Think the cost of a new smartphone is too high?
Smartphones are packed with lots of great technology that you can use to save money.
By using the many features on your smartphone and these money saving phone apps, you can save enough money to pay for the phone itself in just a few months!
Here are 7 ways that a smartphone can literally save you money:
#1 – Use Phone Apps To Compare Prices
The ability to check competitor prices from your smartphone may be the single biggest way that your smartphone can save you money.
No matter whether you’re buying canned vegetables or a big screen TV, you can use your smartphone to check prices from local stores as well as online retailers.
Some price comparison phone apps will even scan the barcode on the package and automatically find competitors’ prices for you.
#2 – Use Phone Apps To Find Coupons
Instead of clipping coupons, you can easily use your smartphone to find coupons for the items you’re about to purchase.
Not all coupon apps work in the same manner, but many will allow you to scan the UPC code on the product to find available coupons.
Once you’ve found a coupon that you want to use, simply show it to the cashier. They’ll scan the coupon directly from your phone!
Phone apps (like Groupon and many other shopping apps) can also alert you to good deals in your local area whenever you’re out shopping.
#3 – Use Phone Apps To Save Time & Money When Banking
Your smartphone can help you find the nearest ATM from your bank when you need to withdraw cash. By finding the right ATM, you can avoid ATM fees.
Plus, banking phone apps allow you to keep an eye on your bank account balances from your phone and avoid overdrawing your accounts and incurring even higher fees.
You can also find phone apps that can help you to reduce your spending and increase your savings.
#4 – Use Phone Apps Instead Of Carrying Loyalty Cards
Your smartphone can store discount or loyalty cards for quick retrieval.
While you could just take pictures of them and store them on your phone, there are some great phone apps that consolidate all of your reward cards for you.
That way, you can access and manage them all in one place — right on your phone!
#5 – Use Phone Apps To Send Free Text Messages
Text messages are a pricey add-on to your phone service plan, but there are tons of money-saving apps that let you send and receive text messages for free.
Most notable is the free Google Voice app — which provides free SMS text messages, and you get a free phone number, too.
The TextFree app also gets the job done — but you can’t have a single, unified phone number like the Google Voice app provides.
#6 – Use Phone Apps To Save Money On Gas
If you’re like me, the amount of money that you spend on gas represents a large portion of your budget.
By using your smartphone, you can quickly scan various gas price reporting websites to find the cheapest gas near you. Saving a few cents per gallon on every fill-up will result in substantial savings over time!
GasBuddy is probably the most popular, but there are others as well.
You can also use your smartphone as a GPS to plan your routes and avoid delays. This will help you to save money by reducing the amount of gas that you’ll burn while driving.
#7 – Use Phone Apps To Find Cheap Parking
Another great way to save is to use parking apps to find the cheapest parking spots when you’re traveling.
I used the SpotHero parking app while vacationing in Chicago and parked for only $5. Most of the parking garages there charged at least $25, so I saved $20 by parking in a spot only a few blocks from the expensive lots!
Most people use city parking apps like this when they’re on vacation, but why not use parking apps your own town as well? It could end up saving you hundreds of dollars on your work-week and recreational parking.
More Ways That Phone Apps Save Money
- This Google Endorsed App Saves You Money
- 10 Best Money Saving Phone Apps
- Top 10 FREE Money Saving Phone Apps
- Forbes List Of The Best Money Saving Apps
- 30 Apps To Make Your Smartphone Pay For Itself
- Google Rewards App Pays You To Take Surveys
Always on the lookout for a good bargain, I consider myself a frugal person — but not cheap. And not afraid to spend money on the things that matter.
I like to share good deals with others when I find them. One of my favorite ways to save money is to reuse items in ways other than their intended purpose — so I write a lot about outside-the-box ideas that most people wouldn’t think of!
When I’m not saving money or looking for good deals, you’ll find me at the corner of Good News & Fun Times as publisher of The Fun Times Guide (32 fun & helpful websites).
