13 great programs for your PDA

These 13 programs help me do my job. (which is, of course, taking care of my hubby, kids and house)

1. Documents to Go, which came free with my palm pilot (and is available for many different mobile platforms), has been a life-send since having Ethan. I can produce or edit Word and Excel documents wherever I am. This has allowed me to blog, write schedules, make chore lists and plan schooldays, even while nursing in bed. Since my palm pilot goes with me everywhere, I can also work on those things while at the doctor, while in line at the bank, or anywhere else I have extra time. Once I get back to my computer, I sync the two devices together and I am able to finish editing (if needed) then print or publish to my blog.

2. SplashShopper- There are a lot of shopping programs out there and I demo'd a lot of them. SplashShopper has so many features I love; here are some of them:
a. you can make any amount of lists you want and customize them in myriads of ways. Truly your imagination and creativity are your only limits.
b. The lists don't have to be shopping lists. You can have library book lists, video lists, to dos, thank yous, routines (I have all my daily routines in this program), take out menus, Christmas and gift lists, Lists of places where things are stored, travel lists, curriculum ideas, future Thursday Thirteen ideas....you get the idea.
c. Within each list you have 4-6 (depending again on your creativity in customizing it) categories you can put each item in. For instance in shopping I have: store, category, aisle and price; while for my morning routine I have: day of the week and upstairs or downstairs.
d. You can sort by any category. I sort my grocery list by aisle and my routines by what floor I am on.
e. It has a desktop companion. This is wonderful especially for first getting the lists set up.
f. If you chose, you can put the prices of items in there and check your budget as you make your list.
g. You can make "quicklists" which are saved, mini lists you can use time and again. If you use a rotating menu, like I do, you can just click on 'week 1' and all my items for that week's menu are added to my list. This would also be handy for seasonal chores or certain people's favorite items off of a menu.
h. I'm sure I'm missing some great features, but you get the idea. SplashShopper does cost ---- but it is worth every cent.

3. PDA cookbook- This cookbook is a nice, easy to use program. It also has a desktop interface which makes it easier to enter recipes. You can create a menu plan with it and it even syncs with SplashShopper to make your shopping list!

4. WWCalc- A Weight Watcher point calculator. It's a little hard to find, and only available for Palm OS but it is awesome. It has lists of food and their points, an activity calculator, ability to bank points, checkboxes for vitamins, counters for water, veggies and milk, etc. And this one is FREE! All you have to do is actually lose the weight. ;-)

5. NFP- If you use Natural Family Planning, this handy little freeware program is very useful.

6. Avant Go- Brings web content to your PDA when you don't have wifi. Each time you sync with your computer, it uploads the current pages you have selected to your PDA. You can choose from their channels, sites they have categorized for you, or you can add your own sites. You can even download maps from Mapquest which I have found to be one of the most useful features. Avant Go is also freeware.

7. Olivetree Bible Program- Olivetree has a great program with many available add ins. The program is free, as are several bibles and texts, but they have many items you can add in for various costs. I have stuck with strictly the free items for many years and been very happy. It is great for looking up verses or keywords on the go and you can add bookmarks and notes to any of the texts.

8. Palmreader- Palmreader came with my PDA but there are also other freeware e-reader programs out there. These programs allow you to read ebooks from your palm. Many, many books are now being published in this fashion and you can find everything from free classics to best sellers with hardback book prices. One of the uses I have found for this is downloading children's stories and reading them to my kids while waiting at the dr.

9. Big Clock- An easy alarm or timer program with 4 alarms you can set. It's freeware and much better than all of the pricey alarms I demo'd.

10. Moviementor- great program if you really like movies. It lists new movies (theaters and videos) and hundreds of old movies. You can make lists of movies you own, you'd like to see, favorites and seen. You can also give ratings to movies which are uploaded to the site when you sync. Another cool feature is the search mechanism. When I first got this program, I stayed up many nights just reading their synopses and reviews. It seems to list quite a few Bollywood movies and is missing some that I consider classics, but I think it is definitely worth the price of 17.95.

Okay, enough of the serious stuff, let's get to the games!

11. Pocketbo- the PDA version of Skipbo. I actually played it on my palm before playing it in real life but I love it both ways now. You can play against the computer or against another person. Lots of fun and free!

12. Patience- freeware solitaire suite. This package has a ton of solitaire games. I have been using it for years and I really enjoy it.

13. SuLite- Suduko. There are many freeware, shareware and software versions of Suduko out there. I will readily admit I have not tried them all. I tried three and really liked this one so this is the one I use. This one is freeware.

So, there you have it....the programs that I added to my regular palm suite to make my life easier (minus the one that figures out how long a tank of oxygen will last which I figured didn't have a lot of call for it...if you want info on it, let me know, lol)

If you'd like to see more Thursday Thirteen entries, click here.