Manic Mommy’s Money-Saving Apps

As is true in most, if not all, marriages, a frequent topic of discussion between my husband and I is money. Where does it go? How can we spend less and save more?

Well, we are pretty bad at saving money, not gonna lie. But I have found a few apps that help and I’m going to share them with you. Who doesn’t want to save money, right?

• Wal-Mart Savings Catcher– I’ve been using this pretty much since they started doing it. It’s so easy. All you do is shop at Wal-Mart and scan the QR code with the app within  a week. The app then searches the nearby ad prices and notifies you within a few days of any lower prices found, and you get credited the difference. You can either transfer the “Savings Catcher Dollars” to your Blue Bird (prepaid card) account (and only use that money at Wal-Mart, they have a special partnership with BlueBird that makes that possible) or put it on a Wal-Mart gift card. They want to keep that money in their store, but chances are you’ll shop there again anyway, so who cares? I’ve been using it for almost three years now and have saved over $250. (I flaked on using it for several months last year, or it would be more).

 

• Ibotta– First of all, you get a $10 bonus the first time you use it! That alone is worth giving it a shot! With this app, you find the store you wish to shop at browse the list of hundreds of available rebates. You have to unlock each rebate BEFORE you shop, and be sure to pay attention to rebate details. To unlock a rebate, you have to either: watch a short video (ad), answer a survey question, or view a recipe or ad. Then once you purchase some items, you verify your purchases by scanning the items and the receipt. A great feature of Ibotta is that you can verify a purchase in-store to make sure it matches the rebate, before you buy it. My only complaint is that the offers expire at pretty random times. The dates of expiration vary and they sometimes it expire at midnight, sometimes at 3:27 PM. What the heck is that about? It makes it hard to keep up with. To redeem, you must first have at least $20 available, and they can transfer the funds to PayPal or Venmo, or you can use it to purchase gift cards to a wide variety of retailers (Amazon, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, etc) I have been using Ibotta since November of last year and have almost $80 from it. (My referral code is: mtyxcap. I get $5 if you join and use that code!)

 

• Checkout 51– With this app, you don’t have to unlock your savings. You just find the products you like, save them and buy them. Once purchased you have to photograph your entire receipt and scan the items. I have not saved as much with Checkout 51 as I have with Ibotta- less than $20 in the same timeframe- and something about the setup just feels less user friendly. To cash out, it seems the only options are PayPal or a check in the mail.

 

• Receipt Hog– This app reaps the least rewards, but you don’t have to make specific purchases. You photograph just about any receipt within 14 days and its worth 5-20 amount of “coins” depending on the amount of the receipt. Coins take forever to add up, and a thousand coins is only worth a $5 gift card. There’s also a silly little slot game within the app. Somehow you earn spins and you can win coins there. Don’t expect to win much, though. Additionally, there’s a monthly sweepstakes. The more you use the app, the more entries you get (and some receipts are only worth entries). You can redeem via PayPal or Amazon gift card. The coins do stretch further the longer you hold onto them. A thousand coins is only worth $5 but 2900 coins is worth $15. Since November, I’ve earned over 1800 coins.

 

The only experience I have with redeeming is Savings Catcher and have had no problems there. You’re certainly not going to be using any of these rebates to take a family vacation, but it’s great to have if you fall on hard times, or if you’re like me, use it for Christmas money. It’ll be nice to have all that extra cash (or gift cards) this year!

I know there are other apps out there to try. Have you used any? What are your favorites? I don’t know why I haven’t tried Ebates yet….