Be a superhero by using these free apps

Over the past few years, I’ve been able to download and try hundreds of paid and free apps. Some I liked, others I deleted immediately, and some have become favorites. Below is a selection of free apps you should be using. That said, if you’re aware of any I’m missing, please call them out in the comments.

Privacy

Privacy.com‘s free option allows users to create up to 12 debit cards per month. These cards are either merchant-locked or single-use and allow you to easily set spend limits, pause or close them permanently. What does all this mean? Let me explain how I use it and you’ll get the idea.

I have a separate card for each of my subscription services as well as sites I occasionally purchase things from online. For subscriptions, I have monthly limits set for a few cents over the actual fee so they cannot increase rates without me knowing. If they do, the translation will be declined. I also pause the card after each online transaction from stores I don’t purchase through very often. This means that if the merchant were to get hacked and my Privacy.com card info exposed, nothing will happen. Mainly because the cards are locked to a single merchant but also because they’re paused and all transitions will be declined.

I also use a card for free trials. Immediately after signing up I pause the card so it can’t be billed. That way, I don’t have to remember to cancel the trial. When they try billing after the trial is over, declined.

Again, each card can only be used with a single company or merchant and the free version only lets you create 12 new cards each month. You can either create one time use burner cards or permanent cards. You can set per transaction limits, monthly limits, yearly limits, or a total limit. You can also pause, unpause, and close cards. Pretty cool stuff.

If you join Privacy through the link below, we’ll each get $5 to spend anywhere online so make sure you use my link. https://privacy.com/join/PEXBG

Gas buddy

Everybody knows where to get the cheapest gas where they live. For me, it’s Sam’s Club just down the street. Where GasBuddy shines is when you’re on the road or in unfamiliar areas.

My family and I often take road trips. As our fuel becomes low we pull up Gas Buddy and begin planning our pit stop. We’re not going to go too far out of the way just to fill up but I like knowing that simply driving to the next exit might save us a few bucks.

We always use it when returning rental cars. We look for the most affordable station near the rental location filling up on our way to drop the vehicle off. Some could argue that it’s more hassle than it’s worth and any money you save is spent driving out of your way. That’s why it’s important to weigh the reward and plan ahead.

I love it, use it often and can honestly say it’s saved me some coin.

Experian and Credit Karma

Dave Ramsey has the saying “cash is king”. That’s definitely true. But for those interested in knowing their overall financial standing and how they measure up, look at Experian and Credit Karma. Both offer a free version of their app that has a lot of detail. When you combine the two, you get a well-rounded view of your current credit score, credit history, and other items making up your financial well-being.

Experian also has what they call their “boost” where they use reoccurring bills to demonstrate payment history and even bump your credit score a bit. For me, I got a boost of 12 points.

Truebill

I recently started using TrueBill as a way to see my outflow of cash through subscriptions and other means. I then used this information and the Privacy app to make sure each subscription has its own card with limits set. I also found some subscriptions I no longer needed as was able to get them canceled. I love saving me some money.

Route

One of the most used apps in my phone, Route (when connected to your email) automagically pulls in the shipping data for online orders you’ve placed.

Conclusion

There’s a ton of great apps out there and some of those are free. As we take more photos, record more videos, space on our phone becomes more limited. Let’s only keep apps that add value and are awesome. I believe those in this list are just that, awesome. Definitely worth trying out if you don’t have them. Also, add any I’ve missed to the comment section. Maybe there’s will be a Free Apps You Should Be Using, Part 2.

Check out more of my thoughts be visiting https://boltonhustle.com/category/rhetts-thoughts/