The everyday purchases are the ones that will get us. By that I mean that the necessities are the things that can end up costing us the most. These are things that we regularly purchase such as food, toilet paper, cleaning supplies and soap. Since my family and I have been living on a budget for years, we make a conscious effort to cut back costs on these. There are a ton of phone apps that can help increase your savings, and new ones come out every day. That being said, it can be hard to weed through them all to find the apps that benefit us the most. So here are some of my favorites that I use regularly to help us save thousands!
All of the apps that I use are free and they can all be downloaded on Android and Apple.
Ibotta
Ibotta App
Ibotta is full of rebates at nearly 150 mostly major retailers, for which you earn cash that you can withdraw once you hit $20. You can either have the money deposited into your PayPal account or you can redeem the money for gift cards. I always take the money, deposit it into my PayPal account and then transfer it to my bank. Then I withdraw the cash amount and put it in our grocery envelope to increase our grocery fund for the month.
To unlock the rebates, find the store that you plan to shop at to see which rebates they currently have, hit the plus sign next to any product you may purchase and they are automatically added to your list. Once you purchase, you just hit “Verify Purchases,” scan the product barcodes of items you purchased for the rebates and then take a picture of the receipt. Done and done!
This app also works with loyalty cards and doesn’t require the aforementioned steps after purchase if you tie your cards to your Ibotta account. The rebates are deposited into your account within 48 hours, but I have received some almost immediately.
As a bonus you can earn $5 for every friend you invite and they have different teamwork bonuses every month for people on your team. I have gotten my dad on this app and we compare notes weekly about our savings. This app really can’t be beat!
Target Cartwheel
Target Cartwheel App
Target is one of those places where I go into with a specific list of things to purchase and ALWAYS leave with more than I intended. But it helps that they always have things on sale and clearance as well as this great app called Cartwheel.
This app lets you search for deals ahead of time, but you can also scan things in the store as you pick them up to see if there is a deal on them or any like products. It’s pretty ingenious and makes things so much easier!
Frequently, I will just use the app in the store instead of ahead of time because I find it saves time to do it that way. I really like the functionality of this app the best but it doesn’t always get me better deals than the pharmacy stores.
Walgreen’s
Walgreen’s App Home Screen
Walgreen’s is my favorite drug store app. Not only is it easy to use but I usually get some of the best deals with this one. The home screen layout is easy to navigate and I usually start with the “Weekly Ad & Coupons” section. When I find products that I like, then I can immediately touch the “Clip to Card” button. This adds it to my rewards card for me to use the next time I’m in the store.
If I am looking for specific products, then I will use the “Shop Products” portion of the app to see if they have it and the pricing. Using this app, I have been able to get Cottonelle toilet paper for $4, Seventh Generation dish detergent for $.99 and Puffs tissues for $.75, just to name a few. This app allows me to rack up rewards points that turn into money. So when I combine the rewards cash, the coupons that I have clipped in the app and the Ibotta rebates, that is really when my savings go through the roof!
Kroger & Harris Teeter
These two grocery store apps have the weekly flyers on them, as well as digital coupons. But the best parts are the FREE goods. That’s right, I said FREE! Kroger has Free Friday and Harris Teeter has Free Saturday. Sometimes the free items are the same, because both stores are owned by the same company now, but most of the time they are different.
The best part for me is that my dad and I both shop at both stores and trade off free items, if we know that we won’t use them but the other one will. Sometimes I go into these stores ONLY for these free items and get nothing else. I could write an entire post on how we make these two store work for us to get some great free stuff regularly!
Receipt Hog
Receipt Hog App
This app is one of my new found loves. Receipt Hog doesn’t care which store you shop at, as it just wants you to take a picture of your receipts and rate your visit. There are different levels of rewards for big box stores, gas stations, specialty stores, grocery stores, etc.
You can take a picture of any receipt within a 2 week period and it will be credited to your account. Once you hit 1000 coins, you can redeem them for a $5 Amazon gift card or for it to be deposited into your PayPal account. If you hit 2900 coins, it turns into $15. 4300 coins turns into $25 and 6500 coins turns into $40.
There are many great free apps to help you save money on regular purchases out there, but these are my favorite. Of course, new apps come out all of the time, so who knows what greatness tomorrow will bring!
Ebates
Ebates is one of the largest sites devoted to getting you cash back on items you would already buy, from household products to cosmetics and, yes, even grocery staples. Ebates rewards members with cash back every time they shop online through the Ebates portal. It also features “hot deals” and coupons for popular stores such as Kohl’s, Macy’s, Shutterfly and more. You can sign up here. For groceries and household items, you can get cash back from Jet.com and Walgreen’s and coupons from Safeway. If you download the Ebates app, you can use in-store coupons, scan products to compare prices and get regularly updated deals.
Favado
Favado is a simple app created by Savings.com. It aggregates coupons from around the web, which includes the paper coupons released in the Wednesday circulars, and puts them all in the app for you to see quickly. Simply click “add” to whichever coupon you want to use on your next grocery trip, and Favado will save that coupon for you.
You may need to print some coupons at home before grocery shopping, so be sure to check before you go out. Best of all, Favado connects with Ibotta (above) to let you know if you can get additional Ibotta points, essentially getting you an even better discount with cash back.
Favado is very easy to set up after downloading. Simply enter your zip code, watch the stores around you pop up, then check all the stores where you frequently shop. Yes, you can check every single store around you to see all the coupons and collect the best deals.
Shopkick
Shopkick is a fun app that rewards you with points that can be redeemed for gift cards to your favorite stores. Shopkick rewards you for walking into stores, or around stores if you’re in a mall, scanning items and purchases.
Shopkick is similar to Ibotta, except you don’t have to buy anything at all to get rewarded. Yes, really, all you have to do to get rewarded by Shopkick is walk around a store, which makes it a great way to get extra exercise and get paid for it.
Shopkick also rewards you with “kicks” (points to redeem for gift cards) on tons of grocery items, from yogurt to wine to coffee.
Have you tried any of these apps? If so, which one is your favorite and why?
