Smartphones and tablets are essential tools for the holidays to help simplify and organize your life during this busy season. You can use these apps to find tips for holiday greetings, cooking, managing to-do lists and holiday gift ideas. U.S. Cellular is putting the "app" into Happy Holidays, and recommends a variety of helpful apps for the holiday season:

Send holiday cardsDoes the prospect of licking hundreds of envelopes and postage stamps make you feel like the Grinch? Then use JustWink to send festive, personalized cards via email, text or social media, streamlining your holiday greetings and ending the drudgery of stuffing and mailing holiday cards.

Save moneyDo you have a lot to buy but you're on a tight budget? The Coupons App lets you save money wherever you shop. Get real-time deals for your favorite stores, restaurants, gas stations and more right at your fingertips.

Update your calendarWith so much going on, it can be daunting to try and manage everyone's schedules. The free U.S. Cellular Family Organizer app helps manage shopping and to-do lists, as well as coordinate and share family calendars. Family members who have the Samsung Galaxy S III can share photos, calendars, documents and even video by simply touching Samsung Galaxy S III phones together.

Become a better cookTap into your inner Julia Child with ChefTap, an app that automatically imports recipes from any website or blog. Whether you're cooking a holiday ham or looking for recipes for a cookie swap, you'll easily find what you need at this one-stop-shop.

Online shop till you dropGoogle Shopper lets you find information, pricing and reviews on millions of products, searching by cover art, barcode or even by voice and text. You can easily save items to your shopping "wish list" in case anyone asks what you want for the holidays this year!

Matt Kaspar is the Director of Sales for U.S. Cellular in New England.