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For much of the past 18 months, even our humble Google Calendar has been almost entirely bare. Now, however, might be the time to organize yourself to avoid any potential overload. Maybe you are getting ready to go back to the office, maybe you are readjusting to have real social plans again, or maybe you’re just in limbo and want to use sorting through your lives – both digital and real – to get a feel for the second half of the year.
These are the apps, sites and platforms that the WIRED team uses to organize our social lives, work, organize our ideas and notes, and keep our homes running smoothly. Most of the options on this list are completely free, with some providing additional functionality in premium tiers.
Launch your social life
To meet
Platform: Web / Android / iOS
While productivity and scheduling apps cost dime – and we’ll detail the best below – software that helps you manage and invigorate your social life is less common. To meet is one of the biggest and has so much to choose from when it comes to finding things to do.
This degree of choice is really what makes this app so great, whether you’re looking for board games, movies, yoga, or garden plants, you can probably find a band near you – depending on your location, sure. Once you’re interested, Meetup uses a calendar to keep track of the events that interest you and provide notifications to let you know what you’ve got coming up. And there are even messages for you to ask questions before attending.
Bimble
Platform: Web / Android / iOS
If you are not a TripAdvisor fan, try Bimble. While the focus is certainly on the big cities, it does a great job of finding hidden gems to suit your tastes. The titular ‘Bimbles’ are lists made up of venues that fit a certain theme, whether it’s alfresco dining in central London, vegan restaurants in Edinburgh, or museums in Manchester.
Then there are the “Bimblers”, who are users of the app and a big center of its appeal. Any Bimble can create a Bimble and, if you’re a fan, you can follow them to find out more of their recommendations. This nature of crowdsourcing can mean there’s some trash to go through, but Bimble provides an organized homepage to try and give you some recommended choices. And, of course, you can also explore and get involved by creating your own Bimbles.
ConceptionMy Night
Platform: the Web
You may have met ConceptionMy Night when booking tables with bars and restaurants, but what you might not have realized is that this is its own site too – and it’s really helpful.
The DesignMyNight website brings together all the places it works with, allowing you to browse club nights, events and restaurants in the area of your choice. In addition to the range of restaurants, a big bang from DesignMyNight also features events, helping you find unique gems that might happen while you’re in town. For the undecided, there are also a ton of lists for cities across the country – from the best places for brunch to quirky ideas for a night out.
Eventbrite
Platform: Web / Android / iOS
Fans of regular concerts will probably be familiar with Eventbrite, allowing you to book tickets for shows and see what’s coming up. In addition to the basics, Eventbrite is great at helping you stay on top of your top performers and venues – letting you showcase them and stay on top of what’s to come.
Like Bimble, it does a solid job of helping you find new things, with lists organized according to your interests, like virtual fitness classes, arts and crafts classes, and more. Once registered, Eventbrite keeps track of the event to give you a boost when it’s almost arrived, and will also store mobile tickets so there’s no last-minute rush to find them.
Keep your house in order
Spend
Platform: Web / Android / iOS
Spend is, unsurprisingly, all about tracking your expenses, and, while it’s not something you process for work, it’s a useful tool for tracking receipts. All you have to do is create an expense and then take a snapshot of your receipt. If you’re going on vacation, or want to categorize your expenses for some other reason, you can create “trips,” helping you neatly organize when, where, and how much you spent.
Family wall
Platform: Web / Android / iOS
Staying organized is all well and good, but it’s only half the battle if you have a whole family at home. Family wall is an application that aims to digitally organize your home life. It offers schedules, meal planners, custom locations, photo galleries, messages, lists, family member profiles and more to get household structure. The whole family can join in, and you can even sync it with your Google Calendar to keep it running smoothly with the rest of your own schedule.
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