The Apps I’ve Had to Delete to Save Money
There are a lot of great apps that you can put on your phone. I’m an iPhone user myself so it’s easy to find tons of stuff in the App Store. Some are fun, some are productive, and some add a lot of convenience to my life. However, over time, I’ve had to delete quite a few apps. Why? They were wasting my money. Let me tell you more about it apps deleted to save money.
The Apps Are Free But Using Them Isn’t
Let me start off by saying that I almost never pay for apps. There are enough great free tools out there that I don’t need to pay for apps. However, just because an app is free to download doesn’t mean that it’s free to use. There are a few variations on this:
- Apps that are free for a limited amount of time then a fee kicks in
- Apps that allow very limited functionality for free but if you want to get the best parts then you have to pay a fee
- Other apps are free but only if you accept a lot of ads
- The apps that are free but you can pay for perks within the app, often found in games
- The apps that we use to purchase things
The Game App That Cost Me A Small Fortune
I play a lot of dumb little games on my phone. It’s a way to mindlessly pass the time when I’m trying to wind down. Usually I have on a podcast or TV show in the background. It’s mellow time. I’ve always downloaded free apps. If a game has too many ads to tolerate, I’ll delete it instead of getting the paid version. Moreover, if a game asks you to buy things like “power ups,” then I’m usually good at ignoring that.
However, Match 3d got me. What can I say – it was all in the timing. I discovered the game at a time when I just needed to do a lot of zoning out. I was not in a good headspace. The game was good at sucking me in. And so when it asked me to buy more lives (or whatever they’re called in the game – thankfully it’s been awhile since I’ve played so my mind has forgotten), I would hit that button. It’s so easy to just spend $4.99 here and then $19.99 there. I only did this for a month but I racked up a lot in that month and regretted it. App deleted.
Apps That Make It Too Easy to Buy Things
This is the app category that really gets me. These are the apps that I used to purchase items out of pure convenience.
Food Delivery Apps Deleted to Save Money
For example, I had Postmates for a long time. I used it so often that I had a monthly membership. Since I had the membership, that somehow justified using it all of the time. Therefore, I found myself constantly opening the app and ordering delivery food. It’s absurd how many hundreds of dollars per month I spent on delivery food. Every time I had a craving, I’d order from Postmates. Even as I write this, my mouth is watering for food I don’t need right now at all. So, I had to delete the Postmates app.
That goes for all of the other food delivery apps as well. It’s just too much of an impulse for me. Grubhub, Uber Eats, Caviar, Toast … all deleted. Does this mean I never order delivery food? Of course not. However, I have to go on the website, order it manually, and that gives me the time necessary to think about whether or not I really want that meal.
Other Shopping Apps
I like buying secondhand clothes. I prefer to get them at a thrift store. However, I got a little bit hooked on ThredUP. While my first purchases were great, it became too much. I was ordering more clothes than I needed and wasting money. The app had to go.
Other Apps I Have To Be Careful With
There are a few apps that I still have on my phone but I’m watching my usage of them carefully. They include:
- Amazon. So far I’ve been able to use Amazon responsibly most of the time. I use it for Subscribe and Save auto-purchases for things like home cleaning supplies. But I do have to watch that this doesn’t become a similar-to-ThredUP problem.
- Lyft. I use it regularly. I have a Lyft Pink monthly membership. However, I’m considering going back to using public transit more. Maybe I’ll delete this app.
- Coinbase. I’ve recently gotten interested in cryptocurrency. I love the app because it teaches me a lot about the topic. Moreover, it gives me ways to earn little bits here and there just through watching videos. However, I do find it a little too easy to buy cryptocurrency on a whim with this app. So, we’ll see about this one.
- Stash. I use this to practice small stock investments. For a bit there, I was buying too much, I have debt to pay down so that’s not a good idea. I’ve gotten control of this one so I don’t have to delete it yet.
- SMBX. I use this to invest in small business bonds. The situation is similar to Stash. So far so good, but I’m watching it carefully.
Do you have apps that are costing you too much money? Which ones?
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