It's time to break all of your bad habits.
With the help of mobile apps, you can find a plethora of motivational ways to stop smoking cigarettes, quit biting your nails and shape up your exercise regimen.
Here are eight habits you can break with the help of your smartphone.
1. Smoking cigarettes
This addiction is tough to beat. If you're just not into the pills, patches and gums geared toward curbing the need for nicotine, there are plenty of apps out there to aid you throughout your journey.
Quit It: This free iOS app helps you break the habit by giving you astonishing stats. It tells you how much money you're saving by not buying packs, how much tar you're not consuming and how many cigs you've managed to not smoke.
Mashable intern Brian Koerber wrote about his first-person experience using the app to kick his long-suffering smoking habit.
Kwit: Free for iOS and Android, Kwit aims to gamify the quitting process, creating levels and ranks for your journey to becoming the "Ultimate Kwitter." It also hosts a series of motivational cards, which you can draw up any time you need an extra ounce of inspiration.
2. Biting your nails
Can't stop biting your nails? Try hypnosis. The $5.99 iOS app Stop Nail Biting comes with recorded hypnosis audio, so you can try kicking the habit in your sleep.
There's also a photo diary, which encourages users to post photos of their progress, and the app gives them visual reminders of their success along the way.
3. Eating junk food
Drop the fries. Constantly eating junk food is an addiction in its own way, but there are a wild number of apps dedicated to healthy eating.
Fooducate: Free for iOS and Android, this app educates users on all the dirty details of what they're really about to eat. Next time you pick up a Twinkie, scan its barcode on the app to figure out more than just its nutritional facts. Fooducate aims to be a full-on health partner, engaging its users and grading food based on its nutritional value.
Eat This, Not That: This $4.99 iOS and Android app will help sway you from eating junk food every time. When you feel like having cheesecake, plug it into the app and it'll suggest a healthier alternative. It also has a restaurant guide, so if you're at a dining location in the app's catalogue, it can tell you what the healthiest meal will be. You'll effectively make better choices and learn to swap greasy grub for hale treats.
4. Being messy and disorganised
Decluttering your room is easier to deal with once you have a few apps on your side.
Unf*ck Your Habitat: This expletive-laden app, $1.99 for iOS and Android, is designed to give users some tough love. It takes an all-caps approach to cleaning, shooting you reminders and giving you timed challenges for tasks.
House Clean: Free for Android, House clean is a mega to-do list that keeps you organized and reminds you of the tasks you need to accomplish.
5. Procrastinating
We're all a little guilty of putting things off until the last possible second because we're scared/busy/tired/bad at managing our time.
- Yelling Mom: Who better to get you to finish your tasks than your mother? This $0.99 iOS app makes you plug tasks into a massive, categorized to-do list, where you can set reminders and deadlines for every little thing you need to accomplish.
- Procraster: This $2.99 iOS app first aims to understand your task, then analyze the best way to attack it. In order to prioritize items, the app offers selections such as "My task is too big," "I have to be perfect" and "I don't know where to start." From there, it organizes your tasks and uses statistics, charts and logarithms to show your progress.
6. Not exercising
You know that you should exercise every day, but it's just so easy to head to the couch instead of the gym...
Nexercise: Free for iOS and Android, this app gamifies workouts and turns exercise into a social challenge you can share with friends. Once you log workouts in the app, you can earn real rewards, including Best Buy gift cards and coupons for fitness-related items, such as energy bars.
Endomondo: This free app (for multiple operating systems) is like its own social network, dedicated to creating a community of people motivating each other and sharing their exercise habits.
It logs each workout, showing you stats such as your heart rate and how many calories you burned. If you're putting off workouts, write an exercise goal in the app, and it'll motivate you with a built-in audio coach. You can also send and receive audio pep talks from friends who also have the app, so you'll never run short of positive reinforcement.
7. Improper dental care
Sometimes you forget to floss or to replace your toothbrush every three months. Brush DJ, a free iOS and Android app, is your new pocket dentist. It times you while you brush, reminds you when to get a new toothbrush, keeps you on track with dentist appointments and more.
8. Overspending
Managing your budget can seem overwhelming for those who are freewheeling with their cash. However, it's a necessity for responsible living.
Level Money: Free for iOS and Android, Level works like a visual wallet, linking to your bank accounts and tracking your spending.
You allocate how much you want to save, set aside and spend, and Level does the rest. It shows you your progress on saving with a simple pie chart that illustrates you how much money you've spent in a day, next to how much you've allocated for the rest of the week and the rest of the month.
Mint: This money management tool (free for iOS and Android) has been a budget frontrunner since it came out. Users sync their bank info with the app and set spending plans.
It automatically logs your purchases and spending habits. You can also set financial goals in the app, and it'll help keep you in track. The idea is to put all your monetary information in one place, giving you easy access to the full picture of your finances.
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