How Technology Tools Can Help You Buy Back Your Time
April 28, 2023
6 min read
Time is a valuable commodity, so it stands to reason that you can use your money to buy back some of yours. Recent technological advancements provide solutions for busy individuals—invest in tools that automate mundane domestic or financial tasks and regain precious moments for yourself!
Technology Tools That Make Life Easier
Do you wish you had more time in the day? Have you ever considered buying back your own time? Thanks to advances in technology, that's now possible! In this article, we'll cover some of the latest tools and products that make it easier than ever for busy people like you to take back their life.
1. Planning and Organizing Time
Technology has simplified planning and organizing tasks, setting reminders, and sharing notes with colleagues. The use of digital tools can increase productivity and help manage workloads more efficiently.
Make the most of your time and organize with one of the many planning or time management apps! With many options, you'll be sure to find an app that fits like a glove. However, two of the most popular and widely used apps are Rize and Notion.
Rize
Optimize productivity and develop habits with Rize! This tool tracks the time spent on tasks and records information. It provides features such as tracking hours worked, focus time, context-switching data, and websites that distract you.
Notion
Notion is an all-in-one productivity platform that makes it easier to keep your notes and work organized in one convenient place. It enables teams to collaborate, share documents, and create a centralized repository for collective knowledge.
By replacing to-do lists, project management tools, note-taking apps, and spreadsheets with Notion, users can save time and money while optimizing their time management and organization. Available on iOS, Android, and desktop.
Collaboration with team members has also become more seamless, with the ability to share notes and information in real time. In short, technology has dramatically impacted the way we manage our time and tasks, making it easier to stay organized and productive.
2. Food Preparation
Ditch meal prep to save time and money. While it might reduce your food budget, running around to different stores and coupon-clipping can be time-consuming. With apps like Paprika and Mealime, meal prepping is a breeze and saves time and money.
Paprika
Paprika is a recipe manager that enables you to save recipes from the internet and create detailed meal plans with organized shopping lists. It sorts groceries into categories based on store aisles, and its interactive recipes allow users to check off ingredients and set timers in-app while cooking.
Mealime
Mealime promises quick and easy meal prep with recipes you can cook within 30 minutes. Enter your food preferences, and the app will curate a personal menu and generate a shopping list for delivery through InstaCart or Amazon Fresh. The basic version is free of charge, while an upgraded, paid version allows for calorie counting and access to additional recipes.
3. Business
Create projects and business plans online. Pass on time-consuming tasks, such as making client reservations, checking business hours, or researching a topic, to virtual assistants based in the U.S., thus freeing up your time. You can use nTask to create projects and business plans and Fancy Hands to delegate time-consuming tasks.
nTask
nTask is an advanced business planning software that provides a powerful array of features. It was designed to simplify workflow for project managers, contractors, home users, and MNCs. It offers robust planning capabilities, a visual Gantt Chart for managing timelines and creating task dependencies, and multiple workspaces to manage various projects efficiently and at an affordable rate.
Fancy Hands
Fancy Hands is a personal assistant service that uses a unique combination of humans, artificial intelligence, and automation to provide an efficient solution. By making just one request, you can have a human assistant complete the task quickly, allowing you to stay productive and achieve better results.
4. Productivity
The internet is a hub of information and time-sensitive activities. Taking advantage of e-courses and online learning opportunities is an effective use of the internet, but scrolling through social media can take away valuable time. To limit unproductive screen time, try these two apps that will help you get productive:
Todoist
Todoist is a task manager app that offers an upgraded version of the traditional to-do list. With this app, you can record and group tasks by project, collaborate with others via task sharing and assigning, and it is available on iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows Desktops. The basic version is free with limited projects, while the premium version costs $3.99/month or $35.99/year.
IFTTT (If This Then That)
IFTTT is an automation tool that helps automate repetitive tasks, giving users more time to focus on other essential aspects of their work. It can add reminders and notifications about the weather, drinking water, and the International Space Station. This tool is free to download and available across platforms.
5. Financial Management
A firm understanding of your financial reality is essential to ensure the growth of your capital. Identifying when bills are due, what fees you incur, and how much income vs. expenditures flow each month will keep you on track for success. Various tech tools can assist in managing your finances—using them to keep your financials in check before investing is wise.
Two such apps that can significantly help manage your finances are Simplifi by Quicken and PocketGuard.
Simplifi by Quicken
Simplifi by Quicken is an app that helps users manage their finances between paychecks. It offers features such as tracking cash flow, syncing with bank accounts, auto-categorizing expenses, tracking bills and subscriptions, and monitoring upcoming payments. It is free to try for 30 days, then costs either $3.99 per month (annually) or $5.99 per month (monthly).
PocketGuard
PocketGuard is an app designed to help users manage their spending. It offers a free version and PocketGuard Plus for a fee. Users can connect bank accounts and credit cards to the app, showing them where they can save, reminding them of due dates, and calculating how much money they can spend according to income, bills, goals, and budgets with its feature "In My Pocket."
In addition to a smart bill reminder, automated savings, and an educational blog, PocketGuard has security features like 256-bit encryption, a 4-digit PIN, and biometrics. The Plus version provides additional features like creating categories, changing transaction dates, exporting data, tracking cash, ATM deposits/withdrawals, and splitting transactions.
6. Fitness
Achieve your fitness goals with ease—just a click away. Try out top apps like Nike Training Club or FitOn to break a sweat, build strength and stay motivated anytime, anywhere.
Nike Training Club
Achieve your fitness goals quickly; the Nike Training Club app is here to help. This free personal training app offers a variety of workout options, from multi-week programs and standalone videos tailored to your goals.
Plus, take a quick quiz on the app to determine recommended workouts and access premium content for free. Then, get into shape quickly, with the app providing yoga, bodyweight boot camps, and core training, all at your fingertips!
FitOn
Get fit with the FitOn app! It offers a range of workouts, from cardio and strength to HIIT, dance, yoga, and Pilates. Take classes in real-time or on-demand with a live leaderboard and heart rate tracking through Apple Watch. Upgrade to the Pro version ($29.99/year), and you get access to over 500 recipes, personalized meal plans, and video calls for live workout sessions!
Do More in Less Time With These Innovative Tech Solutions
Apps can be incredibly helpful in streamlining our day and helping us be more organized and productive. With all these tools at our fingertips, there's no reason not to buy back our time!
Whether it's a time management app to help you stay on track with your tasks or an activity tracker to give you insights on improving your productivity, having the right tool for the job makes all the difference. Do more in less time with these apps!
