These days, Canadians share two unrelated traits – very few of us, the vast majority, aren’t savers. And as well, nearly all of us, a majority, have a smart phone.

Could one attribute help fix the other? Save with SPP had a look around to see if there are any money-saving apps out there, and whether people think they work.

According to Global News, a great app for those who love to clip coupons is Checkout 51. With this app, Global explains, you don’t present coupons at the cash. Instead, you scan your receipt using the app and get money back via cheque.

“After you purchase items on the list you photograph and upload your receipt via the app. The receipt gets checked and once approved (usually within 48 hours) the money you earned gets added to your account. Once you hit $20 a cheque is mailed out to you,” the article explains.

Global also recommends an app called Gas Buddy which tells you where the cheapest gas prices are in your area, using GPS.

Over at the Maple Money blog, among the apps recommended for us Canucks is Mint, which “helps you track your spending, and also alerts you to when you’ve spend too much (or if you get charged a fee for something). In addition to those things, Mint also offers a bunch of money saving tips to help you manage your money better,” the article states.

They also like Flipp which alerts you to flyers for your area after you enter your postal code.

The CBC likes a number of these apps, and also E-bates which is now known as Rakuten. With E-bates, the network notes, you are basically being paid to shop.” Every time you make a purchase through one of their verified vendors, E-bates will send you a cheque. That’s cash back on top of the regular sales your favorite stores are having – and bonus, the app rounds all the deals up for you as well. E-bates earns a commission every time you make a purchase through their website, and instead of keeping it, they pass it on to you,” the network suggests.

Save with SPP can’t vouch for any of these except for E-bates; we have used it for years and yes, when you accumulate enough savings they’ll send you a cheque. It’s sort of like using a cash back card. We will give some of these other ones a try.

Let’s face it – the cost of living never seems to go down, so any app that offers a chance to save you some cash is probably worth at least trying out.

That extra cash, money that you didn’t earn and is thus “free,” can be used for any number of good things. Saving for retirement seems near the top of the list – perhaps the newfound cash can find its way into your Saskatchewan Pension Plan account, where it will grow into future retirement income. And maybe it all starts with a few clicks on an app!

Written by Martin Biefer
	Martin Biefer is Senior Pension Writer at Avery & Kerr Communications in Nepean, Ontario. A veteran reporter, editor and pension communicator, he’s now a freelancer. Interests include golf, line dancing and classic rock. He and his wife live with their Shelties, Duncan and Phoebe, and cat, Toobins. You can follow him on Twitter – his handle is @AveryKerr22

By Sheryl Smolkin

I like a bargain as much as the next person, but I must confess I have a long way to go when it comes to browsing flyers for competitive prices and making sure I am in the right place at the right time to pay the lowest price for the groceries and household items we use regularly.

I never had the time to carefully peruse every sale supplement that is stuffed into my mailbox and since we cancelled print copies of the newspaper and signed up for the Toronto Star Replica Edition and Globe2Go Digital Replica Edition, I don’t even see most of them regularly.

That’s why I was intrigued by the reference by Squawkfox, one of my favourite bloggers to the Flipp app which allows users to browse the brands they love, clip items straight to their shopping list, and highlight top deals across flyers. The app is available for Apple (The App Store), Android (Google play) and BlackBerry (BlackBerry World) phones and tablets and can be downloaded for free.

I recently added the app to both my BlackBerry and my iPad. I was asked to enter my postal code and to give the app permission to update regularly even when I am not using Flipp. This ensures that the online flyers displayed relate to places in my geographical area where I might typically shop.

Just for fun, I put in the Saskatchewan Pension Plan’s postal code, SOL 1S0. This sent me to a screen with thumbprints of 62 current flyers. In the top right hand corner it noted that the list was updated 26 minutes ago. You can open any flyer to full screen size to see exactly the same pictures and information as in the flyers stuffed in your daily newspaper.

The first thing I noticed was that the majority of the stores were familiar national chains such as Toys ‘R Us, Hudson’s Bay, The Source, Pet Smart and M&M meats. Since SPP is located in Kindersley Saskatchewan, anyone living there would have to drive about 200 km to Saskatoon to take advantage of specials at Hudson’s Bay or Pet Smart, but The Source does have an outlet in Kindersley. Also Hudson’s Bay has online shopping for some sale items.

When it comes to groceries, there is a Walmart, Extra Foods and a Co-op in Kindersley, but again to shop at the Real Canadian Superstore consumers would have to hit the road. And the IGA in Leader, Saskatchewan about an hour away isn’t currently listed at all. But I was able to request that it be added to my list.

In order to create a list of items you want to buy, all you have to do is open a flyer, press on the item which will then be circled in yellow. When you go back to the flyers screen and touch “clippings,” it will send you to a screen where your clippings appear under the name of each store.

You can edit the list by tapping “edit” on the top right hand corner of the screen and then a “trash can” will appear on your clipping and by touching it, the item will disappear. You can even ask to be notified when clippings will expire soon and when you are near a store with specials you have clipped.

Although I originally downloaded Flipp to my BlackBerry, I much prefer using it on the iPad because it has a much bigger screen. However, that means in order to effectively take advantage of the app I would have to carry the iPad around with me most of the time. That’s not really convenient because it doesn’t fit in my purse, it is breakable and it can easily be stolen. Also, I don’t have an iPad data plan, so unless there is free wifi where I shop, I’m out of luck.

Nevertheless, I think Flipp on a smartphone could be very useful for people in larger urban centres where there are a broad range of stores that regularly send out flyers. For example, I put in my Toronto area code and my two favourite grocery stores Longos and Sobeys were listed along with other major chain and specialty stores.

Whether you use Flipp occasionally when you are looking for particular items at a good price or when you make your weekly grocery list, it is an easy to use, practical app. Of course if your perennial favourite is Costco (which is not on the list), you can check their website, sign up for emails or enjoy an old-fashioned stroll around the store munching on free samples while you compare prices.