As if moms today aren’t busy enough raising kids, working full-time jobs, taking care of the household, and committing to countless other obligations, we are often responsible for managing family finances. If you’re anything like me, you make it a personal mission to provide everything your loving family needs while spending the absolute minimum.
You probably cut corners by not treating yourself to clothing and accessories, buying secondhand items, and never even touching an item that isn’t boasting a sale tag. There are so many ways to save money today, but it often requires a lot of time and motivation–luxuries we aren’t often afforded. Thankfully, there are several new apps for the iPhone that will make saving money fun, easy, and quite possibly addictive.
Bill Tracker
This app lets you input all of your monthly bills to help keep track of outgoing funds. It will remind you of upcoming due dates, and you can easily keep track of all your bills in one convenient place. You never have an excuse for late payments again, and you will save so much by eliminating late fees.
Mint.com Personal Finance
Manage all aspects of your financial life with Mint.com’s app. Get easy access to all of your checking, savings, or credit card accounts. This app will even categorize your transactions, and create a personal budget for you, based on your spending habits. It does require a PIN, so users don’t have to worry about financial confidentiality.
Save Benjis
This app is a bargain shopper’s dream, saving you time as well as money. With its built-in bar scanner technology, it will scan any item you are looking at in the store, and then give you all available internet prices for the same item. If you find a better bargain, you can purchase the item right from your phone, and rest assured that you got the best possible deal around.
Yard Sale Mapper
Forget sifting through the weekly paper with your highlighter, marking all upcoming yard sales, and then carefully mapping your routes on that worn, city map you got when you moved in. This app gleans information from Craigslist.org and YardSaleTreasureMap.com to highlight all of the best sales in your designated area.
Gas Buddy
Count the number of times you’ve filled up your tank with gas, and then cursed as you drove around the corner to find gas three cents cheaper. The Gas Buddy app will have you tallying up the savings because it uses GPS technology to find the cheapest gas in your current location. It will also provide a map to get you there quickly and easily.
Rue La La
When you want to splurge on clothing and accessories for yourself without the guilt, Rue La La saves the day by giving you access to all the latest sales, deals, and steals. It will even notify you of upcoming sales events, so you can be sure to get the best price on that item you’ve had your eye on for months.
My Supermarket
Spend less on necessary grocery items by using the My Supermarket app. The app turns your phone into a bar scanner and will give you a list of prices on the same item in different locations. You can also use the app in conjunction with Tesco Price Checker. If you find an item cheaper than what the app found, Tesco offers a refund in the amount double the difference in prices.
Jessica Bosari manages the money-saving site, Billeater.com, where you can find answers to your questions about free money for bills, saving money on home phone bills, getting discount theater tickets, and more.
Leave a Reply