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Whether you’re shopping online or in stores you can use tech tools to save time and money. These tools can find you the best deals, organize your shopping, and save you time.
So what will you do with all of your extra time and money when you use these tools?
ShopSavvy
How can you find the best prices when you’re shopping? Use ShopSavvy, an app that can compare prices both online and in stores near you.
ShopSavvy scans barcodes, then compares prices so you can see which stores and online retailers have the best price. This app shows you whether you’ll be saving more by shopping in stores or on a website.
Download this free app, then scan a barcode with your phone’s camera. ShopSavvy will search its pricing database, then show you the price of the item online and in stores near your location.
Not ready to buy yet? You can save items for later and get email notifications if the price of the item drops. ShopSavvy also lets you save your favorite stores and can send you notifications on your phone for sales.
ShopSavvy is available free:
Shopular
Heading to the stores? Don’t leave before downloading the Shopular app. This app will show you coupons for the store when you walk in the door. No need to hunt for coupons, Shopular will find them for you.
And how many times have we checked out before we remember to check for coupons? Not a problem any more as Shopular will automatically check for them when you’re shopping.
Shopular works with stores such as:
- Target
- Walmart
- Kohl’s
- Starbucks
- Macy’s
- H&M
- Forever 21
- eBay
- Gap
- Sephora
- Hollister
- Ulta
and many others.
Shopular is a free app for:
MrRebates
Don’t think of starting your online shopping without heading to MrRebates first. MrRebates gives you cash back for your online shopping when you use their link. Earn rebates of 5%, 8%, 12% and more by starting your shopping at MrRebates.
Get rebates for using MrRebates to shop at stores such as:
- Amazon
- Wal-mart
- Overstock
- Ebay
and more.
Mr. Rebates can also alert you to online sales, discounts and more. Get coupon codes from Mr. Rebates that can be combined with the rebates.
Mr. Rebates can deposit your rebate into your PayPal account or send you a check in the mail.
If you refer your friends to Mr. Rebates, you can get a small rebate when they shop online. These rebates can add up to serious money. I’ve earned over $1500 from Mr. Rebates over the years.
Sign up and start saving with Mr. Rebates. Note that the link contains my referral code. Feel free to leave your Mr. Rebate referral code (with a meaningful comment) in the Comments section below!
Learn more at => Mr. Rebates – It Pays to Shop!
Honey
Honey is a free service that helps you save both time and money when you shop online. Sign up for a Honey account, then add the Honey browser extension. When you arrive at a store website, you’ll see Honey’s notice that tells you whether you’re getting the best deal.
You can see a history of price changes for a product to learn whether you should wait to buy. Add a product to your Honey Drop List to get an email notice when the price drops. You can even sync your Amazon Saved for Later list to your Honey Drop List so you can get notice of price drops automatically.
Earn Honey Gold rebates as you shop that can be redeemed for gift cards to stores such as Amazon, Target, Walmart, Macy’s, Nordstrom, and more. Invite your friends to earn even more.
Check out Honey and find out the many benefits of shopping there. Note that the link is for my referral code. Feel free to add your referral code (with a meaningful comment) in the Comment section below.
Unroll.Me
“Would you like to be on our email list?” is what you may hear when you check out at a store. If you agree to share your email address you may get notices of exclusive sales, incredible deals, and sneak previews of discounted prices.
But if you say yes to too many stores, you’ll soon see nothing but promotional emails in your inbox. Who wants that?
Unroll.me is a free service that will organize emails into a digest you can get daily. Check out one email a day, filled with notices of deals, discounts and sales.
When you’re out shopping, check out your Unroll.me account to find the best deals in one place instead of searching through your inbox for deal notifications.
Learn more at => Unroll.me – Get Control of Your Inbox!
Apps and Websites
If you’re shopping in a store, you may not think you need to download an app or check a website, but sometimes the app or website has better prices than the prices in the store. If you’re planning a major purchase or a lot of smaller purchases from a store, be sure to check out the store’s website and download the app to compare the prices online versus in store.
If you find the online price is lower, you can ask the store to match the online price. Chances are they’ll be glad to accommodate you in order to get the sale. If not, you can order online.
Tip => When shopping online, be sure to look for https at the beginning of a web address. Websites that have http instead of https are not secure, so you should not be entering your credit card number or personal information on those sites.
See, Why Google May Warn You Away from Some of Your Favorite Websites
Notifications
Sometimes the best way to get the best deals is to enable notifications on your phone from a store’s app. If you’re looking for sale prices, notifications may alert you to deals you might have otherwise missed.
Some store apps will send out notifications for “one day only” sales or flash sales to alert buyers.
After you’ve finished shopping, you can turn off notifications, or even delete the store’s app.
Alexa
No need to go into stores or even online to shop, just use your voice. With Alexa you can buy something on Amazon you’ve previously purchased. All you have to do is ask, what could be easier?.
So if you bought the perfect present on Amazon for Aunt Sally, then realize you want the same present for Aunt Suzy, just ask Alexa to send you another one.
You must have saved on your Amazon account both a preferred payment method and shipping address and have Purchase by Voice enabled for Alexa.
Want to turn off this feature? Go to the Alexa app => Settings => Alexa Account => Voice Purchasing. You can also require a voice code to confirm purchases.
Apple Pay and Google Wallet
Save time when you use Apple Pay or Google Wallet to pay for items, in store and online. No need to pull out your actual wallet when you’re in stores. Use Apple Pay or Google Wallet to pay quickly.
Using Apple Pay or Google Wallet may also be more safe. When you pay in stores, you don’t have to pull out your actual wallet. Just use your phone to pay, reducing the risk that your wallet may be lost or stolen.
With Apple Pay, you can pay using your iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch or Mac, both online and in stores.
Take a few moments now to set up Apple Pay or Google Wallet to save money when you shop:
AmazonSmile
You can give to others, not only when you buy presents, but also when you shop by using AmazonSmile. Register your favorite charity with AmazonSmile, then a small percentage of your purchases on AmazonSmile will be donated to that organization.
Over one million charities participate in the Amazon Smile program. You can support schools, hospitals, veterans, pet shelters, libraries and more when you shop using AmazonSmile.
Earlier this month, Amazon announced that it had reached a milestone by donating over $100 million to charities through AmazonSmile. Your purchases could help AmazonSmile reach the next $100 million milestone.
Find out more at AmazonSmile – Do Good When You Shop!
Your Thoughts
Do you like saving time and money? Do you use tech tools when you shop online and in stores? What are your favorite shopping tools?
Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!
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*Shopping image (edited) courtesy of rawpixel on Unsplash
**Credit card image (edited) courtesy of Negative Space on Pexels
Hi Carolyn,
What an amazing list. With Alexa, it becomes very easy to get your things done. There are some wonderful ways for shopping as suggested in your post. I particlarly like AmazonSmile. with it you can contribute a small amount and help people in need.
Thanks for sharing this post. Have a great weekend. 🙂
Hi Sajid, Yes, by starting our shopping at AmazonSmile, we can help others while we shop. That is a gift in itself!
All the Tools are so useful but according to me the best of all is ShopSavvy, a tool which helps to compare the price of things just by scanning is just amazing. Thanks a lot for sharing all these important tools.
Hi Radhika, Yes, ShopSavvy is a very helpful app to have. Who doesn’t want to save time and money by scanning barcodes? Free and easy ShopSavvy is is a great tool to have.
Hi Carolyn,
You have listed some great option to save some money while shopping. I particularly liked ShopSavvy. It gives you real time best offers by comparing different options which is kind of cool.
Thanks for sharing, have a good day.
Hi Tarique, Yes, how handy to scan barcodes in stores and at home to compare prices, both online and in nearby stores. Doing that on your own would be nearly impossible, but ShopSavvy does the hard work for you!