Busy families need a way of staying in touch, gathering all their information and planning ahead. Because more information is sent by email and text, a portable one-stop assistant has become more than a luxury. It is more the norm now to receive information about car pool by text and invitations by evite. Integrating your new technology is the asset for communication and merging life and work.

Smartphones are much more than just cell phones. These are “life management devices” according to TopTenReviews.com. These phones offer include organizing features like calendars for scheduling business meeting and tracking your family’s schedule as well as endless space for task lists. The ability to sync with your home computer allows for viewing, printing and editing of calendars and documents. Functional additional tools include a calculator as well as map applications and GPS. Need information on something? You have instant internet access to locate info on the web. Depending on your cell phone provider, there are many models to choose from.

Lots of ideas are hard to capture, especially while driving. There are lots of outstanding ways to remind yourself of an important goal, invitation or birthday.

www.jott.com
Jott works with your phone. It is a type of transcription service.

www.futureme.org.
Enter your e-mail address, the date you want the message to come, and write a brief message to your future self.

www.rememberthemilk.com
More task management ideas for your phone, your calendar and more. This can be used with Jott too!

www.google.com
http://www.google.com/intl/en/googlecalendar/about.html
With Google Calendar, it's easy to keep track of life's important events all in one place. This is particularly helpful for families to keep their events and projects all together. It can be accessed by your phone and you can set reminders too!
http://keepass.info/
KeePass is a free open source password manager, which helps you to manage your passwords in a secure way. You can put all your passwords in one database, which is locked with one master key or a key file. The databases are encrypted using the best and most secure encryption algorithms currently known (AES and Twofish).

So how do you get started? Yes, a new cell phone can be really fun and cool! However, assess what really works for you. Which functions would help you get it all together? With that in mind, take the leap!

Happy organizing!

Ellen R. Delap, CPO®
Professional-Organizer.com
www.professional-organizer.com
edelap@professional-organizer.com
281-360-3928
Certified Professional Organizer®
Certified Family Manager Coach™
Member/Past President NAPO Houston
Member National Association of Professional Organizers
ADD and CD Certificate/National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization