Even the most basic apps available for smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices can make life more manageable. Gone are the days of grocery lists and strings around your fingers – today’s apps do all the organizing for you, so you can give your brain a well-deserved break.

Particularly if you share your home with roommates, keeping up with bill-paying and other tasks can be a hassle. If you want to get a handle on your household’s to-do list, consider the following apps:

1. Grocery iQ

Tired of taking time out of your day to go grocery shopping only to discover the minute you come home that you forgot the milk? Save time and shop with greater efficiency by downloading Grocery iQ, which comes with a helpful database of millions of items that help you create a comprehensive list of everything you need for each trip. You can organize your list by creating different categories for each store you frequent and even categorize by shopping aisle. Email your list to your roommates to help spread your workload. The app even helps you save by offering coupon access and note opportunities to list prices and quantities.

2. PageOnce

It’s hard to keep up with bills when you’ve got several to pay each month, and each one is under a different roommate’s name. PageOnce makes it easy to access all of these bills on one convenient page. Users can link all of their accounts onto the app and monitor account activity in the time it takes to send a text message. The app’s easy-to-read, easily navigable format, you can easily sort through your bills, monitor account activity and make changes where necessary to control your spending and limit those pesky late fees.

3. Sleep Cycle

When your roommates wake you up at noise by making too much noise, you may need to hit the snooze button in the morning. Snooze smartly with the new Sleep Cycle app, which lets you say goodbye to “waking up on the wrong side of the bed.” This scientific app uses the iPhone’s accelerometer to monitor your movements while you sleep, which indicates your transitions between light and deep sleep. With this information, the app will sound the alarm only when you’re in the lightest sleep cycle of the preset 30-minute time frame. Although this high-tech device remains active throughout the night, it only uses about 30 percent of your device’s battery, so plugging it in every night isn’t necessary.

4. Digital Locker

Having a comprehensive inventory of all of your belongings is essential, when you share your home with other people. This handy home organization app is especially helpful for electronic items, because you can quickly access a photo of an item when you’re out shopping for a new cord or other accessory. And having a digital record of your belongings is extremely helpful, if you ever need to file a claim on your renters or homeowners insurance.

These days, there’s no shortage of apps that can help you manage day-to-day living, so start letting your smartphone do some of the work for you.

Originally posted on October 21, 2012 @ 1:47 am