Earlier this year a tax pro mentioned the FileThis organizing app to me. Within seconds of installing it, I wondered, "Where has this been all my life?"

I have tried an absurd number of software programs that promised to simplify, streamline and de-clutter our family's financial life. Most fell short, offering too little benefit, steep learning curves or both. A few insanely useful ones, though, made it to the mobile Hall of Fame, otherwise known as my home screen.

If you are trying to get a grip on your money, you may find these to be helpful:

1. FileThis (http://filethis.com/)

The app does what I frequently forget to do since going paperless several years ago - download account statements.

It also gives you an overview of your accounts and gives you bill due-date reminders.

I use FileThis' free version to automatically fetch statements from up to six "connections" or links to financial institutions.

I have multiple accounts at each institution, so I am able to track far more than just six accounts. The free version offers 500 megabytes of cloud storage.

To get more connections and storage, you can pay $2 a month for up to 12 connections and 1 gigabyte of storage or $5 for up to 30 connections and 10 gigabytes of storage. Users also can opt to have documents downloaded to a number of other storage sites, including Dropbox and Evernote, or to their computers.

2. ItsDeductible (https://turbotax.intuit.com/personal-taxes/itsdeductible/)

We donate a ton of clothes, toys, books and household goods to local charities, but I always put off attaching values to the donations until our taxes were due and it became a big, unpleasant chore.

The free ItsDeductible app from Intuit Inc allows me to record contributions as we make them and offers values for common items. I print out an annual report for our tax pro, although TurboTax users can download the information directly into their returns.

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