My 9 Favorite Money Saving Apps

We always try to spend consciously, but this year I really stepped up my couponing game as well as finding discounts for the shopping that we do.  In doing so I've narrowed it down to my 9 favorite money-saving apps that I use most often - and in just the last few months I've already saved a couple hundred dollars!  | This post contains my experience with these apps as well as some referral links |  

Amazon

Oh Amazon... we buy everything from gifts to groceries on here. But what I really love most is using Amazon on the fly and checking prices in-store before deciding where to purchase. If I'm in a big box store and thinking about buying a book, new sneakers, etc, I always use the Amazon app to scan the barcode of the item (so handy!) and see what the price difference is - and spoiler, it's often slightly cheaper (sometimes a lot cheaper) on Amazon. And since we have AmazonPrime, shipping is typically free!

Walmart

Walmart also has a super-handy barcode scan feature so you can check prices while you're out shopping, but it's Savings Catcher feature is probably the most handy. With Savings Catcher (a feature within the Walmart app), you simply scan in the barcode on your receipt and Walmart checks your items against advertised sales of other chains in the surrounding area. If an item is found to be cheaper at a surrounding store, Walmart credits you the difference on an eGift card which can be used towards future purchases. Savings Catcher helps make sure you're always getting the best deal.

Cartwheel

Cartwheel is Target's "coupon" app - every week there are new offers for you to unlock and claim when you checkout in store (just scan the barcode generated on the screen of your smartphone). The savings are typically small but really add up over time, especially if you do a lot of grocery and clothing shopping there.

EatRight (or whatever particular incentive your health plan may have)

With EatRight Rewards, you unlock weekly offers and discounts for healthy foods and the amount you save gets credited to your account. Once you accumulate a minimum of $10 you can cash it out. I particularly love that this app only gives discounts on fresh fruits, veggies, and healthier foods. (*EatRight Rewards by Nutrisavings is the particular app that is specifically contracted with my health insurance plan, which is why I use it. Check with your particular health plan to see if they have any healthy-eating incentives available for members!)

Ibotta

With Ibotta you unlock offers and earn rebates for items you purchase in exchange for some basic market research (typically viewing an advertisement or answering a multiple-choice question). Once you earn a minimum of $20 back you can cash it out to your PayPal account or redeem it as a gift card. I've written a more indepth post on Ibotta here , if you're interested.

Checkout51

Checkout51 has offers for rebates back on grocery items - simply scan your receipt and select which rebates you qualify for to earn money back, with no market research questions to answer. Once you earn a minimum of $20 you can cash it out. - And both Ibotta and Checkout 51 can be used in conjunction with each other to really stack those savings.

Rakuten (formerly called Ebates)

Rakuten (formerly called Ebates) is great if you do any kind of online shopping - think Amazon, photo sites, clothing stores, etc. Simply log into your Rakuten account (Chrome has a handy extension you can download too) and launch the retailer's website from there. Rakuten will suggest discounts and coupon codes at checkout and often will allow you to earn back a percentage (usually very small but it adds up) of your purchase as a rebate. Every quarter you can cash out if your balance is $5 or more. I can see Rakuten coming in very hand this Christmas season while ordering Christmas cards and buying gifts!

Coupon Sherpa

Coupon Sherpa is a great app for quickly finding in-store coupons and discounts while you're out shopping, as well as coupon codes for online purchases. Simply open the app and look up the store you're in - Coupon Sherpa will list all the current coupons available so you can choose which one works best for you. Simply bring up the coupon on your phone and have the cashier scan it when you check out.

Kohl's

The Kohl's app allows you to save coupons, and keeps track of rewards points and Kohl's cash. I don't know how many times I've had an awesome coupon for Kohl's only to have forgotten it at home! Thankfully with the app you don't have to remember to bring these things, and it's easy to check current offers and rewards balances.

So those are my top money saving apps right now.  If you have any questions regarding them, please ask away - and if you have a great app that I haven't listed here, please let know!  

How to Get Paid to Shop and Save Money with Ibotta

Ibotta isn't new, I'd heard a lot about it but was always a bit skeptical... "So I buy groceries and the things I always do and get some money back for it?  Really??"  Sounds too good to be true, right?  
Well that's what I thought at first, until a few friends signed up for the app and converted me.  The only "catch" to this program is that in exchange for earning money back on your purchases, you're providing some market research info to Ibotta.. that's it.  Pretty good deal, right?  | This post contains affiliate links |

How Ibotta Works

Signing up for Ibotta is easy - download the app and create an account (pssst, right now they're offering a $10 bonus for new users!). Then search for the retailer (Walmart, Target, Hannaford, Kohl's, etc) you will be shopping at next and scroll through the available offers. When you see an offer for something you want to buy, click on it and view a short advertisement or answer a basic multiple choice question (i.e. "What's your favorite brand of orange juice? - A, B, C, or D"), once you complete that simple task the offer is now unlocked and is able to be redeemed.

Rebates for validated purchases are automatically deposited into Ibotta, usually within 48 hours.  Once you hit a minimum of $20 (which isn't that hard), you can transfer that money to your PayPal account - it's real money.  

Earn Money Back on Things You Never Get Coupons For

One of my favorite parts of Ibotta is that they always have some rebates for things you buy every week but will very rarely, if ever, get coupons for.  I'm talking about things like dairy products, juice, eggs, fruit, and vegetables - and these rebates are for any brand, even organic!  

These "any brand" rebates can vary from week-to-week on what's offered and the exact rebate amount, but the milk, bread, eggs, and a particular type of fruit or vegetable rebates are pretty standard and seem to be offered almost every week.  For example right now on Ibotta they have $0.50 back on a gallon of milk, $0.50 on eggs, $0.50 on a package of sliced bread, $0.25 on bananas, and $0.25 on tomatoes.  These are items that most people buy every week, and even if you only used Ibotta for these five rebates each week you would save $104 (!) over the course of the year!  (I used the current rebate amounts as an example, however keep in mind that some weeks the rebate amount on items like these may vary - but you get the point.)

Stack Those Savings!

Another great thing is that you can use Ibotta in conjunction with manufacturer and store coupons, store loyalty programs, sales, etc.  For example - the other week I bought Glad trash bags at Walmart; they cost $8.99 - Ibotta had a $2 rebate and then the Walmart Savings Catcher App found the same trash bags cheaper at Shaw's so it credited me the $1.49 difference.  So instead of $8.99, the trash bags only cost $5.50 = savings of $3.49 (40%) just on this one item!  

Use Ibotta at More Than Just Grocery Stores

So far I've only used Ibotta at the grocery store and Walmart, but you can use it at so many other places too - like restaurants and clothing stores!  You can even "star" your favorite stores to save them on the home screen, that way it's fast and easy to look up rebates on the fly when you're in the store.  

Invite Friends to Earn More

Whenever you refer a friend to Ibotta you earn $5 in your account (wahoo!) as well as add them to your Team. Ibotta always has ongoing bonuses each month to reward teams to save more - for example, right now if you redeem 10 rebates this month and your Team collectively redeems $15 of rebates, you earn an extra $1 in your account. There are several "Levels" each month, and the more you and your team use Ibotta, the more levels you achieve and the more money in your pocket. This is all easy to accomplish if you invite a lot of friends ;)

I know, I know - you want to know the bottom line.  So I've been using Ibotta for almost a month and I currently have $23.75 in my account.  $10 of that was my sign-on bonus, so $13.75 was earned in rebates and bonuses.  That doesn't seem like a ton, but the grocery store in our town actually doesn't participate with Ibotta (it's an independent grocer), so I can only use it when I make a trip to the big chain stores.  Also, because we buy a lot of organic and natural foods, $13.75 is also more than I usually can save with coupons since coupons for those items are few and far between.  I've also made a point not to buy anything that I wouldn't normally buy, because I wanted to be realistic and get a sense of what I can earn back for our essential items.  

My earnings may not seem like a ton, but it's money in our pocket and it certainly helps!  You can also be more proactive so save even more - I have a friend who meal plans around what's available on Ibotta and saves an average of $35+ every month.  You also earn a $5 referral for every friend you get to sign up (which I haven't done yet, but certainly will be doing).  Overall, I've really enjoyed using Ibotta so far and will definitely continue to use it.  

If you'd like to sign up for Ibotta, please use my referral link here or enter in my referral code: jkuddhs

Make sure to check out our other money-saving grocery tips:  

• Saving Money on Groceries - Rural Edition
• Birch Landing Home on Pinterest

This post was not sponsored and all opinions and experiences are my own.  This post does contain my referral link to Ibotta, if you sign up using this link I will earn a small referral bonus (the same one you can earn too for referring others).  

Saving Money on Groceries - Rural Edition

I absolutely love where we live - a small resort town, surrounded by lakes and mountains.  Always lots of great outdoor activities to do or small shops to explore in town.  But living out here does have it's drawbacks too - for one thing, the hospital we delivered our daughter at was an hour and half away (ugh).  But one of the biggest things we struggle with on a day-to-day basis is not going broke on groceries - with discount stores over an hour away and only IGA (Independent Grocer Alliance) grocery stores in town we tend to pay up to 30% more for most items.  
I support shopping local and shopping small whenever possible, but as a single-income household saving money where we can is absolutely necessary.  I've read many articles tailored to saving money at big-box and discount stores, but most of those tips just don't apply here.  Please read on for some of my rural livin' money-saving grocery tips.  | This post contains referral links |

Tips for Saving Money on Groceries {Rural Edition}

1. Grow/Raise What You Can.  I know not everyone has a green thumb or is willing to raise livestock but having even a small backyard garden or some patio veggie plants can pay off big.  For example spending a few dollars for a couple patio tomato plants can supply you with more than enough tomatoes to last you the entire summer.  For us, we've had a small garden for the past couple of years and this spring we decided to add raising chickens to the mix.  We go through as many as two dozen cage-free eggs a week and figured that raising our own chickens would be fun, educational for our daughter, and eventually would provide us with a savings on eggs too.  
2. The Freezer is Your Friend.  I hate throwing out food, especially food that I paid good money for.  So lately I've taken to freezing more and more things, especially those that seem to have the shortest shelf life.  For example, my husband loves putting kale in his breakfast smoothies (you can't even taste it!) but it would always go slimy before he finished the bunch.  Now we wash and freeze it right away and he blends it, still frozen, into his smoothies.  Other things that I've been freezing more lately are meats, mushrooms, fresh herbs, bread, and of course leftovers.  
3. Shop Local and Extra-Small.  Try shopping for produce at local farmer's markets, or even better, roadside mom and pop farm stands.  Those little tables and coolers at the end of driveways are often amazing deals on fresh vegetables.  These people usually aren't out to make a profit, they're simply selling their extra produce for fun and a little extra cash so it's usually a really great value - and if you're lucky they may be giving things away if they have an over-abundance.  One year a gentleman down our road gave away bushels and bushels of corn because he just had so much and didn't want it to go to waste.  
4. Amazon and Online Shopping.  I know this is the polar opposite of "shop small" but you just have to be practical too.  Items like paper towels, toilet paper, and cereal can cost nearly twice as much here in town than it does at big-box stores or online.  And so we choose to buy these items on Amazon - and by using some of Amazon's features like free Prime shipping and "subscribe and save", we're able to save even a little more.  If you use Amazon, don't forget to sign up for AmazonSmile so your purchases benefit the charity of your choice! 
5. Bring Your Own Bags.  Every store has different policies, but more and more are rewarding their customers for bringing their own bags.  At our local grocery stores they give you 5 cents off your total for every reusable bag you use.  I think this is a wonderful policy - great for the environment and good for our wallets.  For example, if you brought 8 bags for your weekly groceries you would end up saving over $20 a year, and every little bit helps.  
6. Meal Plan and Grocery List.  The most efficient way to do groceries is to take a few minutes at the beginning of every week, plan out your dinners, and make a list as to what you'll need.  That way you'll be able to better plan what you need and what you can reuse, wasting less.  I confess I often struggle with this.. grocery day always seems to sneak up on me and I end up going to the grocery store winging it or with a sad excuse for a list more often than I'd like to admit.  I know planning ahead and making good lists are super important for wasting less and saving more, and I'm always trying to get better about it.  {EDIT:  I've finally gotten good (okay, a whole lot better) at meal planning!  Check out my Reusable Weekly Planner + Free Printable to see how.}
7. Periodic Trips to Big-Box Stores to Stock Up.  Every few weeks, I make a point to drive almost 40 minutes, longer in summer due to tourist traffic, to the nearest "big chain" grocery store to stock up on certain items.  And no, it's not even Wal-Mart or another discount chain (as far as grocery chains go it's one of the more expensive ones out there but it's the closest).  I use these trips to buy the items they don't carry at our IGA stores (like the coconut milk creamer my husband and I love in our coffee), and the perishable items that are just too expensive at the IGA (like organic milk and almond milk - both are almost double the price here in town!).  
8. Buy Store Brand.  Whether I'm picking up things at a big chain grocery store or the local IGA, I try to buy store brand whenever I can.  Most of the time store brand tastes just as good and works just as well (IGA even has it's own store brand called "Shurfine").  We always buy store brand organic milk, canned goods, ziplocks, and more.  Store brand can cost anywhere from 5 cents to a dollar less than name brand, and all those little savings add up.  
9. Coupons.  There's no doubling, matching, or store loyalty cards at our local grocery stores, but coupons are still a great way to save a little every trip.  I keep our coupons organized in a little file so they're easy to find as I'm writing our grocery list.  (PS - my plaid coupon organizer is only $2.99 on Amazon - can't beat it!)  
10. Ibotta.  The Ibotta app allows you to earn rebates back on many items you already buy.  (While this app doesn't work at most small independent grocers, you can use it when you visit large chain stores to stock up.)  In order to unlock the rebates, you simply have to view an ad, watch a short commercial, or take a one question poll about the product.  In exchange for helping them with their market research, you get rewarded with a small rebate when you purchase the product (items must be verified via receipt or through a linked store loyalty card).  You can read my full review of this app here:  Get Paid to Shop and Save Money with Ibotta.  [This tip was added 5/4/16]

I hope my tips gave you some ideas to save on groceries "out here."  Do you have any other helpful tips?