Easy Money-Savers
Easy ways to save extra money when you’re shopping online or at the grocery store.
When it comes to saving money I get pretty excited. Before I order anything online, I’m always looking for extra ways to save money: coupons, rebates, special offers. Here are the favorite rebate sites/apps that I use.
I call it putting my money to work!
See my 5 Steps to Saving the Most Online post for more details on stacking savings for the best possible discounts online.
Online Shopping
EBATES:Â If you try only one money-saver tip today, sign up for EBATES. This site pays you back in rebates of varying percentages for your purchases online. Before ordering that new TV from BestBuy.com or that stroller on Target.com, simply start at EBATES.com, search your store and watch it create a “shopping trip” for you. You get a check (or Paypal) reimbursement quarterly! Sign up here and get $10 for joining.
Swagbucks: On Swagbucks, you earn “Swag Bucks” for various activities including: shopping your favorite stores (just like EBATES), searching the web, answering surveys, discovering great deals, watching videos, or playing games. Of these, I have only used the shopping and web-searching activities to earn Swag Bucks–and they are both so convenient! Start at Swagbucks when you plan to shop online and use their Shop tab to locate the store; it will open a shopping trip for you and reward you 2, 3, 5, or more Swag Bucks per $1 you spend, depending on the store. Each Swag Buck (SB) equals a penny. Essentially 5 SB’s = $0.05. Another way you can think of it: 5 SB’s is 5% of $1. To earn the most from searching with Swagbucks, I’ve made it my default search engine. Click “Learn More” from the Search window on Swagbucks for instructions on making it your default search engine. You get awarded a random amount of SB’s for every few searches. Sign up for Swagbucks.com here.
TopCashback: A third cashback site offering great return rates. Like Ebates and Swagbucks, simply check the cashback rate they are offering before choosing which of these three to activate. Which one is offering the highest percentage varies from day to day!
TIP: To make it fast and easy to check cashback rates, install Ebates’ and Swagbucks’ plugins so that as soon as you land on a cashback-offering site, you will be notified of available rates. Open a separate browser and navigate to TopCashback to check their rate (they don’t currently offer a browser plugin). Open a shopping trip with the one offering the most cashback!
Grocery Store
Ibotta: This grocery app offers rebates not only on common brands but also on any brand items: such as milk, eggs, toothpaste, orange juice, bacon, etc. in any brand. Simply take a picture of you receipt after your shop to redeem your rebates. Payout is offered via Paypal or as gift cards. Join my team here and meet goals for bonus money faster! You’ll also get $10 on your account just for signing up through my link!
SavingStar: I use SavingStar mainly on my phone with their app to get rebates on groceries, but you can also get cashback from a few online stores. Just click on “Online Shopping” on their website.
Checkout51: Another grocery app offering rebates on common brands. This app also consistently offers a cashback offer on produce each week, so I always at least get $0.25 back.
ReceiptHog: Take a picture of ANY receipts (grocery, clothes, gas, hair cut, restaurant, etc.) and earn points that can be used towards gift cards. They take a while to add up, but make this app part of your routine after getting back from the grocery store or make any other purchase and it’s not a hassle at all.
See my 5 Steps to Saving the Most Online post for more details on stacking savings for the best possible discounts online.
