Life Hacks with Alexa

**This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Amazon. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

We all know how helpful and great it is to have an Alexa Echo, but did you know there is now a now a series of Alexa “Life Hacks” Skills? This is making some everyday tasks faster, easier, and more delightful.

The boys almost love Alexa more than I do —but they are quickly edging me out on using her with more frequency than me. We recently downloaded the following “Life Hacks” apps and its been a game changer around here.

Chop Chop App. This is our new go-to kitchen assistant, that walks us through how to chop all kinds of vegetables. Recently, Cole wanted to know how to cook asparagus, so we started out with how to chop prep it. Sure, I could have told him myself, but in an effort to make him more independent and curious in the kitchen. I had him ask Alexa himself. She walked him right through it.

Next up, the HouseTracker App. This is an app that makes a game out of completing chores—naturally my kids gravitate to this one the most. My boys have made a friendly competition, since it allots points for each chore completed and the one with the most points is declared the household leader. If you follow Naomi and me on social media, you know we can be fiercely competitive—a thing that we’ve passed onto our boys—so, the household leader is always shifting in our home. Each boy is always looking to dethrone the leading brother. Guess who loves and gravitates to his app? I mean seriously, I’m always adding new chores to this to keep the competition healthy and lively.

 

This app, the Start Nagging Me App, is a lifesaver. There are just certain daily expectations that don’t fall under chores, that I feel like I’m constantly nagging my kids to do. Things like: “Don’t forget to get your reading done by noon!” “Did you get your daily 30-minute reading done for the day?” “What do you mean YOU FORGOT to do your reading?”. Now, Alexa does that for me. The app’s nagging comes every minute and after 10 minutes of being reminded, Alexa will check with you to see if you have done the task.

Can you see why, I’m digging these new apps? Alexa’s hands-free, voice-enabled services are improving my overall productivity and increasing life’s efficiency for me and everyone in my house, while helping to build new skills along the way. Who can say no to that?

To get started, just utter “Alexa, make my life easier” and see just how easy it is!