Dec 25 2011
Top iPad Apps for surviving the holidays!
Holidays are a time when we devote a bit of ourselves and our wallets to making others a bit more merry. Luckily the iPad has some helpful apps to ensure you and yours survive the shopping season. Here are the top iPad apps to surviving the holidays.
Comparison Shopping
The sting of a missed sale hurts during the holiday. Luckily there are apps to make getting a bargain even easier. ShopSavvy Barcode uses the camera to scan the barcode and search other sellers. The app functions on a local and internet retailers. Knowing exactly where to get the best gift for the best cost is essential for surviving the holidays.
Cheapest Gas
Fueling up the car seems to get more expensive every day. Getting the cheapest gas will save a substantial amount of money whether hitting the highway to for an out-of-town holiday or simply shopping about town. The GasBuddy app lists current gas prices and uses GPS to provide directions stations based on your location or destination.
Greeting Cards
No more licking stamps or paper-cuts. iPads and iPhones grant the ability to relay heartfelt correspondence through more eco-friendly and interactive digit greeting cards. The PHOTO2cards app allows users to create custom cards from w photos. The app provides nifty templates and will transmit the card via social networks (Twitter, Facebook, and flickr) or email lists. PHOTO2cards HD
Shopping Lists
Keeping the Christmas shopping list in order can be a confusing chore. The Gifts HD app is a list generator and gift organizer. Customizable notes can be integrated into the list as well as a budget calculator. Internet shoppers can use the embedded browser to research and bookmark potential gifts from online retailers. Gifts HD Free
Charity
The gift of giving goes a long way. Especially when it comes to taxes. Donating items discarded during the holiday season can help accrue hundred of dollars worth of deductions for the upcoming tax season.
The iDonatedIt app was created by accountants and creates a list which records the value, location and drop-off date of donated items. The app also supports photos and allows for information retrieval via email. Having a ready-generated database of charitable donations helps file taxes more quickly and easily as charitable donations become handy deductions to help ease the tax burden of the following year.
Cooking
Holiday meals are delight for the guests and can be a headache for the cook. However, the Epicurious recipe app is available to help plan meals and prepare shopping lists to ensure no ingredient goes overlooked. As this 9to5iPad.com post notes, “you can add multiple dishes to your shopping lists, making a comprehensive list that covers all holiday dishes you plan to cook.”
Finances
Controlling spending is important and difficult during the holiday season or times when we feel most generous. However, apps exits to help monitor and curb spending. The Mint app links checking, savings, retirement and other accounts into an interface which can be monitored. The app uses the information to generate an analysis of spending and saving habits. The analysis occurs in real-time via Mint’s secure sever. Any transactions made from a linked account can be automatically factored and displayed. Additionally, the app can push alerts for upcoming bills or notify when suspicious activity occurs.
Katei Cranford is a freelance writer who is will to admits to iPad envy.
You can follow us on twitter, join us on facebook or subscribe to our feed to keep yourself updated on all the latest news about Apple iPad.
