This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and Walmart Family Mobile. All opinions are mine alone. #DataAndAMovie #CollectiveBias
Oh, what would I possibly do without my smartphone?? Seriously, I use it for everything. I can almost hear you agree with an “Mmmmhmmm. Same here. Same here.” As a busy mom, blogger, and military spouse, my phone is rarely further than a few inches away…just in case. This means I use a lot of data. If you are like me, 10GB of 4G LTE sounds amazing. Well, that’s what you get with the new Walmart Family Mobile PLUS plan and I want to share some helpful tips and tricks for using your smartphone and taking advantage of all this data to make your busy trips out and about smoother and more profitable.
There are so many different things I use my data for–keeping kids entertained while we are out, money-saving apps, video chatting with my husband when he’s away…I need a plan that won’t fail on me, a plan that has plenty of data and will give me service when I need it most.
The Walmart Family Mobile PLUS Plan gives you:
- Unlimited talk, text, and data
- 10GB 4G LTE
- One free movie each month per plan from VUDU (we watch everything on our Playstation!)
As promised, here are 16 ways to use your Walmart Family Mobile data while out and about!
Saving Sanity (AKA, Keeping the Kids Preoccupied)
1. Phone apps: there are so many great educational, entertaining phone apps out there for kids. Obviously, you will want to check them out first as not all are good, but check out this list of travel apps for toddlers to start!
2. Videos: especially at restaurants, we will play various videos quietly so the kids have something to actively watch while waiting for food to be served. This one is pure gold. It has proven to be a HUGE help to us.
3. Camera: while this may not use data, I like pulling the camera up on my phone for the kids to play with. Not only does it give them giggles and something to do, it also gives me some very memorable selfies of them.
4. E-books: these are great for older kids because you can view them on your smartphone and they can read e-books while out and about without having to tote the actual books around. You can find great ones for younger children as well.
Saving Money
Saving Money5. Phone apps: there are tons of cashback and coupon apps for your smartphone. Check out my huge list of places to find coupons post (including all my favorite coupon and cashback phone apps!)
6. Reviews: whether we are going out to eat or considering making a new purchase, no matter how small, I often will use my data to look up reviews of the products. There have been many times we have forgone a purchase (and saved a lot of money and a hassle) by seeing what experiences others had first.
7. Price matching: several stores will price match other store ads, even online prices. If we are making a bigger purchase at a place that price matches, we will often look up that product a few places first to see if we can save a few dollars.
8. Store pick up: on occasion if we have multiple places to shop and it is taking a bit, I will shop online, get my cash back, and choose the “pick up in store today” option. I do this a lot with Walmart and have found it can be very helpful. I actually did this with a Walmart Family Mobile phone in the past so I was able to save a little money on it.
Saving Time
9. GPS: while it would be ideal to have a separate GPS system or just use a map (or maybe you’re just convinced you’ll find it on your own), using the GPS on your phone really can save you a lot of time. Sometimes I miss an exit or sometimes I hit a poorly-marked detour and that GPS comes in handy. Besides, if your phone is busy being a GPS, you are less likely to use it for texting (please don’t use it for texting while you drive!)
10. Store hours: if it’s a weekend or getting late and we need to stop somewhere to eat or to want to check out a new store, we will often look online on our phones to make sure that store is still open before we venture out to it.
11. Quick reference/pictures: I will actually take pictures of various items I need while we are out so I don’t forget or have to look up what exactly I need. For instance, if I need new printer ink and I cannot remember the ink number off the top of my head, instead of looking at all the packages in the store for my printer model I will have a picture on my phone with the ink numbers I need for it.
12. Shopping lists: there are several apps you can use that will keep your shopping lists all in one place. I tend to forget my grocery list, but not my phone, so it saves me from forgetting items and making multiple trips or running back out to my car to grab my notebook.
Saving Boredom
Saving Boredom13. Game apps: while I do not play smartphone games very often, I like to install a couple for long trips or when we will be waiting somewhere for a long period of time, so I don’t get bored. I enjoy the ones that are educational or thought-provoking and based off of board games!
14. Music: sometimes there is just nothing on the radio. We only listen to a couple stations and find they often play the same things over and over again. If we are on a long trip, there are times we simply can’t get a station that isn’t fuzzy, so we will turn on a radio app like Pandora to listen to something new.
15. Reading: I mentioned this before for kids, but it’s also great for us adults! Purchase your favorite e-books and read them on your phone to stay busy. Another idea is to visit your favorite blogs (like Arts & Crackers, of course) and catch up on all the latest posts or even read some of the much older posts you may have never seen!
16. Video tutorials: my husband loves looking up various videos online and learning different trades or trying to learn new tricks for skills he already has, from wood carving to changing your oil. I like to watch anything with FOOD. In fact, I have a few cooking videos you should totally check out.
What are some ways you use your smartphone and data out and about to make your trips smoother? Let me know in the comment section! I’d love to hear from you.
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