The old business adage goes ‘you have to spend money to make money’. By the same token, as a saavy consumer, sometimes you need to spend money to save money.
Here’s a look at 5 great apps you should invest in if you need help sticking to a budget.
1. Vouchercloud
The Vouchercloud app offers money saving vouchers to its members that they can use on the go for a variety of deals. The focus is on finding deals local to wherever you happen to be at any given time.
The app uses GPS technology to fix your location and provide a variety of vouchers for local businesses. These include restaurants, clothes stores, hairdressers and beauty stores, and are often in the form of a percentage saving on a specific product or a two for one deal.
Where Vouchercloud excels is in its simplicity: to redeem your offer all you have to do is press a button on screen and show your phone in the store. They then apply the offer without the need for a printed voucher.
2. mySupermarket Mobile
With the rising cost of everyday food and household products, this app is invaluable when it comes to getting the best deal on your weekly shop.
The major supermarkets are competing for the lowest prices like never before, and mySupermarket takes advantage of this by allowing you to compare the prices of thousands of products right there in the aisle.
Simply scan the barcode and the app provides the price across the board of the major stores, as well as highlighting any special promotions currently on each product. The app also offers cheaper alternatives within the store to give you smart choices at your fingertips.
3 Fuel School
Fuel School is an intelligent app that is designed to change your driving habits and save you money in the long term.
Using GPS signal, the app monitors how you drive during your journeys and makes real time suggestion to alter your driving style and save fuel. Data is gathered in the form of charts in order to analyse how you drive and to improve on your fuel consumption.
This is not a short term money saver, but if used correctly it will substantially lower your fuel costs.
4. Meter readings
Meter Readings is a great way of keeping an eye on your utility bills and how much your energy use is costing you on a regular basis. By inputting your meter readings along with the cost of your bills, the app calculates how much your energy is costing. In so doing, it compares the price with other users whose readings are similar who may be with other providers to see if switching to another company could save you money. With the rising costs of energy bills across the major companies, this is another app geared towards saving you money long term.
5. Petrol Prices Pro
A good partner to the Fuel School app, this uses GPS to pinpoint your location and find the cheapest petrol prices local to you. Especially helpful in areas you are not familiar with, this app can help you save money by trimming pennies from the cost per litre of petrol or diesel.
While it may not seem much of a saving immediately, used over the course of a year this app has the potential to save you over £100.
Author Bio: Will Show writes about a number of topics related to keeping on top of one’s finances, from getting a handle on borrowing to making sound investments. You can read more of his work on http://www.elitemoney.co.uk/.
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