Only within the last year have I been able to pay for the premium offer of the apps I use, even if I thought it would solve all my problems. I’m now in a financial position to not only upgrade subscriptions to apps I enjoy, but also to support the teams working on them.

This month, I’ve upgraded 3 subscriptions: Rize, Routine and Raindrop (alliteration was not planned..)

1. Rize

Here* is an affiliate link if you’re interested! You’ll get 25% discount off your first three months with code PKMBETH

I saw this on Ali Abdaal’s channel first. It’s an app that tracks how your spend your time on your computer. The free trial is really good and convinced me pretty quickly that I would pay for the premium version when I could. I decided to subscribe this month.

Its tagline is ‘Maximise your productivty’ and that is absolutely not my aim using Rize. It serves two purposes for me:

1. It tells me how I’m spending my time

2. It tells me to take breaks

Both of these are important to me because time really can run away from me as I research and learn. I also flit between tasks due to lack of focus so this is an interesting personal development tool! Plus, I love how I can look back and see what I was doing over time.

2. Routine*

I have written about my love for this app before. It’s my task and calendar manager of choice.

Believers have access to new features, but this one is more about supporting the team. Feel super lucky to be able to do this.

3. Raindrop

Again, I have written about my love for this app. I use it nearly every time I’m on my phone and it works perfectly.

They sent out a marketing email today saying that Pro users have forever copies of bookmarks and a stronger search, and I decided then to upgrade to the incredibly low cost Pro subscription for only £26.

I like all the apps in my system to meet various needs (otherwise why have them?) and these two features will help me reduce friction (stronger search) and also help build out ‘the essence’ of my life at a given point (forever bookmarks).

I can forever look back at what I’ve saved, or search for something I’m sure I’ve seen previously, which I just think is so useful and fun!

There we go! What apps do you pay for? :)

Links marked * are affiliate links.