Google: A WAHM’s Best Friend

While I can’t speak for other WAHM’s, I can say that Google has been a complete lifesaver for me. With all its great free applications, Google helps me save time, stay organized, and save money in the process. Here are my three favorite Google Apps.

iGoogle

When I open my browser first thing in the morning, my iGoogle page loads and with it I have access to everything I need to get working : Gmail, Mail2Web (for business mail), Remember the Milk, Google Calendar, Facebook, Google Reader, Twitter Gadget, Clipmarks, Google Notebook, Delicious, and even the weather. I even have an activity tracker that helps me track how much time I spend with each activity which is particularly help for those projects I bill for.

Google Calendar

While there are some things I’d like that aren’t available with Google Calendar, overall it is my favorite way to track my activities. I can list my tasks from Remember The Milk, feed the week’s appointments to my iGoogle page, and even share my calendar with others. But most of all, I love how I can text an event to my calendar when I’m on the road.  Now if I could find a task manager that worked with iGoogle that I could text my to-do’s to. Then I’d really be in WAHM heaven.

Gmail

I use Gmail for all my accounts except my main business account. I love how I can manage multiple accounts in one spot and the label feature organizes my email much better than the folders used in traditional email programs.  I can have my calendar on the Gmail page and I can have my Gmail fed to my iGoogle page.

Google offers more great tools and gadgets that can help the work-at-home mom such as Google Docs, Google Notebook, Google Analytics and Webmaster tools, news alerts and much more. And because they are free, it can save WAHM’s money on needed productivity tools.