I’ve always said that if you want to know about time management, just ask a modern working mum. She is the one who is juggling the childcare and the office. She is the one who is in charge of the household domestic arrangements. If it is your sister’s birthday, she is the one who buys the present. Us mums know a thing or two about the phrase ‘so much to do, so little time’!
This is why mums are the best source of tips and information on how to juggle a busy life, and as ‘Juggle Mum’, I’ve discovered some great time saving strategies along the way. I’m always on the lookout for a product or service that will save me some precious minutes from doing the ‘boring but necessary’ life details, so I can spend more of that saved time with my children, and have more for myself.
In the BritMums newsletter, I learned about a new competition that British Gas have launched, where they want to hear from mummybloggers about their best time saving tips for managing a busy life online. I spend a lot of time online, and even though some websites can be time draining (like Facebook and Twitter if you don’t manage them) there are some really useful sites and apps that can really save you time.
I want technology to be my servant, not my master, so here are my favourite time saving apps and best of all, they are free!!
The first one is the
This is an app from Cross Country Trains but it covers all the rail network and all the train companies. I use it to find advance rail tickets, get real time train information and book tickets with no booking fee. When you purchase a ticket through the app, it is saved as an ‘M Ticket’ (Mobile Ticket) and stored virtually in the app wallet so you don’t lose your train tickets!
I visit London quite often and so it is brilliant that I can search for trains and book tickets through my phone whilst in the school car park, waiting for the kids at hometime! It saves me time by lessening my ‘To Do’ list on the computer as when I get to my PC, I have enough to do rather than searching for tickets!
I downloaded this app from iTunes onto my iPhone- cost: free!
My next much used app is the Google Maps App.
This one comes pre-installed on an iPhone and it was a lifesaver at the weekend when I went to the BritMums Live conference. I was staying in St Paul’s and the conference was in EC1 so rather than pay for tube travel, I decided to get my exercise, save money and walk! I was able to put the destination postcode into the app and it calculates the route from your current GPS position. It takes you step by step until you get to the door! I’m glad that I had this app- certainly cheaper than having to get a taxi because you don’t know where you are going and a great time saver, both in not getting lost and also not taking the tube. With all the walking you do through the stations, it is often quicker just to walk to your destination if you are in Zone 1.
My next app is one I use every day. It is called Shopping List Free and it is a shopping list! I don’t have a screenshot but if you search the App Store on your phone for that name, it will come up. It is made by a company called Hensoft. I constantly use this as my kids are always finishing off the last of the ketchup or needing more yogurts. By noting it down with the app every time we need something, I only take one trip to the supermarket and remember to get everything- no forgetting what I came for! With this app however, be careful to put your items into categories the first time you key in a new item as you cannot delete an item from the app memory once it is installed. (Although you can tick things off your shopping list). Using the categories like frozen food or houseware will save you time later on, as products will be listed in the right category and your list will be more organised.
My last app is really handy both for safety and time saving.
It is called and is a safety app as well as being great for freeing you up when you need to get away in certain situations! Let me explain..
The app is a kind of GPS tracker so if you ever found yourself in trouble, maybe walking home on a dark night and feeling unsafe, you can discreetly send a signal to certain appointed ‘Guardians’ to tell them your exact location and they will see it on a map. If you are travelling somewhere and want to let your loved ones know you arrived safely (and where you arrived) you can send this infomation in a text message by pressing one button. But the time saving aspect comes in with the Fake Call feature.
This part of the app is designed to allow you to receive a fake call, for example if you are feeling unsafe and want to get away from someone without causing a fuss. The app is a safety app after all, but I like to know the fake call is there in case I know I’m about to go into a meeting with someone who waffles. If I know I’m about to encounter a talker and it will be hard to get away, I can set the fake call to call me on my phone in 10 minutes, so I can easily extract myself from a situation without offending anyone. You can even set who the fake call will be from, for example, I might type in ‘School’, so the person you are with sees that the school is calling me on my phone, then I can take the call and make my excuses. It is well worth trying out if you ever get yourself into those situations!
I hope my apps save you some time. This post is an entry in the BritMums / #BGSaveTime linky challenge, sponsored by British Gas, so if my post is a winner, I hope to win some Swatch watches!
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The most important time saving App: Lost Kidz
There is nothing more critical to a parent than saving time in being reunited with your child – it is THE factor which affects whether your child would suffer accidental or deliberate harm. It would be great if you could take a look and share with your followers!