I love my smartphone! I go to bed after scrolling through Facebook and LinkedIn posts. I wake up to Instagram photos of what I got up to last night and figure out who I need to send apology texts to after a crazy night out. It tells me how many calories I've consumed and calculates how many calories I've burned based on how much I've walked.
But most importantly it helps me save and make money! Here are the apps I use, and how and why I love them so much. If it takes too much time or effort I don't use it. Here are my easy breezy apps that save me bling.
Budgeting: I use mint.com and my bank app to keep on top of my budgets. I can easily see if I've over spent on my restaurant and food budget, and then pull back on the eating-out reins. Whoa, little fella! You can set up an alert on some credit cards that will send you a text or email when you've reached your budget limit.
Free Stuff: I use my PC Points App, Optimum App, Canadian Tire App, Starbucks App, and Cineplex App to get free stuff. I don't have to cram my cardholder full of points cards that take hours to find when I'm in line. I simply flash my phone at my favourite retailers and instantly save on movies, food, coffee, and more. I save around five per cent when I use my PC Points app and shop at No Frills and get gas at their station, and 10 per cent off Cineplex popcorn and movies -- plus I get every 10th movie free!
Banking: I love my money and I like to check in on it every hour on the hour. Some people have pets or kids -- I have stocks. I use Bloomberg for news, futures, and currencies, and my banking app to watch my spending. I can trade like a pro from my phone and see my dividends and option premiums flow into my account in real time. I can also catch extra fees and incorrect charges because I'm always watching. Think if you checked your accounts as much as you checked instagram how much better with money you would be!
Saving on Gas: Gas Buddy is an app I have on my home page. Depending where I am when I need gas, I can scan the immediate area and find out where the cheapest gas is. I can also check my "go to" station to make sure that the drive out to it is worth the discount. Gas Buddy scans the immediate area, so if you're in a different part of town or in another city it'll always find you the best price. Saving pennies per litre on fuel weekly can end up being hundreds of dollars over the year!
Uber: During the evening it is cheaper to use Uber than a cab, but be careful during surge times! Make sure to keep track of everyone's turn at paying for an Uber. If you are the only one doing it you'll be fronting all the taxi costs in an evening and it could be a big expense. It's so easy to jump out of the cab and forget that you just dropped $50 here and $15 there going place to place on a Friday night.
Those are my favourite apps! You'll love your phone as much as I do once it saves you hundreds over the year.
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