Our college years are transition periods where we learn to navigate the sometimes rocky (OK–often rocky) landscape of adulthood.
Finances are no exception, but this list of apps is here to offer you some creative money-saving solutions, both local and national, that are sure to help you keep your finances in check.
After all, research shows that college students often experience financial stress, according to a study by Pennsylvania State University reported that 37.7% of students part of a study evaluated their present financial state as often or always stressful.
- Hooked
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The first (and my personal favorite) app to help you embark on your money-saving ambitions is Hooked.
This app is perfect for scoring food deals if you find yourself longing to explore Gainesville’s food scene – or just for whenever you’ve had one-too-many pb&j sandwiches or ramen noodle bowls to count (we’ve all been there).
It’s designed specifically for students and features restaurants that are offering promotions, which vary by time and day.
The restaurants are listed in order of distance closest to your location, but you can select restaurants to view based on what you’re currently craving, according to categories like “fast food,” “healthy,” “smoothies” or “pizza.”
You can even see the schedule for all deals to be featured that day.
Hooked has plenty of options like Smoothie King, Blaze Pizza, Big Mill’s Cheesesteaks, Subway and Grub Burger Bar.
All you have to do to redeem is swipe on each deal at the restaurant before the timer runs out.
If you subscribe to the Gold membership, you also get free food and access to more deals each month.
- GCM
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Going beyond just food, Gift Certificates and More offers digital gift certificates that deliver discounts at restaurants in town, along with a few deals redeemable at local retail stores and service providers.
The deals are redeemed like gift cards, so no minimum purchase is necessary to redeem each offer.
This app can save you cash on anything from your next lunch in between classes at Gator BTW to brunch at The Flying Biscuit.
You can even select a category of food to browse or which area of town you’ll be in, like Butler Plaza or Midtown, and the app will make suggestions for customized deals.
The discounts typically range from $2 to $5 off and are each redeemable once a month.
Each user is granted two certificate redemptions a month, but the app features an option for a paid subscription that awards more.
- Shopkick
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Whether you dread going grocery shopping or love stocking up on your fave foods, Shopkick is bound to make the experience more fruitful.
It uses a point-based system which can be redeemed for a gift card of your choosing – think Walmart, Amazon, Starbucks, Ulta and many more.
You can earn points by enabling Bluetooth, opening the app and simply walking into grocery stores like Publix, Target or Walmart.
Not only this, but the app has featured items in each store that you can find and scan using your phone camera, earning you additional points.
You can even earn points by submitting your receipts from certain purchases.
Shopkick goes beyond just grocery stores and convenience stores, however – you can also earn points at stores like Marshalls, OfficeMax, Best Buy, ULTA Beauty and T.J. Maxx.
- PocketPoints
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Do you feel proud of yourself when you have a productive day in class? If not, at least PocketPoints is proud of you!
You can accumulate points for rewards on this app by allowing it to use your location and then keeping your phone locked while on campus or while you are driving.
After all, cellphone users interact with their phones an average of 2,617 times a day, according to a study conducted by Dscout.
This app helps you to keep this number down and stay focused.
Points earned can be redeemed for coupons like BOGO subs at Larry’s Giant Subs, 20% off any apparel or gift item at the UF bookstore and 10% off at ASOS.
- Unidays
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Unidays offers exclusive discounts for students for a variety of online retailers.
You just have to create an account using your student email and verify that you go to UF.
Then, you’re all set to access deals from Kate Spade New York, Calvin Klein, Boohoo, Nasty Gal, Tarte and Too Faced – just to name a few.
- Honey Smart Shopping Assistant
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Honey, a web extension for your computer, acts as a one-stop service that combs through all of the coupons available at the stores you love.
It automatically applies them when you shop through the app, and it even allows you to check out all at once, even if your cart has items from multiple stores.
- Drop
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After linking your debit or credit card to this app, you will automatically earn points any time you shop (and use the same card) at one of the two stores you chose to link your card to (I chose Trader Joe’s and Chipotle).
You can also shop in-app at any number of stores Drop is partnered with to earn more points.
You can redeem your points for gift cards at places like Dunkin’ Donuts, Uber and Amazon.
What are you waiting for? Get to downloading and start your money-saving ventures now!