I love Apps for fun…and especially for business.They help me keep productivity high when I have a lot on, and they fit in my pocket on my smartphone! I wanted to share with you 3 of my favorite Apps for “lightening the load”.

Think of it in terms of “Carry less, Do More”. Read on for my top 3…I am sure you will wonder where you ever were without them!

1. EVERNOTE

I am a big lover of Evernote”¦it is an awesome program that allows you to clip, save and post your ideas, notes, photos, webpages, clips, audio and documents into one big filing system in the “cloud” that is accessible and synchronizable from any of your devices (PC, laptop, smartphone)”¦ and of course it comes as an app for smartphones and iPad. Better still, an offline version of your data is backed up to every device so you always have access to a copy to edit and play with before syncing it back into the system. Evernote has also integrated with the Google Chrome search. This means that when you search Google Chrome, it also searches your Evernote files….looking for words within your documents (including PDF and web pages) as well as tags you designate. It's a bit like searching your brain! Everything is stored in the cloud and all you have to do is sync your devices to update them. SImple. Evernote. Everhelpful.

2. KEY RING (KEY RING REWARDS CARDS)

I have been using the Keyring App for a year or more now. I love it and it has made my wallet sooooo much lighter. Are you familiar with all of those barcoded membership and loyalty cards you receive from favorite coffee shops, superstores, kids entertainment venues, video stores (the list goes on)..? Well no longer do you have to carry them! Just scan the barcode into your Keyring App and voila…instant barcode, stored on your phone. Believe it or not your local favorite store can scan your barcode (I have had the entire staff at a chemist crowd around to watch it work!). If the barcode reader does not pick it up well, then the staff member can easily key in the numbers from your barcode to access your details. Just yesterday I used it at the Cinemas as well as my local Video store. Give it a try. The seams of your wallet will thank you!

3. CAMCARD Just like Keyring, Camcard has lightened my load. It allows me to take a photo of all the business cards I pick up, and the program then enters all the relevant info from the card into contact fields on my phone…complete with fields like email, website and phone. It is remarkably accurate, however I always recommend that you check the final entries against the original card before discarding it – especially where the font or graphics on the card are not easy to read. Better still, you end up having two versions saved…the visual card or photo of it as well as the details going into your contacts!

So there they are. My three favorite Apps at the moment. Bear in mind that all of them have “free” and “paid” verions. The cost to purchase the pro version or extended version for each is minimal but I recommend trying the free version first and then consider upgrading!

Have you tried any of these Apps? If you do, tell me what you think and whether your wallet is any lighter as a result!