Everyone likes getting cash back for their purchases! If you aren’t familiar with 
, it is an app that will pay you back for the money that you’ve spent at the store.
The amount of cash you receive is based on the offers available in the app at the time. You can scan your receipt when you’re done shopping to see what cash you earned, or if you want to maximize your savings, take a glance at the offers before you shop. You can also tie Ibotta to your rewards accounts and eliminate the scanning process entirely. I just haven’t taken advantage of that feature since scanning the receipt only takes me about one minute but over time would be beneficial.
In my first year of using Ibotta I earned over $100 without really trying. What I mean by not really trying is that I’m not looking at the app before I go shopping to see what deals are out there first. I just do my normal shopping, buying what I would have anyway, and then scan my receipt. The result? Over $100 back in my pocket!
Here’s a simple example of how I could earn more if I put just a few minutes effort into it before each trip to the store. Right now, on the app I see that I will get $1.00 back on a box of Kellogg’s Raisin Bran and $0.45 off on a box of Kellogg’s Frosted Mini Wheats. Our family will eat both of these cereals so if I get to the store and they are the same price I may pick up the box of Frosted Mini Wheats and earn $0.45 cash back. However, if I had looked at the app ahead of time (or while I am in the store) I would have picked up the box of Raisin Bran and earned the $1.00 cash back.
Given that I scanned about 50 grocery store receipts, that averages out to about $2 per grocery trip that I saved. And again, without trying. It takes about one minute to scan the receipt so over the course of the year I spent about one hour of my time to earn back that $100. That’s well worth it to me!
I also have only used it for groceries. However, as their website says, “Groceries, clothing, pet supplies — these are the purchases you make every day. When you shop with Ibotta, you’ll earn cash back whenever you shop, both online and in-store.”
How do you get your cash back? After you have earned at least $20 you request your cash back on the app. Ibotta will send your cash to your PayPal account as soon you request it. You can also request your cash back in the form of gift cards to such places as Target, Chipotle and Domino’s Pizza if you’d prefer. I know there are other similar apps out there. We all have to buy groceries and who doesn’t want to do it a little cheaper? If you want to save some money on your next shopping trip, then try signing up for Ibotta or a similar app. You’ll be glad you did!