How to Automate Your Twenty-Something Life + $500 Giveaway!

Billshare.org has been a life saver when it comes to splitting bills between roommates. I log in the bills that I have paid and it splits it up evenly between everyone in the group. At the end of the month everyone pays up their share and logs it into the system – we can even track how much we are spending in different categories — pretty sweet and simple to use tool.

Does RSS feed count? I don't know what I would do without Google Reader.

While I don't have my bills set up on an auto-pay schedule, when I need to pay them I do so quickly and sans stamps with my bank's site which works really well for that. I particularly like it for rent. A lot of people don't know that instead of cashier's checks, which cost $8 at my bank, you can set up the payee in your online checking and the bank cuts the recipient a check for you.

I've also gotta give props to the iPhone. It's been so nice to know movie times and locations in about 20 seconds, not have to use an atlas or TomTom on the road, and to compute tip at restaurants and not have to do math.

I used alice.com for the first time today and wholly agree that it's going to save me not only time but plenty of money as well! I love that I don't have to go hunting for coupons (another thing Alice automates) because, really, what uber-busy twentysomething without kids has time for coupons? Not I, at least! I love that they'll email you as well when you're about to run out as well as offer auto-ordering on a set schedule as well. It'll be so nice to (with free shipping!) not even have to fuss with running out of essentials like razors, dishsoap, etc. I also love that they have a green/organic section. I'm impressed!

Where to begin… On Line banking for one (bills are automatically paid monthly), Google Calendar (I can see it, my friends can see it), NetFlix, living in a condo so I do not have to shovel snow or do any type of yardwork.

First off I wouldn't know what to do without my iPhone. Most of the applications I use at home are web-based and offer an iPhone app, so everything is connected. One of my favorite apps is Evernote, which helps me capture random notes, ideas, recipes, addresses….you name it. I clip things while I'm searching the web at home, work or on the go with my phone.

Another app I use often is moneyStrands.com (disclosure- i work here). This is a site I use to track my spending and budget. I find myself using the iPhone application a lot while I'm on the go to check my bank balance so I don't over draft money.

Last but not least, Netvibes. This is is a savior to me. Part of my job is tracking news and reading up on the latest trends. Netvibes helps me sort this all in an organized manner. I have tabs set up for different types of publications and each tab has a number of blogs and online publications. I can view the newest stories and scroll over for a short snippet to see if I'm interested in reading the full article.

I know you said one, but there are so many I can't just choose one!

After reading the comments here and over at Brazen Careerest – I feel as though most everything that I use has been covered – Google Calendars, Google Reader (I totally agree with Mark – I would be lost without it), Mint.com, Automatic Billpat, netflix, etc.

But – I think that one important one has been left off. I HATE grocery shopping (I can not even begin to describe how much) and I have always felt I could be doing something more productive. So, I love love love safeway.com. I can save my old shopping lists so that the food I commonly buy is just a few clicks away, literally. I have my account information stored, so I don't need my safeway card or my credit card. And the best part of all – they deliver it to me! All I have to do is go in – click on frequent shopping list – and click pay. You can find coupon codes that make it super cheap too. This easily saves me a few hours a month, if not a week. Plus, for anyone in a big city with no car, they know how much of a pain it can be to carry groceries home. By getting my groceries delivered I can buy in more bulk quantities to save money or buy things I previously wouldn't have been able to carry.

I don't know what I'd do without RSS and auto bill pay. Amazing inventions.

This tool has been around for a couple years, but the WordPress blogging platform – http://www.wordpress.org – has revolutionized all of the websites I manage and write for. For a guy who wrote his first pages in raw HTML code, I'm grateful for the way WordPress automates the process of publishing content to the web every time I log in! -h

honestly dear Lord. Just one? I use all of the above and then some – love how safeway tracks my buy lists and knows that I'm always going to want more of their crappy taco shells. Mint's all up in my business about that $12 I overspent on my non-existent restaurant budget and Blockbuster Online is awesome for getting me what I thought I wanted to see a year ago and still being flexible enough to let me walk into a store and interact with a live human from time to time. Google calendar is a Godsend because my non-profit is too cheap to invest in a server that would allow for shared outlook calendars and I do live by RSS feeds (albeit, Bloglines just because I'm a creature of habit that way…). I have not only automated bill pay with my bank, but of course directly with most billers (ie, Fed gov loans) so that I can save on interest rates AND blame them when they forget to account for pesky things like bank holidays.

But if I had to pick my fave not yet mentioned automated tool, I have to say my voice. Specifically when I am automatically saying "no" to new gadgets that decrease the time I have to just live life. There are lots of aps and gadgets and whatsimagigs out there to "simplify" your life. If you don't know how to say no to the ones that will automatically make your life a living hell rather than simplify it, you're really just automating your frustration.

That said, I'd love to win $100 to buy detergent, tooth paste and deodorant because I'm running low and am truly skeptical at the goodness that might be Alice. Free shipping. Connecting me, the lowly consumer, directly to my favorite manufacturers who might care that Old El Paso taco shells are even crappier than Safeway brand shells? I'm dubious. So dubious I'm afraid to order for fear of the immense dissapointment that would ensue. But I can be pursuaded.

I've started to use Amazon.com's "Subscribe and Save" service religiously for non-persishables or things I use a ton of. If you subscribe to receive a product at every given time interval they will waive shipping fees.

I tried to think of something that wasn't super-common like Netflix; I just learned about this 2-3 months ago and was an instant evangelist for the service!

I have a Blockbuster Online subscription and I have auto bill pay set up for all of my student loans. Oh, and I am absolutely addicted to Mint.com! It has made me wish that my transactions moved out of the "Pending" state more quickly!

My current favorite is Simply Hired. As someone who is very mobile and always looking for new opportunities, I love the job alerts that allow me to monitor who's hiring in different locations. The SH website is clean, fast, and easy to navigate — just takes a few minutes to set up multiple alerts. And yes, there are jobs out there!

I use many of the ones listed above. But I also love a few others that have helped me eliminate a few other trips and phone calls in my life such as 1800petmeds.com, dermadoctor.com, and opentable.com.

My absolute favorite site of all my online conveniences is zappos.com. I can feed my shoe fetish without having to leave my office – all with free shipping and returns!

Living in New York City, there are many ways to create a life that has many automated features. You can have your favorite take-out joints on speed dial and order on your way home from work so dinner is waiting, you can have fresh direct pick the best fruits and veggies and practically unpack them for you, hey- you can even have your building's super do the necessary maintenance around your apartment!

But for those who want to pick out their own veggies or like to cook for themselves (like me), there are plenty of ways to automate your life and still be highly effective. For example, I have all of my monthly bills—my gym membership, cable, electric, etc—automatically charged to my credit card. Then, I have my credit card set up to automatically deduct the minimum payment from my bank account every month so even if I am a day or two late paying, I do not have to stress about paying the late fees. And who doesn't love google alerts to do tracking of you business and clients?

But if none of those works for you…there's always Netflix!

Thanks, everyone! Between here and Brazen there are nearly 50 comments and counting so I'm extending the contest until the end of the week. Stay tuned to find out who the winners are. And go sign up for Alice.com if you haven't yet!

-Ryan

I use mint.com for tracking and controlling my expenses, dropbox to sync up files between my work computer and home computer, and iPhone to monitor contacts, calendar, and email. Like most people, all my bill payments are automated via online bill pay. I Tivo all my TV so I can watch shows in batches, and to skip commercials.

Looking at alice.com as my next automation point.

My offline automation is my housekeeper that comes every two weeks to do a complete scrub down. Maybe I can use alice.com to automate replenishment of my cleaning supplies!

Next offline automation is to hire an assistant to handle miscellaneous need, or I can upgrade my AMEX to get the concierge services.

[...] when Alice finally opened up shop and I saw a giveaway at Employee Evolution/Brazen Careerist I couldn't help myself.  I had to enter.  Had. [...]

Being a twenty-something career gal with a baby I would try anything to make life easier so I have more time to spend with her and my husband when I'm not working! Automatic bill pay is definitely a lifesaver. I also gets tons of baby coupons and storing them in a nice-looking 5×7 expandable coupon holder I can throw in my purse helps helps me not lose them so I can save every dollar I can!

Another thing we do because we hate checking voicemail is to use Vonage voice transcription that sends you an email with the text of the voicemail so I never have to call to check it. I heard that Google Voice will do that same thing for your phone and cell, although it's in invite-only beta right now.

I just tried Alice.com for the first time, and I'm really exited about it! I live in the DC area, so I use peapod to get groceries delivered, I use mint.com to track my money, and I automate the paying of all my bills through my bank.

I am persistently nagging clients about automating the nuisances, but there's one thing missing: grocery delivery. Back during the dot-com-go-boom I lived in Seattle and had groceries delivered once a week. The business model somehow didn't work and the company went belly up. Wishing we had this in Santa Barbara.

I would echo the sentiments of most of the people on here, but I have to say that I recently discovered that cvs.com actually refils your prescriptions automatically if you ask them to. This has seriously saved me a ton of time trying to find the prescription # & calling it in, etc.