MAKE YOUR LIFE EASIER: Stuff that helps stay organized
/It's a new year, which for many of us is a great time to look at what we're doing - and where we can be more efficient. If you're like me, there's always going to be more to do than I can possibly get done, so anything I can do to be more efficient is HUGE! Here are a few tools I use that really help me keep things organized and save me time. The best part is, many of them are free - or really inexpensive!
DROPBOX (www.dropbox.com) FREE (for up to 2GB of storage)
Dropbox is a killer app. It's everything that Apple's MobileMe iDisk could have, and should have been. Dropbox is an amazingly simple way to sync files across all of your computers, smartphone, iPad, etc. It syncs your documents to the cloud and keeps them updated seamlessly on all of your devices.
This is especially helpful if you work across various computers, or want to have access to your documents wherever you go. It creates a folder on your computer, and anything you "drop" in it is automatically and (almost) instantly sync'd across all of your other computers or devices. It's also great if you share documents with other people and want to have access to the same files/versions.
The best part is, the first 2GB of storage is FREE! You can try it out here.
EVERNOTE (www.evernote.com) FREE
Evernote is an incredibly easy way to capture ideas and organize them. It's also available on your desktop as well as iphone/ipad. I find that I rarely use word processors anymore, since I just open Evernote and type a new note. It saves me from having to figure out where I put anything.
I also use it to dump all of my business cards, receipts and other things I come across. It OCR's the text on any document or image I upload and makes it super simple to organize and find everything.
THINGS (www.culturedcode.com/things)
Things is great for organizing projects and tasks. It's not free, but it's been worth it for me. I can add a task to my calendar and it imports it to THINGS and I can organize all of the projects I have going.
MOZY (www.mozy.com) $5 a month for unlimited storage
Mozy is one of those things I wish I knew about sooner. It's a backup service that backs up all of your files. Everything. It runs in the background, and once you have completed the initial backup, it only syncs the changes that have been made to your files. You just tell it what you want it to backup and it takes care of the rest for you.
I've uploaded about 400GB so far (of about 2.3TB) and it just runs quietly in the background while I do other things. it's simple to setup and it does it's thing without me having to worry about it.
TWEETDECK (www.tweetdeck.com)
Tweetdeck is a free application that makes it super easy to manage different social media tools. It allows me to control what I post - and where - across various twitter and facebook accounts. It lives on my desktop, ipad, and iphone. It also makes it super easy to aggregate and view content on twitter.
What about you? What are some of your favorite tools - that help make your life that much easier?
FYI - I don't get paid by any of these companies to tell you about them. These are just real tools that I use on a regular basis! I do get a little extra free space if you click that dropbox link and sign up, but that's all.