Seems like every store has those plastic loyalty cards these days. You know the ones, from drug stores, cafes and grocery stores. The good thing is, they can save you money. The bad thing? You have to carry them around and even though they often will give you the little key ring cards, it's a big pain to keep track of them all. If only there was an easy way to keep them all together, so you always had them with you but didn't have to carry them around. Is that even possible? Yup, with your Smartphone!

With the Key Ring app for iPhone and Android phones, you scan and store your existing loyalty cards, enroll in new loyalty programs, and access exclusive coupons and discounts. Just use the built-in barcode scanner to scan your cards or you manually enter your membership number for cards with no barcode. You can even share your cards with multiple family members, eliminating the need to have several cards for the same store. And all your cards are stored on the Key Ring web site where you can retrieve them at any time.

When you launch the app you'll be asked to set up a free account using an email address. And that's it. Start scanning your cards or you can enroll in discount programs from a pre-defined list. Discounts offered in your area come up automatically. Once you have your cards stored in your account you also can receive additional coupons, exclusive discounts and printable coupons.

Here are some additional features:

• Works on iPod Touch, 2G, and 3G, iPhone 3Gs and above, Android

• Grocery coupons for 33 chains

• Enroll in new loyalty programs from within the app

• Built-in store locator w/ store contact info

• Community tips and deals

My wife has a key chain she keeps in the car with a bunch of those loyalty tags. After a few minutes of scanning with this app we went from what you see in the photo on the left to what you see in photo on the right. It even had the one for our gym, Lifestyle Family Fitness. Brilliant!

I have been turning these discount cards away when asked because I just didn't want to deal with carrying them around. With this app I'm going to rethink that decision and start saving some money.