Admitting to being an APP newbie

Seriously, I am truly an APP newbie. I could be the granny in the commercials looking at all the features cell phones do and then asking "does it make phone calls?". For a very long time, that is all I ever used my cell phone for. Then phones became computers (computers are becoming phones, too). Even then, my use of APPs was limited to those loaded on my phone.

Look for one? Why?

I had to become a housewife and become tired of looking through my purse only to find I’d either a) left the entire list at home, b) wrote my list on so many scraps I missed one or lost one, or c) left the phone home instead. None of which was good.

Enter the world of APPs.

Once I started using a smart-type phone, the first thing that would happen when I got home was one teenager or another borrowing it and loading game APPs and then playing until the phone battery died, leaving me with a mostly dead phone and a reason to own extra chargers. Exactly what followed is that soon each teenager had their own smartphone so that I could have mine when needed.

Then I stopped working outside the home, so more and more often the phone would be on the phone charger in the dining room and I’d be anywhere but where my phone was, then miss important calls or need it to summon assistance.

The first APP I loaded on my phone was for the convenience of my husband (then fiancée). He would play solitaire on his phone in the evening (if he’d been home, he’d have been watching sports of some type, but I didn’t have TV). Eventually, he’d run out of juice well before he wanted to stop. So, I downloaded solitaire on my phone. Then I downloaded Mah Jong.

Getting back to the grocery list, when I’d forgotten my phone yet again at home and missed yet another call (I really hate voicemail), I figured that there had to be something that I could do with my phone so that I’d remember it or need to have it with me.

Enter the APP store.

Wow. You mean they write little programs for this?

I started with craigslist, then Joann Fabrics, Kohls and Hyvee. Then I found an APP that does fabric calculations for quilting. Now we’re on a role. Then I found Out of Milk.

Grocery & To Do Lists … On Your Phone …. Seriously? Awesome!

With this APP you have the option to create a pantry list (I picture the What's In Your Wallet redone as What's in your Pantry), a shopping list or a to-do list. They also have a local grocery deals link. Inside the grocery list, you can put in the item you need, you can designate categories, add quantity needed, price information and add notes. There’s a bar code scanner that lets you scan items you purchase frequently right into your list (it’s not always right, but handy when it is).

I have my categories arranged by store. Now I can easily put what I need on a list in my phone then just open that list when I’m at the store. As I am developing this list, I’m also adding pricing information and I can get a good idea of how much groceries are going to cost, allowing me to see if I can’t pare that list down if I think it needs it. I also like being able to “cross off” an item from my list and it goes to the bottom, with needed items still at the top. I have not even begun to figure out all the features of this APP.

I almost never leave my phone at home now. I also often have it in or near the kitchen while cooking so I can easily add something I run out of. Now, not only do I not forget I have run out, it’s right there on my grocery list to purchase at my next trip out.

I’ve not even got into the part with sharing my list with others (which would be handy having students now in other cities). And, then there is the online feature that syncs with my phone’s list and vice-versa.

I think its love.

Laura

p.s. this is not a paid review. I just happen to like this app a lot. Ok, a little more than a lot. I just like to share interesting things!