My Top 5 iPhone Apps

I’ll admit, when the iPhone first came out I thought it was the stupidest thing in the world. I laughed at my husband for wanting one and said I’d never get one. I was happy with my little iPod Touch and flip phone.

Fast forward to today where I’ve owned every iPhone to come out since the 3G (that’s four different phones in about as many years). It was hard for me to narrow things down to five when I have over one hundred and thirty actually on my phone.

Here in no particular order…

Pandora

Pandora has become a favorite of mine especially in the car. I had XM radio for a while but got sick of hearing the same songs over and over. Solution? Ditch the XM, save myself a few bucks a month and listen to what I like.

Whether I’m in a Dave Matthews mood or a Florence and the Machine mood I can play a station that makes me happy and I rarely hear the same song twice.

Grocery IQ

This is the perfect app for me! It took a little while to get it set up with my favorite store but now it’s absolutely priceless. I’ve always been a grocery list maker, I blame it on my mother who is also a grocery list maker. I don’t want to forget anything I need and it helps me keep my impulse buys down since I try to only buy what’s on my list. Grocery IQ lets me make my list quickly and then it organizes it in the order I shop my store. As I do my shopping I simply check off each item and nothing is forgotten.

The other thing I LOVE about Grocery IQ is that you can print coupons from it or (if your store participates) you can add coupons right to your saving club card.

Who Is Hot

Knowing if a storm is headed our way is important and I use Who Is Hot to keep track of the weather. You can also see what the weather is like where any of your friends are, but I just use it for me.

It uses the location service to show you exactly what’s coming your way on the (animated) radar. Who Is Hot also gives you current weather conditions, forecasts and warnings. Where ever I travel, this app keeps me up to date with the weather so I never get caught off guard when a storm hits.

Fitbit

I’ve been wearing a Fitbit for over a year now and I love it just as much today as the day I bought it.

Using the Fitbit has helped me keep tabs of how active I am, what I eat, drink, and motivates me to step it up when I need to. It’s a great tool for anyone trying to lose weight and anyone trying to lead a more healthy lifestyle.

The Fitbit app helps me monitor my day when I’m not around my computer. I can enter my meals and water on the fly. Should I actually get out to the gym for some exercise I can enter my workout right on the app so I don’t forget. The Fitbit and it’s app have helped me take my quest for a healthier lifestyle to the next level.

Bank of America

I realize that not everyone is going to bank at Bank of America and if you don’t you should still check to see if your bank has a similar app.

I chose this app as one of my top five favorites because of all of the convenient features. When I travel I can easily find banking centers and/or ATM’s so I can save on fees while I’m away. Also to help me avoid fees the apps will send a notification to my home screen if an account balance gets a little low, or when our direct deposits are deposited.

With the Bank of America app I can also find deals in my area that will help save me some money and all I have to do is shop at the stores listed and I’ll be credited for the deals.

But my favorite feature in this app is the deposit feature. I can simply take a photo of my check right in the app, enter some other info and the check is automatically deposited into my account. Even that saves me money when I don’t have to drive the twenty minutes to my bank.

These are all amazing apps that help me be more productive and the best part…they’re all FREE.

So there are some of my favorite apps, what are yours?

Anyone who knows me or has read this blog on occasion knows I’m always fighting to stay organized. Fighting to keep my house neat and tidy. Fighting to stay ahead of that mountain of laundry. Most times it’s a battle that I don’t win, but I continue to solider on in hopes that one day I find a system that clicks.

I think I might have finally found a tool to help me get there…Chore Pad!

Almost two years back I briefly shared my chore chart with you. It was a wet erase calendar that stuck to the fridge, every week I had to write in my list of chores so I could get that satisfaction of crossing them off. Well that calendar got damaged in our move to The Hill and I haven’t found a suitable replacement…Until now! I scoured the iTunes store for a good chore app to help me get all the chores done without feeling overwhelmed. While Chore Pad’s appearance is clearly aimed to keep our little ones interested and make chores fun, it was also perfect for my needs.

Setting up my Chore Pad was so easy I think Cameron could have set up his own profile. Not only was it easy to set up, but it has a ton of different ways to customize each chore. Each chore can have it’s own icon, with over 80 cute little pictures to choose form. Laundry has a cute little clothes line. I have a trash can on the days I collect and take out the trash. Just about anything you can think of is there and they seem to be adding more with every update.

Once you choose your icon, you can set the days of the week you want to do the chore. I try to do a little something each day, so it was nice to be able to set the specific days of the week I wanted to do each chore. I only clean and vacuum the basement every other week, so the frequency option was great for the things I don’t do every week. Choose from never repeat, weekly, every other week, or monthly and you’ll only have that chore show up with a check box when you set it to.

The next feature is more for the little ones, although I might start setting up rewards and stars for myself. I think a pedicure for every 50 stars sounds good, how about you? Each chore can be given a star value between one and ten. This worked great for Cameron to understand how some chores were more important than others. Cameron has School on his chart and it has a ten star value…I never have a problem with him not wanting to go to school. Homework is much easier to get through when he knows he’s going to get five stars for doing it.

It doesn’t end with the stars though, you can set up rewards in the Reward Chest. When Cameron receives so many stars, he can cash them in for a reward. Talk about incentive. Instead of giving arbitrary rewards, now he has something to work towards.

Now that you have all your users and chores entered, it’s time to assign them, and it’s as easy as tapping a button. I think the total set up time was maybe 15 minutes and the whole thing was intuitive and user friendly. I love that I can put my chores in any over I want. I like to have a neat and tidy look by putting them in order by day.

When your using Chore Pad, you can view the entire week’s chores or simply rotate your device to see what has to be done that day.

This week

Today (today’s chores are highlighted)

I’ve been using Chore Pad on my iPad for a few weeks now and I love it. I love that I have a way to hold myself accountable for my household chores. I love that Cameron is now showing an interest in helping out around the house because he can check things off on “his” iPad and get stars for the work he does. I can totally understand how Chore Pad HD (iPad version) won second place for The Best App Ever in 2010. Personally, I think it is THE best app ever.

Do you have an iPad and an iPhone (or iPod touch)? Chore Pad syncs between all your devices. Our chore charts are on all our iPads and on my iPhone. I love that I can check off chores from anywhere (I always have one of my devices near by).

Here’s the best part…

I was graciously given codes to give three Chore Pad HD (iPad version $4.99 value) and three Chore Pad (iPhone/iPod version $2.99 value) apps away to a few lucky readers. If you do not have an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch, please do not enter, it’s only fair, right?

Entry 1) Leave a comment here and tell me how you would use Chore Pad. Would you use it to get yourself into a routine or would you use it to get your kids to help out around the house? Also, please let me know if you have an iPad, iPhone/iPod touch or both.

Entry 2) Tweet about this giveaway with a link to this post. Please leave a comment below with a link to the tweet. This can be done everyday, one entry per daily tweet.

Entry 3) Follow me on twitter. https://twitter.com/#!/MommylandMychal

Winners will be selected November 30th, please have your entires in by 5pm that day. I will email each winner to verify that you are indeed a real person. You will have 24 hours to respond or a new winner will be selected. Winners will be emailed a code for their app once they are verified. Codes will be valid until December 3, 2011.

Disclaimer: I was given a free code to get the Chore Pad app for my iPhone, I was already using Chore Pad HD. I was asked by the makers of Chore Pad to do a review; however, I was planning on doing a review of this app anyway. This post is my opinion and the fact that I was given the opportunity to give some of you the gift of this app in no way swayed my opinion.