9 Must-Have Mobile Apps That Keep My Family Organised

So, if you're in the market for some digital wizardry to tame your family’s madness and bring (some more) order to your daily mayhem, here are nine must-have apps that I swear by, and trust me, my husband is a tech guru!

1. YNAB (You Need a Budget)

As someone who values financial stability and planning, YNAB has been a game-changer for managing our family's budget. The premise works like traditional envelope budgeting but digital. With its intuitive interface and real-time syncing to our bank accounts (through Bank Sync for YNAB), I can easily track expenses to the dollar and make informed financial decisions that benefit the whole family. Also need to know how to teach little ones about money? We’ve written a guide to financial fun for kids.

2. Half Price 

When it comes to saving money on groceries, Half Price is my go-to app for finding 50% off offers at Coles and Woolies supermarkets. It updates weekly, has a simple interface, and allows you to sort by categories and add favourites. I can quickly identify discounted items to maximise our grocery budget and pack killer lunchboxes without sacrificing quality. 

3. 1Password

1Password is an important information and password storage app, and I've gotta say I freaking love it and use it pretty much daily! Between Apple Pay and 1Password, I no longer have to carry a purse! That said, keeping our digital identities and personal deets secure is our top priority. With its robust encryption and family-sharing features, we rest easy knowing that our personal data is safe and easily accessible whenever needed.

4. Google Photos

Can't keep track of the zillions of pics of the kids? Running out of storage on your phone faster than you can say "cheese"? Enter Google Photos, the ultimate lifesaver in the digital photo abyss. It's so easy to use; it practically reads your mind. With its face recognition magic, we've got albums for the kids that are shareable with our interstate family. Never worry about a pic again. Yeeeah. Google not your thing? We’ve explored other photo storage ideas.

5. Weatherzone

Living in a city (Melbourne) with unpredictable weather, Weatherzone has become essential for planning everyday life, from what PJs the kids should wear to bed to outdoor activities and just about any outing. With its accurate, detailed forecasts (IMO, Google weather is garbage) and real-time updates, I can stay ahead of the elements and ensure our plans go off without a hitch.

6. Trello

My husband is a planning freak, so Trello has been a lifesaver for organising our family's schedule and tasks. It's the brain dump of a trillion lists for everything we said we'd 'remember'. If it's not in Trello, it's forgotten. We have columns: ‘stuff to do’, ‘always on’, ‘parked’, ‘doing’ and ‘done’. Whether coordinating chores, food shopping, gift ideas, lists of things to buy when they're on sale, organising family events or medical appointments, or that list of restaurants we want to try, Trello's customisable boards and collaboration features make it easy for us to stay on track and work together toward common goals. 

7. Notion

Notion (the  has a plethora of functionality, usually for Project Management. Hence, we use this for our business for an array of needs, but as a side benefit to our personal lives, we also use it for digital recipe storage. It's hyper-customisable, you can add tags, and it's all neatly stored with no paper mess unless you want that, too, which I also like.

8. Waze

Navigating city traffic can be challenging, but I can always find the fastest route to our destination with Waze. I might head down some funky, windy side streets, but with its real-time navigation and crowd-sourced traffic data, IMO I usually get there more pronto than Google Maps and avoid, as best as possible, getting stuck in traffic.

9. Amazon Prime

While this is more of a membership than a mobile app per se, in my view, Amazon Prime is unrivalled in its speed of light supply chain and delivery times. I stock up and order all the bulky grocery items such as tissues, paper towels, toilet paper, refillable dishwashing liquid and many more household items through Amazon for pretty much the same price as local grocers but without needing to visit the shops. Items often arrive within 24 hours. Mind blown. Not to mention, Amazon Prime is on our TV, too.

So, there's my magnificent nine apps that keep my family in line and panic levels at bay. I'm sure there's more (my husband CAN AND WILL find them), so we're always keen to explore others, but in the meantime, I thank the higher-ups that technology is here so I can enjoy some quality family time while these apps handle the heavy lifting. Cheers to that!