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February 22, 2019 · Leave a Comment

Five Money Saving Apps You Need

This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience.
Click here to read my disclosure policy.

Budget· Budget Tips· Frugal Living· Saving· Ways We Save

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I am forever looking for ways to save money, but also can’t be bothered by complicated and time consuming hoops that I need to jump through in order to save a quarter or two.  Over the years, money saving apps have been installed, and deleted from my phone, but there are a few that I keep coming back to week in and week out.

Five Money Saving Apps You Need To Use Today

Before I get to my app recommendations, remember that none of these apps will make you lots of money right off the bat.  These are more “long haul” savings apps.  That said, I still love these apps, and use most of them every week.  Here are my top five favorite apps for saving money that you need to start using today.

Cartwheel

I’ve mentioned it before…. If I were Superman, Target would be my kryptonite.  I love Target.  It’s my weakness, and it takes massive amounts of willpower for me to go in there with a list and a budget, and be able to stick to it!!  Lately I’ve been doing excellent, but that wasn’t always the case.

One way I’m able to stick to my budget in Target is through their cartwheel program.  I’ve been using the program since it was on beta testing way back in 2013, and it’s saved us over $500 through the years.  And I’m not entirely diligent on using it {simply because 3 out of 5 times I forget to charge my phone before going in}.

If you haven’t tried Cartwheel yet, you should.  You use your phone and scan the barcode of the items you’re buying.  The app will tell you if there is a coupon or a percentage discount on the items.  The savings it gives on items varies from 5% to 30%, with most of the Up&Up brands have 5% discounts.

The best part is that cartwheel discounts can be used with sales prices, manufacturer coupons, gift card offers, as well as the red card discount.  {We have had a Red Debit Card for nearly 12 years, and the amount of savings in that amount of time is remarkable as well.  As long as you stick to your budget, the savings does add up over time.}

Shopkick

Shopkick* is a neat app that gives you points {kicks} towards gift cards, and the most minimal part you have to do is walk into the store.  Seriously!  When I go out for groceries each week, I make sure I open up Shopkick because I get kicks simply for walking in certain stores, like Target, Walmart, Best Buy, and so on.

If I’m at Target and I’m waiting on a prescription, I’ll see what kicks I can earn simply by scanning the barcodes of specific products.  I’m already there, I’m already waiting… might as well make the time I’m waiting worth something!

ShopKick also gives kicks on items you may have purchased simply by scanning your receipt, and scanning the barcode of the item.  You can also get kicks for shopping online at specific retailers.

If you sign up through my referral code*, you instantly get 250 kicks on your first walk-in, within 7 days of signing up.  {I will also get 250 kicks for referring you… win-win!}

Reciept Hog

Receipt hog has got to be my favorite savings app, hands down.  It’s a wonderful way to earn up coins to exchange for Amazon gift cards*, Visa Prepaid Cards, or even Paypal Payment, and there is no need to purchase specific items.  All you have to do is snap a photo of your receipts of purchases in the app.  How many coins you receive depends on the store on the receipt, and how much total amount on the receipt is for.

There are a few downsides though.  One is that the receipt can’t be more than two weeks old, and you can have no more than three receipts from the same store on the same day.  So when I am at Target doing our weekly shopping,  and I divide up my purchase into five transactions, Grocery, Household, Pet, Prescriptions and Clothing, to match my cash envelopes, I can only get credit for three of those transactions.  In this instance, I use the receipts that had the higher amounts simply because I can earn more coins.

Another is that you cannot submit multiple receipts from the same store on the same day.  So back to my earlier example, I cannot scan all the Target receipts on the same day.  It will get finicky and tell me that they are duplicates of the same receipt, when in fact they are not.

Ibotta

Ibotta* is very similar to Receipt Hog; you scan your receipt into the app, but Ibotta is looking for specific purchases on your receipts, or when you are shopping on certain websites.  I don’t like it when apps want me to purchase specific items, but Ibotta also has “any item” categories.  So when I buy any fruit, or any milk, Ibotta will give me some cash back on those purchases.  It’s my favorite way to get cash rewards and I use Ibotta every time I shop.  If you sign up through my referral link*, you’ll instantly get a $10 sign on bonus.  {I do get a $5 bonus for referring you.}

Saving Star

Saving Star app is more of a digital coupon app rather than an app that helps you save in the long run by adding up points using virtual coupons and your store savings cards.

First you’ll want to download the app, and link your store cards.  Then look through the various coupons available on the app and “clip” ones you’ll use.  These coupons are now linked to your store cards.

When you are at the store and purchasing items that you’ve clipped coupons on, there is no need to remember to pull out your phone and scan the app like with Cartwheel.  All you do is scan your store card.  Once SavingStar has confirmed you purchase those items, you’ll get the coupon amount credited to your account.

I’m going to be real here.  This used to be a one of my favorite apps.  I let the total accumulate until I had enough to cash out on an Amazon gift card*.  But they don’t issue Amazon gift cards anymore.  The options they have available now, I won’t use, and I’ve since discontinued my use of this app.

Does that mean that you won’t get use out of it?  Absolutely not!  I have plenty of friends that swear by this app, and continue to use it to this day!

 

What are your favorite money saving apps?  Let me know in the comments below!

Five Money Saving Apps You Need To Use Today

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makingcentsmatter

makingcentsmatter
Only you can determine what your financial goals a Only you can determine what your financial goals are. If that means you're adding money to your savings account, or contributing to your retirement, while you are paying off debt, then so be it!⁠
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The trick to meal planning is to make it predictab The trick to meal planning is to make it predictable. But predictable doesn't mean the same thing week to week. You could have a chicken meal, a soup meal, a pasta meal, a leftovers meal, a family favorite meal, and so on.⁠
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I can only hear about my extended warranty I never I can only hear about my extended warranty I never purchased so many times. 😣⁠
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March Debt Paid numbers are in!⁠ .⁠ House: $51 March Debt Paid numbers are in!⁠
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House: $511.13⁠
Citi: $0 – this has a residual $3 in interest charges since payoff, due in April⁠
D NelNet: $100⁠
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K Chase: $600⁠
Explorer: $336.27⁠
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Total Paid in 2021: $8,258.84⁠
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Extra Payment: There isn’t one this month since we were $25 away from zeroing out the budget for our February 15th monthly paycheck. That $25, and monies left from our January 15th paycheck, covered our OOP costs for Hubs’ filling. We also have some savings goals coming up that need to be met, making our debt payments a little lower for the time begin.⁠
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The battle for who can charge what tonight is abou The battle for who can charge what tonight is about to begin. 😬⁠
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My kids run off with my charger, plug it into one outlet 5 feet from where they found it like that particular outlet is the only one in this house, and then proceed to fight over who can charge their device first at night.⁠
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A needs his wisdom teeth taken out. I've talked a A needs his wisdom teeth taken out. I've talked a bit in our February Budget Check-In about how much of this I think we'll owe, and you can check that out on my YouTube channel if you're interested, but I wanted to say here...⁠
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It was a lot of money for us at the time. Our kids were 6, 2, and 3 months old. I don't think we even had $500 in savings, and I just left a part-time teaching job because it wasn't paying the part-time daycare bill, so paying our portion in full was just a dream I didn't think was achievable.⁠
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I was even stressing about the monthly $100 payments. We were so strapped. It was our breaking moment to start cutting costs and budgeting more effectively. We've learned a lot in that time period.⁠
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What we've learned is that it does no good to stress about it all the time. Life happens. All you can do is try to plan ahead, and if it's something that's unplanned, readjust. It won't always be easy, especially at first, but it will be worth it.⁠
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Nearly 10 years later, we are still paying off our debts. Student loans suck. But I see this bill as a reminder of how far we have come. Seeing a bill like this doesn't stress me out like it used to, and I know we can easily create a plan that can get it done and out of the way.⁠
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Will it delay our debt-free date more? Yes. But it's not worth stressing over. Life happens, readjust, and continue on down the path. It's called a journey for a reason.⁠
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It's almost payday! Here's how our variable budget It's almost payday! Here's how our variable budgeting categories are working out for the pay month.⁠
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Food is looking good this far into our paycheck, probably because miscellaneous - which includes eating out - took a hit with unexpected purchases. Pet is low for this time of the month, and Household is spot on.⁠
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Fuel looks like it'll be lower than last month (yay for weeks of snow days & delayed school starts), and Therapy had one more appointment than initially planned.⁠
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How's your paycheck budget coming along?⁠
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Automating your finances makes saving money and bu Automating your finances makes saving money and budgeting more convenient, and therefore easier on you. Out of sight, out of mind, right?⁠
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What's one thing you can automate this week to make your finances easier?⁠
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Me? I'm going to set up our sinking fund transfers to automate every payday (the 15th of every month). Our bank set up a feature on their app where we can schedule savings transfers now, and I'm going to take advantage of it!⁠
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Oh my word... our miscellaneous category has gone Oh my word... our miscellaneous category has gone a smidgen overboard this month!⁠
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I foresee a goal for March's paycheck to at out less than twice. That's where this category went awry. $99.16 of it went to eating out. 😑 Some of it was avoidable, but not all of it. Having to drive to multiple appointments in one day during snow squalls and rearranging our whole day was one of those unavoidable instances.⁠
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Tracking our expenses - much like a budget review - is vital to sticking to your budget!⁠
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