20 Best Money Saving Apps for Shopping & Groceries (Reach Your Goals!)

Strictly restricted to participating stores, but you are going to like the app if your regular store is one of those participates!

2. Award Wallet

If you travel a lot, either for business or leisure, you want to take advantage of whatever perks that come along.

Award Wallet makes it easy to track your frequent flyer miles, hotel points, & credit card rewards!

3. Hotel Tonight

It is often said that last-minute booker is often slapped with exorbitant fees by hotels. Well, not true in the case of Hotel Tonight, especially if your regular haunts are those luxury hotels.

For same day booking, Hotel Tonight can arrange for a significant 70% discount on upscale hotels in major US cities.

They regularly post the rates each afternoon and this rate would apply throughout the day.

In my last visit to Los Angeles, I used Hotel Tonight to fish out the trendy “The Redbury” Hotel at a bargain price of $119, when the usual rate starts from $270.

4. WhatsApp

This has always enjoyed huge followings ever since it was unveiled, especially among younger adults.

It is a cross-platform app so that users can send and receive text across many devices free.

As in the case of Web browsing and e-mail correspondence, you will have to be on some data plan or WiFi to make use of it.

With persistent rumors that Google is ever ready to splash billions to acquire the technology behind this app, you just have to be convinced of its mass appeal.

5. Trivago

If you read blogs on hotels or holiday stay, you would get a general idea on which ones offer cheaper rates than the others.

But none will give you information as specific and detailed like Trivago does.

Their main sources are online hotels booking websites.

With up to date information from lastminute.com, hotels.com, and booking.com, you can be assured of the best hotel rates are at your fingertips, whenever you have to look for a hotel room.

6. Shop Savvy

This app scans and transmits product barcodes to their engine, which in turn will tell you if there are any better prices on offer online.

If you know you have a weakness on impulse buying, hopefully, this can help to curb your instinct!

7. JoAnns Coupon App

Another coupon app but these are coupons exclusively meant for JoAnn’s stores.

The exclusive offers are not to be found anywhere else.

It can be used in conjunction with paper coupons, competitor coupons, and other online coupons.

8. MyVoucherCodes

You can download this app from its originating website (both app and website share the same name).

MyVoucherCodes makes use of satellite technology and disburses to you great money-saving deals based on your location.

The vouchers cover quite a wide range, from entertainment to travel, eating out to a shopping, etc…

The genius about this app is that you don’t have to print it out to enjoy your discount. Instead, you just show the electronic version on your device.

This works best for me as I tend to forget to bring certain cut out paper vouchers when I am out.

9. DealNews

This is ideal for bargain hunters. This app runs on both Android and iPhone, and members are fed with the latest deals.

There is also a price alert feature so you can be alerted when your specified item gets to a low point.

A special Black Friday app is synced to DealNews.com so you get to know leaked and verified Black Friday ads.

You can save items or jump straight to online stores for your purchase (where applicable).

10. Yipit

Yipit saves you time by consolidating over 800 daily deals within one single site.

You simply stick around to sniff out the great bargains within one “roof”.

Not so great news for Android users though as Yipit is available on iOS platform only.

11. Gas Buddy

Utilizes GPS technology to point you to the nearest petrol kiosks with an indication of pump prices.

You can also accumulate credit whenever you provide updates on gas prices.

I truly think using GasBuddy is one of the best ways to save money on gas.

12. Redlaser

This app has been around but it has not passed its use by date.

Redlaser makes use of your iPhone’s camera to scan product barcodes. Interaction is almost immediate and you will soon get to see detailed product descriptions and reviews.

For me, the most likable thing is the money saving feature. It informs you where you could have the best deal for the product; no matter it is an online or physical store around your area.

It is also able to track if any coupon is available.

13. Ibotta

On outstanding feature of Ibotta is its cash rewards system, and you can transfer the credits to your PayPal account.

At the time of writing, there is also a welcome bonus of $10 for new members.

Unlike other sites, you need to at least buy once at Ibotta from their many participating merchants to enjoy the cash incentive.

The good thing is that it is relatively lucrative payout here when you compare to other rewards schemes.

Make a list of discounted items from Ibotta before you go grocery shopping. Naturally, the cash incentive would accumulate as you include more offers.

After you made your physical purchases, take a snapshot of your receipt and send to them. Upon verification, Ibotta will deposit money into your account.

After every redemption, new offers will keep coming your way.

14. Retail Me Not

Whether we are talking about online or physical stores, RetailMeNot easily retrieves coupons or coupon codes for a wide variety of products.

It has an extremely friendly user interface that facilitates the search.

And it has lots of attractive “hot deals” to entice users on daily basis.

15. Favado

By tracking and alerting you on bargain deals on your preferred items, Favado can be helpful to curb shoppers’ instinct of impulsive purchase.

They have in-house money saving experts who routinely sniff out amazing sales and coupons across the country. It is no mean feat as their coverage includes some 65,000 grocery and drugstores in the US.

They are good for the job, and I regularly bump into fabulous discounts that promise savings up to 70%.

Mind you, these are everyday items, not big-ticket items like plasma TV.

Better still; you can use coupons from Ibotta in combination with store sales and paper coupons, so even greater savings can be achieved.

16. Grocery IQ

This one helps you create a grocery list.

The proposed items can be transmitted via text, scan, or voice, with corresponding coupons. And it works across stores so you can use multiple lists.

You print the coupons out directly from your wi-fi enabled printer, or retrieve them the conventional way from your email and go on to print them.

The individual lists can be synced together (for multiple stores and multiple users).

Pretty cool if you like to play around with the technical stuff on your smartphone!

17. Key Ring

Not many would argue against the saving power offered by store loyalty cards. But for real serious advocates, a common bother is on how to keep up with so many different cards.

Key Ring consolidates all your supermarket loyalty programs and depending on which store you happen to be at, you can safely and easily retrieve it.

It is a great way to deflate your wallet content (not in the monetary sense).

With this app, you will also be encouraged to sign up for more loyalty programs as the saving made possible is without a doubt.

18. Snip Snap

Here is one innovative way to organize and store the photo images (yes you need to snap them first!) of paper coupons on your phone.

This is especially helpful for people who often leave their coupons at home when they go shopping.

An integration feature of the app makes it possible to “clip” various coupons together.

19. SKYPE

Skype represents the revolutionized force in communications.

It makes it possible to call people free, which can be done across devices once they are connected to the internet.

I like the video call feature, as this is the only free option to talk and see my family members when I am traveling.

With even more innovative technology, Skype is now able to connect to overseas landlines and mobiles, at a hugely discounted rate.

20. Know Your Rights

No longer shoppers would be at the mercy of unscrupulous businesses.

This app equips and presents you with everything to know as part of your shopping experience; from laws governing faulty goods to policies on returned items.

There is also a template that would be helpful to draft a complaint letter and the app also cover key points from the Consumer Credit and Sale of Goods Acts.

What Say You?

Do you know of any other money saving apps?…

Please share it by leaving a comment below.