How to save money using apps and websites
This is a version of the article Never pay full price again: The best money saving apps and sites that originally appeared on Your Money website on 04/07/22
The cost of living crisis isn’t going away any time soon. So, as we look at ways to save money, this week I will be showing what is on offer from money saving apps and websites and whether you really can make savings from them.
The Complaining Cow on saving money
How to save money on goods and services and get financial help links to various posts on saving money.
Cashback sites for saving money
These sites literally offer you cash back when you shop at certain places. For example, Topcashback* and Quidco* as well as Kidstart*. There are others but these are the main ones. Create an account and look up the company you wish to buy from. This could be anything from a retailer to an energy provider or broadband provider. Click through on the site to register and track your purchase. The time in which you get the cashback amount varies from trader to trader.
But the pennies can soon turn into a lot of money! Cashback percentages also vary, with the usual being about 2 to 5%. However, I’ve been known to get about 20% off a holiday before now. Some traders will have time-limited deals and sometimes discount codes. It is worth trying a few of the sites, as each website has different outlets and percentages. You can even give the link to friends and family to use when buying items! Refer friends for further cashback.
Topcashback case studies
Sajan Devshi is a big user of TopCashback and has saved hundreds of pounds over the last year. For example, £101 for booking his holiday with OnTheBeach which cost £2,666, bringing the cost down to £2565. Other savings included:
- over £12 on a hotel room when attending a friend’s wedding out of town
- more than £75 saved for buying a TV from Currys online. They price matched a competitor and then he got an additional £75 cash back
- over £94 cash back on a spend of £236 for home insurance, bringing his insurance cost to £142
- just over £13 cashback on AA cover which only cost £39
- £80 for taking out a new Virgin Media broadband package after cancelling his last one when the price increased! This went from £45 per month to £35 per month plus the £80 cashback on top too!
Al Baker, The Penny Pincher, a money blogger, advises using Karma Cashback alongside Topcashback. “Karma is great as you can buy a gift card through them, get cash back on the gift card, then buy something through TopCashback, paying with your gift card, and then earn cash back on the purchase as well, so it’s a double cash back whammy!”
Money off supermarket shops apps
Shopmium, Green Jinn and CheckoutSmart are designed to give you money off various household and food items. Download the app, register and choose the item with the discount, upload the receipt and photo of the barcode and the money will go into your account. Time it right and you can get a gift when you start.
People demonstrate how they are saving money with supermarket apps
You can get anything from 10p off an item to 100%. Savvy money bloggers practice what they preach when it comes to getting discounts. Emma Bradley, who runs the blog Mum’sSavvySavings, has only been using Shopmium for 6 weeks but has already saved 47% of her spend, received £22.99 in cashback from spending £49.10.
In addition to this, she has earnt £17.30 referring friends to the app. You can get credits by topping up your own cashback requests, so claiming at least one cashback request in order to use your referral credits. Emma says that this means in total she has only spent £8.71 of her own actual money from a £49.10 shop. She says her top tip is “To look for the things that are already on offer or the free items. The free items can be added to a food bank if you don’t need / want them.”
Emma Jackson, Bee Money Savvy blogger, has saved roughly £200 from Shopmium, £99 from CheckoutSmart and £142 from Green Jinn.
JamDoughnut loyalty reward app
A relatively new player in the cashback world, Jam Doughnut offers pre-payment gift cards which you can use online or instore or on the phone and earn reward points. These points build up and once you have received £10.00 worth of points you can take out the cash. Rewards range from 2.5% to 20% cash back.
Saving money using Jam Doughnut case study
Since October 2021 Graeme Duff has got £314 in cash back. He did this with Airbnb –(£124) and the rest split roughly 50/50 between Sainsburys (4%) and then eating out at places like Miller & Carter, Pizza Express, Greene King Pubs and Costa! He says “Anytime I’m about to purchase something I check to see if they are on JamDoughnut and then just purchase a voucher for the amount I need.”
How to get stuff for free!
@thecomplainingcow Get real products and rewards with zero spend! I’m sharing legit apps and websites that send you stuff at no cost no catch, no credit card needed. Perfect for anyone wanting to save money and score wins! Watch to learn how! #ShoppingHack #ShoppingHacks #HiddenGems #MoneyTipsAndTricks #OnlineDeals #AppTips #Cheapskate #SaveMore
Free Stuff UK
FreeStuffUK is an amazing website! Who doesn’t love something for nothing? And this site genuinely gives you that. Using this site you actually do get free stuff! Lots of fresh deals are added every day. I just received a mascara completely free from there, just by filling in my details. You’ll usually get follow up emails, sometimes with discount offers, but just unsubscribe if you don’t want them. Companies provide freebies in return for your contact details in essence.
Latest Free Stuff
Run by the same people as Free Stuff UK, LatestFreeStuff provides discounts on a wide variety of products as well as free stuff for completing surveys, taking part in testing and entering competitions.
Magic free stuff is another site that runs likes Latest Free Stuff.
Airtime Rewards
Register with the app and when you make purchases with their retail partners you will receive rewards for money off your mobile bill.
Saving money using Airtime rewards case study
The Fun Money Club blogger Neesha Rees has saved £94.60 in the last 12 months. On top of this though she has also received a further £38.50 in bonuses which you can receive for completing challenges and by even getting random cash bonuses when you enter certain promo codes.
Apps for reducing food waste
OLIO connects neighbours with each other and with local businesses so that surplus food can be shared, not thrown away. The Too Good To Go app allows you to purchase and collect food from businesses at a reduced price.
Saasha Celestial-One – Co-Founder & COO of OLIO on The Complaining Cow Consumer show.
Food waste apps case study
Faith Archer, Much More With Less blogger, has used Too Good to Go several times in the last year. She has spent £30.86 for short-dated food that should have cost £94.75 at full price, saving £63.89. She tends to get “magic bags” from Morrisons and East of England Co-op near her in Suffolk. Faith also uses places like Starbucks and Costa Coffee when she’s up in London. She says that the surprise element with Too Good To Go is fun, but warns that it is “Like a lucky dip, but you can also end up with stuff you’d never normally buy, or don’t like. I view it more as a treat than a secret weapon to cut costs.”
Honey
Download this app to track your purchases. Every time you go on a website and put things in your basket, it will search for available discount codes. My son is good at using this one and often gets discounts for me when I’m buying his clothes! Saving money on clothes yay!
Student discount
Unidays provides good discounts for students for a wide range of stores, meals out, deliveries etc. Sign up with a school/college/uni email address.
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Tips for using cashback/discount sites
It is important to remember that many retailers will be signed up to more than one scheme. There will also be different discounts at different times, so always compare prices with the different discounts before purchasing to save even more money!
If you remember to use apps and websites every time you shop the money savings will soon mount up.
Keep a record of what you are saving and where. This will encourage you to keep doing it and make more savings!
Other sites useful for saving money
Purpl
The UK’s first dedicated disabled discount site to help offset the cost of living with a disability. Get discounts on a wide variety of companies. See Purpl.
Petrol Prices app
Download this app and compare prices for petrol and diesel. Just put in a postcode and the petrol stations in the area, with price per litre, will be displayed. This is ideal if you do more than just local driving. I found 25p a litre difference between two supermarkets a couple of miles apart. If you regularly fill your car this app could provide huge savings.
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Mad About Money
Mad About Money is the UK’s first social media platform dedicated to personal finance and entrepreneurship. Helping people wherever they are on their money journey from debt, to savings, investment, planning for the future , starting a side hustle or getting discounts. With resources to help you to manage your money, experts to help with money mindset , discount club to help you to save money on your supermarket shopping , high street shopping , eating out and more. Find recommendations for other apps, money specialists and compare insurance prices in MAM Recommends. Mad About Money and download the app.
Price checker sites
Camel Camel Camel monitors the prices of items for sale on Amazon and lets you know when prices are dropping, together with the price history. Check whether those bargains are really what they claim to be!
Pricechecker, Pricerunner, PriceSpy and Idealo all compare prices from different sites for the same item, so it may also be worth checking them before purchasing anything.
See money saving posts for more ideas for saving money.
