This week’s best iPad apps can get you organized in a year or less, 30 minutes at a time, with the help of your iPad; waste a bunch of time with a rockin’ arcade racing game, plant flowers and make honey, and possibly finally have the best to-do list app solution for you.
52 Organizing Missions ($9.99)
For anyone who’s had the goal of getting organized, yet can’t seem to find the time to make it happen — or just don’t know where to start — 52 Organizing Missions ($9.99) is a must-buy app. Weekly 30-minute guided sessions include: De-toxing your briefcase, organizing your bill payment, de-cluttering, cleaning out your closet, and organizing specific rooms in your house, will help you finally conquer that massive undone “to-do” ist that haunts you.
Each mission comes with an overview, specific steps, dos and don’ts, an extended mission if you so desire, and a timer. Once you’ve completed a mission, leave a comment on the 52 Missions blog to show you’ve kept your commitment. Simple, straightforward, and lacking any of the sort of passive-aggressive instructions often found in self-improvement apps and books, 52 Missions boils a seemingly insurmountable task down down to something easily manageable. Who can’t dig up a 30-minute window each week?
Danger Derby ($4.99)
I’ll admit, it took me a little longer than necessary to get the hang of the controls of Danger Derby ($4.99), but the rockin’ beats of the soundtrack kept me going and before long, I had it mastered. A great little arcade racing game, Danger Derby will probably suck up all of the available 30-minute windows you were supposed to use for one of your weekly 52 Missions. The game also features successively more difficult tracks and car upgrades, as well as two-player racing, which makes for a very entertaining time.
Fiona’s Flowers HD ($4.99)
Fans of time-management games will enjoy Fiona’s Flowers HD ($4.99). Move beyond simple gardening and cross-pollinate to create new flower species, as well as grow fruit, make jellies, manage some bees and harvest honey, and sell flowers, produce and products to earn money and win the big gardening contest. Once won, players can continue in “free gardening” mode.
NotifyMe2 Control Center ($9.99)
I’ve been often frustrated with to-do apps that do little more than suck up more of my time just trying to figure out all of their features, and then get them to sync via one service or another. I’ve been using NotifyMe 2 on my iPhone for a little while, and love its simplicity. NotifyMe 2 Control Center ($9.99) for the iPad is the perfect extension.
I added my NotifyMe account in a flash, and within seconds, the app had synced the to-do items from my iPhone; basic categories keep the to-do items organized. NotifyMe 2 Control Center also allows you to add and manage multiple accounts. This seems superfluous until you realize how nice it would be to have your daughter’s NotifyMe 2 account available, so you can add “empty the dishwasher” and “fold laundry” to her task list.
