Published on December 21st, 2016 | by Guest

6 Great Apps That Help You Save Money during the Holiday Season

The holiday season brings with it a sense of happiness and cheer, and puts us in a jolly state of mind. The festive cheer also tends to influence our shopping habits and we do not think twice about spending on gifts and goodies.

It is no surprise, then, that Americans are expected to rack up bills exceeding a whopping $465 billion this year on holiday shopping.

But, the not-so-happy part is that the majority of this spending is on unwanted stuff, or things that are not useful or worth their price.

So how do you curb holiday spending and avoid splurging on things that you do not need or cannot afford?

A smart thing to do is to make a comprehensive list of all the things you need to buy, including gifts for friends and family, and the stuff you want for yourself. Also, set aside a budget for your holiday-spending and stick to it.

(Featured Image Credit: Pixabay)

In addition to the tried-and-tested means, you can also make use of your smartphone to keep tabs on your spending. There are several apps that not only help save money, but also assist you in spotting good deals online as well as in stores.

Here are a few apps that you can try to enjoy the festival season without nearing bankruptcy:

Save Money on Buying Alcohol

Holiday cocktails keep the spirit and conversations flowing during the endless parties and get-togethers you will attend or host this season. Alcoholic beverages, including wine, beer and liquor are expensive buys and if you are not mindful, you will end up burning a hole in your pocket.

Use these apps to spend wisely and save money while you are out and about having a great time.

Happy Hour Finder App

This app is a repository of happy hours in your area. Allow the app to access your location and a map will pop up on your screen informing you about the nearest bars with their happy hour timings. You can also get to know the prices of drinks along with the duration of the happy hours.

This is a great app if you want to go pub crawling with your pals, and you can also sort the results by date and time, and the cheapest options available. If you are a teetotaler, then the app will inform you about bars that offer discounts on juices and non-alcoholic beverages as well.

Happy Hour Finder app is free of cost and available on App Store and Google Play Store.

bevRAGE

bevRAGE helps you save money each time you shop for wine, beer or any liquor. Just click a picture of the receipt using the in-app camera and upload it to the app. You will get cash back to your PayPal account within 48 hours.

Browse rebate and discount deals featured on the app and choose the ones that interest you. Buy the featured item at the store, restaurant or bar, click and upload the receipt, and voila, you have saved money! The app is free of cost and available on App Store and Google Play Store.

You can use other receipt-scanning and money-saving apps like Ibotta, Checkout 51 and Full Glass (if you are a New Yorker) as well to save money on drinks. You can also upload receipts to multiple receipt-scanning sites and save money on the same purchase several times over.

Save Cash on Those Mountains of Gifts

Gift shopping can be extremely expensive and you can end up spending way too much only to regret it later. However, your smartphone can come handy here as well. Apps like Shopkick and ShopSavvy are great for comparing prices while shopping in-store and deciding whether or not you are going for the best deal.

Shopkick

Shopkick is popular and clever, and is a favorite among shopaholics because you win reward points just for walking into a store. Yes, you can actually collect the points and leave without buying anything!

During the holiday season you can use the app to locate in-store deals and discounts when you are shopping at a particular store. You will also get alerts regarding coupons that can be redeemed at the store.

The app locates stores that give kicks (points) for scanning barcodes of items on stores’ shelves. The points can be redeemed for gift cards or you can avail online freebies with it. The app also gives you points for purchasing KickBate items at qualifying stores and uploading pictures of the receipts. Link credit card transactions to your Shopkick account to bag points every time you shop.

Shopkick is available on App Store and Google Play Store and is free of cost.

ShopSavvy

This app offers price alerts on items that users tag. You also get notifications when they go on sale. ShopSavvy helps you track your favorite gift items and informs about the best time to shop them.

When you scan a barcode, you get the best deals for the product from more than 40,000 stores, both brick-and-mortar as well as online. You can then decide which one you want to grab.

The app is available on App Store, Google Play Store, Windows Store and Chrome Web Store. You can sign up with it for free.

PriceJump

PriceJump allows users to browse brick-and-mortar stores and thousands of online stores at the same time to snag a good deal.

Scan the barcode of the product you like, and the app will instantly give you the best prices available at nearby stores and at over 5000 online retailers. You can compare the prices and decide on the best options.

The app gives you a real-time comparison of millions of products. With the festive season falling into top gear, it is time you made use of your smartphone to snag the best deals and save money. The app is available on the App Store and as Chrome browser extension, and is free of cost.

Save While You Fly

Every year millions of Americans take to the sky and the roads during the holidays to reach family and friends all over the country. It, therefore, makes sense that you do your best to save money during this peak season when travel costs are the highest.

Hotwire

Hotwire Hotel and Car Rental App helps you find deals on hotels and car rentals. The app comes handy especially when making last-minute reservations with little or no time to go deal-hunting with service providers.

Hotwire makes it possible to compare prices and find the perfect hotel with good ratings and customer reviews. ‘Hot Rate’ hotel deals will help save about 60% on the published hotel rates. Hot Rate car rentals will land you daily rentals as low as $10.99 per day. The app is popular with hotels that use it to fill unsold rooms, thus giving great deals to users on holiday travel.

Other apps to consider include Kayak, Orbitz and Hipmunk, all of which help locate great flight, car rental and hotel deals. All the apps are free of cost and can be downloaded from App Store or Google Play Store.

Conclusion

The holiday season is the most expensive season of the year, when even dining at your nearby restaurant can prove to be super-pricey. But, with the right mindset and a few smart apps, you can definitely feel a lot less poor when the festivities end.

About the author:

Ann Neal (twitter: @Ann_G_Neal) is a freelance writer who covers technology, trends and business.

Tags: great, holiday, save, season