Most of us will be using our smart phones for more than calling friends and family this Holiday season.  In fact, there are many smart-phone apps that will save you time, energy and money this season while you’re running around shopping and making merry. The next few are some of the best so have a look and, if you want to save some cash this Christmas (or Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa) upload them ASAP and use them often.  All are made for the iPhone and Android phones.

One of our fave’s is Weekly Ads.  With this excellent app you can find coupons for more than 96,000 stores and more than 100 retailers.  Talk about giving Santa a run for his money when it comes to finding great deals.

If you’re going to be hitting a few restaurants during your shopping sprees Living Socialcan be used to find restaurants (and stores) with great deals and get the coupon on your phone. Go to the restaurant and show the coupon and you’re set.

Speaking of mobile coupons Coupon Sherpa will give you in-store coupons that are much easier to carry around and, if you’re still keen on having them ‘in hand’ you can still print them too.

Driving around from store to store is going to cost you a lot in gas so you’d better have Gas Buddyon your phone to show you where the closest gas station is with the cheapest price per gallon. Updated by actual customers you can see the prices of all grades and where they station is located.  Find the closest and cheapest and off you go.

If you want to create shopping lists for all your Black Friday deals and keep them organized you’re going to need the Black Friday App from BFAds.net.  In fact the app will help you find the best deals too.

Don’t know which tablet is the best to get for your kid?  The Buzzillions app will help you figure out which one is the best by giving you access to thousands of reviews on the web about the models that you’ve looked at.  Scan the barcode and the app finds the reviews for you.

Scan all your loyalty cards, enroll in other loyalty plans and keep track of all of them with Key Ring.  There’s nothing more convenient for making sure you get what you deserve for your loyalty.

Finally the Decide.commobile app will help you to know if you should buy an item now or if the price is too high.  Just use the ‘buy now’ or ‘buy later’ feature and presto, you know if the price is right. It’s like having a crystal ball in your pocket.