Parenting a child certainly throws any ideas about routine out of the window.

For example, the morning actress Penny McNamee came into chat on the I Don’t Know How She Does It podcast, her two year old son Jack had dropped a little stone from her in laws’ balcony which hit their glass pool fence, causing it to completely shatter.

Bliss.

Only a few more scenes to film today, then it’s holiday time with these two ragamuffins! ????????☃️

A post shared by Penny McNamee (@penny.mcnamee) on Jul 6, 2017 at 7:51pm PDT

But the Home and Away star has a little secret that keeps her life as a working parent together – a handy app called Wunderlist.

“I’m so not the spokesperson for it but I should be. My older sister put me onto it and it’s an app of lists,” she told the podcast.

Listen: The app that changed Penny McNamee’s life. Post continues after audio.

“I feel like working mothers just make lists all day long and this one, you can invite other people to join your list, so we’ve got a grocery list and my husband, our nanny and I are on it so any time something runs out, it goes straight on the app and means on Sunday when we go to do the groceries, everything is there and we don’t have to figure out what we don’t have.

“Or if you happen to be at the shops, you haven’t forgotten the grocery list, it’s all there in your phone!”

Free to create an account, you can set reminders or deadlines for your lists and share them with others.

But it has plenty of other uses too.

He gets his love of chocolate from his Mum and his cheeky grin from his Dad. ????✨????#eastermorning #5amwakeup

A post shared by Penny McNamee (@penny.mcnamee) on Apr 15, 2017 at 8:18pm PDT

McNamee says her nanny logs the hours she works on the ‘hours list’ so at the end of the week, it’s all there and she can just tap into the app and pay her. Easy.

The 34 year old also has another essential use for the app – storing her life lessons.

As host Alyssa Warren found out when she asked her to read some aloud, they’re, er, simple things that we all need reminding about.

“‘If getting in a cab, insist on a route’. How many times do they take you on a weird route?,” McNamee read out.

Perhaps the most brilliant one?

Listen: Penny McNamee and the Working Mums of Home and Away. Post continues after audio.

“‘Don’t suggest catch ups with a friend on the spot. Think about it first and then text – you will always regret it’. You get back and go ‘What was I thinking? I have a billion things to do tomorrow afternoon’.” she said.

“I haven’t seen my husband in five days – I need to catch up with him before I catch up with you, haven’t seen you in 12 years, went to school with you and don’t need to catch up with you. It sounds harsh but you need to prioritise.”

However while many of the household lists are shared, the “life lessons” one McNamee has learned is best kept to herself.

“Matt [her husband] could access it for a while and I would add stuff and it would ping on his phone and I’d get this smart ass text about it, so I deleted him from it.”

What’s the app that keeps your life together?