herding cats & burning soup: Money Matters-- Rebate Apps! Woots! #FreeMoney

Last month I talked about doing a #NoSpendJune and how that went. I've been continuing my financial overhaul during July. Doing little tweaks here and there and trying out new things to save some money.

This time I'm talking Rebate Apps. Holy cow, yall! How could I have not tried these sooner! All that wasted money. *hangs head*

What's a Rebate App? Basically companies have teamed up to give you money back for your purchases. You download the various apps to your phone, mark which items you'd like to buy then shop. Once you've shopped scan your receipt into the app and mark which you've bought. You can earn 25cents- $2+ per rebate!

These are mostly for groceries/supplies and overall for brand names. There are some generic (buy any bread) type rebates as well, though. I've found some of the brand name items are cheaper post rebates than store brand items.

Super easy! You can also use the same receipt on multiple rebate apps so a $4 in store purchase could end up entirely free if you have rebate offers on multiple sites. I've gotten a number of things totally free post rebate or for just pennies. Oh! You can also use coupons and still claim the rebate!

These are the ones I'm using currently!

Ibotta

Ibotta is my favorite app so far and the one I had the best luck with. Grocery and non-grocery stores participate. Mark which items you're planning to buy (you can add in after shopping as well) then scan your receipt and mark which you bought. Some online shopping counts, too. You can cash out once you hit $20.

Typical Rebates: Bread, orange juice, baby supplies, toiletries, pet food, pantry items, snacks, meat, eggs, etc.

Notes: You can even get 25 cents for just scanning a receipt and making "any purchase" even if it doesn't have a rebate.

Results: I earned... $48.75 in rebates and bonuses in 20 days. (I'm lazy and not updating the photo, sorry lol)

JOIN: Click HERE to join Ibotta! You'll get a $10 bonus for using my link. So...yes. Click! lol

Checkout51

I had some nice luck with Checkout51 as well. You can cash out your balance once you hit $20.

Notes: New offers go live Thursday morning and expire the following Wednesday. So you just need to be sure to scan your receipts in a timely manner. Some also have limited rebates available so can expire before end of week.

NOTE: For most of their rebates you cannot use them if you've used a coupon on the item or claimed it in another app. This is a change they've had towards the end of 2017.

Typical Rebates: Toiletries, pantry items, fruit/veggies, milk, condiments, yogurt, frozen foods, cleaning supplies.

Results: I earned $15.50 in 20 days.

JOIN: Click HERE to join CheckOut51!

MobiSave

MobiSave is a nice app but has a limited number of rebates compared to the others. But it's fast and deposits direct to your Paypal as you earn.

Notes: Here you select your rebates pre-shopping. You then have 7 days to use them before the rebate offer expires.

Typical rebates: Yogurt, candy, allergy meds, dressing, whip cream

Results: I turned in 4 rebates and earned $4.25

JOIN: Click HERE to join MobiSave!

**Mobi is currently down for me. But working for others. Something to do with my phone and their update it seems. So try it but if it's not working quite yet that's likely why.

SavingStar

SavingStar has limited rebates as well but some nice ones. Depending on your store you either scan your receipt afterwards or it's automatically done by your linked loyalty card. This one is a bit slow if it's linked. But it does still process.

Notes: You need to activate rebates before shopping! But it's easy.

Typical Rebates: Yogurt, grandola bars, toiletries, chex mix.

Results: I earned $10.29 on 8 rebates in July

JOIN: Click HERE to join SavingStar!

Shopkick

Shopkick is a bit different. You earn "kicks" by actually walking in a store, scanning the bar codes on select items, buying other items and scanning your receipt. I didn't buy anything via this one. I did scan items at the store, though.

Notes: This one doesn't have AMAZING results but it's super easy and quick to do if you have a smidge of time when shopping.

Results: I earned a $2 gift card. Not amazing but still 2 bucks for basically doing nothing.

JOIN: Click HERE to join Shopkick!

All in all? You so need to sign up for these! I'm kicking myself for not starting sooner. It takes a little time (maybe 20 minutes a week) but seriously I saved 80ish bucks by the end of the month (I formatted this post a couple days before the month end). It's easy and if you don't have brand preference can add a good bit of extra spending money to your budget. If you have questions about any of the apps hit the comments! I'm happy to answer any questions I know. :D

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