Recommendations for free job-search tools after 12 years as a procurement assistant

I am tracking my applications in a notebook and want something better. I am in Raleigh, in case local advice matters. I want reminders to follow up. Are there tools to avoid?

A simple spreadsheet with company, date, contact and next step was all I needed.

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 14 months ago, and it settled down once I kept a simple log of every call and form.