Best free apps to help you save money

Let your smartphone or other portable electronics help you save money when shopping.  ecoXplorer recommends these FREE apps –

Forgot your paper coupons at home?  No worries.

• Yowza replaces them by searching for coupons based on your location.  Yowza also asks you for your age, so – presumably – I would not get the same coupons as my college-student son or my married daughter who is the mother of my two totally adorable, brilliant and talented young grandchildren.
• Coupon Sherpa is another mobile coupon app, but you’ll have to wade through piles of unwanted stuff, including ads,  before you to find what you want.  I’ve also found that Coupon Sherpa is heavy on retailers like Sears and light on supermarket coupons.

Recently, I lost some frequent shopper loyalty cards when they fell out of my wallet somewhere, and since I don’t clutter my key ring with the key ring cards, I really like the Key Ring  app.  Just load your card numbers onto the app, and when you are shopping in your favorite supermarket, drug store, or retailer, just show your phone to the clerk, to scan your loyalty card number.  Of course, this doesn’t work at locations like my local CVS, where they have replaced clerks with DIY scanners, which I despise beyond words that can be published here.  Anyway, at least these scanners will find your loyalty number if you input your phone number.

Where’s the cheapest gas?  Gasbuddy lets you search by location, giving you a list of ten least expensive gas stations in your area, whether you are close to home or on a family road trip.

Want the best price for a particular item?  There are several choices.

• With Red Laser you can scan an item’s bar code to get comparison price list from local and online stores.
• Use Smoopa to earn rewards by submitting prices. The more you share, the more points you can redeem as cash via Paypal.
• Amazon Price Check allows you to compare prices along with product reviews and ratings, so this is absolutely brilliant if you are torn between different models.
• See also ecoXplorer article on best free apps for comparison shopping

Find suggestions for free apps to save money on sister website Living on the Cheap, including my article on free apps for smarter driving.