The Best Tech To Organize Your Work And Home Life

Around New Year’s resolution time, I wrote an article about working smarter, not harder. While no one can “do it all,” you can find ways to prioritize and do the things that are most important to you. Women in middle management in our lounges often say that one of their biggest challenges is trying to keep on top of everything at work and home. 

In my day when I was working in corporate with three young kids, I relied on a Filofax. Most of you probably won’t know what that is. It’s essentially a daily diary/organizer. You can only imagine how many scratch marks filled those pages! I had only one calendar for both my work and home priorities. I inked in the things that were most important to me—my non-negotiables—which included face time with my kids. Every day started and ended with my kids, and I fit in everything else in between.

Today there many apps out there to help you streamline your life, for which I have to rely on my girlfriends who are much more tech savvy than I am to tell me about. It doesn’t matter if you use an app or a piece of paper: Prioritize according to what’s most important to you. Don’t let your to-do list define your priorities—you define your list.

To help you get started, here are suggestions from my community for the best tech based on the areas you want to simplify.

For Keeping Your Priorities On Track

Todoist is an app that lets you quickly and easily make tasks, add deadlines to hold yourself accountable, and check off items as you complete them. You can also share tasks with colleagues and friends, and stay organized by creating specific categories for tasks, such as “social strategy” or “kitchen renovation.” You might think of it like the personal version of project management tool Asana. Todoist also helps streamline your life by integrating with so many other programs that I use every day, such as Dropbox, Slack, and Amazon Alexa/Echo.

If you prefer pen-and-paper planners, one of my team members finds the Clever Fox planner helpful for setting big goals and breaking them down into monthly, weekly and daily to-dos. Mapping out big-picture goals and identifying the smaller steps needed to get there can make you more likely to accomplish the stuff that is most important to you. There is also space to reflect on what you’re grateful for and the daily rituals that you want to practice.

For Corralling Your Ideas, Articles, & Contacts Across Devices

Evernote is another app that many women in our community say helps keep them organized. From scheduling coffees to taking notes in a meeting, Evernote syncs across all of your devices (such as your cell and your laptop). The Web Clipper feature allows you to save web pages while you’re on the run for later reading. The mobile app has scanning capabilities so you can corral all those business cards you collect. It works by pointing your camera at the business card, and then Evernote recognizes the data and stores the contact info in your address book without having to enter the information manually. It even links to the person’s LinkedIn profile.

For Simplifying Your Expense Reports

With business trips and clients meetings, you may collect your fair share of business receipts. Designed for small business owners, Shoeboxed lets you scan receipts from your phone, create expense reports, and digitizes all of the data for later. Shoeboxed also offers “magic envelopes” which allow you to mail in paper clutter, receipts, and business cards that the company digitizes on your behalf. Another plus is that Shoeboxed creates scanned receipt images that are accepted by the IRS to help save you time during tax season.

For Helping You Stay Focused On The Present

There is even tech to help you break free from tech so you can focus on what matters most. Forest is an app that helps you curb your phone usage so you can be more present for say, a conference call or family dinner. It gamifies taking a break from your phone with the goal being to create a forest of trees. To start, you use the app to plant a digital seed. Over time, the seed will grow into a tree. In other words, the more time you stay off your phone, the larger the tree will grow. Leaving the app and using your phone causes your tree to wither. If you’re trying to limit time-wasters and distractions, such as scrolling through social media, this app can help reign you in by making you more mindful of the amount of time you spend on your cell.

For Streamlining Your Family’s Calendars

Women have traditionally shouldered the bulk of the caregiving responsibilities, but I’m a firm believer that If you want a dual income family, then it’s important to equally share household duties as well. This way, both partners can thrive in the workplace and at home. There are apps that can help with this. One to try: Cozi Family Organizer. It lets you create a color-coded family calendar with reminder alerts, shared grocery and to-do lists that the whole family can see and add to, and has a recipe box everyone can access. Remember, partnership starts at home!

This article originally appeared in FORBES.