Sick of feeling like you’re wasting time on your phone, when you could be doing something more productive? Well, there could be ways that you can leverage the technology to your benefit, without going cold turkey entirely. Here are some of the types of apps that you should be downloading.
Apps to help you save
Most people nowadays have their online banking apps readily available to help them check their funds in an instant, or even their credit/debit cards hooked up to their bank in order to help them pay for things more securely and easily. However, there are a range of other financial apps out there that you can get started with, from simple reminders and programmes aimed at helping you to plan your finances, to even AI advisors that assess your spending habits and let you know what you can tweak and change to get better.
Some great examples include Mint and Cleo, and The Big Investment blog has a good piece on some handy apps if you want to look into this sort of thing. Ultimately, money is a massive concern for most of us in our everyday lives, and so having these additional tools at your disposal can be a great help. Better still, as with a lot of software you’ll see on the app stores out there, many of this stuff is free to download and try, and so worst case scenario you can just delete apps and move on if you find something that doesn’t suit you.
Apps to help you earn
Of course, saving money here and there is fantastic, but what about if you want to use your mobile phone to help you earn some money, too? Well, there are plenty of apps out there to help you grow your money into something greater, such as MoneyBox, for example, which rounds up the change spent on everyday purchases (e.g. the £0.20 left from a £1.80 coffee) and puts it into an investment portfolio. Of course, you can also gain investment information free of charge through your mobile phone, such as the latest on the property market from RWinvest, who offer mobile friendly guides and podcasts on some of the latest and greatest areas across the UK.
Quick Cash – If you want to make some extra money in a pinch by selling some of your old stuff, it’s never been easier to snap and sell using apps like eBay, for furniture/electronics you no longer need, or Depop, for selling on clothes that no longer fit or you don’t wear anymore.
If you spend a lot of time on social media apps like Facebook or Instagram, you’ll notice a lot of advertisements for products and services that appeal to you, based on data showing the sorts of things you search for and enjoy. Perhaps look at this and think about what you could advertise and sell to like-minded people, and use social media in that way. This sort of small business idea might take a little bit more time and effort than simply downloading an app, but it’s interesting to know that it can all be done through your smartphone alone.
Apps to help you learn if you are Sick of wasting time
Phones are perhaps a big contributor to wasted time, and a lot of us find ourselves scrolling social media without noticing, or putting hours into surface level games just to pass the time. So, what if you could substitute these mindless games with something that’s still fun and yet productive, learning something in the process? If you take a look at an app like Duolingo, for example, it takes the language learning process and simplifies it into bite-sized, level-based chunks. You’ll get points for how well you do, and you can compete with friends and family in tournaments, gamifying the process. Try something like this, and you’ll find that you’re garnering a new, transferrable skill, while also passing the time. It’s a win-win.