As Aussie kids embark on the new school year, Aussie parents are facing all that this time of year brings along with it. The notes, the activities, the class parties, the class projects, the weekend sports … the chaos!
As calendars fill, the overwhelm is real. Particularly if there is just one parent trying to manage who needs to be where, when and what they’ll need to take with them.
This overwhelm is exactly what inspired Queensland mum-of-two Jo Burgess to go hunting for an app to help her manage it all. When that app didn’t exist, she created it, and Aussie parents are signing up by the thousands.
Jo Burgess is a mum-of-two who, when she couldn’t find the app she needed, created it! Image: Supplied.
Life Sorted is helping Australian families to live a happier life together by giving them a way to keep their family’s events, birthdays, to-dos, shopping lists and reminders in one place, without the nagging!
As a mum-of-four whose term four to-do list nearly broke her last year, I was very keen to hear exactly how this app would change my life, so I began to look into it.
For starters the design layout is simple, beautiful and easy to use so all family members can use the app across all devices – computer, laptop, tablet and phones. What this means is the pressure would no longer be on me to nag everyone into being where they needed to be, because – in theory – they’d already know.
Which was exactly Jo’s plan. During an extremely busy time in her life – despite considering herself an organised person – Jo was really struggling to keep up with everything. She was juggling work, travel for work and coordinating what seemed like a gazillion activities for her children, then aged 14 and 12.
Jo was trying to fit in quality time with her husband and children along with trying to keep the house organised and making sure everyone was eating well. She was desperate for some overdue me-time.
Jo states: “My biggest challenge was coordinating everyone’s activities. Making sure everyone had what they needed – knew where they needed to be – and knew how they were getting there, and back. Plus, dealing with changes that came up every day and keeping everyone updated (like when tennis lessons got cancelled due to rain, what was plan B.”
“I went looking for a better way. In my quest to find a solution I tried so many things: paper diaries, planners, homemade spreadsheets, family wall calendars and a variety of apps. Nothing really worked. To cut a long story short, I figured that if I had these problems so must others. I decided to create my own app to solve these problems.”
With everyone in the family knowing what to do and when to do it, parents are finding they . are way less stressed. Image: Supplied.
Jo sat on the idea for nearly two years, constantly checking back in to see if anyone had created what she needed yet. When, after 18 months, she looked back at the app wish list she’d created, she realised that nobody had even come close.
So, with the help of an app developer friend, who listened to Jo’s idea and realised they too needed such an organisational tool for their family, Jo set about building ‘Life Sorted’.
With features that allow you schedule events, invite attendees and add ‘to dos’ and ‘reminders’ to each event, families are finding the easy access to what each family member is doing and needs to do made things run much smoother at home.
Aussie parents are loving the easy to use and practical app for organising home life. Image: Supplied.
Any parent who has tried to find a gift at the service station on the way to a party will know how useful that feature is!
However, as the school notes, and the to-do lists grow, perhaps my favourite feature is the potential to schedule an event and plonk my husband’s name on there so he knows about it too! It’s about time I was able to share the load a little.
If you’d like to try ‘Life Sorted’ for yourself, Jo is offering a 30-day free trial with no credit card details required.
