PARAGON is pleased to feature an article from one of our guest bloggers.  Darlene Mase lives in Newnan, Georgia with her husband and daughter. She is a stay-at-home mom and works as a freelance writer for Zumper.com and other popular sites. During her free time, Darlene enjoys traveling, hiking, camping, cycling, gardening, caving, kayaking, or anything else outdoors.

If you’re anything like most people, saving money is something you’re interested in doing, and you’re constantly seeking new and innovative ways to save on your monthly bills. Fortunately for you, there are a host of apps and services that can help you cut expenses and decrease your monthly bills. We’ve compiled a list of some of the best apps out there that can help you save money each month. From apps that give you money for shopping to services that contact companies and negotiate a lower monthly bill, you can just thank us later.

• Clarity Money: Analyze spending and lower bills

Adulting comes with its fair share of annoyances, and one of the most pesky, perhaps, are your monthly bills. Unless you use an auto-pay system, keeping track of due dates can be difficult, especially if you have multiple bills to pay each month. Let Clarity Money give you some peace of mind.

The app allows you to link your financial accounts and then analyzes your spending and income and provides tips and suggestions to help you improve your financial situation. Clarity Money will also suggest various products that can help you save and even earn money. However, the app’s main feature is that it connects with your monthly bills and attempts to negotiate with companies to have them lowered.

• iBotta: Get cash back on your groceries

So, you’re telling me that there’s an app that pays you to go grocery shopping? Absolutely! With iBotta, you scan your receipts, upload them to the app, and get paid. It’s pretty simple. Just download the app and create an account.

Browse the app for deals and offers, and complete a few simple tasks associated with the deal (i.e. surveys). Buy the products you select on the app, keep your receipt, and scan it into the app once you’re done shopping. Once you do this, you’ll get money on your app which you can then send to your PayPal account.

While you certainly won’t be able to quit your day job when you use iBotta, you’ll save at least a few dollars on your monthly grocery bills. And what’s even better is that you can use the app at over 275 different stores, including Walmart and Walgreens.

• Prosper Daily: Keep track of rising monthly bills costs

Prosper Daily is a neat little app that tracks your bills and lets you know when they’re increasing. For example, if that subscription box suddenly decided to raise their prices, Prosper Daily would notify you. 

The app scans your transactions and lets you know if there are any scams, unexpected fees, or errors. It also lets you know if your card is being used somewhere it shouldn’t — like in another state, for instance. Additionally, Prosper Daily provides a free budgeting app that lets you keep track of your spending and provides a free credit score check. 

• Billshark: Get help lowering your monthly bills

Billshark is an app backed by Shark Tank’s Mark Cuban and is similar to Clarity Money. Using the company’s app or website, you can upload a picture of your bill (or directly connect your accounts to Billshark). The customer service reps are then able to work on lowering your cell phone, internet, home security, satellite TV, and satellite radio bill. However, the most success comes when trying to lower your cell phone bill, especially those from big name providers such as AT&T and Sprint. 

The company aims to lower your monthly bills by 25 percent and tends to have an 85 percent success rate. It’s free to sign up for the app, and you only have to pay if the company is able to save you money on your bills. On top of that, if Billshark is able to help you save on your monthly bills, they’ll throw in an additional $25.

• Hiatus: Lower your bills and keep track of subscriptions

We all love signing up for those free two-week trials offered by most apps and digital services. But there’s a pitfall. If you fail to cancel within the allotted time period, you get charged. And what’s worse is that if you don’t check your account statement on the regular, you’ll continually be charged until you cancel. 

Enter Hiatus. This pretty-looking and functional app lets you start free trials through the app and automatically cancels them before they start charging you. Hiatus also negotiates your existing bill and charges you 50 percent of your total savings.

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Please remember that past performance may not be indicative of future results.  Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that the future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy, or product (including the investments and/or investment strategies recommended or undertaken by Paragon Wealth Strategies, LLC [“Paragon”]), or any non-investment related content, made reference to directly or indirectly in this blog will be profitable, equal any corresponding indicated historical performance level(s), be suitable for your portfolio or individual situation, or prove successful.  Due to various factors, including changing market conditions and/or applicable laws, the content may no longer be reflective of current opinions or positions.  Moreover, you should not assume that any discussion or information contained in this blog serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from Paragon.  Please remember that if you are a Paragon client, it remains your responsibility to advise Paragon, in writing, if there are any changes in your personal/financial situation or investment objectives for the purpose of reviewing/evaluating/revising our previous recommendations and/or services, or if you would like to impose, add, or to modify any reasonable restrictions to our investment advisory services. To the extent that a reader has any questions regarding the applicability of any specific issue discussed above to his/her individual situation, he/she is encouraged to consult with the professional advisor of his/her choosing. Paragon is neither a law firm nor a certified public accounting firm and no portion of the blog content should be construed as legal or accounting advice. A copy of the Paragon’s current written disclosure Brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available for review upon request or at www.wealthguards.com. Please Note: Paragon does not make any representations or warranties as to the accuracy, timeliness, suitability, completeness, or relevance of any information prepared by any unaffiliated third party, whether linked to Paragon’s web site or blog or incorporated herein, and takes no responsibility for any such content. All such information is provided solely for convenience purposes only and all users thereof should be guided accordingly. Please Also Note: IF you are a Paragon client, Please advise us if you have not been receiving account statements (at least quarterly) from the account custodian.