Money, money, money $$$...did that get your attention? Ok good! So, how would you like to save money on the groceries you are already purchasing every week and at the same time make money in return? I mean, who wouldn't?? It's a win/win to be honest.
This is where the Ibotta app comes into play. I never heard about it til recently (late June to be exact) and I am so glad I did. So what is Ibotta? In a nutshell, you earn rebates (not points, but actual rebates) on items that you are already most likely purchasing. These go towards either gift cards or towards your PayPal account. At first, my immediate thought was that it sounded to good to be true and that there had to be some kind of sketchy catch; however, after a bit of research into it and reading reviews, I felt comfortable enough with it to give it a try. Since June 23 (less than 2 weeks ago), I earned just over $30. Yes you read that correctly. I made $30 simply for purchasing items I would have bought regardless. Now, granted I did earn a couple of bonuses for signing up and hitting certain marks, but like I said...all items I would have purchased regardless.
So another way of thinking about Ibotta is to see it as your lazy man's couponing or well, maybe you are like so many of us and really just don't have the time to sit down every Sundays to cut coupons. (I have to be honest though...taking the time out every Sunday to cut those coupons is worth it...I do it almost every Sunday and overtime those savings add up). On the Ibotta app you can find the stores that you are already shopping at. So far I have used it at Target, Publix, Zulily, Walmart, and Whole Foods. I frequent those store fairly often so why not save and make money in return?! Once you find the store you want to shop at, you can see what offers they have at the moment, check the ones that you know you will purchase, and then go shopping. Once I get home after shopping, I take my receipt and scan it through the app. Some items may require you to scan the barcode (just as further proof that you did purchase.) Once it receives your receipt and approves it, the rebates are linked to your account. The entire process of choosing my offers off the app, scanning my receipt, scanning barcodes if necessary, and waiting for the rebate to be applied to my account took me maybe a total of 5 minutes. In my honest opinion, it is worth my 5 minutes.
Now, I will say that some forms of rebates will take longer. For instance, this is the case with my Zulily purchase. If you've ever shopped there, you know that this site takes a bit long to process and ship, but I've been shopping with Zulily for years now so it obviously hasn't bothered me that much. When I last purchased on this site (6/23), Ibotta was offering a 5% cash back, which for me was $1.35. It is still pending since I have yet to receive my purchase, but I'm ok with that because I would have made the purchase regardless if I had the Ibotta app or not. (you can see the pending $1.35 down below in the picture I posted to get an idea of how the app looks and works)
Now, I know what you are probably thinking. You must have had to shop a lot to earn over $30 if your rebates are that small. I haven't done any more shopping than normal. My biggest earning to date ( aside from bonuses I have earned...I'll get to that in a bit) was at Publix, where I earned a $9.25 rebate. That day I kind of hit the "jackpot" for a lack of better words. Let me elaborate. Like I said, I clip coupons. That day I used paper coupons and saved money. I can't remember off the top of my head the amount I saved, but hey...savings are savings. (& I can't add enough...I am not one of those people who will buy items with a coupon simply to say that I used a coupon...no extreme couponing here...just practicality) Also, I encourage you to get to know your local grocery store's coupon policy and store specials. For instance, I know that Publix has online coupons. I go through them weekly online and "clip" the ones that I want and then when I get to the register, I put in my phone number and I get to use those coupons in addition to the paper ones that I clip. Often times, I get to double dip when I have an online coupon and a paper coupon on the same item. Also, Publix is always known for having weekly specials there in the store. On this particular shopping day they had Halo Top ice cream at buy one get one free. It just so happened that I also had offers on my Ibotta app under Publix for Halo Top ice cream. It was a $1 rebate for each pint you purchased (with a 5 max allowed). I ended up purchasing 4 pints that day (don't judge lol). Due to the in store special, I got two of those free. On top of that, I got my $1 bonus for each pint. (I don't know if that will work every time, but hey I'm not complaining) I do notice that for the "bigger" rebates such as this one (many other rebates...for instance such as purchasing ANY brand of orange juice will give back 25-50 cents) often ask you to scan the barcode after scanning the receipt, but it's worth that extra minute or two. I think you can start to see how these rebates start to add up.
As I said earlier, $12 of that $30 amount was through bonuses, but anybody can earn these bonuses...you just have to be willing to take the few minutes that you need to properly use the app. I promise it's way faster than clipping coupons ; ). So how do you earn these bonuses? I'm so glad you asked ; ). Some you can earn by buying a certain amount of the same product over a period of time...and it doesn't even have to be from the same store. There's an area labeled "Bonuses" on your account tab on the app where I suggest you check before you shop just so you can see what the app is offering. One of the ways to add up those bonuses quicker is by referring the app out to others and if they join using your referral code and join your team, then the team members (both individually and/or together) has potential to earn bonuses. I figure we're all shopping anyways (hello, we ALL buy groceries), why not earn some extra cash while you are at it. Like I said earlier, it's not just grocery stores either. Stores like Zulily, Dick's, Kohl's, HSN, Poshmark (just to name a few) also offer opportunities for rebates. You just have to be willing to search through the app for a bit to see what you find.
Once I got just past that $30 mark, I decided to see how I could get my earnings. The site sets it at a $20 minimum in order to withdraw the cash, with options for either various gift cards or through PayPal. I decided to send it to my PayPal account since I use that for a good chunk of online purchases. The process of sending it to my PayPal account took me all of maybe 2 minutes...tops!
So, what are you waiting for?! If you want to start earning rebates back on stuff you are most likely already shopping for then click on my link https://ibotta.com/r/vpljjrk to use my referral code and join my team. It's free to join and completely worth it in my honest opinion. Happy shopping ; )
~Christina~
