Apps That Help You Save Money
On food, clothes, beauty products, and everything else.
I’m not a huge fan of having a hundred different apps on my devices, but there are a few that I’m willing to make an exception for, especially if they help me save money on a regular basis. As a couple of these apps save money on takeaways and online shopping, they’ve been particularly useful recently. I’ve been staying home a lot lately, firstly because my government ordered me to, and now because I don’t want to play Coronavirus roulette too often. These apps are helping me save money from the comfort of my own sofa.
Too Good To Go
Too Good To Go is basically a company that is trying to eliminate food waste. The app connects users with restaurants, takeaways and other food outlets that have surplus food, that they’d otherwise throw out, so that it can be enjoyed, at a heavy discount, instead of wasted. You get a delicious meal for next to nothing. Food businesses get to cut their food waste, reach new customers, and make a little cash back on food they wouldn’t have used. And the planet benefits from less wasted food.
The app let’s you know about bargain food deals near you. As you’d expect, you’re most likely to get the best deals late in the day, just before closing, as things start to quiet down, and businesses realise no-one is going to turn up and order the food they have ready to go. If you like to eat late, and get high-quality food for next to nothing, this is the app for you.
Honey
I’ve talked before about Honey. It’s one of the ways I save money when I travel (or I did, back in the pre-pandemic days when I was travelling regularly). It also helps you save money almost every time you shop online, whether you’re buying clothes, food, books, beauty products, insurance, subscriptions, pet care products, or almost anything else. The app automatically searches for (and applies) coupon codes as you check out, to ensure you have the best possible deal.
This even works on sites where everything is already discounted, like Groupon, or where you’re buying from third parties, like Ebay. If Honey can’t find you a deal, you may still get a ‘Honey Gold’ reward. This is in the form of points that will be credited to your Honey account, which can later be exchanged for gift cards to use at Amazon and other stores. You’ll also get Honey Gold points when you refer a new user (and yes, full disclosure, this link is my referral link). Simply install Honey on your phone, laptop or other devices and it will do the work for you, automatically searching for discount codes and applying them as you check out. You can join Honey here.
Mint
OK, so Mint doesn’t help you save money in quite the same way as TGTG and Honey do, but it helps you organise your money, develop a budget, stay on top of your bills and allocate money to your savings accounts. Plus, it will literally save you money if, like most of us, you occasionally incur late fees because you don’t pay your bills on time through sheer carelessness. Mint will alert you to upcoming bill payments and, if you’ve also used the budgeting and savings functions, you should have enough money allocated to pay them.
The app can also monitor your credit score for you, and help you understand how to improve it, clearly explaining which factors influence your score, and how they work to enhance, or damage, your credit report over time.
Like I say, I’m not a fan of having a ton of unused apps on my devices, but these apps are ones I use almost daily, so I’ve found them well worth the small amount of bandwidth they take up.