By now, you’ve surely heard that there are programs that help you make money back on things you purchase every day. If you haven’t… BIG NEWS! Today, there are a handful of apps that pay you for sharing purchases or for purchasing certain brands during a given time. If you’re looking to boost your vacation savings account a bit over the next few months, here are a few money-back apps you should try out!
Ibotta – Great for grocery & retail
Ibotta is available on both iOS and Android and offers savings in a couple different ways. First, they offer cash-back rebates for doing simple tasks in the app like reading a fact about a retailer, answering a survey question, or watching a video. These rebates can save you money in the stores you shop in most, and you can complete the activities before stepping foot in the store! Second, after uploading a photo of your receipt to the app, you receive cash in your Ibotta account that you can later redeem via PayPal or various gift cards.
This is a great option if you only shop at a few different stores and are open to spending a few moments before shopping to earn rebates.
Checkout 51 – Great for grocery
Checkout 51 works a bit differently. They offer rebates for certain items, most of which you would buy anyway on a given grocery trip. For instance, they may offer $1.00 back on a gallon of milk or $0.50 on laundry detergent. These offers change each week, and you upload your grocery receipt at the end of each shopping trip to confirm the items you purchased. Similar to Ibotta, you can cash your money out when it reaches a certain threshold.
This is great for grocery-shopping heavy apartments, like group houses that share groceries. If you aren’t yet cooking much or don’t shop too often, it may not be the best app for you. You must also make sure you’re not simply purchasing products to get a small rebate… saving $1.00 on a gallon of milk you don’t need is still $3.00 spent!
Shopkick – Great for free time
If you have a little bit of extra time in your schedule, consider joining Shopkick! This app is different from the first two, in that you can get rewarded not only for buying products, but simply for visiting stores and scanning designated items! You can also earn money for uploading receipts and purchasing specific designated items.
This program is great if you have a few free minutes built into your schedule for browsing in stores, like between classes or during a lunch break.
