Easy Ways to Automate Your Life

While we don’t yet have flying cars that collapse to the size of a suitcase, pneumatic tubes that transport us from room to room or machines that automatically bathe and clothe us in the morning, every day we’re getting closer to living in a Jetsons-esque future. 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.

Here are a few easy ways to 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.

Ditch Your Dining Decisions

Why worry about what to make for dinner, when there’s a free tool that suggests meals based on your unique dietary goals? Eat This Much is a mobile app and online service that provides users with customized meal plans to help them live healthier, happier lives. Simply punch in your desired caloric intake and how many meals you eat each day, and the service delivers a daily diet with step-by-step recipes that align with your eating aspirations. Here are some other perks:

• The service can offer suggestions tailored for those with food allergies or who want to avoid eating meat or processed foods.
• Eat This Much automatically generates shopping lists each week, so you know exactly what to pick up on your next trip to the store.
• The app can be personalized to fit your budget.

In addition to keeping you from experiencing anxiety about what to eat, ETM also prevents you from making less-than-ideal decisions about your diet. Sign up for a free account and see what a difference it could make in your life.

Ship, Don’t Shop

Between driving to the supermarket, fighting for a parking spot, wandering aimlessly down aisles and standing in line to fork over your money, going to the grocery store can be a drag, right? This is especially true if you buy the same stuff month after month. Rather than wasting your time shopping for everyday household goods, eliminate this errand from your life by having consumables delivered to your home on your desired schedule. Amazon’s Subscribe & Save program can free up hours of your life by shipping vitamins, coffee, paper towels and hundreds of other items to your door on whatever day suits you best. Here are a few other perks:

• Save 15% off Amazon’s already competitive prices.
• Score free shipping on every Subscribe and Save order.
• There’s no need to be an Amazon Prime member, and you can cancel at any time.

Setting up your monthly delivery is a breeze. Simply select the products you typically pick up at the store, enter the quantity you’d like delivered and choose the day that’s best for you. Give it a shot and you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.

Automate Your Life and Say “So Long” to Stress

Life gets busy. With meetings, phone calls with clients and the roll of the dice that is traffic and red lights on the way home, getting to those everyday tasks can seem just a little much at the end of the day. But this is 2016. And it’s a brave new world of magical technology here to help us out!

As our technology grows increasingly sophisticated yet simpler to use, we can benefit from less stress and more peace of mind. And remember, when it comes to managing your money, Mint makes it easy to leave your worries behind by allowing you to manage your finances wherever you are. Our tools not only save you time, but by ensuring that you never miss a payment, you’ll save on late fees, too. Download our free app today, and start living your best life.