TECH TOOLS

APPS CAN HELP YOU STAY ON TRACK

By Jennaye Derge

It’s the beginning of a new year, which means many people will be scrambling to implement changes in their habits and routines. There are different tools we can use to stay on track. Why not make it simple and keep everything organized and available at the tip of your fingers? Consider downloading applications to your smartphone to set yourself up for a successful year. Here are a few examples.

8FIT MINT MOODNOTES

Let’s face it. Though fitness and health are some of the most popular goals, they are also the ones that we break the most. It takes a lot to keep our health on track, and 8fit is an app that includes the full gamut of variables. It not only offers on-demand workouts, but also meal planning, nutrition guidance and recipes.

When users first launch the app, the program asks about your habits and goals, such as whether you want to lose weight, get in shape or gain muscle. It then gives you an attainable, holistic plan.

The paid pro version includes a variety of classes, including yoga and high intensity workouts and the pro meal plans have short preparation times. Bonus: they actually look pretty tasty, too. Users can track nearly any food or activity, and users receive medals for reaching their diverse personal goals. The pro version includes the bulk of the features, but costs a pretty penny. Luckily, there are also apps to help you keep track of finances. The new year is a great way to hit refresh on your finances. While a Microsoft Excel sheet can help users manipulate formulas to budget and plan, Mint is an app that works wonders when it comes to crunching the numbers.

Mint is meant for the average consumer. It helps users monitor and analyze personal finances, customize a budget and track spending – even the expenses you forget about like streaming subscriptions. Mint pays attention to spending and alerts users when an upcoming bill is due or an overdraft fee occurs.

Users can connect their bank account to the app, which is great for those who want to set it and forget it. And users can rest easy knowing the app is equipped with multilayered data encryption to safely secure private information. It’s also free, which makes sense for staying frugal. The onslaught of ads can be kind of annoying, and users can’t connect a joint account. Otherwise, this is a great app for keeping finances on track. After the last two years, we could all use a little help regulating our mental health. Moodnotes app is unique from other mood calming apps in that it helps track your mood to understand why you may feel the way you feel. The app uses Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) to help users think about how to increase happiness, reduce stress, feel calmer, deal with fears and analyze their mood.

Each personalized plan sets goals using in-app mood journaling, articles to read and a Thinking Trap analysis, which helps users become more aware of triggers and emotional traps.

It also houses resources, including breathing techniques, a guided grounding exercise, a log for tracking “good” and “bad” habits, a personal diary for rating feelings, a “Catastrophe Scale” for gaining perspective on problems, open forums for discussion with other users, and a selection of motivational material. Because the app was developed by design experts and clinical psychologists, your privacy can be assured.