Using Your Smart Phone as Your Homekeeping Handbook Part 1

Screen shot of my iPhone home page

I’ve been slow to get a smart phone. I honestly didn’t think I would use it as more than a phone and thought It would be just another gadget I’d get bored with.  After all, all I really use a phone for is making phone calls…right??  About a month ago, it was time for our contract to be renewed and as a surprise, my husband renewed it and got us all smart phones.  He bought me an iPhone.  While it was a neat gadget and I appreciated him buying it for me, I wasn’t really sure I’d use it for more than a phone.  HAHAHA…that was before I discovered apps and found that I could use it as my Homekeeping Handbook and finally toss the binder gathering dust on my kitchen counter!  This is so much easier than that old binder and because of it’s size, I can carry it with me everywhere!  Not to mention that most of the apps I use are FREE!  You just gotta love FREE!!

This is going to be a four part series.  In this series, I’m going to cover the following areas that I use and keep in my binder, but can now do on my smart phone!:  Bible/Quiet Time, Scheduling/Cleaning Routines, Menu planning & Shopping and then a part on some miscellaneous useful apps I’ve found.  So let’s get to it!

Using Your Smart Phone for Bible/Quiet Time

Screen Shot of YouVersion App

I use the YouVersion app for my Bible reading and quiet time.  It’s a nice little FREE Bible app that you can read the entire Bible right from your iPhone in a variety of versions in several languages.  It’s really quick and easy to navigate, so it works perfectly even when using during a church service.  There are over 150 different reading plans available.  What I like about them is that you can click off the Scriptures you read each day and it automatically updates you each day to what is the next scheduled Bible reading.  You can take notes, highlight Scripture and even post Scripture straight to Facebook and Twitter.  I can do my Bible reading from anywhere!  I often do it before I even get out of the bed in the morning, and because I don’t need to turn on the lights, I can do it while my husband sleeps and not disturb him.    It also includes quite a few devotionals that you can use in your quiet time.  But my absolute FAVORITE feature is that I can listen to my scripture reading on the iPod included with the iPhone!  Now I can listen to Scripture as I’m working.  LOVE IT!!

Screen shot of the Woody Hays Bible Memory Verses app

The next app I use for my Bible reading and quiet time is the Woody Hays Bible Memory Verses.  This is another FREE app has tons of Scripture separated into topics.  You choose a verse and this nifty little app helps you keep track of your Scripture memory work.  When you are working on memorizing a specific verse (target verse), it can display it with blanks you fill in to test yourself.  I will also allow you to record your own voice reading the verse.  You can even enter your own personal verses that you want to memorize, as well as search for verses.  When you’ve gotten your verse memorized, you just click the target in the top right corner and it becomes a heart and is moved to your memorized verses area, where they are always available for you to review.

I also have a prayer list, in the app I use for Scheduling and Cleaning Routines.  I will cover that in the Part 2.  But, I am able to keep a listing of Prayer requests and such on my iPhone.  This allows me to have my prayer list with me where ever I go.  It makes it simple to just pop in a new prayer request as I get them and to pray on the go.  I always have had a hard time remembering all the prayer requests I get and this helps me.  It is also a reminder to check in with the person and see how things are going.  Love being able to do this, and I’ll cover this subject more tomorrow.

While this isn’t in depth study I’m doing on my iPhone, it has certainly been a BIG help in getting my quiet time and Bible reading in.  I have no excuse now, because my phone is always with me.  I can do it while waiting in line at the grocery store, listen to a reading while driving, and so much more.  I have a Bible that can go with me wherever I am and allows me to read the Word wherever I am, whatever I’m doing.  To me this is a wonderful thing!

In Part 2, I will be covering how I do my scheduling, to-do list, and cleaning routines all on my iPhone!

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