A MONEY Magazine article recently released the top 6 apps that can save you money when shopping. It just makes sense to use any tool available to help save money these days, and with nearly everyone walking around with a smart phone you can have that tool right in your pocket.
Let’s take a look at a few of the apps MONEY Magazine says will help you get the best price for nearly every item you could think of to buy.
RedLaser — RedLaser is a free shopping app for iPhone, Windows Phones, and Android. Per the RedLaser website, this free app has been downloaded over 24 million times.
The RedLaser experience starts in the parking lot. You can browse “deals” in the application to see if there are any discounts for the store you are going to. If there is a coupon, you just show it to the cashier at checkout and they can scan the coupon right from the screen of your phone. The “deals” show in-store and online discounts, RedLaser suggests you ask the store if they will honor the online-only discount while you are in the store, often times they will agree.
The most important action happens when you start using RedLaser in the store. When you scan a product in a store, the app shows you all the information which might make you choose that particular product. It includes every discount and the up-to-date price and your total savings. This lets you quickly make sure you’re getting the store’s fully discounted price. The app also shows warranty information — many cheaper items online, particularly for electronics, are “gray market” and don’t include full manufacturer warranties, and it also shows other items that pair really well with the product you’re looking at. If you are researching a camera, for example, it will show you the perfect memory card, spare battery, and bag for the camera — and all those items would be available in that store.
The RedLaser app will also show you all of the local prices at different retailers in the area, let you make your purchase from your phone and have it ready for pickup at your local store. You can even scan a food at the grocery store and the RedLaser app will let you know about any allergens that particular food might contain.
RedLaser is an app that is definitely worth having on your smart phone.
Coupon Sherpa — The free Coupon Sherpa mobile app brings hundreds of in-store coupons to your purse or pocket. With the Coupon Sherpa app you can search for coupons on their website or directly from your smart phone and save money at checkout. We like the idea of saving money!
This app could not get any simpler; find the coupon you want and have it scanned directly from your phone at checkout. No more printing coupons and you can set up favorite stores so the app will only show you coupons that you can use at that store. The app even has a gps function to locate the nearest store to your location.
Another money saving app that’s worth having, and it’s free!
Key Ring — If you live by rewards cards, then you are going to like the simplicity of this app. Key Ring stores all of your rewards information and lets you scan your phone in the store instead of carrying around those plastic cards buried in your wallet or purse or on your key ring. Even if you don’t do the shopping or you’re not into reward cards, you can still put your gym membership card on there for easy scanning.
Key Ring even offers its own Rx Savings Program with savings of 10% to 75% off all FDA approved drugs, no enrollment requirements, your whole family can use the same card, it even covers prescription drugs not covered by insurance and it’s free!
I know not everyone has a smart phone, I don’t have one, my cell phone makes phone calls (not all that well either) and that’s it, but if you are considering upgrading your phone, or changing carriers (in order to save money I hope) then consider one of these new-fangled smart phones. It looks like they can be used for something other than texting while driving… eating, reading, walking.
