The best iPhone apps for organising your day

Dear reader,

Are you a disorganised, scatty sort, who yearns for a sense of organisation, calm and order? Join the club. If it wasn’t for my phone and my Filofax, I’m not entirely sure how I’d function. Apps are often my saviour, and there are plenty of them out there to help those of us that don’t just glide through life in a naturally organised manner.

Recently, I’ve been trying out several apps to help add some structure to my day. Here are four of my favourites for developing good habits, reflecting on what has been achieved each day, planning for the next day and finishing work on time.

Lift

Social habit tracking is very much the thing to do in 2013. If you’re not giving or taking up something loudly and socially, you’re not doing it right. Lift is an app for committing to new habits and sharing how successful you’ve been each day. Each habit is small and achievable, ranging from resisting the urge to check emails before breakfast, to meditating or taking a multivitamin. At the end of each day, you ‘check in’ to the task and give a short update on how you got on. This can then be shared to Twitter and Facebook, and everyone else doing that task can see it too.

It’s wonderfully addictive. Particularly as other Lift users can give you a ‘prop’ or comment for checking in. Who doesn’t appreciate praise for making their bed or hitting inbox zero by the end of the day?

Grid Diary

I’ve always envied those with the patience and commitment to keep a diary. And their exciting lives. The Grid Diary is an app for creating short diary entries. Each day, you’ll get around eight questions of your choice to answer. Examples include ‘Did I have physical training today?’ and ‘What were the three most successful things I did today?” It’s a nice little app for reflecting on your day and helping you prepare for the next day. You can even note the weather and your general mood for that day.

The Grid Diary is £1.99 from App Store.

Daily Routine

I’ve spoken about the Daily Routine app before on DorkAdore. It really helps give my day a structure – something that working from home often lacks. It’s another £1.99 app, but well worth the investment.

Weave

Weave is a new app to my iPhone, but could knock Wunderlist off its position as my favourite task app. It’s a To Do app with a bunch of different functions – from splitting your tasks into projects, to using for adding your expenses and income. Essentially, it’s a To Do list and billing app, merged into one tidy package. Oh, and they send friendly notifications each morning. I’m easily won over with a fun notification.

Emma Cossey

Emma is our resident fashion and social media specialist, having worked as a blogger, editor and writer on a number of fashion and beauty websites. She writes regularly for The Bag Lady, and has previously written for The Times Online, Shoewawa and Jorg & Olif among others.