The Five Best iPhone Apps for Keeping Your New Year’s Resolutions
Posted in: financial, iPhone, ipod touch, money, Today's Chili, topLast weekend we suggested 10 tools for sticking to your New Year’s Resolutions. Those with an iPhone or iPod touch, though, have a few additional, always-available tools for keeping up the good self-improvement fight.
Here’s our list of five apps that make tracking, remembering, and motivating your resolutions easier than willpower alone. All of them (except RunKeeper) run on both iPhones and iPod touch models.
RunKeeper for motivating your run
Running is one of, if not the best, exercise plan for those who like immediate, measurable proof of their progress. RunKeeper, a free app that Adam used to roll his own Nike+ iPhone for free, is the data-hound’s running companion. Using the iPhone’s GPS powers, where and how far you went is mapped out (if with a few glitches), your calories burned and average speed marked, and it can all be searched through and/or synced to the RunKeeper web site. For a similar solution with a different mix of strengths and features, try Fitnio. (RunKeeper Free and Pro)
Weightbot for, well, your weight
For just $2, you can grab an app that makes measuring your body weight sort of (seriously) fun. The previously toured iPhone/iPod touch app has a really slick look to it, and takes your weight down in tenths-of-a-pound increments, along with auto-calculating your Body Mass Index. Your day-by-day progress can be graphed out and tracked against a goal weight, and if you’re concerned about friends prone to “Ooh, let me see your iPhone apps!” fever, Weightbot can be password locked before giving away the stats. (Store link)
Remember the Milk for everything else
This one’s a bit pricier, but you’re getting more than just a nagging reminder to do this or don’t do that. With a $25/year Remember the Milk Pro account, its iPhone/iPod touch app (which offers 15 free days to any account) gives you pretty much complete access to all your lists, tasks, alerts, reminders, and whatever resolution you’re plugging in. Plus, using geo-location features, you can goad yourself into stopping by Goodwill to finally drop off those clothes, since you’re already shopping in the neighborhood. As noted in its Top 10 entry, though, RTM’s real benefit is that it syncs itself everywhere at all times. So remembering to buy a better paper filing box while you’re at your desk can pay off the next time you’re in an OfficeMax. (store link)
iOwn to stop hoarding stuff
Most of us can probably do with a little less stuff, and we’re all prone to buying things we already own—I’ll point you to a drawer full of barely-used duct tape, if you’d like. iOwn is a one-stop spot for keeping track of those things you always tend to buy more of, or just want to have more details about the stuff you already have at your fingertips (does the DVD player take component cables, or just S-Video?). You can give any item as many attributes as you’d like, and the full $5 version lets you store, and backup online, as many items as you can think of (the free, Lite version is a 10-item trial). It’s pitched as a total-home organizer, but if you’ve just got one collection or acquisition habit you’re looking to reign in—spices, music, photo frames, whatever—it’s pretty indispensable. (via LA Times Blogs; iOwn free and lite links)
Mint for managing your money
Mint.com’s a streamlined webapp for graphing, tracking, budgeting, and otherwise keeping tabs on your money. Its free iPhone/iPod companion is no less a handy tool, and it’s just as secure and informative. Check your basic balances, browse your last few days’ cash flow, and peek at multiple budgets you set up for yourself from a series of sliding screens. If you fear losing your device and opening up your financial world to the thief, you can remotely deactivate the read-only tool from your Mint.com profile. If you can get your head around Mint’s money management, you’ll really benefit from this app. (Store link)
That’s our flight of five apps, but we want to hear what free or paid iPhone/iPod apps work for goals and resolutions. Share the app names in the comments.
They’re going out of business! It’s a liquidation sale! The prices will be crazy marked down, right? Not necessarily. Read on to avoid getting ripped off by liquidators. Photo by 
Last year SuperPow television company released the SuperPow H9000 HDTV. The manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP) was $2500. It was sold at HappyBox electronics stores for $2200 when it first came out and as newer models arrived it was eventually sold for $1250. HappyBox has a bad run and ends up filing for bankruptcy. Their inventory is now controlled by a liquidation company. The company responsible for the liquidation advertises that products in the store are deeply discounted, some things are even 50% off already! You walk in to check on the SuperPow H9000 and see that the price is $1250. You remember the TV was really expensive and that seems like a great deal for a nice TV, after all it’s 50% off! The only problem is that you’re getting 50% off the MSRP, which nobody paid even when the TV was the hottest model on the market. It may be a month or two into a large liquidation before that TV is actually marked down 50% from the actual street value to a wallet-friendly $625—and most likely someone not realizing they aren’t getting a very good deal would have bought it well before that. Photo by 
Don’t go shopping blind. If you’re heading to a going-out-of-business sale, take a few minutes to do some cursory research on whatever it is you’re looking to buy. Compare prices with price comparison engines like 
If you have an internet-enabled phone with you, it’s easy to compare prices right in the store. The quickest, if least specific, method is to plug the product name or model number into the 
