5 Apps I Deleted To Save More Money
Design your phone to help your financial journey
One of my big goals for 2022, like many others, is to really focus on my finances and start to save money. I am tired of feeling like I am constantly living paycheck-to-paycheck despite making a fairly good income. So, I have been making many changes in my day-to-day life to stop spending so much money and truly start making real changes.
I recently wrote a post about changes I am making this year called, The New Year and Financial Self Improvement. But one of the biggest changes I have made is on my phone.
Our phones are with us all of the time. Maybe not 24/7 but pretty dang close to it. My average screen time throughout the week is five hours a day. Five whole hours I spend looking on my phone each day. A lot of that time is spent scrolling through various apps and, inevitably, buying something. To cut down my screentime and to limit how much money I spend, I deleted 5 different apps on my phone for 2022.
DoorDash
Doordash is a recent app that I said goodbye to. I swear last year I probably ordered food through a delivery app about twice a week, at least. I work from home and love cooking my own food. But, oftentimes, I would treat myself if I was bored with what I had at home or if I was feeling lazy.
Now, to be honest, I had all of the food delivery apps. Postmates, UberEats, Doordash, etc. As of January 1st, all of them are gone from my phone. Now I need to go through the whole process of downloading, setting up my info, and adding my payment info to get food delivered which makes it so much less tempting.
Poshmark
One of my biggest downfalls was second-hand clothing apps such as Poshmark and Depop. I love shopping and clothes are my downfall. When I was unemployed in 2021, I wasted so much money on these types of apps because I was bored and thought that buying clothes would help.
It is so easy to get sucked into these apps. I like to use them to sell my own clothes but, as clothes do not sell quickly, I would just scroll through them aimlessly. This often led to me spending money on things that I didn’t need. So, I said Goodbye to PoshMark and Depop.
Klarna
In the same realm, I decided to delete Klarna. If you don’t know, Klarna lets you pay for your shopping order in installments. It seems great as it lets you buy something while paying with multiple payments and 0% interest. It is so easy to look at an order of $500 but see that I only have to pay in installments of $125. With this setup you don’t immediately see the $500 leaving your bank account or hitting your credit card. Makes it seem less scary.
These apps essentially just set you up for a downfall. I would end up buying more products because it felt like less money coming directly out of my pocket. There is a new philosophy that I am trying to follow this year of not ruining my future for something that will only feel good momentarily.
“Stop stealing from your future self.” -Nicole Victoria, No Budget Babe.
The next app that I no longer have is Facebook. Now, to be honest, it is still downloaded on my phone, but I have removed it from my homepage. So, now, to go to Facebook I have to take extra steps. I have to search for the app and sign in each time.
I find that removing apps from your homepage is a fantastic way to cut down on screen time as the button isn’t in front of me so I won’t just aimlessly press it and scroll through that app. Removing Facebook has helped me save money because I no longer see all of the targeted ads and I don’t aimlessly look through Facebook marketplace. The marketplace is a dangerous yet sneaky area because you scroll through due to boredom and then see something that you “must” have.
Amazon
Finally, Amazon. I did it. I deleted the mother of all money-wasting apps. This was a hard decision. Like many people, I love Amazon. Like a lot. It has so much great stuff that delivers in two days? It is candy for a shopaholic.
I loved Amazon. I had lists of stuff that I wanted. Anytime I thought of something new I might like, I immediately went to Amazon. I probably spent at least 30% of my time on my phone on Amazon. So, right after Christmas, I decided that it was time to go. I haven’t had the app on my phone since New Years Day and I honestly haven’t missed it.
Part of my wanting to be more mindful with my money is to also start shopping small and buying more quality items instead of just having quantity. If you suffer from chronic impulse shopping, then I highly suggest deleting Amazon.
Heading towards financial wellness
After making these small changes on my phone, I have already felt much lighter this month. I have seen a huge change in my savings and have a plan to be debt-free by time I am 30 (about 4 years away). There are so many ways that we can make our phones work with us instead of against us. Deleting apps is just the beginning.
If you liked this article and want to follow along on my financial wellness journey, please consider following me and subsribing to my emails. If you want to support me, then you can buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/coriewankenobi.
