Paying off student loans is stressful and can make it feel like all your hard-earned money is going solely towards your minimum monthly payment, not leaving much leftover for anything else.
With these five money-saving apps, you can work towards saving up some extra cash to line your pockets or to store away for a rainy day.
1. Mint
Mint is a service created by Intuit that allows you to keep track of your monthly budget, bills, credit score and even retirement and investment accounts all in one easy, free app.
By linking your accounts, credit cards and bills, you can easily see what assets you have, and what you owe.
Mint even does most of the work for you!
The app tracks your tracks your spending patterns and cash flow and creates a personalized budget for you.
As Mint tracks your spending, it also provides tips and advice for saving money and stretching your dollar as far as it can go.
Anyone looking to get on track with their finances and be more aware of their monthly spending, this is the app for you.
2. Shopkick
Shopkick is an app that allows you to earn reward points, called “kicks.”
You can earn kicks in-store and online, then redeem your accumulated kicks for free gift cards at various retailers.
Kicks can be earned a multitude of ways, even by simply walking into partner stores.
You can also earn kicks just by scanning barcodes of certain products in-store, visiting online partner websites, viewing certain products online and by watching in-app videos.
That’s right, earn kicks without even having to spend a dollar!
Of course, you can also earn kicks by spending money with partner retailers, either by making your purchase with a linked card on the Shopkick app, submitting your receipt, or by making online purchases through Shopkick.
3. Ibotta
Ibotta is an app that allows you to earn real money for shopping.
Yes – cash!
All you have to do is download the app, browse through the current offers in the product category and choose the products in which you are interested.
Each time you complete a simple “task” on Ibotta (i.e. sharing on Facebook, taking a poll, etc.), pending cash is added to your Ibotta account.
Once you actually purchase the products you selected from a verified Ibotta retailer and submit your receipt, the cash is then transferred to your PayPal account.
4. Groupon
Groupon has been around for a while now, and is a great resource to save money on items and activities in your area.
Looking for a new restaurant to try or wanting to treat yourself to a massage or maybe try a new workout class?
Check Groupon and you could save as much as 50-90% off diverse deals close to you!
Digit
Digit helps you save money by doing practically nothing.
Once Digit is linked to your checking account, it automatically analyzes your spending and income, then transfers a minimal amount (typically a few dollars) into an FDIC-insured savings account every day.
You can control how much money is saved each day, and instruct the app to take out more or less simply by sending a text message.