questions about backing up apps on a mac

my wife and i recently installed the desktop manager for mac, however, i am not sure how to back up the third party apps, and the infor from the media card. i returned one tour and when i restored the data from my original phone i still had to reinstall several of the application. is there any way to see what apps im saving and pick and choose which ones to reinstall. this would also be helpful as i would like to take some apps off to free up memory, but may want to put them on later..
all help is appreciated