Our smartphones take up a big part of our lives. Shopping, both in-store and online, takes up a lot of our time as well. With that said, we have store prices at our fingertips, so how do you make sure that you are getting the best deal out there?

For starters, when it comes to shopping in stores, a lot of stores in cities like Sioux City, or Omaha, have WiFi in them, which is the perfect way to get the best price out there.

Say I am at Target and I’m thinking about buying a new iPad for myself. I look there and see that Target has their iPads at $329.99, but Best Buy across town has it for $279.99. It may not sound like much, but that is a savings of $50. That $50 can be used to buy a case or other accessories too. If you can find sales on those cases or accessories, you’re doing it right even more.

Now, if you’re a person like me who loves to read, you probably find yourself either at Barnes & Noble or on their website. However, you probably do not want to be spending $15-20 on each book. After a while, those costs add up and it is typically too much for college students.

To bring that cost down through Barnes & Noble, check out the Barnes & Noble Marketplace. It’s a lot like Amazon’s and if you want to support a bookstore like Barnes and Noble like I do, it’s a great way to bring down costs. The average book in the Marketplace costs around $1.99, and with shipping and tax, you’re paying only around $6 total. By doing this, I saved myself over $50 in 2018 alone.

The last way is to get one of those apps that allows you to scan the bar code of a product when you’re in a store and are interested in and then have the app find the lowest price available. I did this once with the DVD version of the old HBO series, “The Newsroom,” and even though the store I was at was selling it for $34.99, I ended up getting it for $3.99.

In a world where we are always trying to save money and get the best deal on the market, your smartphone and other internet-connected devices are going to be the best way to do so. One of President Trump’s famous quotes is, “That makes me smart” when Hillary Clinton talked about Trump’s tax returns and how he paid little-to-nothing in taxes. Well, smart people don’t pay full price. Do the extra work and get the price out there. Your wallet and bank account will thank you later.