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Schools

Back to School — There's an App for That

Whether your student is headed to kindergarten, or off to campus this fall, check out these free mobile apps that will help make the transition easier and less expensive.

The back-to-school shopping season is second only to the holidays in terms of consumer spending. Parents are expected to collectively shell out an astounding $83 billion this year, up considerably from last year’s back-to-school season. Retailers are predicting parents will spend 10 percent more on school supplies alone than they did last year. The average family will spend $688 on back-to-school shopping this year, according to the National Retail Federation.

Don't fret! Technology to the rescue ...

Red Laser – Scan. Compare. Save! This handy app lets you scan barcodes using your device’s camera, then uses the barcode information to hunt down the best prices on that item, both locally and online. You can also search by voice or image. As an added bonus, this app has a feature that alerts you of potential food allergens when you scan a food product.

Find out what's happening in Newport Beach-Corona Del Marwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Available for: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android, Windows

Price: Free

Find out what's happening in Newport Beach-Corona Del Marwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

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CampusBooks – This money-saving app will scour the Internet to bring you the best price on new, used, rental and digital textbooks. It will also help you determine who is offering the highest price when it comes time to sell your books back. Use your device’s camera to scan the barcode for fast retrieval of information.

Available for: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android

Price: Free

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Graphing Calculator – Your high school student will eventually need a graphing calculator for math classes. Save yourself $85 by downloading this free app, which turns your i-device into a basic graphing calculator and expanded scientific calculator. The app gives you the ability to graph multiple equations, and has a function that e-mails results.

Available for: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch

Price: Free

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Evernote – Record, synchronize and make searchable all your notes, memos, lists and jottings from your device to the Web. Share easily via e-mail, Facebook and Twitter.

Available for: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android, Blackberry, Microsoft

Price: Free

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Zoomingo – Short for “zoom in and go” get the best deals. This app searches more than 80 national retailers for sale alerts and posts thousands of items on sale from those retailers, saving parents time and money.

Available for: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android

Price: Free

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Coupon Sherpa – Your guide to navigating in-store coupons at lots of local and national retailers. This app lists stores alphabetically, and gives you access to coupons that you can scan in-store for big savings at checkout. No printing is required, and as long as you’ve got your Smartphone, you’ve got access to a coupon.

Available for: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android

Price: Free

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Do you have a favorite money-saving Smartphone app? Tell us below in the comments.

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