Money Saving Apps: Ibotta

There are a few apps that I use that help me save additional money on top of my coupons that I want to share with you over the coming weeks. The first one is called Ibotta. It is a free rewards app where you can earn cash back for purchasing certain products...kind of like a rebate.

Steps to Use Ibotta:
1. Create an account here.
2. Download the app to your device. It is available for Apple and Android products...even iPod touch and iPad (if you don't have a smartphone).

3. Choose an offer (product) and complete tasks to unlock earnings. Tasks include taking a poll, answering trivia, sharing the offer on Facebook or Twitter (you can always delete the post later), learning a fact, and watching a video to name a few. Each task is worth a different amount of money.

4. Go buy the product (use coupons for even more savings!).
5. Come home, open the app, select "Redeem" and select the store you shopped at (the list pictured is not all of the stores where you can use Ibotta).

6. Take a picture of your receipt and select Submit (if you have a long receipt, choose "add section"). Select the product you purchased. Scan the UPC barcode and select Submit Receipt!

7. Within 24 hours, your account will be credited. In my experience, my account is usually credited within 15 minutes.
8. After you have accumulated at least $5, you can withdraw cash using PayPal. Or you can donate your earnings.

Why I Love this App:
- I have been using this app for a few months and I have earned over $50.
- You can use manufacturer and store coupons in addition to the Ibotta offers.
- There have been offers for basic items like 1 gallon of any brand of milk. Everybody buys milk!
- There are bonuses available. For example, after you sign up, if you redeem 10 offers in two weeks, you earn a $10 Welcome Bonus! Also, sometimes if you complete a bonus, it unlocks another bonus.

- In addition to the regular offers, there are Store Extras...offers that can only be redeemed at the specified store. Currently, those stores are Smashburger, Whole Foods, Target, Sam's Club, Walmart, and Costco.

Currently Ibotta works at the following chains, but they are always working on adding more:

7-Eleven
Acme
Fresh Market
Bi-Lo
Boyer's
Buehler's
City Market
Costco
Country Mart
CVS Pharmacy
Dillons
Dollar General
Dominick's
Duane Reade
Family Dollar

Food Lion
Food4Less
Fred Meyer
Fry's
Giant Eagle
H-E-B
Harris Teeter
Homeland
Hy-Vee
Ingles
King Soopers
Kroger
Martin's
Meijer
Military Commissary

Pathmark
Pavilions
Pick 'N Save
Piggly Wiggly Midwest
Publix
QFC
Ralphs
Randalls
Reasor's
Redner's Markets
Remke's
Ridley's
Rio Ranch
Rite Aid
Safeway

Sam's Club
ShopRite
Smashburger
Smith's
Stop & Shop
Target
Tom Thumb
Vons
Walgreens
Walmart
Wegmans
Whole Foods
WinCo Foods
Winn-Dixie

Anybody else love this app?

Just For Fun: Chain Store Maps

Check out these maps! These are the locations of some of the national grocery and drug store chains.

Albertson's

Aldi

CVS

Kroger

Meijer

Rite Aid

Target

Walgreens

Wal-Mart

Whole Foods

Where do you shop?

Just For Fun: My Coupon Binder

Standing 2.5 inches high and weighing nearly 5 pounds, here it is in all it's glory...my coupon binder!

There are lots of different ways to organize coupons. I have chosen the whole insert method. Each Sunday when I get my paper, I take out the inserts and write the date on the front of them. When I need coupons for my shopping trips, I go to the date of the insert and cut out only the coupons I am going to use. This saves me so much more time than clipping each and every coupon.

I kind of have 6 sections in my binder, but they are not really labeled. The first part houses store coupons. I use these binder sheet protectors from Staples. Each pocket has a sticky note on it for each store I shop. I use this section to plan for my weekly trips. When I am ready to go to the store, I just grab the coupons for that store from the pocket.

Next, I have whole inserts in standard sheet protectors. They are in date order.

I also have empty sheet protectors ready for new inserts when I get them in the paper.

For loose coupons, I use currency sheet protectors that I bought on ebay. I have them in 4 x 2...

2 x 3 (fits catalina coupons nicely)...

and 3 x 1 (fits printable coupons).

On the first of every month, I go through my binder and take out the expired coupons and move empty sheet protectors to the back. I have been using this method for over a year now and it has worked really well for me.