It’s that time of year again, when stepping out the door feels like you are stepping into an enormous freezer. When you finally reach another heated building, your boots leave a puddle of melted snow and dirt all over the floor. Gross.
If you’re wishing you could spend the next eight weeks indoors, good news! There’s an app for that. Here are some ways your computer or your phone allow you to deal with winter without having to venture outside.
Avoid trekking through Evanston to fulfill your shopping needs. Free two-day shipping on a collection of items is just one of the perks an Amazon Student membership entails. Also included: unlimited online photo storage space and access to exclusive deals! Currently, Amazon is offering a free six-month trial to students. Should you find that six months is just not enough, you can upgrade to an Amazon Prime membership at the end of your trial for half of the original cost.
Instacart
Winter grocery shopping is a mess. Either you are trudging back and forth in the nasty slush, or painstakingly directing your car through icy roads to try and find a parking spot. The creators of Instacart know the struggle, and they can help. By connecting your delivery request with a Personal Shopper, the app gets groceries delivered to your door for $3.99. How soon can you get it? Delivery times average about two hours, but you can rush it if you are in a hurry.
In the same vein as Instacart, Postmates delivers goods right to your door, but they don’t just limit you to groceries. A fun-loving Postmates representative will also deliver restaurant take-out, retail items and prescriptions to your door depending on your needs. Delivery charges start at $5.
Available on Android for $3.10 and iOS for $7.99, this app suggests healthy dinner ideas and helps you plan for your grocery budget. Get in and out of the grocery store in minutes (or spend even less time making a list for Instacart and/or Postmates) and find some great seasonal dish ideas along the way. It’s a perfect way to plan and cook quick, healthy meals without all the extra work.
SPAC yoga classes really increase your flexibility, but motivating yourself to walk all the way to North Campus for a session may be too much of a stretch. Fortunately, Pocket Yoga provides full classes as well as a dictionary of poses you can practice whenever. Since the app doesn’t require a network connection, you can also take your yoga anywhere. Pocket Yoga is $2.99 on Android and iPhone.
If you don’t already have Netflix, winter is a perfect time to get a membership. Instead of going out in Friday night’s treacherous blizzard, bundle yourself in a blanket and enjoy some Scandal or the classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. For about $8 a month you can get all the shows you could ever watch. Warning: this app will probably take all of your free time.
Sure, there still isn’t an app for staying out of class. While it seems ridiculous to venture out into bitter winds and blowing snow, class seems to be a necessary evil. However, with the help of these and other apps, class may become the only reason you will ever have to leave the comfort of your room or apartment.