6 apps that help you save money in the UAE

Dubai: Saving money is an essential part to living a good life in the UAE. While it’s easy to tell people to put a third of their salary aside, most people find that difficult to do.

So let’s be realistic: How can you save money on things that you just can't stop doing, like eating out or grabbing that daily coffee? If you can't kick your habits, at least save a little cash while you're doing them.

Mani-Pedis? Morning coffees? Dinners with friends? All things that you can save on, and still enjoy to the fullest. Here are 6 apps that you can use to save money, while still doing what you want to do without cutting back on the fun.

1. Groupon

Save on literally thousands of things, just by signing up. And the best part is, it’s free. Live your best life in Dubai on a budget. You can find almost everything on Groupon. Dinners, brunches, salon trips… even home cleaning services. I particularly like the pool day deals on there.

2. Repeat

Repeat is a free app that rewards you for being a repeat customer. They are the world's first personalised pricing focused tech company, that will give you discounts based your frequency and spend at a particular spot. Once you download the app, you can look through restaurants you love the most and the more you go, the more you are rewarded for coming back sooner. What makes Repeat stand out is the fact that you don't have to worry about limited menu options, since you get rewarded for every item that you order. Their list of restaurants and cafes include Clinton Street Baking Company, Nando's, Projeto Acai and many more.

3. Discounter

The Discounter is the one of the latest apps to launch in the UAE for value offers at several venues accross the city, including restaurants, beauty salons, spas, and lesuire activities. Their main focus is to serve tourists and provide them with a free supply of offers to enhance their experience in Dubai. Additionally expats who are seeking a differnt source of offers and discounts can download the app for free.

4. Beam

This app is one of the more popular online wallets here in the UAE. It’s currently available in the UAE. Can be used at over 3,000 stores here. Use beam at petrol stations or cinemas. It’s free to download and use. Once you gather up points, you can redeem them at any of the participating stores. That means you save money on things that you normally buy!

5. The Entertainer

I am personally a huge fan of the Entertainer, because you enjoy savings accross hundreds of places for the whole year. Their app is all about the 'buy one get one free' concept at participating restaurants, hair salons, bars and general entertainment venues. And the list of participating venues is huge. It requires a little bit of investment. There’s an early bird special where you can get the Entertainer Dubai along with another product (Cheers or Body or Fitness) for Dh395. They also offer early bird discounts, especially in summer.

6. Pricena

Another service, Pricena allows users to compare prices in the UAE for thousands of products from over 500 product categories and more than 50 online stores. Pricena — an Arab-English word for “our price” — claims it has enough data to be able to show you the cheapest deals every time. You can also set the app to alert you when prices drop for a particular product. The service keeps track of historical prices from all retailers and claims it is smart enough to see through fake discounts. You can use the app to scan any barcode in a supermarket and the app will show you whether you can buy it for less somewhere else.