I don’t know about you, but after a long summer at home with my three boys, I tend to have a whole lot of emotions about back-to-school shopping—both good and bad. I’m excited for them to be advancing into new things: new classes, new teachers, new lessons, new friends, etc. And I’m excited for myself, too, because let’s just say that things are a bit quieter around my house when school is in session. If you have kids, I bet you know exactly what I mean. I’m also excited for the guys to get some spiffy new clothes. 

However, what I’m least excited about is all of the money we have to spend each year on new wardrobes plus, the mountain of school supplies that their exciting new classes require us to purchase. In recent years, I’ve found an exciting new way to make that cost a heck of a lot easier by using a shopping app. This helps to make sure I get the best back-to-school deals.  

By all means, enjoy your newfound free time that comes with having the kids go back to class. But don’t get too bummed out by all the money you’re going to have to spend. By the time we’re done here today, you’ll have all the know-how and expertise on how to get the best back-to-school deals.

How to Get Back to School Deals on Your Smartphone

When I was a kid, we only got to shop for back-to-school clothes once the prices were discounted. I swear, my mom had an extra sense of knowing when the best back-to-school deals were and once she found them, she would swoop in like a hawk. We didn’t get to go to just any store we wanted—no—we got to go to the one my mom knew had the best prices!

Things are different nowadays, or at least for me, they are. I didn’t inherit my mom’s uncanny abilities to find the best back-to-school deals, but I do have newer technology that can help me generate those deals on my own. The concept I’m talking about is a shopping app that you can use to get rewards and deals for shopping that you do every day. Never heard of it? That’s okay, until recently neither had I. That’s why in the next section I’m going to explain what this concept is and how it works!

What is a Shopping App?

Simply put, a third-party shopping app is an app that you download to your phone and it helps you save money when you’re out shopping. Believe it or not, there’s a pretty wide variety of these apps, and as a result, you’ll have some choices about how you can save money. It really behooves you, though, to find the type that works best for you.

Here are the different types of shopping apps I’ve used in the past:

• Coupon Apps: Coupon apps are basically digital approximations of old-school paper coupons. You either use them at checkout, while you shop online or after making a purchase. There are a lot of different apps, and some of them take money off your bill in advance while others funnel your savings into an account you can cash out later.
• Store-Branded Apps: Store-branded apps are apps offered by big stores like Target, Best Buy or Walmart. Some of them give you points that you can cash in for gift cards, while others alert you to new sales and deals or automatically scan prices in your area to match the lowest.
• Third-Party Shopping Apps: This last category is my favorite. These are special third apps that give you points for the shopping that you do every day, points that you can then trade in later for gift cards. In the next section, I’ll tell you about my personal favorite!

The Best Third-Party Shopping Apps for Back to School Deals

Now that you know about the different ways to get back-to-school deals on your smartphone, as well as what a third-party shopping app is, it’s time to talk about my personal favorite: Shopkick. How it works is super easy. You just go out to do your back-to-school shopping like you normally do, making sure that you’re going to one of the many stores that partner with the app. Then the app gives you rewards—which it calls kicks—for the things you do while you’re out shopping already, things like walking into stores, going down aisles browsing products, and making purchases. Then you trade your points in for gift cards. It’s that easy.

There are tons of ways that Shopkickers can earn rewards right from the app—no need to go anywhere.

But I think my overall favorite thing about Shopkick is you don’t even have to technically go anywhere to use it. In fact, there are tons of ways that Shopkickers can earn rewards right from the app—no need to go anywhere. These include kicks for watching videos and instant surprise kicks from going on Easter egg hunts in the app. Users can also get amazing deals where you can earn big points and rewards by shopping on your phone at stores like Amazon and Walmart. If you’re a modern, online shopper like me, you are going to love Shopkick, both for back-to-school deals and for the shopping you do on the regular basis.

I hope you learned a lot today, especially when it comes to using Shopkick to save money. Back-to-school time is one of my favorite parts of the year. Don’t get me wrong, I love it when my boys are around the house all summer, but it’s nice to see them engaged and excited about something new.

Once you start earning back-to-school deals with an amazing app like Shopkick, trust me, you’ll find yourself enjoying it even more. You’ll go from worrying about your budget to being excited about all the free time that’s headed your own way in the fall.

Looking for a way to earn the best back-to-school deals on your smartphone? Download Shopkick for free and join a community of Shopkickers who love the rewards of shopping with us!

Or join us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and check in every day on your phone, no matter where you are, to learn about the hottest, newest deals.

Image courtesy Rido81