How Money-Saving Apps Can Help Pay for Your Smartphone
Smartphones are more popular than ever before and this isn't going to change any time soon. Once you add the cost of the latest phone together with the monthly charges for your phone and internet services, most smartphones will set you back around £30 / $45 per month, based on a two year contract. If you're contemplating taking the plunge, or have a smartphone already but having a hard time paying for it, put that smartphone to work and think smart. By downloading apps that help you save money on the things you need to buy anyway, along with reducing your monthly call charges, your smartphone can literally pay for itself! Here are some of the best money-saving apps and tips.
Money-Saving Apps For Food
Grocery IQ
We all know that impulse buys waste a lot of money, so wouldn't it be nice if you could print out a concise shopping list to help you stay on task? Sit down with your weekly shopping list and fire up the Grocery IQ app. As you enter each item, it will tell you the current price at your local market, then search for any related discounts or coupons on it. If you're not picky about the brand, you can check which brands are in stock and compare prices. Once you've chosen what you want to buy, the app will group your items by aisle so you'll be in and out of the store in a snap. You can even email the list to yourself to print it out, along with any coupons it found for your items.
RedLaser
If someone in your family has food allergies or you're trying to lose weight, this app will become indispensable to you. When you scan the barcode of an item you're considering purchasing, it will not only look for a better price in other stores, but also provide essential nutritional information, including a list of food allergens you need to avoid. Staying healthy will definitely save you money in the long run!
Money-Saving Apps For Shopping
KeyRing Rewards Cards
You've probably signed up for loyalty reward cards from many of your favourite merchants, but the cards are taking over your wallet, or are easily misplaced. Wouldn't it be nice to store them all in your smartphone? This app keeps track of all of them for you, and will also alert you when special offers become available from each store.
ShopSavvy
This app is very powerful because it enables you to scan the barcode of an item you're planning to purchase, and then it will tell you which local store or online merchant is currently offering it for the lowest price. Imagine how much you can save with just this app alone!
Basket Savings
This amazing app is similar to ShopSavvy, because it will help you find the lowest price for any item you're about to purchase. But Basket Savings takes things to the next level with over 800 million products and sale prices from over 100k different stores.
Avoid Calling Premium Rate Numbers
SmartCaller
Did you know that calling a premium rate 0845 / 0870 phone number can cost you up to 45p per minute and are not included in your free minute's allowance? Use a service like Smart Caller to search for Freephone numbers for the company you want to call. This can save you a huge amount on your monthly phone bill. The best phone number prefixes to call are freephone 0800 or 0808 numbers or any of the increasingly popular "03" range including 0300, 0333 and 0345 numbers.
Please Press 1
When you call shops and businesses you often find yourself spending several minutes navigating the phone menu system. Did you know you don't need to all the menu options before pressing the option you want? Using Please Press 1 you can Find phone numbers and menus for thousands of phone numbers and view the menu options you need. Once you know these you can call the company and as each menu starts press ahead. This means you're spending less time on the call and ultimately pay less on your phone bill.
