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:
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).
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