When my husband and I first got married we had no idea the amount of money we would spend on food every month.
It was just the two of us and we were spending upwards of $300-$400 a month! Part of our problem is that we just really, really like food and love to eat a lot – the other part was it was just so expensive. We started eating out more and more because it almost seemed cheaper to eat out than buy groceries.
Obviously, I started gaining weight which I HAD to put a stop to immediately because as much as I love eating food – I hate being restricted in how much I can eat. We needed to start making more home-cooked (slightly healthier) meals.
This is the point where we had to decide if we really cared more about starving or if we cared more about spending too much on groceries. Like seriously, who should have to choose between that?!
And there was no way I was going to start couponing (who even has the time to do that?) I went on a little quest to figure out just how we can reduce our grocery bill WITHOUT reducing how much we eat (and also gain.)
In all my trial and error I figured out that there are TWO main things that go into saving money on groceries. Making an actual weekly meal plan, and using Ibotta.
What’s Ibotta??
You know all those “make extra money” posts that are all about doing quizzes or watching videos for like 10 cents? Yeah, those aren’t going to get you anywhere. They’re just there to waste your time because trust me, I’ve tried them all. You feel like you’re getting nowhere and it takes you 3 weeks to even get to 20 bucks. Umm, no thank you.
I would rather waste my time doing something else (like taking a nap …)
No, I want to make real money. And if I can make real money (more than 10 cents) on stuff that I’m ALREADY buying that is fan-freaking-tastic – sign me up for that!
For the last few years I’ve searched and tried (and obsessed) over countless apps and money saving, coupon-clipping activities.
Out of all those time-wasters I came out with one very remarkable money-saving app that was truly worth all the horrible 10 cent quizzes I put myself through.
My tried and true money-saving app is, Ibotta!
For those of you that have never heard of Ibotta it’s a truly amazing rebate app that gives you cash back on purchases you’re already making. It’s not one of those cheap apps that just wants to scam you for your time. No, they actually give you real money for buying your groceries.
WAIT ….. ISNT THAT LIKE COUPONING?
No, couponing is a time-waster that sucks your soul and is a ploy for the stores to get you in and buy more stuff. (Okay, that was a little dramatic.)
Ibotta’s approach is a little bit different. They have most – if not all – grocery stores linked on their app. When planning out your meals and making your grocery list you simply open the app, find the store and choose the products you’ll be buying.
I always have at least 3-5 (if not more) items that are on my grocery list available for rebate. Super simple and easy – takes less than 10 minutes.
After going to the store, they usually ask to take a picture of the receipt for proof of purchase. From there they’ll give you the cash back ranging from $.25 to as much as $10.
At my local grocery store they already have a frequent shopper points they give that’s hooked up to my phone number – because of that I don’t even have to take pictures of any receipts for Ibotta. I just select my items I’m going to purchase and make sure to have the cashier put in my phone number at checkout.
Literally almost no work (except for the dreaded grocery shopping part). Partner it with grocery pickup and could this be any more perfect?!
DOES THIS REALLY WORK?
I can see you rolling your eyes and thinking this is just another thing to help you “save money” that people try to get you to sign up for.
I could tell you to sign up for just anything to save you money. But, I know that isn’t going to get you anywhere. I even wrote a post about being super frugal and how it’s actually hindering you.
Groceries aren’t something you can avoid. You’ll consistently pay for food, home and bathroom products.
Because it’s such a staple and often times people’s biggest expense in their budget – cutting that cost down could be significant for helping you save money.
Need a little social proof that it’s actually worth taking that 10 minutes using Ibotta before your grocery trip?
Every person who signs up under the Ibotta link in my posts becomes a part of my team. In just a couple years, my team has gotten back $2,786.20. Most people on the team have already gotten $100+ back in rebates in just a couple months. If that doesn’t make you want to use Ibotta than I don’t know what will!
HOW DO YOU GET THE CASH?
After submitting the receipt or scanning the bar code for the rebate it will add up the amount you have. Once you hit 20 bucks you can “cash out” either through Paypal, Venmo or they even have gift card options for Target (my fav), Amazon, Starbucks, Applebee’s etc …
If you’re ready to join 10 million others and download the Ibotta app click this link. By using that link you’ll get an extra $10 dollars back on your first rebate, you’re already halfway there to cashing out! Plus, the app is free, so don’t worry about spending more money to get money.
HELPFUL PICTURES TO SHOW YOU WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT
This is what you’ll see when you first log in. (And I know I have crappy service, the highest I ever get is 3 bars.) I blame the phone.
You’ll notice you can search rebates by categories or, you can search them in that search bar at the top.
In this case, I used the searched bar and just put in Walmart and it brought up all the rebates for Walmart.
Then there’s little sub-categories for what type of items they are – notice there’s even a For You category where Ibotta shows me rebates it thinks I’ll use.
Or, it’s just telling me that I use this app waaaaaay too much and it knows me better than I do!!
Mmmmm …. breakfast ….. I dream about breakfast for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Literally could eat any breakfast food like 5 times a day. Especially cereal and obviously Toaster Strudels. (If you notice I even have Toaster Strudels selected, and yes I did get a rebate on them!)
What I really wanted to show you was the any brand rebates. These are my fav and there is almost ALWAYS a rebate for any brand stuff. They usually have it on like bread, eggs and milk (so the stuff that I get on every grocery trip).
Totally take advantage of them. Do you know how fast $.25 adds up on every grocery trip??
To show you that there’s not just grocery items, there’s even household items. You know the best part? It’s actually items that I USE and not just some random item that you’d never take a second look.
Oh, and did I mention that they change out the rebates? Once you click on a rebate it usually has a date for how long it’ll be available for. They add rebates daily so it doesn’t hurt to triple check if you’ve made your grocery list ahead of time.
(Look at you, you go-getter! I aim to be that person that can plan that far ahead … My grocery list is typically made right before I leave to go to the store – and usually that comes after trying to hurry and plan out my meals for the week.)
Now that you’ve found your new favorite way to actually get back some real moolah, you can head over here to check out Ibotta in all its wonderful cash-back goodness 🙂
Let me know below if you know of any other totally awesome rebate apps that you love using!
P.S. Know someone who would love and could totally use some extra cash back ? (um, everyone …) Share below with friends and family who will thank you later!
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