Many of us are struggling to pay bills at the end of the month. America’s poverty rate increased to 15.1% in 2010, the highest level since 1993, reports The Huffington Post, and 1 in 4 Americans report that they live paycheck to paycheck. This statistic may not come as a big surprise; many of you might already know this from personal experience.
But there are financial tools out there to help you spend less on your necessary expenses and stretch those dollars farther. Best of all, these tools are free!
Here’s CreditKarma.com’s list of 6 awesome, free tools to save more money and spend less on your everyday purchases. Save money shopping online with coupons. Every time you buy something online, do a quick check on RetailMeNot (http://www.retailmenot.com/) for any coupons, discounts, or promo codes to slash down your checkout price. This tried-and-true best friend of frugal hunters has up-to-date codes for 100,000 online stores, so you stand a good chance of saving money everytime you shop online.
- Save money with your smartphone. RedLaser (http://redlaser.com/) is the smartphone app to always have handy when shopping. It’s a very accurate barcode scanner that lets you scan products and search for the lowest price at nearby stores and online. It’s the easiest comparison shopping you could do while out shopping. Before making any big purchases, do a quick scan with RedLaser because a store next door or online could save you more money.
- Save money on the kids. Especially for back-to-school and holiday season, ThredUP (http://www.thredup.com/) helps you save money on restocking the kid’s wardrobe. The site lets you buy a box of gently-used clothing in the size, gender, season, and colors you want, for just $5 plus shipping. It’s a popular, high-tech way to swap clothing and save money, plus the site just added toys to swap too!
- Save money by getting cheaper gas. Another go-to smartphone app, GasBuddy (http://gasbuddy.com/) is a much-needed app for every driver to save more money on gas. The app gives you a handy map of the gas stations nearby and the price per gallon, so you can shave a couple dollars every time you fill up.
- Save money on your bills and everyday expenses. From your cell phone service, cable, to your bank accounts, Billshrink.com hunts for the best alternatives to optimize your bill expenses. You start by entering what you currently spend for certain bills, and Billshrink (http://www.billshrink.com) calculates and searches for your best savings opportunity. It’s a hassle-free way to figure out how to save more money on these pricey services.
- Save money by budgeting, the smart way. Do you really know how much of your budget is necessary expenses versus discretionary? One of the biggest money-saving tools you can use is an up-to-date budget. Make it easy and automated by using a free money management tool like Mint (https://www.mint.com/) or Bundle (http://www.bundle.com/), which lets you input your financial accounts, set budget goals, and categorize your spending to view where you can truly afford to cut back on spending.
Justine Rivero is the Credit Advisor for Credit Karma (http://www.creditkarma.com), the pro-consumer credit advocate that helps more than 3 million consumers realize the everyday cost savings of having great credit health.