How I’ve Earned Nearly $400 Cash Back on Money Saving Apps and Websites

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This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I like saving money, just like anyone else. I especially love saving money if it is convenient and easy. I’m a busy mom of two and I don’t like jumping through hoops just to earn some cash back. That’s why I love using apps that are a simple one-click and go.

When my husband and I made the decision for me to stay home with the kiddos and for us to drop back to a one income family it meant that we needed to tighten down on our budget. We follow the Dave Ramsey method of budgeting and account for every dollar earned every month.

Since we budget and account for every dollar, it’s also really nice to earn cash back and rewards for doing simple everyday things that I would normally do anyway, like grocery shopping.

This little bit of extra cash gives us some wiggle room in our budget and allows us to squeeze in a tiny splurge here and there. It may not seem like much but over the long term the cash back starts to add up.

These are a few of my favorite cash back/reward apps and websites that have saved me money through the years.

1. Rakuten (Formerly Known as Ebates)

I can’t tell you how many people I have raved to about Ebates through the years. I use it for nearly every single shopping trip I make online. They’ve recently changed their name to Rakuten, but still operate the same and have the same cashback features.

What is it?

Rakuten is a cash back program that is available as both an app for your phone as well as a website for your desktop browser.

How does it work?

There are 2 ways to earn cash back from Rakuten.

• In-Store Cash Back– In-Store cash back is available at select stores. Sign up for a free account at Rakuten. Then link one or more of your American Express, Mastercard, or Visa credit/debit cards to your Rakuten account. When you shop in select stores and pay with your linked card you will automatically earn cash back deposited straight into your Rakuten account within 7 days of purchase

• Online Cash Back- Sign up for a free Rakuten account. Then visit the Rakuten website or app at the start of your online shopping trip. The website then redirects you to your retailer. A pop-up will ask you to verify your shopping trip. The just shop as you normally would and Rakuten tracks any purchases you make. Once the purchase is made your cashback will be added to your Rakuten account within a day or so. Cashback earnings are paid out quarterly and can be paid out via a check in the mail or a direct deposit into your Paypal.

Helpful Tip: If you are doing to be shopping online via desktop instead of mobile you can download a Cash Back Button widget for your browser that will pop up in the corner every time you visit a website with eligible cashback. You then click on the pop-up, it validates your shopping trip, and then you continue shopping as normal would. I use Google Chrome and this feature is super helpful so I don’t forget to claim my cashback when I’m shopping. You can download the Google Chrome extension here.

how do I get my cashback?

Your cashback accumulates in your Rakuten account and is paid out quarterly in your “Big Fat Check” You can choose to have your Big Fat Check mailed to you or deposited directly into your Paypal account.

ways to use it

I have not stepped foot inside a store at Christmas time in the last 2 years. I shopped for all of my Christmas gifts online, mostly on Black Friday, and had every present shipped right to my doorstep without having to brave all of the crowds. Plus I earned tons of cashback from my Christmas shopping that I could then use for splurges or just to add to our savings.

Helpful tip: The cashback percentages don’t seem like a lot but trust me they add up. Plus Rakuten frequently doubles their cashback to certain stores, especially around big sale times like Memorial Day, Labor Day and Black Friday.

Shopping example: I have a pair of Keds that I LOVE. I wear them so often that the soles finally wore out. I decided to double up on sales and Ebates and buy new shoes for a crazy cheap price. Kohl’s is normally only 3% cashback, but recently Kohl’s was running a 20% off Easter sale plus Ebates cashback was doubled to 6%.

So I purchased my Keds online through the Ebates website and then through Kohl’s.com. My Keds were originally priced at $49.99, already on sale for $44.99. Plus the 20% off Easter sale brought them down to $36. Now, this is where Ebates comes in. I earned $2.16 cashback from my purchase. Just from shopping through the Ebates website. Plus I got free shipping plus $5 Kohl’s Cash (Kohl’s cashback incentive) because I had the shoes shipped to the store for pickup.

So with all of the sales plus the cashback incentives I got my $49.99 Keds for $28.84.

how much I’ve saved

To date, I have saved $332.94!

HOW CAN YOU START SAVING MONEY?

• Sign up for a free Rakuten account
• Download the Ebates app for iOs or Android
• Download the Ebates browser Cash Back Button
• Happy shopping!! Now watch the money roll in

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2. Honey

WHAT IS IT?

Honey is an extension for your browser that automatically searches through and applies coupon codes at checkout to give you the best deal. It also alerts you if Amazon has a better price and gives you Honey Gold rewards at certain stores

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Honey is a browser extension that you download and it will pop up as you are shopping at various online stores asking if you would like to apply coupons. You can apply coupon codes at checkout to ensure you have the lowest price. There are 2 other really nifty features that make Honey super handy:

• Honey + Amazon- Honey will find you the best price on an item on Amazon by comparing all other comparable prices and sellers. You can easily swap the lower price item into your cart with one click
• Honey Gold- This is Honey’s cash back program. On certain items at certain stores, Honey will notify you that there is Honey Gold Bonus. This bonus is a percentage of your purchase price. Once you complete your purchase your Honey Gold coins will appear in your Honey account. You can cash in the Honey Gold coins for gift cards.

Important note: The Honey Gold bonus can’t be used in conjunction with other cashback extensions (such as Ebates) so you will have to weigh out which one has the better return rate for you for that particular purchase.

HOW DO I GET MY CASH BACK?

You earn Honey Gold coins from certain purchases that accrue in your Honey account. These can be cashed out for gift cards to Target, Nordstrom, Groupon, Macy’s, Walmart, eBay, Sephora, Amazon, 1-800-Flowers, and Charity Gift Cards. 1,000 Honey Gold points= $1 of gift cards. You can’t redeem until you have a minimum of 1,000 Hold Gold points and you can only redeem in increments of 1,000 points

WAYS TO USE IT

I have admittedly most just used the coupon feature of Honey. There are often coupon codes out there and sales going on that I would’ve never known about had Honey not applied the coupon. I can also use my Honey coupon in conjunction with my Ebates cash back (you just can’t use Honey Gold Bonuses with Ebates cash back)

I also really like the price check on Amazon feature. Often there are multiples of the same item and Honey makes sure I have the lowest-priced item.

HOW MUCH I’VE SAVED

To date, I have redeemed $20 of Honey Gold bonuses. I have definitely saved much more from the coupon feature, but haven’t kept track of how much those coupons have saved me.

HOW CAN YOU START SAVING MONEY?

• Sign up for a free Honey account
• Download the browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Edge.
• Use coupon codes, get the best price out there and earn cash back in the process!

3. fetch rewards

WHAT IS IT?

Fetch Rewards is a cash back app that rewards you for scanning receipts and purchasing participating products and special offer products.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Download the Fetch Rewards app and sign up for an account. Every time you make a purchase at any grocery store keep your receipt and scan it into the Fetch Rewards app. Fetch will automatically take a look at your receipt to see if you made any purchases that were participating products or special offer products. You earn additional points for these.

Even if you didn’t purchase any participating or special offer products (I often don’t) you still earn 25 points for every single receipt scanned.

Also, connect the app to your email address and it automatically scans any e-receipts you get from retailers like Walmart, Amazon and Target and applies those points you earned to your account too.

HOW DO I GET MY CASH BACK?

Points are accrued in your Fetch Rewards app. Once you reach 1,000 points you can cash your points out for various gift cards. Most of these rewards are $1 for every 1,000 points. There are tons of gift cards to choose from including Visa, Mastercard, Sephora, Best Buy, Fandango, Redbox, Destination Maternity, Old Navy, American Eagle, Dunkin Donuts, Groupon, AirBnb and SO many more.

When you cash in your points you received an electronic gift card via email

WAYS TO USE IT

I save and scan every single receipt from a grocery store that I have (including random Target runs , Aldi grocery trips and Kroger trips) Most of the time I haven’t purchased any participating or special offer product that earns me extra points. But for just scanning the receipt I automatically earn 25 points. This adds up over time.

You could also plan your shopping trips around their participating products and special offers to earn even more points quickly. Some items even offer a 100% back in point incentive. For example, at the time of writing this post Kleenex wet wipes 20-48 count are a 100% point back deal.

HOW MUCH I’VE SAVED

I have only been using Fetch Rewards for a little over 2 months so I haven’t cashed in any of my points yet. I’m letting them accrue so I can get some larger gift cards.

I currently have 5,248 points, which is the equivalent of $5.24. And the majority of that was simply from scanning receipts and getting 25 points. I haven’t gotten many points from special offers. So it’s very easy to earn lots of points very quickly for simply doing grocery shopping you would’ve been doing anyway.

HOW CAN YOU START SAVING MONEY?

• Download the Fetch Rewards app for iOs or Android
• Enter the referral code KJ5BT at signup and earn an automatic 2,000 points when you scan your first receipt
• Save and scan every single receipt you can. My purse is always stuffed full of receipts
• Connect the app to your email address under settings to scan for e-receipts from Walmart, Amazon and Target for even more points
• Cash in points for a huge variety of gift cards

4. Shopkick

WHAT IS IT?

Shopkick is a cash back that allows you to earn rewards (they call them “kicks”) for simply walking into a store, scanning items or scanning receipts for participating items. You can also earn kicks for shopping with certain online stores.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

You have 4 different ways to earn rewards or “kicks” You can walk into a Shopkick affiliated store, scan select items, scan your receipt when you purchase select items or shop online through Shopkick at select retailers.

1. Walk in– When you walk into a store, as long as you have granted the Shopkick app location access, it will alert you that you are in a Shopkick supported store. You then simply click ok to get kicks for just walking into the store. You can also look up what stores nearby you offer kicks.
2. Scan items-You can also earn kicks for scanning certain products that are specified under each individual store’s page on Shopkick. You don’t even have to purchase the item. Just scanning it will earn you kicks.
3. Scan receipts- When you buy participating items scan your receipt to add even more kicks to your account
4. Shop online- When you shop online through the Shopkick app you earn even more kicks for every $1 spent on that website. For example, you need to make a purchase at Walmart.com. Go to the Shopkick app, click on Earn online, click on Walmart and it will automatically redirect you to Walmart.com where you will earn 3 kicks for every $1 spent.

HOW DO I GET MY CASH BACK?

The kicks you earn accrue in your Shopkick account until you decide to cash them in. You can cash them in for a gift card to places like TJ Maxx, Walmart, Amazon, Target, Starbucks, Kohl’s, Old Navy, Fandango, and tons more. The kick to dollar exchange rate is different for each gift card retailer.

WAYS TO USE IT

You can use Shopkick in any of the 4 ways I mentioned above, walk in, scan, scan receipt and shop online. I have found the walk in option to be the easiest, however this does earn you the least amount of kicks. There is very little effort on your part required for this option though and you could earn kicks gradually.

If you are already making a purchase online you could utilize the shop online feature to earn kicks back for shopping you would have been doing anyway.

If you find yourself on a rare child free outing to the store and have a little bit of time on your hands you could scan some items, not purchase them and earn kicks that way.

I really like how versatile the app is and how it gives you several different ways you can earn kicks depending on how much effort you want to put in.

HOW MUCH I’VE SAVED

I haven’t cashed in any points for rewards yet. But I have used Shopkick for a little more than a month and have already earned 1, 180 kicks simply for checking in when I walk into a store. I plan on utilizing some of the other methods to earn even more points more quickly

HOW CAN YOU START SAVING MONEY?

• Download the Shopkick app for iOS or Android
• Enter referral code WIN488221 when you sign up for a free acount and earn 250 kicks with your first walk-in or scan within 7 days of joining
• Walk into a participating store, scan items, scan receipts with participating items or shop at select online stores to earn kicks/rewards
• Cash in rewards for a gift card from a wide variety of stores

5. IBOTTA

WHAT IS IT?

Ibotta is a cash back app that lets you earn actual cash deposited into your Paypal for purchasing special offer items at certain stores. You can also earn by shopping at select online stores.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

There are 3 ways to earn cash back through Ibotta

• Scan your receipt– Use the Ibotta app to search for deals on select items (Ex. $.25 cashback on Laundry detergent, any brand) Go shopping at any of the participating stores and purchase items that have deals currently running. After the shopping trip scan your receipt. Ibotta will match the items you bought to the offers you saved in the app.
• Link a loyalty card- Have a card that you already use to earn savings at a specific store, like a Kroger card? You can link your card to your Ibotta account and any time any item is purchased and you use this card your Ibotta account will automatically search through the deals that you have saved (ex. $.25 cash back on GE Mills brand cereal) and match items you purchased to offers you have saved, not receipt scanning needed
• Mobile in-app purchases- This feature is very similar to Honey and Rakuten. Before you shop look through Ibotta’s participating apps. Click on the link to that app and it redirects you to the app. Any purchases made automatically earn the specified cash back amount through Ibotta

You can also earn extra cash back via bonuses, listed in the bonus section (ex. earn an extra $10 back when you redeem 10 offers in the month of May)

You can earn extra bonuses through teamwork. When you sign up for Ibotta using your Facebook account it automatically links to all of your Facebook friends who use the Ibotta app as well. This is your team. When you complete certain tasks and your team completes certain tasks you can earn extra cash back. (Ex. Redeem 5 unique offers and have your team redeem $10 worth of offers for an extra $.50 cashback)

HOW DO I GET MY CASH BACK?

Your Ibotta cash back earnings accrue in your Ibotta account until you reach $20. You can then choose to cash out your account via Venmo or Paypal.

WAYS TO USE IT

Use Ibotta to earn cash back on items that you would’ve bought anyway. Sometimes I’ll buy a different brand just because I know I’ll get some cash back through Ibotta for that purchase. The loyalty card feature is really helpful because it requires almost zero effort on your part. You simply search for deals, save the deals, go shopping and buy those items and then the app does the rest of the work for you.

HOW MUCH I’VE SAVED

To date I have saved $24.10.

HOW CAN YOU START SAVING MONEY?

• Download the Ibotta app for iOS or Android
• Enter my referral code mpnbtah when you sign up for a free account
• Happy shopping!

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Honorable Mention App

Oscar Insurance

If you happen to have Oscar health insurance, which is the insurance that Chris and I have, they offer a fun bonus for all customers. You download the Oscar Health app (for iOs or Android) It offers a mobile insurance card, your health concierge chat and a list of benefits. But the best feature by far is the incentive Oscar gives to customers who aim to stay active.

Sync the Oscar Health app to your fitness tracker of choice or your Apple Health app on your phone and for every day that you meet your step count Oscar will reward you with $1 (up to $100 per year) I have mine synced to my Fitbit and for doing something that I would’ve done anyway I have already earned $36 this year.

If you don’t have Oscar health insurance check with your insurance provider to see if they offer a similar benefit. Alot of insurance companies are rewarding customers for living a more active lifestyle with more incentives.

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I hope this guide is helpful! Did I miss any money saving apps/ websites? Let me know about some of your favorites.

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