Between mobile pay, on-the-go research capabilities, and innumerable shopping apps, cell phones are quickly becoming the most comprehensive money tool I’ve ever used.
If you’re not taking advantage of at least some of these mobile capabilities, you’re more than likely missing out on significant savings- leaving money on the table that could be used to fund other important expenses, grow savings, and/or max out retirement contributions.
Frugality and conscious spending don’t have to mean forgoing shopping entirely, but rather, getting more for less and pocketing the rest- using shopping apps to maximize your money.
Best Shopping Apps For Price Alerts

For your fashion and accessory needs, use ShopTagr to track prices and get price alerts on your top wish list and watch list items. You can customize right down to the specific item, size, and color.
Best Shopping Apps For Comparison Shopping

Technically a browser add-on rather than an app, Price Blink is a top tool for finding the lowest prices when shopping online. As you view a product, Price Blink automatically scans over 4,000 other merchants and notifies you of lower prices.

Find products, compare prices, read product reviews, and get merchant ratings all on the Price Grabber app. You can search and sort by price, product, or rating- buy online or get information for the nearest deal locale.

For your every day needs like groceries and drug store buys, use the Favado app to price compare. Favado will also let you know when your favorite food and drug store brands go on sale so you never miss a deal.
Best Shopping Apps For Coupons/Promo Codes

If you’ve ever googled the words “promo code”, you’re likely familiar with Retail Me Not. With over 500,000 coupons to over 50,000 stores, Retail Me Not is the ultimate destination for quick and simple savings.

Coupon Follow tracks the most up to date, popular, and trending coupons. Their browser plug-in, Coupons at Checkout, automatically scans your online cart for applicable promo codes.

If you’re an “old-school” circular loving, coupon clipping shopper, try the Retale app that aggregates all the weekly ads and offers in your area into one simple app- no clipping required.
Best Shopping Apps For Shopping Rewards

The Ebates website and mobile app serve as cash back portals, paying shoppers for the online purchases they’re already making. Get rewarded for your purchases simply by accessing your favorite online shops through the Ebates portal.

Ditch the overflowing wallet busting open with all your loyalty and gift cards and aggregate it all in the palm of your hand using the Clutch app. When it comes time for checkout, just flash the app to get the appropriate discount or charge. By using Clutch, you can also build up Clutch specific loyalty points to redeem for gift cards.

Shopkick is the perfect app for window shoppers. Earn points every time you walk into a store, scan an item, or buy a product. Once you collect enough points, you can redeem them for gift cards and products.
Best Shopping Apps for Discounted Experiences
Groupon, Living Social, Amazon Local.
As long as you carefully comb through the fine print, these deal sites can provide fantastic savings on countless opportunities- whether you’re at home, on vacation, or looking for a unique gift idea that will create a lasting memory.
Best Shopping App for Your Budget

No deal, however hot, is an excuse to fall into high interest debt. Create a budget and hold yourself accountable to it by using an app like Personal Capital that tracks your spending- helping you maintain progress toward financial goals by monitoring everything from credit card balances to investments to net worth.
With all these tools and resources available to you in your back pocket, literally, there’s no reason not to get the best possible bang for your buck.
Do you have any favorite shopping apps?
November 24th, 2014 at 1:51 pm
When I went home for leave this October I went out with my sister to get a few items I cannot find in Japan, and she introduced me to her coupon apps. I saved so much. These mobile apps are awesome…thanks for the list.
November 24th, 2014 at 1:54 pm
Aren’t they fantastic? Savings everywhere! 😉
November 24th, 2014 at 2:17 pm
I had no idea there were so many! Wow! Great list, Stefanie! 🙂
November 25th, 2014 at 10:27 am
I didn’t either, until I started researching. So many great and varied resources!
November 24th, 2014 at 2:19 pm
There are so many great apps these days. I think my favorites are the ones that make it the easiest to compare prices. It’s so an important cost-saving to do, but it can be time-consuming. So having the app doe the work for me, makes it a no-brainer. Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving, Stefanie!
November 25th, 2014 at 10:26 am
Thank you Shannon! Have a wonderful holiday.
November 24th, 2014 at 4:16 pm
This is an awesome list Stefanie!!! If I enjoyed shopping more, I would be REALLY stoked, but actually I plan to send this to all of my clients to help them prepare for their holiday spending.
November 25th, 2014 at 10:26 am
Thanks Shannon! I’m not a huge shopping fan either, but I was inspired by my many spend happy friends 🙂
November 24th, 2014 at 10:14 pm
This is a monster list, Stefanie! Thanks for sharing! I will add it to my weekly roundup this week : )
November 25th, 2014 at 10:25 am
Thanks DC! Let’s get everybody saving 🙂
November 24th, 2014 at 11:56 pm
I had never heard of Favado or Retale – so awesome! I’m definitely going to have to check those out. Also, I totally love Poach it. It’s no Hukkster, but I guess it’s not bad for a replacement 😉
November 25th, 2014 at 10:24 am
I never knew Hukkster, glad we have some alternatives.
November 25th, 2014 at 2:41 pm
retailmenot is by far my fave…it’s nice to save 10% here or there when you can…and I usually do it when standing in line!
November 25th, 2014 at 3:53 pm
I love the simplicity of it, I check it just about any time I’m about to make a purchase.
November 25th, 2014 at 8:09 pm
What a great list! The only one I’ve used off here is Retail Me Not, which I go to every time I’m buying anything online, ever. I also use my Walgreens app to load coupons onto my store card of things I routinely need.
December 3rd, 2014 at 9:44 am
Oh yeah, drug store apps are great, CVS too!
November 29th, 2014 at 4:29 pm
Great list Stefanie. Quite a few here that I’ve never heard of but will have to try. The wife and I have used Favado for some time and saved a lot on groceries and we regularly use coupons from RetailMeNot.
December 3rd, 2014 at 9:44 am
RetailMeNot is definitely a “go to”.
November 29th, 2014 at 6:30 pm
Totally going to check out Favado! Hope they have my local stores in there!
December 3rd, 2014 at 9:43 am
I’m not sure how widespread they are, but it’s a great concept!
November 30th, 2014 at 11:41 am
Clutch sounds awesome. I must 100+ loyalty cards, especially from grocery stores all over America, but I never want to get rid of them because I figure I’m likely to wind up touring out in those states again someday… on the flip side, when I do make it back, I’ve usually already lost the card. Definitely downloading that one.
December 3rd, 2014 at 9:43 am
I know, as soon as I read about it, I was like, “I MUST have this!”
December 12th, 2014 at 9:08 am
awesome list. It help me a lot. Thank for sharing.
February 19th, 2015 at 8:58 pm
So glad it was helpful. These are great year round 🙂