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. So let’s be realistic: How can you save money on things that you already do? If you can’t kick your habits, at least save while you’re doing them.
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Mani-Pedis? Morning coffees? Dinners with friends? All things that you can save on, and still enjoy.
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Here are 5 apps that you can use to save money, yet still do what you want to do without cutting back on the fun.
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1. Groupon
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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. Pool days, salon trips… even home cleaning services. We particularly like the dinner deals on there.
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2. Nearbuy
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Nearbuy is a very useful app that uses your location to show you discounts in of the Dubai and Abu Dhabi malls. It’s a pretty personalised app, that allows you to choose what brands you want and what deals you are interested in seeing.
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3. Beam
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This app is one of the more popular online wallets. 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!
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4. The Entertainer
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I am personally a huge fan of the Entertainer. You enjoy savings for the whole year. Their app allows you to enjoy a ‘buy one get one free’ concept at all of their 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 offer early bird discounts, especially in summer. Consider buying the 2020 entertainer now, to benefit from the end of 2019 and all of 2020.
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5. Pricena
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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.
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