Regardless of whether you earn a good salary or you’ve just been let go, technology can help you lower your living expenses. This article will give you 10 tips for using apps, websites, and more to save money during a recession.
1. Coupon Websites
If you are going to buy a product at full price, you should always look to see if you can get it for less first. Coupon websites are an excellent starting point, and regardless of where you live, you should be able to find something that serves your local area.
Coupon websites can help you save money in multiple ways. You can get discounts when shopping for consumer items, such as headphones and clothes. On top of that, you can save money when shopping at grocery stores and more. Examples of popular coupon websites and add-ons include Honey and Swagbucks.
2. Signing Up for Newsletters
Many of your favorite companies will have newsletters, and you will find that several offer sign-up offers—especially in the retail sector. You might receive a discount on your first order if you want to shop for clothes. Meanwhile, some retailers will give you free shipping when you join their mailing list.
If you’re into fitness, you can also find significant discounts when signing up for newsletters. For example, websites selling supplements—like protein powder—will often send you a code that you can use to save money when you first buy.
Once you’ve signed up for a newsletter, you can always subscribe if you don’t like the content they share. You’ll typically see an option to manage your preferences at the bottom of each email you receive.
3. Using Banking Apps That Give You an Overview of Your Spending Habits
Online banking has made it much easier for people to manage their finances on the go. Many of the newer mobile banking apps, along with many traditional institutions, divide your spending habits into multiple categories. Examples include utilities, entertainment, and groceries.
When choosing a banking service, checking to see that you can break down your spending on a more granular level is a good idea. Examples of banks that let you do this include:
Monzo (Available for UK residents only) Chase BMO (Predominantly Canada)
4. Creating Piggy Banks in Online Banking Accounts
When budgeting, you will want to ensure that your money doesn’t all end up in one account. Understanding what you’ve allocated to each area of your life will become much trickier if it does. Luckily, creating additional places to store your cash has never been easier.
Many mobile-only banks have piggy banks you can create. The name differs depending on where you go; Revolut calls them vaults, whereas Monzo refers to them as pots. However, the concept is the same.
When creating piggy banks, you can set savings goals—and you can also choose when you want to achieve those objectives by. You can make these piggy banks for luxuries like travel, but you might also find them useful when allocating money toward your monthly bills.
5. Identifying Places With a Lower Cost of Living
Moving to a new place isn’t possible for everyone, and in some cases, you might want to stay where you are. If you’ve got the means to move elsewhere, however, you can reduce your monthly living costs quite significantly.
You will find several websites that give an overview of how much you can expect to pay per month in different destinations. For example, NomadList provides a breakdown of prices for expats and nomads—and you’ll also see how much tax you can expect to pay on different earning categories.
Moving somewhere with a lower cost of living is much easier if you have a remote job, or you’re a freelancer. If either of those are things you’d be interested in trying, you can find several websites that list remote job openings.
6. Comparing Phone and Utility Bill Prices to Save More Money
House utilities and phone bills are two of the places where you have several options to save money. And if you feel like you’re spending too much money on either (or both), you can compare costs for several suppliers that operate in your local area.
Like finding coupon websites, you will find various sites to compare phone and utility prices. MoneySuperMarket and Compare the Market are two excellent starting points; in addition to comparing deals, you will also find several other helpful resources for keeping costs low.
7. Student Discounts
If you’re a student, you can typically save money on plenty of websites with student discounts. Streaming services like Spotify, for example, let you use their premium services for less money if you can prove you’re studying at an educational institution.
When looking for tech gadgets, you can similarly save money if you prove that you’re a student. For example, the Apple Student Discount will allow you to pay less for new MacBooks and several other products.
8. Shopping List Apps
Grocery shopping is another area where you can save significant money if you shop smartly. You still want to purchase nutritious food, as your health is just as important as finances—but you don’t need to pay a premium when doing so.
One of the best ways to save money when grocery shopping is to plan what you’re going to buy beforehand. Your Notes app is more than good enough for a simple checklist, and Notion will do a similar job.
You can also use apps like Recipe Keeper and Yummly to stick to your shopping list better.
9. Selling Tech You No Longer Use
If you want to use technology to save money during a recession, consider selling gadgets you no longer use. Many households will have old smartphones, computers, and cameras that do little besides gathering dust on the shelf.
You will find several websites to sell tech gear that’s no longer useful to you. For example, if you’re a photographer, you can use second-hand websites like MPB and CameraWorld. Once you’ve sold your old equipment, you can choose to either pocket that money or use it to fund a new purchase.
10. Setting Monthly Spending Limits in Your Banking App
Creating piggy banks and savings accounts are helpful. Categorizing your spending is also useful. But if you want to set a strict budget, you should strongly consider setting monthly spending limits in your online banking app.
If you’re still getting to grips with budgeting, setting limits can help stop you from making unnecessary purchases. Several apps allow you to do this, including N26 and Lloyds TSB.
Recessions Are a Challenge, But You Can Still Ease the Impact
Even during tough economic times, you still have some degree of control over your spending. And thanks to technology, you will find several places to save money. You can use coupons, set spending limits, sell your old equipment, and much more.
Looking at your current outgoings is a starting point when trying to save money. From there, you can determine where you can cut costs or make slight adjustments.
