Did you know your iPhone can save you money?
Victoria Bischoff explains how these 20 iPhone apps can help you to manage your money more efficiently and make some serious savings.
It is the age of the iPhone. These days there is an iPhone application (app) for everything from reading the news and checking train times to listening to your own heartbeat!
And there appears to be no end in sight to the app madness. Just days ago Tesco released a free app that turns your iPhone into an electronic Clubcard. Instead of swiping your card you simply swipe your phone instead.
Whether you're an iPhone fanatic or simply want to save some money, read on to discover my top apps for managing your finances and digging out the best deals.
Budget better
Budgeting is the key to successful money management. And fortunately, in this day and age, budgeting doesn't mean being glued to excel for hours on end - there's an app for that!
My favourite is iXpenseIt. At £2.99 this app is fantastic for watching where your pennies go. With just a couple of taps you can enter your monthly budget and track your expenses. Then, with the aid of a colourful graph, the app will put your purchases into categories. You can even store snap shots of your receipts.
Other budgeting apps you can check out include Pennies for £1.79, Cha Ching for £1.79, MoneyBook for £1.79 and HomeBudget with Sync for £2.99.
All are simple to use and offer a similar service to iXpenseIt. It is simply up to you to decide which app you personally would prefer to use.
Beat down your bills
Keeping track of all your bills can get confusing. Some are due monthly, others quarterly, some you need to pay at the bank, some online and others by direct debit!
To help avoid making a late payment and being hit with a hefty fine check out Bill Tracker.
For £0.59 this app will manage all your bills in one place for you. It will show you how much is due and how long you have to pay it.
I also like Bills ~ On Your Table. At £1.19, it costs a little more but you can set alerts to remind you when a bill is due.
Debt Tracker Pro, costing £1.79, is a useful app for helping people stay in control of their debts. You can choose a payment strategy, or create one of your own, and the app will then give you the recommended payment amount for all your debts for each month.
There are also apps to help you manage individual bills. My favourite is Meter Readings. Costing just £0.59 this app will help you track your household energy and water usage. All you need to do is enter your meter readings and the rate at which your utility provider charges you. It will also plot your average usage per day, week and month in a handy graph.
On the other hand if you're a British Gas customer you can monitor your gas and electricity usage using their app completely free of charge.
Meanwhile for £0.59 Mini Mortgage Manager will help you manage your home loan costs. You input the size of your loan, the term of the mortgage and the rate of interest, and it will calculate your monthly repayments.
Bank on the go
If you want to keep an eye on your bank account when you're out and about there are apps that can help.
Mobank is a free app that will let you access your current account whenever you want. You can check your balance and view recent transactions. You can also make day to day transactions, such as ordering take away, booking cinema tickets and sending gifts. Although there is a 50p charge for each transaction you make.
You can also download apps from individual banks. For example, Halifax's free app allows you to check balances, view mini statements and set up alerts for when you get paid or go overdrawn.
Travel for less
If you drive a car, Petrolprices Pro could be an app for you. This is the official app from the Petrolprices.com website and costs £2.99 to download.
You simply enter what type of fuel you want and how far you're willing to travel, and the app will compare the price of petrol and diesel at over 9,000 petrol stations across the country and find the cheapest station nearest to you.
On the other hand if you're a frequent flier and often jet set around the world the free Currency app could be worth a look. This app offers you up to date exchange rate information for over 90 currencies and 100 countries.
Bargain hunting
If you want your iPhone to help you locate the best deals and track down discount vouchers, check out these apps.
For £1.19 Red laser can help you locate the cheapest prices on a whole range of consumer goods. The app has a built in scanner that detects barcodes when you swipe your iPhone past it. It then searches online for the top prices for that item so you should never pay more than you have to.
Amazon also offer its own free app. You can search, shop, compare prices online and read customer reviews. Amazon's app also lets you take snaps of things you see when you're walking around and will try to find it, or something similar, for you on their website.
On the other hand you could download the free app from PriceRunner to help you search for the cheapest or most convenient place to purchase your goods from.
Meanwhile the free apps Voucher cloud and Local sale finder will help you find the best deals nearest to you when you're out. You can search for anything from restaurants and pubs to hotels and travel. You simply pick the voucher you want to use and show it to the retailer.
Happy apping!
**Articles featured on BeatThatQuote.com are for information purposes only and reflect the views of individual writers. Articles are not, and should not be considered as, financial advice. BeatThatQuote.com strongly encourages our readers not to rely solely on information contained within this article/our website, but to conduct their own research and seek independent advice about the financial products they purchase.**
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