Frugal Living Meets The App - See Our Top Five

A lot of technology is designed to be labour saving – but can it save you money as well? Many frugal living tips are based on the very un-techie “make do and mend” philosophy, but can technology put a 21st century spin on some of these tried and tested methods? This week the Spy has been hunting down some Apps that cost pence, but can save pounds; hundreds of pounds in some cases.

Five Money Saving Apps
1. Fancy saving around £350 a year on your petrol bill? Of course you do. The “Fuel School” App for iPhone will teach you how. By monitoring your driving using GPS technology the
App will help you with Eco Driving advice. Research has shown by employing a fuel efficient driving style you can save 10 per cent on your fuel costs. The £350 is based on average fuel consumption levels so the savings could be much more.

2. If you are already a voucher code-aholic like many of us at the Spy, you’ll be interested in the App from Quidco. The Quidco App allows access to a range of cash back and voucher codes, while out and about shopping in the real, not virtual world. Cash back goes to your Quidco account and voucher codes can be applied at the real world checkouts of a huge range of well-known high street brands.

3. Making and sticking to the shopping list is a “make do and mend” tip from pre-historic times. It’s been brought up to date by Tesco, with an App that allows you to scan the barcode of items you’ve run out of, or are just about to, at home and adds them to your virtual list on their website. The main money saving aspect is that it helps to avoid duplicate buys – but the nice bit is you barely need to have to think!

4. It’s easy to think that “Customer Service” lines should be re-branded as “Customer Disservice” lines – especially if you are calling from a mobile. Download the 0870 App and you’ll never be over charged again for poor, inadequate customer advice. The App translates the expensive numbers into their standard, geographical format. This means that when calling from your mobile you pay the standard call charge or it comes out of your inclusive air time.

5. The “Nosey Parker” App is ideal for those of us who need to travel around the country but are tired of paying exorbitant parking fees in strange cities or getting caught out by being parked in the wrong place at the wrong time. The App helps you to find the cheapest, or free, parking spaces wherever you roam.

Now there is nothing wrong with the ‘make do and mend’ approach to life of previous generations, but there’s also no harm in making technology work for us. With these Apps you’ll be able to make do and mend 21st century style and access plenty of savings while out and about. Naturally you have to spend to save, and these Apps will cost a few pence, or a couple of pounds at most, but they will in the long term save you time, money and hassle. Finally, frugal living meets the 21st Century.

Written by The Spy, 24 March, 2012 - 02:59