Best Time-Saving Apps

 I was a bit of a technical luddite at first, but I've seen the bright ways of the technology sitting in the palm of my hand vis-a-vis my i-phone. In a world where many of us are desperately trying to carve out time for our art/hobbies/passions/side gigs, time is always in short supply. I consider it my most valuable, nonrenewable resource and since we got a puppy, I've been exploring apps that could buy me back a little more of it. Adulting is hard, but certain things are becoming easier. Here are some app things that are helping me tick away the moments that make up a dull day:

Sun Basket

You've seen the Blue Apron and Hello Fresh, etc. meal kit delivery services for years (I have). I've honestly been checking (for years) for one that would do gluten free meals, and none would until recently. Sunbasket! They have all sorts of diet plans for those that eat Vegan, Paleo, straight up vegetarian, Mediterranean, Dairy Free, Soy Free etc. The produce is organic and domestically sourced when able. The meats, you can opt up for organic/grass-fed/free range for each meal (I never utilized the opt up, but I liked having that option.) I can't tell you enough how much I enjoyed groceries magically showing up at my door and having every ingredient necessary to make a delicious meal from a recipe. It was luxurious. I hate to be dramatic, but I'd also call it life changing.

But lemme back up a little.You should know how much I loathe the grocery store. I loathe it. The second I walk through the automatic doors I feel murderous. It is the biggest time sink for me because of other stupid inconsiderate, poke-ass slow, aisle hoggin' shoppers,  and our local markets constantly change up the aisles so I get lost and flustered, can't find ingredients-which takes more time away from me, which makes me even more frustrated and stabby. The entire time I'm in Giant Eagle or Costco, there's a hammer smacking me in the head and screaming, AAAAUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHH YOU HAVE SO MANY OTHER THINGS YOU SHOULD BE DOING RIGHT NOW, WHY IS THIS TAKING SOOOO LOOOOOONGGGG. Every week I want to leave the store wailing like a banshee and ditch my grocery cart full of perishables in the toliet paper aisle, all because the gluten free bread got moved, yet again. For years I used to walk into grocery stores and just buy whatever fresh stuff looked good to me and leave. It was easy and it quickly got me out of the place I most hate to be. I would get home, Josh would ask me what I got and I'd shrug. Josh and I had fun iron cheffing our way through whatever the hell I tipped into my cart, but at the end of many years of doing this, we didn't really have a good anthology of recipes that we could fall back on. I had a rough fall, and summoning inspiration for what to make for dinner just added to my stress.  I needed to make food without much thought.

Enter Sun Basket. We ordered three dinners for two people once a week. Including the shipping, it was $78, which is less than we typically spend when we go out one time. We got three meals a week for about 3-4 months. I have to tell you it wasn't just that food showed up at my door,  and there was less of me at the grocery store...I actually learned so much about combining flavors and cooking techniques. And soon I had a stack of recipes under my belt that I wanted to make again and again. Sunbasket really helped me to find my love for cooking again and I am excited to share that I have a special introductory rate for you! If you follow my highlighted link or go to ( sunbasket.com/invite/Meryl977954 ) you'll get $40 off your first order of three meals, with no commitment! Three organic meals for two people for $38? You can't even get one meal for that price at a restaurant. You can try the service, choose a menu, and then cancel after your first shipment if you want. While we haven't gotten any meals in a couple months, I keep my eyes on each week's new menu for things I'd like to try. Sunbasket runs specials too, where you can get discounted meals every so often, and I know that is when I'll dip back in for a week. Sunbasket has a super handy app that I actually love to scroll through and I refer to it quite often when I duplicate their recipes. A few of our favorite recipes include: Gluten Free Mushroom Stroganoff with Spinach and Peas, Chicken Piccata with Apple Brassica Salad,  Red Lentil and Leek Gluten Free Pot Pie, and a Quinoa Bowl with Kale, Mushrooms, and Herb-Crusted Goat Cheese Medallions.

Plate Joy

While I would love for food to show up at my door step via Sunbasket indefinitely, the cost of weekly meal kits do add up, especially for my technically part-time salary. Enter Plate Joy. This app takes your dietary needs (gluten free for me), time you'd like to spend cooking (not much for breakfast or lunch), and comes up with weekly healthy recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Once your menus are ok'ed by you, it asks what you already have in your "pantry," then it makes an organized shopping list. After that, I go to the grocery store and buy from the list (my least favorite part) and then I have everything we need for the home-cooked meals Josh and I will eat that week. I'm trying this app out for 6 months. The cost for 6 month's of Plate Joy is $69. (a year is $99 which further cuts costs).

So far, I love not having to think about meal planning and typing out shopping lists for myself. Plus, having a grocery list that is organized by the store departments is also a time saver. I also enjoy the less than 10 minute breakfasts and lunches. I don't mind spending up to an hour on dinner, but I don't have much time for lunch and breakfast. While the recipes aren't as "foodie" and adventurous as Sunbasket, they are still solidly tasty and healthy and I learned about gluten free microwaveable chocolate chip banana bread mug muffins (life-changing.) They also allowed a new feature where you can add your own favorite recipes (from outside the app). I haven't done this yet, but I certainly have a few sunbasket ones I'd like to add. Did I mention how much I don't want to think and worry about food until it's time to eat it? This app is the best for that. Too bad it can't do the grocery shopping for me - but fear not, grocery delivery is the next time-saving thing I'm going to look into because I work 6.5 hours a day and I have a book in need of big picture, character arc and prose edits. Time Time Time.

 

Sweat

Another thing I'd prefer not to have to think about. Exercise. Are you sensing a pattern here? That I don't want to think? It's not that I don't, it's just that I don't view the world in black and white terms, so literally everything becomes worthy of serious consideration and contemplation, even when it's not. There are certain things that are just better off when they're done and over with, like exercise. When you think too much about something, that probably means you aren't doing it...at least that is the way I operate. Anyway, my sleep got disrupted by the new puppy last spring, I fell off the exercise bandwagon and my pants stopped fitting. You can read about that here. The Kayla Itsines sweat app helped me construct a week of low intensity cardio sessions (3x, 35 minutes a go) and strength training sessions (3x, 28 minutes a go). Before I got halfway through the program, my pants fit again. When I finished the 12 week program I had some seriously nice toned muscles going on, especially in the mid-section. The sweat app is challenging and I love the way it motivates me to get the job done. It was worth the $19.99/month (if you pay the yearly cost upfront, it's even cheaper) -which costs less than 30 minutes with a personal trainer; the mental and physcial results are worth it.

Unfortunately I'm currently on a fertility drug regimen, and the side effects are low energy, mood swings, hot flashes, flatulence (sexy!), and headaches. I'm tired and headache-y all the time and I don't even have the energy to care that I can't work out right now. I just sort of go about my days like a farty slug with a migraine, so I suspended my subscription to Sweat, but you can be sure that I will resume Sweat when I start feeling better. I'll probably need to soon, as after a month and a half of very, very intermittent exercise, my pants are getting tight again! UGH THE STRUGGLE IS SO VERY REAL.

 

Glow

How many times have you gone to your OB GYN...or any doctor really, and they've asked you, "when was your last period?" Come on. Like I wanna remember that anniversary. Like I even have a special portion of my brain reserved for that. Like I have my stuff together enough. None of these things. I can inside joke about Family Guy and Archer all day long, be haunted by a SS05 Chloe seersucker suit, but remember the date of my last period? No. Thank God there's an app for that. This was the first app I got when I got a smart phone in 2011, and I always pull it up at the doctor's. Glow also tracks symptoms in case you are trying to self diagnose stuff and/or need help learning approximately what days to avoid/gun for sex depending on your babymakin' goals. So yeah, it's an invaluable tool and it's free.

Lutron

When we bought our new home in....2015? (I'm the worst at remembering personally significant dates), we made a lot of upfront renovations that didn't seem very sexy to me at the time, i.e. leveling floors, re-wiring light switches. I can't think of anything more boring and terrifying than electrical work. maybe plumbing. idk. We got Lutron and I didn't realize it at the time, but after it was installed...lights, three floors down could be turned off with your phone...while you are laying in bed. (!!!!!!!!!) Then in 2017, we got an Alexa and we could turn lights off, by telling Alexa to do it....without our phone, while laying in bed with a pillow shoved in our eyes - this is something that has become radically more important to me these last couple months due to my hormonally induced laziness. 

Chewy

I hate shopping IRL. You should know that by now. When you own two dogs and live in a city, you constantly need something. Chewy, that's your cue. Funny story. I learned about this app for dogs and cats by a guy that lives on my street that also has two Jack Russell Terriers. What are the chances? Chewy has my information and I just order what I need and I'm done. Often times things arrive the next day. I've even signed up for auto-ship on a few items like dog food and poop bags. It's just so easy, and I love easy, like, really, really love it. By the way, I started a dog account on instagram follow my two cuties @thejagrussells

Insight Timer

This last one is the least time-savvy app of the lot. But, it could buy you a few more years of life sooooo stress and stressing. yeah. Stress is something I carry around inside me. Most days, I feed off of it. To feel the diamond fine edge of the blade on the bottoms of my feet while I tenuously tightrope it, well, most days it's divine. But that's me. I like pressure and deadlines. They energize me (when they are things I can control.) Infertility is something that is largely outside of my control. And everyone has ideas about things you can control and do to hopefully encourage more fertility within yourself. Don't drink. Don't take amphetamines. Eat womb-shaped vegetables. Don't eat soy or dairy. Don't stress. Think positive. Take a break from your novel for a few months. This is all the most boring busywork I can think of, but here I am doing it, or rather, not doing it. Which, leaves me with some anxiety because I'm not as busy as I was (which is good in some respects because I SO TIRED). They say idle hands do the devil's work, or in my case, idle thoughts come straight from the devil. Doctors and therapists have always been like, what do you do to manage stress? CARDIO-WINE-WRITE I always used to say, but now that I can't do that, I never thought I'd say or do this, but I'm meditating. Insight timer has a lot of guided meditations, which is nice, because I certainly need my hand held for this, and Josh and I are meditating together. It helps to have someone help you feel less like a woowoo dum dum. 


What apps help you with life or make it more enjoyable? I'd love to hear them.

Your Bosom Friend in Pittsburgh, 

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