Editor’s Note: Tanya is back to share with us some apps that can help you save money on Black Friday and throughout the holiday season.
I grew up in Minnesota, so it always amused me to see people on TV shivering outside their favorite stores, so they could be first in line to snatch whatever doorbuster enticed them to brave the frigid temperatures. Meanwhile, I sipped hot chocolate and helped my Mom decorate for Christmas instead. Granted, I lived in a small town where Black Friday wasn’t a huge event because we didn’t have many major retailers. Even when I moved to Minneapolis, the cold kept me indoors, but when I eventually moved to LA, I decided to experience Black Friday up close and personal.
I quickly realized that I am more of a Cyber Monday kind of gal. But there were definitely people having the time of their life and waved their receipts like badges of honor. They proudly shared their tales of racing all over the city to find the best prices. It sounded exhausting to me! The good news is with the help of a few apps, you can significantly reduce the amount of time you spend running from store-to-store in search of the best price and deal. All the apps are free and there are no affiliate links.
These two apps are considered the must-have Black Friday apps.
This is one robust app and it’s jam packed with the features every Black Friday shopper wants, including:
What I love about this app is that it organizes information into Black Friday Ads and Black Friday Deals. You pick how you want to search and they find the deals, which saves you valuable time. Other features include:
I’ve never been very good at cutting coupons. It’s cumbersome and I can never find the coupon I need. Not to mention that I am notorious for leaving them at home on my kitchen table too. These apps remove all my complaints and make it easy for me to save a little extra money on the things I plan to buy, whether they are Christmas presents or groceries.
The RetailMeNot Coupons app makes it easy to save in store with thousands of coupons at the places you love to shop. You don’t have to worry about printing coupons or accidentally leaving them at home. Now you can access them anytime and any place. Features include:
This app lets you search for coupons via store, product or your GPS location. Just show the offer at checkout for a scanning and receive your discount. Features include:
Comparison shopping has never been easier, thanks to these apps. I love a good deal as much as anyone, but nothing annoys me more then to find out I overpaid. These apps can help find the best prices on Black Friday and every time you shop.
Red Laser helps you find the best prices, coupons, and deals for all your favorite products and stores, online and locally. Features include:
This app allows you to compare the prices you find in stores against the price at Amazon by using Flow, scanning a barcode, or typing your search.
This app helps reimburse you the difference in cost if there is a lower price in your area on the items you bought. If you are a regular Walmart shopper, I would definitely recommend this app year-round. Here’s how it works:
One of Shannon’s tips to Black Friday Saving Success was to take advantage of email alerts now and unsubscribe after the holidays. The same holds true with these apps, especially if you are prone, like me, to shopping. If frequent push notifications on great deals is too much of a temptation for you, then delete these apps and free up room on your devices after the holidays. You can also download them again next holiday season.
I hope these apps help you stretch your budget and save money this holiday season. You will find me in my pajamas on Black Friday, giggling over the fact that Californians pretty much dress as warmly as Minnesotans do to stand in line for door busters on Black Friday. #wimps.
What apps do you use to save money during the holidays or throughout the year?
Here are other savings apps that I have now incorporated into my shopping routing to save $! I use the following free apps:
flipp – scan the weekly flyers for groceries (love this app!)
RetailMeNot – coupons! (works better for online shopping)
RedLaser – compare online prices (great for electronics and other large purchases that have lots of online comparables)
Price Cruncher – manage frequent items, track unit prices, and shopping list (great for weekly groceries and other household items that don’t have online prices)
Checkout 51 – get rebates on items that I purchased by scanning my receipt (who doesn’t like getting money back on things they were going to buy anyways!)
Thanks for sharing these apps with us. I'll check out anything to help me save money on my holiday shopping. Now I have two grandkids and I'm sparing no expense...okay a little :). I'll be using the Walmart Savings App for sure and I love Target's Cartwheel app too.
Gladly passing this along! Happy Friday. Have a great weekend lady!