Ever since I became a mom, I’ve come to have a much stronger appreciation for the phrase: it takes a village. The main reason is that I don’t know how I could have made it through the early years of motherhood without advice from my friends who’d already been through everything I was experiencing. They were able to pass down baby clothes but more than that they also gave me invaluable advice about when to call a doctor, how to feed, what to do when my new baby started crying in the night, and so on.

I don’t even remember now all the exact recommendations they gave me, I just know that never in a million years will I ever be able to pay all of my good friends back. That, however, will not stop me from trying! One of the best ways I’ve found to payback this advice is by giving my friends tips about good coupon apps. I’m pretty good about finding as many great ways as I can to save money while I’m out shopping, and sharing them with my friends (plus also all of you) is the least I can do to express my appreciation for all that advice they gave me as a new mother.

And I’m happy to share my opinions about good coupon apps with all of you, too! Not only can these save you money, but, who knows, maybe someday you too will need to give some of your friends the best advice about shopping that you can muster. That’s why today I would like to talk about good coupon apps to share with friends. Just like with raising kids, maximizing our savings at the store truly takes a village.

What Are Good Coupon Apps in General?

Before we get into good coupon apps to share with friends, we must first make sure that we have a standard operating definition of a coupon app. It’s hard, after all, to talk about what makes something a good app if some of us are confused by the very concept. Luckily, this isn’t all that hard of a concept to grasp, since as the name implies it’s based on old-school coupon clipping that most of us have been familiar with for years!

Simply put, a coupon app digitizes the experience of saving money while you’re out shopping at the store. For some of these apps, it means that you are literally taking pictures of or scanning the physical copies of coupons that come in the junk mail all the time. For others, it means you can access and benefit from a larger database of digital coupons online and selecting some of the best deals for you. My favorite type of digital coupon app, however, is one that gives you reward points for shopping behaviors that you do already each time you go out to the store, but more on that below!

What Are Good Coupon Apps to Share with My Friends?

My absolutely favorite digital coupon app is called Shopkick, and how it works is exactly as I described above: you go to the store like normal and you earn points for doing what you usually do there, including making purchases, scanning barcodes to learn more about certain items, and just walking into the store. Then you can trade those points that you earn in for gift cards that you can use at your favorite stores in the future to help save on your costs. It’s such a great way to save money that I just can’t tell my friends about it enough. 

I also really like Shopkick because hunting for points through the app turns all my little trips to the store into a scavenger hunt for savings. Sharing it with my friends has been a lot of fun, too, because now it’s like we’re all on one big team, working together to help maximize all of your savings! It’s really brought us closer together than we have been since we all got so busy with our kids, and that in itself makes it all worthwhile! Another great thing about Shopkick is that you can use it together with one of the more traditional coupon apps that I mentioned above, driving your savings up even higher!

Shopkick works at such a wide variety of stores, that I’m truly amazed at how much I’ve been able to save in my budget.

So, there you have it. I would say that Shopkick is a good coupon app to share with friends because it delivers more than just savings. Yes, it actually gives you a way to bond over your trips to the store, turning you into a team of shoppers who share where they found the most points. Saving is great, but sharing your victorious savings stories with your friends is just so much better!

I remember one of the best pieces of advice I got as a new mother was to make the most of all the money I spend on the kids, to look for deals on things like diapers, formula, baby food, toys, and, most especially, clothes, since they grow out of them so quick. Shopkick works at such a wide variety of stores, that I’m truly amazed at how much I’ve been able to save in my budget. Having my friends with me for the ride is a wonderful bonus, too.

Looking for a good coupon app that you can share with any and all of your best friends? 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 jovanmandic