5 Free Apps that Will Help Your Family Stay Organized During The School Year

Another school year is about to start and as most of you parents out there know, one of the hardest parts of the school year is keeping track of all of your school related and family activities. From household chores, school activities and sports practices to planning lunch, it's enough to drive you crazy. Luckily, we live in a tech society where there is just about an app for everything. If you're like me, you're always looking for ways to make life easier and it turns out there are some awesome apps that can make your school year a lot easier. Here are some of the apps we use in our household that will help your school year be a breeze this year.

1. Cozi Calendar. Every-time I use this app, I thank the technology Gods that it's available. I guarantee the Cozi Calendar will be your go to app this school year. It allows you to see at a glance what activities every member of your family is involved in. Whether it's a joint family vacation, sports, scouting you will know instantly where everyone is. This app also allows you to keep a grocery list so you know what items are needed for your household and you can use the meal planning feature of the app to reduce the chaos of knowing what is for dinner.

2. Kahn Academy. Isn't it amazing as adults that we forget much of the information we learned in school? Life skills take a precedent to our school skills and it doesn't really affect us ... until our kids bring home school work and they need our help. The Kahn Academy is here to help. This free app and website has videos and tutorials on any subject. Now you can brush up with all of the things you learned in school so you can help your kids with homework or any other subjects they need help with during the school year.

3. LaLaLunchBox and LaLaBreakfast Planning breakfast and lunch for your kids (and yourself) is always a challenge during the school year. It's so easy to get burned out with making the same stuff day after day that you may turn to fixing meals that aren't healthy. LaLa Lunchbox and LaLa Breakfast are meal planning apps that make choosing healthy meals fun and easy for kids and parents. You can create different meal plans for every member of your family and the app is easy enough for kids to plan their own breakfast and lunch meals.

4. Choremonster. Argh! There's nothing worse than trying to get your kids to do all of their chores. It becomes such a hassle, that I know many of you are tempted to do them yourselves. Turn the tide of the chore battle and download Choremonster. This great app makes doing chores fun for your kids allowing them to earn points. The app works for parents and kids alike. Parents setup the list of chores in the app, kids can log into their own smart devices mark the progress of the chores.

5. Keepy. Part of that mountain of paperwork that comes home from school are those adorable art projects your children do at school. As parents, we want to save those projects, but don't want all of that paper clutter. Keepy allows you to keep those projects without the paperwork. Save, organize and share your children artwork, schoolwork and memories. You can also upload photos and videos, to share with grandparents. With the app you can create and order prints, gifts and photo books in minutes.

In the chaos of the school year, how to you and your family stay organized? Drop me a line and let me know what tools or apps your famiy uses.