Must Have Apps for Mom Bloggers (Part One)

For a mom blogger on the go, our mobile phones or tablets are an extension of ourselves.  While many people may tell us that we need to surgically implant these devices in our hands, ears, etc...  We know that being connected at any point of the day is 100% essential.  You never know when a client may need you or when an opportunity may come knocking on your door...or e-mail.  How can we keep connected and keep productive when we aren't near our computers?  What apps would be essential to a mom blogger?  Here is part one of our must have apps for mom bloggers! (If you have any other apps that may be essential, leave them noted in the comments!  We will include them in our Part Two.)

DriveSafe.ly is a very important app for mom bloggers who are always on the go.  Everyone knows how valuable time and e-mails are for busy mom bloggers and even now while you're picking your child up from school, doing errands, grocery shopping or driving to activities, you can stay safe and still get your e-mails at the same time!  DriveSafe.ly reads your e-mails, facebook messages, SMS texts and twitter messages aloud to you.  You can even answer VIA your voice!  This app is really one that I put to use a lot and you probably will too!

Blogger is a vital app for anyone who uses the Blogger platform as their blogging platform.  Download the app to edit, write and publish blogs straight from your mobile device!  You can also add photos to your blogs, upload photos, add location information and tags!  Do you have more than one blog?  No problems at all! This blogger app allows you to quickly and seamlessly switch between all of your different blogs to edit with ease!  This is definitely a must have app for any Blogger user!

iSpend is a great app that allows you to keep track of your income and your expenses.  In a time when finances are very tight and everyone wants to be able to itemize every little business expense to get the most of their tax refunds, iSpend can definitely help keep track of every little business and personal expenses at the same time. You can even export the reports as a CSV or PDF when you need to be able to keep a hard copy of your expense record.  This app is free and great for keeping track of your finances.

Lemon is slightly similar to the above iSpend but the use is much different.  Have you ever tried to rustle through receipts to find that one receipt that you needed? Now you don't have to!  Lemon is such a simple app with a great concept.  Snap a photo of your receipt and within 5-10 minutes Lemon will read your receipt and list the store name, items you purchased, price of the items and the grand total.  I absolutely love this app for keeping track of my receipt so I know what I spend!  This is one of my favorites.

ClockIn is a great app for work at home moms that charge per hour for their services.  ClockIn is an app similar to a time clock that records the exact start and stop time of your project and gives you the grand total of hours that you worked that day.  The app even keeps track of your time if you close the application for any reason, just open it again when you're ready to "Clock Out".  ClockIn generates actual reports as well when you're ready to have a hard paper copy for you or your clients! Import in CSV or PDF format!

TaskThis is one of the newer and more involved apps for tracking tasks.  This app can group projects by individual or team projects as well as utilizing your contacts to create a "team project" with those who are involved.  Let's say you have an important call to make or an important e-mail to compose for the task at hand, just schedule a reminder so TaskThis can send you that reminder! Do you need a shopping list for your task? Go ahead and create one!  It even keeps track of how much longer you have to get the task done! This is so helpful for busy moms who work on multiple projects at a time!

Intuition prides itself on being, "Mom's Personal Assistant" and I believe it is very close to being that.  I find myself using Intuition all of the time because of the comprehensiveness of this app. First off, this app is so colorful and has the cutest interface - very user friendly too.  You can use this app to get organized and to organize tasks or events by family member.  You can organize your grocery lists into easy-to-find lists, you can even find grocery coupons to save you money and set your location information to "on" to help you complete your tasks! Yes, Intuition will use your phone's GPS location & it's information to find you stores you may be near to quickly help you complete your errands.  This is a miracle app!

Instapaper is everyone's favorite app.  It's great when we find an interesting tweet with a link to a blog post or just find a blog post that we might want to read.  How many times do we actually have the time to read that post right at that very moment?  Rarely... Instapaper is an app where in you can save that post, news story, etc... to read (online or offline) when you have the time to do so.  Instapaper will hold and organize the articles until you have the time to sit down and read them. This is important for mom bloggers because we usually find inspiration in a news story/post.

LinkedIn is one of those cliche apps that everyone knows would be listed here; but it is vital.  LinkedIn is a web-based program that connects professionals with other professionals or co-workers in their field which will make your LinkedIn Network.  Many people have success from networking on LinkedIn or joining groups/group discussions on this site as well. Well, you can do all of that on your iPhone, Droid or iPad now!  Approve contacts on the go, post in group discussions or add/edit your profile whenever you want.  

TwitBird Pro is one of my favorite Twitter clients.  While there are quite a few Twitter clients out there for mobile devices and tablets and while everyone has their favorite; this is mine.  Twitbird also has the free version of Twitbird as well as Twitbird Premium (which is just slightly less in cost) but the Pro version is the best.  The user face is very easy to navigate and the pro version can hold up to 16 twitter accounts and has real-time push notifications.  The Pro version also has some great templates so you can easily see your tweets in your own style.

Evernote claims to be an extension of your brain; which is very true.  You can remember anything you need to remember from inspirational notes to things that get your creative juices flowing.  You can also remember kids school tasks or events easily without repeating it over and over in your head until you can get to a calendar.  With Evernote you can make voice reminders/notes, text reminders/notes or snap video or photo to upload later on.  The best part? You can sync between the web-based and mobile version.