Alexa, “Organize my life!” Sadly, it’s not quite that easy, but Alexa can help you organize your life in a lot of neat ways! If you’re wondering how to organize with Alexa, here are 11 things to try! 

11 Ways Alexa Can Help You Stay Organized

I often feel like I’m living under a rock – but you probably are if you don’t know about Alexa. Alexa is the AI personality associated with devices like the Echo Show, Echo Spot, and other smart home products from Amazon. The devices are built on voice recognition, so using them is as easy as making a request like:

“Alexa, play country music.”

“Alexa, what’s 235 times 40?”

“Alexa, what’s the weather forecast for today?”

The platform has many different “skills” you can install to use with Alexa, for everything from entertainment to education. They can help you play podcasts, ask you a daily trivia question, help you find your iphone, and so much more.

The very first thing you need to do is buy an Echo or an Echo Dot if you don’t have one. Next, make sure to download the Alexa app onto your phone so you can sync the two. Click here to find it in the Apple Store or here to find it in Google Play.

Now check out these 11 ways Alexa will help you organize, well, all the things! Here’s how to organize with Alexa.

1. Alexa can help you organize by syncing your calendar.

Syncing your calendar from Google or Outlook can help you stay organized in a few ways. You can easily add events to your calendar by giving Alexa the details:

“Alexa, add ‘Sam’s birthday party’ to my calendar on April 19th from 1 to 3 PM.”

You can also recall events to check your schedule at any time. 

“Alexa, what’s on my calendar for January 3rd?”

Depending on your device, you can also have your calendar events displayed as part of your home screen, in some cases. 

2. Use Alexa to set reminders.

Alexa can remind you to do just about anything. You can set one-time reminders or schedule reminders on a regular basis. For example:

“Alexa, remind me to take the meat out of the freezer tomorrow morning.”

“Alexa, remind me to put the trash by the curb every Sunday at 7:30 pm.”

Reminders are a great way to use Alexa as a live-in personal assistant. They can also help ensure your kids aren’t left standing on the curb at school waiting for you to pick them up.

3. Communicate with family.

There are a few ways you can use Alexa to communicate with your loved ones. Communication features include calling, drop-in, announcements, and messages. 

• Call – this is an easy as telling Alexa to call your mom. And she will. As long as you have a contact labeled “Mom.”
• Drop-in – this is handy if you want to communicate with kids who have their own Alexa device in their room. Learn more about drop-in here.
• Announce – another useful way to get messages to family members with their own Alexa devices. What a great way to announce dinner’s ready without shouting.
• Message – have Alexa send text messages to people on your contact list who also have the Alexa app installed on their phone.

4. Ask Alexa to make your lists.

Keep multiple lists running with Alexa. You can simultaneously have a shopping list, a goals list, and lists for anything else that’s important to you. You can name each list so it’s easy to keep items organized. For example, commands include:

“Alexa, add toothpaste to my Shopping list.”

“Alexa, add work out 3 times to my Weekly Goals list.”

Using a central shopping list is a great way to stay on the same page with the other members of your household. Not only can everyone add their needs to the list, they can access it from the Alexa app while shopping, as well. 

And, you can also share these lists with family and friends simply by clicking share my list in the Alexa app!

5. Shop on Amazon. 

Potentially dangerous, yet help nonetheless – you can use Alexa to shop on Amazon. Since your Echo device will be connected to your Amazon account, you can order items to be delivered right to your door by simply asking. If you ask Alexa to buy garbage bags, she might recommend a top brand or the item you purchased last time.

As you use the feature more, it becomes more seamless. Pro tip – include the brand name you prefer when ordering so Alexa can find your favorite item faster. 

6. Listen to the news. 

News stories are delivered on Echo devices in short audio clips called Flash Briefings. Many major publishers – and some independent ones – put out regular flash briefings that you can enable. You can then listen to them by asking Alexa to “play my Flash Briefings,” or “Play the news.

7. Count down the days.

You can easily find out how many days you have until a certain event by asking. This can help with project planning and goal setting.

8. Keep your dinner from burning by having Alexa set timers.

Set multiple timers at once to keep track of everything you have going on. You can name the timers, which helps when you have more than one active. Timers can help you stay organized when cooking, working, doing schoolwork, exercising, or playing games!

9. Plan trips.

There are a number of ways your Echo device can help when it comes to making travel plans. You can look up flight information, translate simple phrases, and quickly find the distance between two destinations. You can also keep your packing list up to date by using the list feature mentioned above.

10. Track investments. 

Quickly look up the current price of stocks, funds, and cryptocurrency just by asking. Then have Alexa set reminders based on your goals! You can create watch lists for stocks you’re interested in and be notified if certain stock criteria are met too.

11. Have Alexa help you organize by creating routines that fit your schedule. 

Streamline your daily schedule with routines that work across many different platforms. For example, you can set a morning routine that begins when you say “Good morning, Alexa.” It might look something like this, depending on the settings you choose:

• Turn off the front porch light. (If you have a compatible smart bulb installed.)

• Share events from your calendar. 

• Start Flash Briefing.

• Turn on the coffee maker. (With a compatible machine or Smart Plug.)

• Give information about the travel conditions on the work/school commute.

While Alexa can play music and answer simple questions for you, don’t forget to take advantage of some of her organizational skills and features. It’s amazing how much time you can save!

Do you have any other tips for organizing with Alexa? I’d love to hear!

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