Appy New Year

With Christmas and New Years celebrations over with, it is time to face the bill for the holiday excesses. For assistance with financial tasks, there is the Pocket Book app (https://getpocketbook.com). This Australian based app will help you manage your finances by linking to your banks accounts and automatically categorising your spending habits. It also has a budgeting function (called safely spend) to help you manage your cash flow. In addition, the app can notify you of upcoming bills so you can avoid late payment fees. The app is free which is nice, but also means that they use your information to make the app profitable. Their privacy policy (https://getpocketbook.com/privacy-policy/) states how they do this and if you are comfortable with sharing your information to gain access to the app then it is worth while.

If you need help with fitness goals this year then the My Fitness Pal app (https://www.myfitnesspal.com/) is highly recommended. This app makes it easy to keep track of your daily food intake. You can scan barcodes of packaged products using your phone or manually enter food portions that you consume. The app has a large database of food types and this is used to analyse the macro (carbohydrates, fats and proteins) and micro nutrients (vitamins and minerals) in your diet. The result is a comprehensive overview of not just calories consumed but also the nutritional value of your food. The app can also track exercise and show you a daily balance of the calories in versus the calories out. It integrates with activity trackers (such as Garmin or Fitbit) to determine how many calories you have expended. You can also track your weight and it will remind you to jump on the scales to keep track of your goals. The app is ad supported or you can buy a premium subscription, which also unlocks additional features. As always, check the privacy policy to ensure your are comfortable with how they use your information (https://account.underarmour.com/privacy?locale=en_US).

Good luck with your New Year's resolutions and hopefully these apps will make them easier to achieve.