iPhone Apps: Money Savers

A lot of apps exist to help you manage your finances or save you money. You may have a better system or prefer coupon clipping or balancing your bank account every night but I don’t do that because life.

Not so long ago, I was that crazy coupon lady. You know, the one who orders more than 1 paper, jumps in the recycling bins to grabs more coupons, and goes to the grocery store with a massive binder full of them. I even taught classes!

But like the rest of the world, I’ve gone paperless. No more coupon clipping and no more dumpster diving.

Honestly, if it isn’t super accessible by phone, I really don’t bother. I need convenience and saving money should be convenient! If you have to spend an hour just to save $0.50, is it really worth it?

We All Spend Money

And if I’m really honest, not spending is not an option. I’ve tried that – it didn’t work for me. But even if you’re the staunchest non-spender ever, you still have necessities that you spend money on: prescriptions, food, and kid equipment (think shin guards, ballet shoes, Christmas), and it’s a win when you can save money!

But don’t worry, I’m not giving you the full college course on money-saving today. Merely a kindergarten course on my favorite “done-for-you”, get your money back for you, alert you to savings apps that you can download and start saving right away.

Give it a week and you’ll wonder how you managed without these apps before!

Prescription Savings With GOODRx

Why do I need GoodRx?

I was recently told about this app by my friend when we were in Hawaii and I can’t believe I haven’t used it before now!

Prescription drug prices are not regulated (Remember Martin Shkreli? He’s the guy that famously boosted the price of a life-saving drug by over 5,000%?). The cost of a prescription can often differ by more than $100 between pharmacies across the street from each other! Crazy!

And insurance doesn’t do the heavy lifting it should. In the past 10 years, insurance companies have passed 25-80% more of the cost of drugs onto patients. But even if you’re not on a life-saving drug that costs $$$ a week, you can save up to 80% off common prescriptions like Ambien, EPI pens, z-packs, or Ibuprofen. The lowest GoodRx price for the most common version of Ambien (zolpidem) is around $8.06, 87% off the average retail price of $68.49

Straightforward Savings

Unlike a lot of apps, this one is pretty straightforward. Simply type in the name of your prescription. Once you’ve entered the name, you will also have the option of entering the exact specs of your prescription. But all that’s required to find you the best price in your area is your zip code!

Then hit enter! It will pull up all of the pharmacies in your area and a coupon price for that location. You’ll notice that it will also give you coupons if you plan to pay with cash (for those without credit cards), and even coupons for a monetary discount. It’s up to you!

You can save as many coupons as you’d like and they will all be kept in the ‘My Coupons” tab of the app. You can also set reminders for prescription refills, set price alerts so you know when or where your meds are the least expensive, and even identify pills you might find laying about.

Download on the App Store for iOS or on Google Play

MY FAVORITE PURCHASES OF 2018

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Simple Saving With Digit

Simple Savings You Can Set & Forget

If you’ve ever tried to create a savings habit, you know how difficult it is to get started. After opening a separate savings account, you begin to put as much money as possible into it each month.

And then disaster strikes! Your basement floods, your car tire goes flat, and you find out that your 3rd kid needs braces…you just can’t catch a break! So you break into your savings and then you’re back to square one…

This is where Digit comes in. With Digit, you simply log into your bank account from within the app. And don’t worry, Digit has bank-level SSL 128-bit encryption to securely protect your funds and sensitive personal information.

How does Digit work?

1. Sign up for Digit and connect your bank account. You won’t need your checking or routing number.
2. Digit analyzes your spending and automatically moves money from your checking account to your Digit account when you can afford it.
3. That’s it! You save money without realizing it. You don’t have to keep a minimum amount in Digit and you can withdraw your money anytime.

Every day, Digit analyzes your spending and moves the perfect amount of money from your bank account to your Digit account. You can set up your own goals and Digit gives you a few ideas of where to get started!

Innovative Financial Goal Setting

Tap “Add a new goal” in the app. Then choose from their suggested goals or create your own. Add a description, emoji for reference, the amount you’d like to save, and when you’d like to save it by and tap “Save”. Digit will start setting money aside for your goal!

You can boost your savings, auto withdraw, edit your goal or date, pause your savings, and even set a max daily saving amount! It will never transfer more than you can afford. It’s like you have a secret financial ninja siphoning off money for you into an account for your big time (or rainy day) goals.

Then manage your Digit savings via text. It’s that simple. This app does cost $2.99/month but for $35 a year, I love how simple it is to save!

Download on the App Store for iOS or on Google Play

Automatic Refunds & Track Packages With Slice

Possibly my most favorite app out of the bunch, if you’re a shopper, this will be yours as well!

This app connects to your email so it can send push notifications updating you on the status of your delivery, AUTOMATICALLY tracking your packages. You’ll never have to enter a tracking number again. After your package is delivered, they monitor for recall alerts and price changes–even helping you get a refund on items with low-price guarantees!

More Than Just a Package Tracker

On the first screen, Slice keeps you up to date on all of your packages in transit. But if you don’t have any at the moment, it allows you to track past shipments or manually enter one. Second, it keeps all of your orders in one spot! This helps keep track of spending and provides a handy reminder for what you’ve purchased.

Get push notifications and a visual map to track the status of your packages through all the major U.S. shipping carriers:
*USPS
*UPS
*FedEx
*DHL
*OnTrac
*Lasership
*Prestige

The ‘Price Drop’ tab keeps you up-t0-date on the price of your most recent purchases. It will send you an alert should there be a drop!

And lastly, ‘Deals’ allows you to peruse deals from all of the top retailers!

Want A Refund On A Price Drop? No Problem!

You’ve just purchased some shoes for $200 only to see them go on sale 4 days later! Slice send you an email notifying you of the drop and will ask if you want to request a refund. I always say yes.

The app then asks you to verify the price. Once you’ve done so, Slice will ask how you would like to make your refund request: Call, Fill Out A Form or Send Prewritten Email (this is the one I always do). Up pops a super handy pre-written email with all the information the company will need to look up your order.

Companies give refunds on price drops because it costs less money than having something returned because of lousy and unmoveable customer care. Once you’ve approved the email, just hit “Send”. You’ll receive a notification saying your refund is ready to get! Slice takes a percentage of every refund amount you get but in my eyes, it’s totally worth it.

Slice is completely free, simple and secure. They’ve processed over 350 million purchases from Amazon, Etsy, eBay and thousands of other retailers.

Download on the App Store for iOS or on Google Play

Download these 3 apps and make a game of it! See how much money you can save each month and then #treatyoself! You deserve it after all of their hard work!

xx Tara

P.S. Is there a money-saving app you love that I missed? Tell me below!