My favorite money-saving apps
Gone are the days where you could only save money when you used paper coupons. Yes, paper coupons are still very much alive and well, but these days, there are a ton more ways that you can save money. Not just on groceries, but on other purchases as well!
Thanks to the increase in mobile device usage, there are a ton of money-saving apps available – allowing you to save way more money than just with coupons alone. Here are some of my favorites:
Checkout 51
This was one of the first rebate apps that came to Canada. In fact, we were the very first site to post about it!
How it works: Checkout 51 is a cash-back rebate app. You must purchase the items on the list (updated every week), take a photo of your receipt and submit it, then earn cashback!
This is one of my favorite apps because Checkout 51 always updates with a ton of offers each week, and many of those offers are for things I would be purchasing anyway. So why not save some money on them?
Flipp
Since so many stores allow digital price matching now (meaning, you no longer have to bring in a paper flyer to price match), the Flipp app saves me a ton of money and time!
How it works: When you download the app, you can scroll through the current flyers available. Select the one you want, then flip through the pages on your phone and show your cashier the item to be price matched. Easy peasy!
Flipp has a ton of Canadian flyers available on their app, so you can price match pretty much any store you can think of!
Snap! by Groupon
This is another one of my favourite cash-back rebate apps. It used to be called SnapSaves, but it was so awesome that Groupon decided to buy them and now they are called Snap! by Groupon. Not as easy to say, but still offering the same great discounts.
How it works: Each week you will find an updated list of offers (as well as a few new offers throughout the week). When you purchase these items, take a picture of your receipt and submit it, and then you will receive your cashback. It’s that easy!
Snap! by Groupon has a ton of different items listed each week, including things like fresh fruit & vegetables, as well as milk, meat, and other items that you will rarely find coupons for!
Changio
This is one of my new favorite apps. I recently discovered Changio a few months ago and I have since been using it on a regular basis, because I save so much with it.
How it works: Unlike cash-back rebate apps, this one is more of a rewards card. Think Air Miles and Aeroplan, but better. You earn points when you purchase certain items, shop at certain stores, or even do something as small as entering a store or mall (no purchase necessary).
Once you earn enough points with Changio, you can redeem those points for cash, gift cards, or you can donate to your favorite charity. It’s awesome!
Comments
A great way to save money on Apps themselves is a price watcher app. I use and reccommend AppZapp for IOS. It’s free as most app watchers make their money by featuring/reviewing new apps. The way it works is there is a Today’s Hot Deals list daily that tells you of any app sales often all the way to free (that’s how they keep their apps at the top of the charts). Also if there is an app you want like say Final Fantasy VI normally $14.99 you can add it to a personal price watch list and they’ll send you an alert on your phone (plus an email if you choose) if there is a sale. Which happens everytime SquareEnix releases a new game to the app store every other game in their catalogue is dropped to half price. It’s not just for games btw it tracks everything. I haven’t paid full price for an app in years and I have so many (including all the angry birds for free) I can’t fit them on my phone. Also every Thursday the iTunes store features an app/song/ and sometimes video of the week that is free or greatly reduced. Sometimes if it’s a big release like Lego Harry Potter years 1-4 (one of my favorite games btw) its up for two weeks. I have one more tip for saving money that you probably already know. Walmart and Sobeys often have sales on iTunes Cards (especially around the holidays) where you can buy a card for less than the face value. I often get $50 cards for $40. Everytime those sales comes around I stock up as much as I can afford cause they make great gifts and I keep one in reserve for us. The new Family Sharing option is also fantastic for Familes with multiple ios devices. Oh and if you have an ipad and own a game/app on the iphone you can load the iphone version onto your ipad by searching for it in the app store and hitting the iphone tab at the top. This is a great way to quickly build a catalogue of apps that’ll entertain your kids without draining the wallet.