5 Free Apps that are Drastically Improving My Life and My Bank Account
By: Milana Edwards | @milanalchemista
1. Mint
Do you know what your spending your money on? Mint does. Mint knows you spent $200.00 dollars this month at Starbucks. Mint knows you paid your student loan bill late. Mint knows that you got out of control on Ebay last week, and Mint is judging you accordingly. Sync your debit and credit card and let Mint shame you into saving money. It also has other really useful features like determining your net worth, finding better credit card offer for you, and helping you plan your retirement. You’ll get alerts when you’ve overspent one of your budgets, if there are any credit inquiries on your account, and it will remind you when your bills are due.
2. Mealtime
Mealtime has got your back. This service will make meal plans for between 2-8 meals a week tailored to your meal preferences (yes you can select Vegan as an option). All the recipes are delicious, nutritious, and can be made in under 30 minutes! Besides the fact that this app took me from an expert cereal pourer to a person who know how zest a lemon, I especially love that it generates a grocery list for your meals. This feature is obviously my favorite because all of your meals will use the same items- no wasted food or money to speak of.
3. Nike Running Club
Listen, I’m not here for gym memberships. I had a personal trainer for 6 months, paid 200 dollars a month, and never dropped a pound. Then I started a Nike Challenge and lost 10 in 1 month. I’m not saying quit the gym, but I am saying reconsider what you really need. With Nike, I get a built in coach, a fitness tracker, and even different programs tailored to my level. With its focus on proper cardio training, this app really helped me torch calories and keep real time accurate track of the work I was doing and I didn’t have to pay a gross gym rat to help.
4. Cash App
Tired of always paying because your friend ‘doesn’t have cash?’ Well, whoever made the Cash App was too. Now, with no more than a text, you can request or send cash to and from your friends. Now watch how easy it is to split an Uber ride.
5. Hopper
Hopper is a flight watching app, and it is genius. If you travel a few times a year, you know the terror that is watching a flight you’ve already purchased drop in price. Hopper will scour the internet for flight prices and use a predictive algorithm to determine if your flight is at its lowest price and will advise you to either buy now or wait a little until prices drop. Now you can max and relax instead crying on the phone with United Airlines lying about a death in the family for a refund (just me?).
