Money Saving Apps for Cash-Strapped Families

Raising a family is a beautiful experience accompanied by countless hours of joy and happiness, but also its fair share of challenges. One of the biggest difficulties that many families have to come to terms with is the financial burden of looking after children.

Before finding the money to pay for your family outgoings, there’s also the challenge of getting a clear view of your finances, which is not easy when you’re juggling home and work commitments at the same time. Fortunately, modern technology is able to offer a helping hand. With the following smartphone apps, you can help keep your finances under control without cutting back on the things that you and your family enjoy.

Keeping your finances in check

In order to save money, you need to first gain a clear understanding of what your biggest outgoings are. There are a number of budgeting applications available that allow you to keep track of your finances by letting you enter your monthly incomings and expenditure. Some of these will require a lot of manual input, while others can be configured to automatically follow your financial activity and even create a budget for you.

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Find the best deal

Smartphone apps are now available that will help you find the best deals and vouchers in your local area. Coupons can be saved for offline use and price comparison services can help you to get the best value for money on your weekly grocery shopping. With your smartphone in your pocket, you should never pay more than you need to.

Plan for bills

It will come as no surprise that utility bills represent one of the largest family outgoings. Although some of these costs, like internet subscriptions, may remain consistent, others could fluctuate depending on your usage, which could leave you with an unexpectedly large bill come the end of the month.

Apps like Meter Readings allow you to monitor your energy usage throughout the month by asking you to enter readings at regular intervals. This way, you can plan ahead for your future bills and even get a better understanding of whether it would be good to change energy provider.  

Budget travel

Families are all about having fun and even when budgets are tight, a holiday can be just what everyone needs. If flights are out of the question, look into domestic city breaks as a cheaper option. Read more for the types of apps that let you book bus travel to exciting destinations all over the country.

Stay connected

By using mobile apps to chat with family and friends you could save significant sums on your telephone bills. Using WhatsApp instead of texting, for example, lets you avoid any network charges and if you wish to communicate abroad then the potential savings are even greater. Communicating via the internet saves you from those extortionate international call charges.

Raising a family will have a major impact on how you save and spend money, but it doesn’t have to mean the end of fun altogether. With the aforementioned apps, you can live frugally but still have enough money to enjoy your family’s favorite experiences.