that they use.
The OmniFocus iPhone / iPod Touch app is one of the most powerful and beautifully implemented programs that I use. Synchronizing with the desktop version makes it essential in my daily routine for Getting Things Done. I keep track of what I need to do in various contexts and with different projects and I can enter new information or check things off my list knowing that it will all be in sync whether I’m at my desk on walking around holding my iPod Touch. One of the powerful aspects of the GTD system is that of contexts where you organize your tasks within the places or situations where you can do things. The most amazing part of the OmniFocus iPhone app is how it uses the GPS information to let you know what you can do depending on your location (which is the context). That means that anything that is in the Office context will be shown as available for your when you are actually, physically at the office. That is very cool and it’s something I look forward to using when I have an iPhone.
Spend is a very simple application for managing budgets. You can have all sorts of different budgets, but I keep it fairly simple with my discretionary spending that exists within the larger household budget. Since my iPod Touch is always with me I add everything that I buy to the budget and I keep track of how much money is left over for coffee, snacks, groceries, gas and even things like music. Within the application you can set your budgets to automatically reset or put new money in for payday. You can even transfer money between budgets, so if you spend less on gas one month you can move that over to music or anywhere else you want to move it. The application has made a big difference in how I manage my own personal budget as all of the little things add up and now I know exactly where I stand with the money that I’m spending.
Grocery Gadget makes it easy to coordinate your grocery lists with someone else. The iPhone / iPod Touch app synchronizes online and you can use multiple versions that synchronize with the server, which means that you can have two or more people add things to the shopping list and check them off as they are purchased. It makes it easy to build a list and keep track of what is still needed. Another good feature is that you can create different lists, so you can keep all the things you buy at the farmers market separate from what you get at the grocery store. There is also a web interface, but I only use it on my iPod. If you like you can also enter the cost (and the tax!) for all of the things on your grocery list to work within a budget, but I haven’t taken that step as we just use it to keep track of what we need.
All of these apps are simple, powerful and just work, which is how it should be. They make it easier to stay organized and save money and time, but the key to using them effectively is that you need to update them by checking off what you’ve done or what you’ve bought as it can be easy to forget things which is the whole point of using these apps. Since I rarely don’t have my iPod Touch with me, it isn’t really a problem.
Thank you for this information! I have OmniFocus but have been looking for a shopping app that syncs and GroceryGadget fits that bill. I will check out Spend but am very eagerly awaiting Budget Touch from Snowmint to go along with Budget, the envelope system budgeting software for the Mac.