Five Friday Finds :: Awesome Money Saving Apps

1. Gas Buddy— It's helpful to look up where the cheapest gas is close to you (especially nice when traveling), but we've found the price hike alerts even more helpful in saving money. We can fill up before the prices spike.

2. Cartwheel by Target— This app allows you to select mobile coupons, stack them with paper coupons and save on what you buy at Target (it even shows you coupons specifically to use with things that are already on sale!).

3. Craft Store Apps— Jo-Ann, Michael's and Hobby Lobby apps allow you to access you coupons while you're standing in line. No more getting to the store and realizing you forgot your flier or coupons. 40% off, at your fingertips. And you can use coupons at competitor stores. (Note that the Michael's app requires you to register first.)

4. Shopkick— Shopkick rewards you with points for walking into different stores, and the points can be redeemed for gift cards. Additional points can be earned for scanning barcodes of specific items in store. That part is like a scavenger hunt for adults!

5. Redlaser— This app will tell you the best price on an item (either online or in a brick and mortar store) when you scan a product bar code, and can give you heads up on available coupons.

To Buy or Not to Buy

When my husband decided to go back to school, we set a goal to get out of school with $0 in student loans. To do this means not only will we not be taking out any for this degree, but we'll have the remaining bit from his masters degree paid off too. And then when he is finished we will be free and clear!

Which sounds great written up there, but really it stinks. We are so tired of renting. We've been looking for a house for 5 years now and haven't found anything that we like and is in our price range. Sad, isn't it. We've been meeting with a builder for the last month and things looked like they were on track for a house we liked, in a neighborhood we liked, for the price we wanted. Only, the builder was way off his original estimate, which in turn put the final price way over our budget.

Now here's the dilemma. If we didn't care about student loans and took out more to pay for this degree, and we quit making payments on the existing loans--because hey--they're in deferment anyway, then it would free up an extra $500 a month we could add on to a mortgage payment. Which obviously means our price range for a house would go up significantly. But then when he graduates we will be looking at a pile of student loans to pay back. Which we don't want.

On the other hand, if we buy or build a house then ideally when he graduates we will have equity in a home. Which we won't have by renting.

So the question is, is student loan debt and equity a better way to go than starting at zero when he graduates?