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Save money on your next shopping trip with mobile coupons

Amber Sass

Amber Sass

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With the advent of the smartphone, quite a few everyday tasks have become easier. You can now keep up with your emails in a matter of seconds, take pictures andshare them with friends, all without having to find a computer. The technology keeps growing as well. With Google’s release of Gingerbread a few months back, phones can even be used as credit card substitutes in some instances.

Now you can use your phone to take advantage of great deals based on where you shop and even what you’re looking to buy. Time to get rid of your Sunday coupons. There’ll be no more arduous newspaper clipping projects for you. Here are some great apps for your iPhone that will help you save a bundle.

MobiQpons: This handy little app uses your current location to bring you coupons valid in stores closest to you. MobiQpons tracks your location and uses it to sort coupons within about a 10 mile radius. You also have the option of manually adding your location, either by city or zip code, or sorting by the coupon’s product category. Overall, it’s a great way of saving money, especially if you live in a larger city where there are more opportunities for store savings. Just be sure to ask store owners or cashiers the best way to redeem each coupon. Most don’t come with a bar code.

Grocery Gadget: At first glance, this app seems to have nothing to do with coupons and instead appears to simply allow you to create a list of grocery items you need to buy on your next shopping trip. A closer look, however, will reveal an integrated coupon feature. Based on the items in your grocery list, this app scours nearby stores and pulls up any related coupons, complete with a bar code to be scanned for your discount at the register. Note that you do need to sign up for an online service to make use of the coupons. The process is relatively simple however.

Shopkick: This app uses a GPS tracker to locate stores you’re within a certain range of. A signal is then sent to participating stores allows you to earn points toward discounts on specific store items. The points are known as kickbucks, and much like Foursquare you can earn more kickbucks by doing certain things at specific stores like scanning an item with your device’s camera. Kickbucks can also be used to donate to over 30 different charities. Right now, Shopkick is only available in a select few larger U.S. metropolitan areas, but the service promises to expand quickly.

Amazon Price Check: Instantaneously check and compare the prices of store products with Amazon.com’s own inventory with this app. If your device has a built-in camera, you can scan in product bar codes, or even snap a picture of the product you’re interested in. Price Check provides customer reviews and ratings straight from Amazon’s main website as well If you like what you see, you can even buy the product online. Although it’s not technically a coupon app, it does allow you to make informed purchase decisions and potentially save a lot of money in the process.

Amber Sass

Amber Sass

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