Money Saving Monday: Ibotta {Series}

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I’m excited to tell  you all about my favorite money saving app in this first installment of Amy’s Money Saving Monday!

Ibotta (available for both Android and iOS) is a shopping app that is not only easy to use but offers ways to earn money outside of the grocery store! Currently, there are rebates (read: cash back for you!) that range from groceries to health and beauty products, pets products, items for babies and children, online retailers, restaurants, electronics…even home improvement and photos purchases.

So, what do you do?

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Once downloaded, you have the ability to pick a category (like the ones I mentioned) and within that category, you’ll see certain stores. Stores range from Kroger to CVS as well as including places like Target, Military Commisary, and the Dollar General. While most rebates are the same at each store, there are some (usually several) exclusive rebates at each store. For instance, Wal-Mart has a $1.50 rebate on Pull-Ups right now that no other stores are offering. Once you find a rebate you want, you have to complete two or three small “tasks” such as watching a 15-second video, posting to Facebook, or even reading a small product blurb. Once that is completed, you’ve unlocked the rebate. Then, you are able to buy the item at the store you chose. To redeem your rebate, you’ll be asked to scan the barcode of the item (to verify it’s the correct one) and snap a pic of the receipt (or ticket stubs, if you went to the movies). Within a few hours, you’ll get a notification email that your account has been credited. Easy peasy, right?

Now, I know you’re probably wondering: what kind of cash are we talking about here? And how do I get it from the app to my pocket?

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Usually, each rebate will range from $0.75 to $2.50, but there are some special rebates that will earn you up to $20. For example, right now, if you check out Earth To Echo at your local Regal movie theater, you can earn $1—just for snapping a pic of your ticket stub. If online shopping is more your thing, you can earn $10 when you spend $75 at JC Penney or $100 at Kohls (back to school shopping, anyone?). There are also bonuses you can earn that help pad your pocket. There’s a monthly “teamwork bonus” that’ll earn you $1; all you have to do is connect to friends using the app via Facebook. If you collectively redeem $10 in a month, everyone gets an extra $1. Additionally, there are bonuses for buying particular products. I recently earned $2 (plus $4 in rebates) when I bought adult and kid’s sunscreen. As I write this, I have $75 in my account. Once you hit $5, you can cash out. You can have the money sent to you directly via PayPal or Venmo, or have it converted to e-gift cards for places like Target, Amazon, or Starbucks. My personal preference is PayPal because I can securely transfer from there straight to my bank account. I am letting it build in my Ibotta account, for now, and plan on cashing out closer to Christmas.

All that to say, I really love this app. It’s super easy to use and extremely user-friendly (even if you’re not particularly tech savvy). I peruse the offers before I go into any store, just to see if there’s anything applicable to my shopping needs. I love that it is for so many different items and applies to such a wide variety of stores. Another cool thing I’ve noticed is that offers tend to correspond with current sales and coupons, which make the deals even sweeter. The app is constantly being updated to add more retailers, more bonuses, and offers regularly change.

So now, the fun part: How do you get it?

Android users can easily find the app in the Google Play store, while iOS users can download it from iTunes.

Happy earning, saving, redeeming, and shopping!

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Amy
Amy is a Northernor by birth, but please don’t hold it against her! Amy has called Middle Tennessee home for over twenty years and couldn’t picture raising a family anywhere else! Today, Amy lives just outside of Nashville with her husband of over seven years (JP), her four year old spitfire of a daughter (Lily), and their eleven-year-old-but-still-acts-like-a-puppy black lab (Alley). It’s a daily toss up as to who rules their house—Lily or the dog—and Amy has many funny stories to prove the battles. Amy is a working mama by day—a fraud and suspicious activities investigator at a local, community bank, and a jack-of-all-trades by night and weekend. She loves crafts, music, the outdoors, saving money and bargain hunting, gardening (and all the canning, freezing, and preserving that comes with it), comic books, and anything upcycled, recycled, or DIY, and she’s just crunchy enough to call herself a hippie. She can often be found perusing yard sales, flea markets, Pinterest, and Etsy, looking for her next big project, or playing superheroes, painting, or playing outside with Lily. Currently, Amy and her husband are on a quest to find the best burger in Nashville and love visiting all the fantastic foodie spots this great city has to offer!

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