I have to confess, I’m getting rather forgetful. I think it’s a combination of getting older and having a lot going on with 2 kids, their school, and all their activities. Plus, I have some daily medications to take that I was taking at random times or not at all. So, this year I found 2 apps for my smart phone that have really helped me, and thought I would share.
On my previous phone, I used to keep all my appointments and places to be on the basic calendar app on my phone. In March, I upgraded to a new phone, and I didn’t like the calendar on it as much. Plus, my husband was always asking what was going on and couldn’t remember what I had told him. So, I came across the Cozi Family Calendar & Lists app. You set up your account with the name for your calendar and a shared family password. This allows family members access to the calendar from the web sign-in or by downloading the app on their smart phone. Next, you set up family members and assign each family member a color. You can also enter their e-mail address (if applicable) so they can receive reminders by e-mail if they don’t have the smart phone app. Then, you add events to the calendar. For each event, you can put what the event is, where it is located, select which family members need to attend, select if it’s a repeating event, add a start and end time, and then set a reminder. If the family member has the app on their phone, the reminder will be a notification sent to their phone. If they do not have the app, the reminder will be an e-mail. Finally, you can add notes. For example, if your event is a potluck, you can add a note to remind you to bring the dish you need.
The shared calendar is really all I use it for now. You can also create to-do lists and grocery lists, but I haven’t tried that yet. There is now also an option to import information from Google Calendars. Additionally, you can upgrade to Cozi Gold to gain more functionality for $29.99/year. At this point, I’m just using the free version and really happy with what I can do with it now.
I first found this app earlier this year when my younger daughter had to take a dose of antibiotics. You know, the kind that is 3 times a day for 10 days. I lose track of time, forget what time each does is supposed to be, so I wanted to find an app to help remind me of all that. This app can do that, plus I found out that it was great to set up a reminder for my daily medications, plus more.
First, you set up yourself as a user, and anyone else you want to track meds for. In my case, I made a profile for myself and for each of my 2 daughters. You can set up the other users as Med-Friends with their phone number, so they are notified for your meds or you are notified for their meds, or as an internal profile, if they don’t have a smart phone to use the app.
Then, you can set up the medications. First, you can decide if it’s scheduled med or an as needed med. I have daily medications, so those are scheduled meds. For my daughter’s antibiotic, I set that up as a scheduled med as well for the number of days she needed to take it. For the scheduled meds, you also set what time of day it needs to be taken, and it will create a notification on your phone. When it is time, there is a notification the pops up and you can select Snooze (if you can’t get to the medication right away), Take (if you are taking it right then), or Skip (if you decide you don’t need it that day). If you do nothing, it will continue to remind you every half hour until you Take or Skip it. It records this, and if you want you can also export this data to Microsoft Excel to give a record to a medical provider or for your own reference.
For as needed medications, I add things like ibuprofen, acetaminophen, inhalers. You set it up with the dosage that is needed, which is nice for the kids so I’m not squinting at the bottle trying to decide how much to give them. Then, when you need to take it, you can tap on the Med Cabinet button on the main screen so the time is recorded. This is great because I usually forget the time I take a dose and then don’t know when it’s ok to take the next dose.
Another nice feature is that when you set up a med, you can set it to help show what the medication looks like. There are different shapes and colors for pills. Also, there is a drop shape for liquid meds, syringe for injectable meds, and an inhaler shape for inhalers. Colors can be chosen for those as well, i.e. a blue inhaler or purple liquid.
This has really been nice to have the reminders, annoying as they are at times, but I know that I’m taking my meds more reliably now. Plus, I can better record what and when I give meds to my kids, which is nice. I’ve tried writing it down to track, but then I lose track of the paper. I almost always have my phone with me, so it’s just as easy to have it all on the phone right now.
So, these are my 2 favorite apps to help with my organization right now. What are your favorite apps to help you with organization or daily life?
Disclaimer: I did not receive any compensation or benefit for writing my review and thoughts on these apps. This is based solely on my opinion and usage. I wanted to share how they have benefited me and hope they may help someone else as well.
My Gems of Parenting 