{AF template=round_quotes} A wise man should have money in his head, but not in his heart. Jonathon Swift. {/AF}
There are now thousands of money saving iPhone apps now available for the iPhone claiming to make your life easier and find you discounts. It can be a bit time consuming, and sometimes a costly affair trying to find the ones that help you sort out your finances and get you discounts.
We’ve taken the time to do a bit of rummaging around and made a list of our top money saving and personal finance apps for the iPhone.
In no particular order…
Expenditure – Free
A great budgeting tool to help you keep track of your spending, this app allows you to track your expenditure and income, including creating numerous spending categories, easily adding notes and photos as well as allowing you to export your spending into spreadsheet/CVS format. You can even add purchases in different currencies and have Expenditure convert the currency
Stampfeet – Free
Every collected a string of loyalty cards from your favorite shop or eatery only for them to be thrown into the bottomless drawer of doom never to found again, or have so many crammed into your wallet that it ends up weighing more than the Lord of the Rings? This is the app to solve your problems. It allows you to keep all your loyalty cards on your iPhone so you can actually use those little stamps you collect to save some real cash. We love it!
Coupon apps
GROUP-BUYING: Enjoy the amazing discounts available through group-buying websites on your phone. If you don’t want to swamp your phone with every deal site in existence, the market leaders still offer the best deals: Groupon, Living Social and KGB deals. I see a great opportunity for a plucky little developer to aggregate these into an integrated app. Ahem!
VOUCHERS: Get current local discounts offered by retailers in your area. Group-buying phenomenon’s older siblings Myvouchercodes and Vouchercloud still have a great range of offers on high street stores and more, saving you heaps of cash on your shopping.
0870 – Free
Find alternative numbers to expensive premium with this great and simple app. Just type in the number and it will instantly check if there are cheaper or local alternatives.
Viber – Free
This nifty app lets you make completely free phone calls to any of your contacts that have Viber installed, even if they are the other side of the planet. A really incredible app and a must have especially for foreign students or anyone making regular international phone calls.
Whatsapp – FREE
Send free texts, picture messages and video messages to anyone in your phonebook. Great for those who tend to go over their monthly bundles, or on pay as you go. In fact, combined with Viber, this makes a formidable money saving pair.
Billminder – £1.19
Billminder lets you to keep track of all your bills in one place. Not only can you see how much you owe, when payment is due and push notification (for a small fee), it also lets you pay your bills then and there. You can see you bills in a variety of charts to help you understand them better as well as export them to CSV.
Loanshark – £1.79
Borrowing money can be a daunting task. Loanshark helps you make sound and informed financial decisions by offering a number of helpful features, such as letting you compare multiple loans side by side, find local banks, calculate repayments and track your mortgage.
UK Tax Calculator – £0.59
Taxes may not be the sexiest subject in the world, but knowing how much you’ll be paying on a month by month basis is essential if you’re to get a grip on your spending, which is why UK Tax Calculator makes our list. It’s simple, easy to use and clear, three things you don’t always associate with taxes!
Petrol Prices Pro – £2.99
Created by petrolprices.com, you can search the cheapest petrol pumps in your area. WARNING. There is a recurring annual fee and the app has incurred the wrath of many users as a result. But with the prices at the pumps so high these days and regularly changing, we think the app is worth the money, especially for regular drivers.
Meter readings – £1.19
Keep track of your utility usage with this app. Once you enter your readings, your results and usage are displayed in easy to understand graphs. It also lets you compare your bills with local utility companies. Given the complicated nature of trying to understand how utility bills are calculated, this is a great app to take control of your monthly outgoings and make long term savings.
Big Oven – free
Never waste any food ever again. Simply tell the app what you’ve got left in the fridge and it’ll tell you what you are able to make. The app has had over 4 million downloads. Plan meals on the go and live a slightly better student life because of it!
{AF template=round_quotes} Money grows on the trees of patience. Proverb. {/AF}