Get Financially Fit! | Save Time

Thanks to today’s technology, it’s easier than ever to put mundane aspects of your life on autopilot, so you can spend less time stressing out about your tasks and more time doing what you love.

Michael Benninger of Mint.com put together a great article—Easy Ways to Automate Your Life—that features apps and websites that can help you free up your schedule and start living in the future by having your tasks take care of themselves.

Cook Up Tech Recipes

In a world where many of us carry computers in our pockets and have accounts with dozens of online services, it only makes sense to have these different technologies talk to each other. That’s where IFTTT comes in. An abbreviation for “if this, then that,” IFTTT is a free, easy-to-use service that lets users create “recipes” involving different digital triggers (“this”) and outcomes (“that”). IFTTT supports more than 300 channels (think Instagram, Spotify, Gmail, etc.) and can be used in millions of ways to make life easier. Here are some examples of recipes you can create:

• Instantly save your “Liked” Instagram photos to a Dropbox folder.
• Receive a text message whenever your favorite sports team scores.
• Trigger your air conditioner to turn on when the outside temperature hits 80 degrees, or make your lamp emit purple light when it starts to rain. (RIP, Prince.)

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Spend some time playing around with IFTTT and you’ll be amazed by how you can automate your life.

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Get Financially Fit! | Apps For Kids

No one ever said learning can't be fun! Sabah Karimi, contributor to U.S. News & World Report, shares with us 7 Fun Money Apps for Kids.

If your kids are already playing games on their smartphones or tablets, consider sneaking in an app that will teach them some valuable money skills. Educating your kids about money matters may not be at the top of your priority list, but they may be more inclined to learn about budgeting and money management when they're playing a game. Whether you want to teach kids how to save money or show them how to better manage their allowance, you can turn to a handful of money apps that make the whole process into a fun game.

Here are seven of the best fun money apps for kids.

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