Life Hacks Archives - Page 7 of 7

Congratulations on your engagement! Next comes the fun, complicated, and stressful part - planning your wedding. With so much to do and keep track of, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. Luckily, there are many apps out there to make the process easier. Evernote, Goodbudget, Pinterest, Zola, and Todoist are the five best apps for planning a flawless "I do." 5 Must-Try Apps for Planning Your Wedding Evernote Evernote is an all-in-one app for planning, organizing, and taking notes. You can create separate digital notebooks for every aspect of the wedding. Have one notebook for your guest list and another for venues or vendors. Want a notebook for wedding inspiration? It's as simple as clicking one button. Evernote lets you clip things from the web. If you spot a dress or design you like, just clip it to your inspiration notebook. It's flexible enough to let you organize however you see fit. This app syncs across devices and the info you need is always at your fingertips. It also integrates with Google Docs and Gmail, making it a snap to save and share important wedding communications and documents. You can share notebooks with other Evernote users, which means you and your partner will always be on the same track. The basic version of Evernote is free. Goodbudget The single most important aspect of planning a wedding is deciding on and sticking to a budget. The Goodbudget app uses the envelope system for tracking expenses. With this method, you have an envelope for each category in your budget. You assign a specific amount of money to that envelope, and that's your spending limit for that category. How does this work for wedding planning? You create an envelope for each part of the wedding - venue, reception, food, entertainment, dress, etc. You decide how much you can spend in each category. When you get paid, you put money into the correct envelope until you've reached your goal. When it's time to start spending your money, you're limited to the amount in your envelope. This means that if you've budgeted $1500 for your venue envelope, you can't spend $1700. Goodbudget gives you 10 envelopes with its free plan, which should be adequate for planning your wedding. If you need more, there's a low-cost option that gives you unlimited envelopes. While it doesn't automatically import financial information the way some budgeting apps do, it does allow you to share your budget with your partner. That way you're both up-to-date and on track. Pinterest Chances are that you've already drooled your way through Pinterest boards for wedding inspiration. From invitations to centerpieces and everything in between, Pinterest has you covered. Want to see different wedding themes or color schemes? With a quick search, you'll find everything you're looking for and more. You can create your own wedding boards where you pin inspiration. Love a certain bridal bouquet style? Pin a picture of it on your board. Later, you can open that board on the app and show your wedding planner or florist. Pinning pictures that you love also helps you narrow down your own wedding style. It's a great place to start. The Pinterest app is free for Apple and Android devices. Zola Zola is the mother of all wedding registry websites. Its registry has everything you could possibly need as well as the ability to request cash and funds for things like your honeymoon or a down payment on a house. You can also add items from other websites. In addition to the robust registry, Zola has free planning tools, free wedding websites, and more. The app includes these features so that you can use them from the convenience of a mobile device. With the Zola app, you're able to manage your guest list, create events, and add items to your registry. You can see who bought what in real time--and decide to exchange the gift if you'd prefer something else. Todoist Weddings have a thousand moving parts. Planning one requires organization. Todoist is a to-do app to keep you on top of things. Its intuitive interface makes creating tasks simple. The basic idea of Todoist is that you start a project. Within the project, you create tasks to complete. For example, your project might be "hire a caterer." The tasks within that project would be things like "research caterers in my area," "make a document comparing prices," and "find out any dietary restrictions from guests." You assign due dates for each task and project. You can create sub-tasks and assign labels if needed. The Todoist interface shows you daily to-dos as well as a weekly overview of what you need to get done. It will even send you email or SMS reminders. It works on all major platforms, which makes collaboration simple. You can add other users to your projects and assign them tasks. Now your partner has no excuse for not doing his or her share!?There's a handy template for wedding planning if you don't know where to start.