Working moms, let’s be real – you’re basically jugglers in a three-ring circus. Career demands, kids’ schedules, household management – how do you possibly keep all those balls in the air? A study found over 90% of us feel overwhelmed by our never-ending daily responsibilities.
While there’s no magical cure-all, strategically utilizing time-saving apps and clever tech tools can seriously help restore some semblance of work-life balance. This guide highlights the top 12 free tech tools and apps for working moms.
From productivity apps for tackling your epic to-do lists to family organizers for wrestling the household chaos to self-care apps for sneaking in some desperately needed “me” time – these apps have game-changing potential. You may not achieve perfect harmony (because, kids), but you can definitely start dropping fewer balls. Let’s dive into the apps that could change your life!
12 Free Productivity and Work-Life Balance Booster Tools and Apps for Working Moms
- Todoist – For Time Management and Productivity
- Slack – For Communication and Collaboration
- Google Drive – For Document and File Management
- Headspace – For Work-Life Balance
- Mint – For Financial Management
- Cozi – For Family Organization
- Paprika – For Meal Planning and Grocery Shopping
- Khan Academy – For Childcare and Education
- MyFitnessPal – For Health and Wellness
- Zoom – For Remote Work
- IFTTT – For Task Automation
- LinkedIn Learning – For Personal Development
Read More: How To Have A Productive Week: 10 Simple Tips That Works
1. Todoist – Time Management and Productivity
Working mom life is one never-ending to-do list after another. Between work projects, kids’ activities, grocery lists, and more, how is one person supposed to keep it all straight? Enter Todoist, the task management app that helps wrestle that chaos into submission.
With Todoist, you can create tasks, set deadlines and reminders, and group things into easy-view projects. Heck, you can even separate your work and home responsibilities into different categorized sections so you’re not mixing up which crazy pants hat you’re wearing at any given moment. It’s like having a personal assistant… without the snarky comments.
Read More: 10-Step Productive Morning Routine for Working Moms
2. Slack – Communication and Collaboration
If your inbox causes more anxiety than finals week, Slack is about to become your new work bestie. This communication platform lets you streamline chats, file shares, and updates all in one convenient place. No more checking 12 different apps and getting constantly pinged by rambling email threads!
Create different Slack channels for separate work projects, teams, and even one just for household management with your partner. You can quickly jump in with questions or share updates without getting sucked into the soul-sucking email vortex. Email bankruptcy? With Slack, you may just make it official.
3. Google Drive – Document and File Management
Remember when you had to be chained to an actual computer to be productive? What a dinosaur concept! With Google Drive‘s cloud storage, working mamas can create, edit, and share documents from literally anywhere with an internet connection.
Need to review your kid’s classmate’s birthday party schedule while waiting in the pickup line? Want to pull up that big proposal before heading into an office meeting? Planned on getting work done during naptime but spilled apple juice all over your laptop? Google Drive has your back, putting everything at your fingertips no matter where those fingertips may be.
4. Headspace – Work-Life Balance
As much as we adore our chaotic role as working moms, we could all use a little more zen now and then, am I right? That’s where Headspace comes in. This meditation app is like having a personal mindfulness coach, guiding you through shorter sessions for a much-needed breath of calm.
Whether you need a reset after feeling pulled in a million directions, want to clear your head before a high-stakes meeting, or are just desperate for 5 minutes of quiet away from the tiny humans, Headspace has your back. Pop in those noise-canceling headphones and let the soothing instructors walk you through breathing exercises and mindfulness practices that melt away stress. Your own little escape hatch for Maximum Mom Overwhelm – and you don’t even have to share your snacks!
Read More: 15 Effective Time Management Hacks for Working Moms
5. Mint – Financial Management
Keeping a household afloat financially while working your butt off is no easy feat, mamas. Between bills, budgeting, and just trying to afford those daily Starbucks runs, it’s a lot to juggle. That’s why Mint is one of the best tech tools and apps for working moms. It’s a free app that’s like a real-time financial management tool for your entire money situation.
Link up all your bank accounts, credit cards, and investments – the whole nine yards into this handy app. Mint organizes and categorizes your spending so you can quickly see where every last hard-earned dollar is going. Set budgets by category, get bill payment reminders, and stay on top of your overall money picture without the hassle of manually tracking everything. It’s like getting a financial therapist for your family’s finances!
6. Cozi – Family Organization
Parenting solo would be a dream… said no working mom ever. Getting an entire family’s schedule, appointments, grocery needs, and to-do lists all on the same synchronized page is pretty much mission impossible. But you know what provides some much-needed control over the hurricane of family life? The Cozi app!
This brilliant family organizer lets you share a color-coded calendar visible to everyone. You can ditch the passive-aggressive nagging about missing little Timmy’s dentist appointment or whose turn it is to mow the lawn. Just pop that stuff into the app’s shared lists and watch your household chaos slowly dissolve into beautiful order. It even has space for grocery shopping lists and a family journal to document all the insanity!
7. Paprika – Meal Planning and Grocery Shopping
“What’s for dinner?” has got to be the most dreaded question of all time for working moms. That’s where the Paprika app comes in clutch, streamlining your weekly meal planning and grocery shopping in one brilliant tool.
Upload all your family’s favorite recipes and organize them however you please. Then drag and drop them into an actual meal plan calendar so you know what’s being served every night. Paprika will automatically generate a shopping list based on the meal plan so you can knock out groceries in one go. No more racking your brain trying to meal prep – this app does practically everything but the actual cooking!
8. Khan Academy – For Childcare and Education
Between balancing work and family life, sneaking in quality homework help for the kiddos can be… pretty much impossible some nights. That’s where Khan Academy comes in! This game-changing education app is like having a world-class tutor on call 24/7.
Khan Academy offers instructional videos, practice exercises, and materials to help kids learn STEM, history, grammar, you name it. Need to brush up on geometry concepts for that dreaded test? Looking for simpler explanations for your first grader’s reading lessons? This app is a working mom’s secret weapon for pain-free supplemental learning. Best of all, it’s totally free – so score one for your bank account too!
9. MyFitnessPal – Health and Wellness
In the world of free tech tools and apps for working moms, MyFitnessPal deserves a medal. Juggling career demands with family responsibilities can make staying fit and healthy very difficult some days. This fitness app is like a nutritionist and personal trainer, all in your pocket!
Log your daily meals and it’ll track every gram of protein, carb, and fat – no more guesswork. Set nutrition goals or sync them with a step tracker to monitor your activity too. The app will even spit out calorie estimates to hit your targets. Working moms don’t have time for complicated diet regimens. MyFitnessPal’s simple logging tools make clean eating and exercise way more manageable amidst the chaos.
10. Zoom – Remote Work
Working from home…with kids…during a pandemic? Zoom swooped in and saved working moms’ sanities everywhere! This brilliant video conferencing tool is an essential free tech app, allowing you to virtually meet with coworkers and clients, or even quickly hop on a family call.
Need to tune into an important presentation? Just audio call into Zoom while you’re chauffeuring the crew to activities. Or hop on a video call (with an obnoxiously blurred background, obviously) to easily collaborate with your team. With screen-sharing options and group messaging, Zoom makes working remotely relatively painless – even with little ones scampering in the background.
Read More: 20 Proven Ways to Work Smarter, Not Harder (with Real-life Examples)
11. IFTTT – Task Automation
As working moms, we spend way too many precious hours on mindless, repetitive tasks that eat away at our days. Enter IFTTT – one of those brilliant free tech tools that automates all the tedious yuck you don’t have time for.
IFTTT basically creates “recipes” by linking different apps and web services together. So you can set it up to automatically save all your Instagram pics to a Dropbox folder. Or pull your work calendar into a Google spreadsheet. Or have every email from your boss trigger a notification on your phone. It’s like having a virtual assistant taking care of the nitty-gritty!
12. LinkedIn Learning – Personal Development
In between chasing toddlers and hustling at work, finding pockets for professional development can feel downright impossible for working moms. That’s what makes LinkedIn Learning such a game-changer in the world of free apps!
This online learning library has thousands of video courses led by top-notch experts on everything from coding to marketing to leadership skills. And you can learn entirely at your own pace by streaming bite-sized lessons during moments of free time. Nursing a baby at 2am? Stream a tutorial on your phone. Kid is at soccer practice? Listen to a course in your car. With LinkedIn Learning, working mamas can squeeze in critical skills whenever and wherever!
The Takeaway
Let’s be honest – working mom life is a constant tightrope walk between being pulled in a million directions. From office demands and child-rearing to household management and maybe even sneaking in some self-care, it’s a delicate balancing act.
That’s why taking advantage of brilliant free tech tools and apps for working moms is so crucial. The 12 apps highlighted here – from Todoist for wrangling your to-do lists to Paprika for food prep simplicity to LinkedIn Learning for skill-building – have the power to streamline your world.
As Ariana Huffington once said, “We need to accept that we don’t naturally prioritize self-care, and that we’re never going to floss regularly or get a pedicure unless we put it in our calendars and treat it like an important meeting.” These productivity apps are key for hectic working moms to carve out breathing room.
So go ahead and download a few to start bringing more sanity to the chaos! With these savvy tools, working mothers everywhere can finally start dropping fewer balls and being more present – whether they’re hustling at work or soaking up quality family time. A semblance of balance awaits!
No Comments