Saving $ w/ your Smart phone

As anyone who knows me much at all will tell you, I'm cheap.  I love a good deal and a great bargain and I am always looking in to ways to save some cash.  You've heard me talk about things like Couponing and CVS shopping but I have also been looking in to new ways to save on things like grocery's using different apps.  In the past year I have tried the following 3 coupon saving apps: Checkout51, Snap, and ibotta.  I have decided that ibotta is the only one that's really worth it, but thought I would give you a run down on the ones I have tried. 

All 3 of these are money saving apps, kind of like coupons or rebates.
You earn money when you buy certain items and it puts money in an account.  Some items can only be purchased at a certain store, some can be purchased anywhere.  You buy the item(s), upload your receipt and once approved, they add money to your account.  Once you reach a certain amount you can "cash out" or get paid :)  You can still use coupons on these items and still submit them for double savings!

Checkout51

Generally offer 20-35 offers per week
You can redeem more than 1 item on some offers
You can "cash out" once you have at least $20 and they send you a check.

*My opinion - I signed up and tried this once when they were having a good offer.  I cashed out one time and since then there hasn't really been anything good.

Total Earnings: $28.26 (since about a year ago)

Snap by Groupon

Generally offer 20-35 offers per week
You can redeem more than 1 item on some offers
You can "cash out" once you have at least $20 and they send you a check.
*My opinion - I signed up and tried this once and got a crazy good deal on diapers and wipes.  I cashed out and got about $40.30.  Since then, nothing much.  I have $10 in my account now but rarely find anything on there I need so it will be sitting there a while.

Ibotta
This one is the same idea but a little different.  Here's how it works:

You have to "unlock" items to claim them.  You unlock items by doing little things like learning a fact, taking a poll (1-3 questions, multiple choice), watching a video (short commercial) and some other things.  This might sound intemidating but it's so easy and fast.  I just look through the store I'm about to go to and see what's on the list.  If there's an item I need/want I unlock it.  You can also unlock items after you purchase it.

Once you buy the item(s) you will scan the barcode and upload the receipt.  Some offers are only available on certain kinds, sizes or quantities (just like coupons) so you will want to check that before buying your items.  You can scan them in store if you want to make sure!

They will approve your items and put money in your account.  You can cash out at $10!  You can request a giftcard or get cash sent to your back account using paypal.  I get my money the same day :)  I love being able to cash out more often, it's easier to get money and feel like you're actually saving money!

I have cashed out $72.20 since May (and currently have enough to cash out again).

After having these for months, my conclusion is that checkout51 and snap are just not worth the time or effort.  There aren't enough things I need and it takes so long to cash out and then you have to wait even longer for the check.  It's hard to feel like you're saving anything.

Why ibotta is better AND is worth it!

ibotta has continued to have tons of offers.  Each store has their own offers, some overlap but some don't.  I love CVS, but there aren't a ton of CVS offers that I use much.  There are a lot of Walmart and Target offers though and they are constantly changing.  There are generally over 100 offers per store!  Right now there are 246 offers at Walmart!  That's a lot of ways to save money!

It's easy.  Just check your stores and see what's on there that you're already buying.  They also have "any brand" offers.  Where you can earn money for buying any brand of an item (ex. ketchup) or produce.

You can cash out at $10, that's more money faster, AND they can send it straight to your back account using Paypal.  I generally see my money the very same day I cash out!

They offer tons of bonuses.  Right now, they are having a redeem any 12 offers of $.25 or more get a $5 bonus!  Or things like - redeem the huggies diapers and huggies wipes get an extra $1.  There are so many of these it makes it easy to make money.

And right now they are offering a $10 bonus after you redeem a certain number of items and if you use my referal code HERE you get another $1 after you redeem just one offer.  It's worth a try!