Review of money-making techniques learned on Budget Board

[Narnia_girl]

One month ago I decided to try some of the unique ways to earn money that other DISers have shared. I started a notebook to keep track of how well I did with each one. I thought I would share that here--and would appreciate suggestions on how I can improve these totals--or other apps/techniques you have been successful using. I'm not including Swagbucks (although I've learned tons of tips here) or the gift card/Target transactions because I was already doing both of these.

So here we go.....

May 15-June 15:

BING Rewards-- earned 713 Rewards. (cashed in 575 for 500 Swagbucks) I really like this Rewards program and have tried to meet my goal every day recently. It's so easy to use.

Receipt HOG--earned 321 Coins. Not too impressed with this. It takes 1000 coins to equal $5 so I probably won't earn that for several months. I'll keep using it because it's easy.

ShopKick--earned 1989 Kicks. This is a fun app that I enjoy using. My daughter is old enough to send around the store looking for kicks to scan. I would probably earn more kicks but my New Year's resolution was to spend less time shopping/going to stores. If I were in more stores, I'd earn more kicks. Also, it cheated me out of 200 kicks at Best Buy--two trips that I should have received walk-in kicks for. But overall, it's fun and super easy. In one month I earned more than enough for a $5 gift card (1250 kicks).

Checkout 51--earned $3.50. I had high hopes for this app because my first use I got $1 off a gallon of milk. It has stalled considerably since then. It's just mostly cleaning supplies I don't buy. I'll keep it but don't expect much.

Ibotta--earned $10.15. This is my favorite so far and one I use most. Definitely worth my time as it rewards for fresh produce and staple items.

Secret Shopper--earned $20 (but have yet to be paid). I'm not sure I will pursue this anymore. Kind of a hassle. I get offered a lot of car dealership/oil changes but they are for models I don't own.

I also do Disney Movie Rewards, My Coke Rewards, Ebates and other cash back programs.

Have you had success with any of these? Any other apps you'd recommend?

 

[Eastern]

The only one I use is ebates. When I remember.

 

[Jen_in_NH]

I started a few months ago with buying the Target gift cards from Raise, and using those to buy a Disney card. I also do a few of the survey sites, primarily for frequent flier miles. I still click through the emails from MyPoints, and occasionally buy gift cards through them as well, again for the frequent flier miles.

I've been using Ibotta for Disney money (Starbucks primarily), and really like it. I use ebates when I remember to do it. I leave my ipad, as well as my kids, running on Perk to get gift cards that way as well. I do a lot of couponing, so that saves some for us as well.

All in all, I'd say I spend about 2 hours a week on all this stuff, and have saved about $500 for our upcoming trip (mostly with ibotta - the diaper rebates were excellent!)

 

[Jamie430]

The Perk app is what I learned about here. Started a month ago and have redeemed for Target Gift Cards, that I then redeem for Disney Gift Cards. In the 5 weeks, my husband and I have put $160 in our Disney Vacation Savings Account. I have another $50 Disney Gift Card on the way from Target and almost enough to redeem for another $50 one.

 

[Narnia_girl]

Glad to hear that Perks is working well for you guys. I am planning to use it starting in the fall when my son goes back to college. He is in a degree program that is very heavy on video applications so when he's home he 'eats' a lot of our wifi data. I don't want to go over our plan so I'm waiting til he's gone before I start using it.

 

[LJSquishy]

I don't use anything different than you already use...Just Ebates, Swagbucks (used to use, but haven't recently), Receipt Hog, Ibotta, and rarely Checkout 51 (my least favorite). Ebates is my favorite since I purchase a lot of items online and occasionally don't have to pay sales tax which also adds up to extra savings. Receipt Hog is my other favorite because I can buy anything I want and get some sort of credit for it unlike Checkout 51 & Ibotta. The problem with those is that I don't buy processed food, alcohol, or chemical products so I can usually only get credit for one or two items each week. With Ibotta, it's better than Checkout 51, except when I shop at my local organic co-op vs a chain store...then I can't get credit for anything. At least with Receipt Hog my receipts from local stores will count (occasionally have to flag it since the store might not be in their system, but I always get credit).

Swagbucks is awesome if you dedicate the time to it.

Oh, I do E-Rewards every once and a while which is a survey program. I used to redeem for Starbucks gift cards but we make our own espresso drinks at home now so we rarely go there.

 

[Narnia_girl]

I don't use anything different than you already use...Just Ebates, Swagbucks (used to use, but haven't recently), Receipt Hog, Ibotta, and rarely Checkout 51 (my least favorite). Ebates is my favorite since I purchase a lot of items online and occasionally don't have to pay sales tax which also adds up to extra savings. Receipt Hog is my other favorite because I can buy anything I want and get some sort of credit for it unlike Checkout 51 & Ibotta. The problem with those is that I don't buy processed food, alcohol, or chemical products so I can usually only get credit for one or two items each week. With Ibotta, it's better than Checkout 51, except when I shop at my local organic co-op vs a chain store...then I can't get credit for anything. At least with Receipt Hog my receipts from local stores will count (occasionally have to flag it since the store might not be in their system, but I always get credit).

Swagbucks is awesome if you dedicate the time to it.

Oh, I do E-Rewards every once and a while which is a survey program. I used to redeem for Starbucks gift cards but we make our own espresso drinks at home now so we rarely go there.

So maybe I'm not making the most of Receipt Hog? I scan every grocery store receipt --same as with Ibotta, but I just don't seem to get many coins. I wonder if I'm doing something incorrectly? Do you scan other stores--like Kohl's, Best Buy, etc...? I've never flagged a store, but I think they rejected an Aldi receipt.

 

[ajwolfe]

Someone give me a brief idea of how Ibotta and Receipt Hog work, please...Am I just scanning receipts after I shop or do I have to log in while I'm in the store? Trying to decide if I want to download these apps or not.

 

[ah1126]

I also use Snap by Groupon. It is pretty much like Checkout 51. They don't have a ton of offers on at one time, but they are higher amounts.

 

[ah1126]

So maybe I'm not making the most of Receipt Hog? I scan every grocery store receipt --same as with Ibotta, but I just don't seem to get many coins. I wonder if I'm doing something incorrectly? Do you scan other stores--like Kohl's, Best Buy, etc...? I've never flagged a store, but I think they rejected an Aldi receipt.

Yes, scan other stores like Kohl's, the Dollar Tree, any where but restaurants and gas is my understanding. You might get spins instead of coins, but it's better than nothing.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Those of you doing Perk - are you doing regular Perk or Perk Live? Regular Perk has stopped being worth it for us lately

 

[tiggergal15]

Someone give me a brief idea of how Ibotta and Receipt Hog work, please...Am I just scanning receipts after I shop or do I have to log in while I'm in the store? Trying to decide if I want to download these apps or not.

Ibotta is an app you download and creat an account. When signed in you " activate " products you want to get reabates back on. Then you go to that store( no need to be signed on while there) shop and save receipt
At home you log in And clic on "redeem" on all the items you just bought. You will have to verify the products by either scanning the bar code with your phone or texting a pic and scanning the store receipt. Very cool I'm my opinion and worth it to me.

 

[Marionnette]

Those of you doing Perk - are you doing regular Perk or Perk Live? Regular Perk has stopped being worth it for us lately

I'm doing Perk TV (aka regular Perk), Perk Live, and Perk Pop Quiz. I run them pretty much constantly.

I also have Perk Screen installed on 5 devices so that I get points for unlocking them whenever they go into sleep mode. And I use Perk Wallet to redeem for GCs because they discount some GCs if you use the app for redemptions.

 

[ah1126]

I agree that Ibotta is worth it! Some months I do great and other months there isn't much on that I'm buying. I signed up last September and I've earned $253.55!! I like that you can cash out at $10 and have it deposited right into your Paypal. I signed up for Checkout 51 around the same time and I've only gotten one check ($21.00) back so far. I've been on Snap a shorter time and just requested my second check, so I am just over $40 with them. I'm new to receipt hog, but I have just over 700 coins. None of them take very long and they do add up. It also helps when you can match coupons to the items.

I didn't see anyone mention Walmart's Savings Catcher. The more you shop there, the more it adds up. But I've gotten back over $20 and it isn't my main store.

 

[Narnia_girl]

Someone give me a brief idea of how Ibotta and Receipt Hog work, please...Am I just scanning receipts after I shop or do I have to log in while I'm in the store? Trying to decide if I want to download these apps or not.

I definitely think Ibotta is worth the effort. I consider it coupons in reverse. Just an example of some of the things they are rebating right now: Pine Sol 75 cents; Dial body wash $1.00; bananas 20 cents; ears of corn 20 cents; hamburger buns 20 cents; Huggies diapers $2; SnackWells cookies 50 cents; Dos Equis 12 pack $2.00; orange juice, yogurt, bacon and frozen veggies all 20 cents each; Red Baron pizza $1. And a whole lot more!

I don't generally look at Ibotta before I shop because I don't want it to influence what I buy--like I don't want to buy something just because I have a "coupon". But I could see where it would be beneficial to check it out before you shop especially if you see a rebate for something you regularly buy.

I agree that Ibotta is worth it! Some months I do great and other months there isn't much on that I'm buying. I signed up last September and I've earned $253.55!! I like that you can cash out at $10 and have it deposited right into your Paypal. I signed up for Checkout 51 around the same time and I've only gotten one check ($21.00) back so far. I've been on Snap a shorter time and just requested my second check, so I am just over $40 with them. I'm new to receipt hog, but I have just over 700 coins. None of them take very long and they do add up. It also helps when you can match coupons to the items.

I didn't see anyone mention Walmart's Savings Catcher. The more you shop there, the more it adds up. But I've gotten back over $20 and it isn't my main store.

I also do the WalMart Savings catcher. Only made about $6 in six months, but I don't shop there a lot. Now I'm going to check out Snap--hadn't heard of it before.

 

[ajwolfe]

Thanks, I'm going to download them and give them a go!!

 

[Eureka]

One month ago I decided to try some of the unique ways to earn money that other DISers have shared. I started a notebook to keep track of how well I did with each one. I thought I would share that here--and would appreciate suggestions on how I can improve these totals--or other apps/techniques you have been successful using. I'm not including Swagbucks (although I've learned tons of tips here) or the gift card/Target transactions because I was already doing both of these.

So here we go.....

May 15-June 15:

BING Rewards-- earned 713 Rewards. (cashed in 575 for 500 Swagbucks) I really like this Rewards program and have tried to meet my goal every day recently. It's so easy to use.

Receipt HOG--earned 321 Coins. Not too impressed with this. It takes 1000 coins to equal $5 so I probably won't earn that for several months. I'll keep using it because it's easy.

ShopKick--earned 1989 Kicks. This is a fun app that I enjoy using. My daughter is old enough to send around the store looking for kicks to scan. I would probably earn more kicks but my New Year's resolution was to spend less time shopping/going to stores. If I were in more stores, I'd earn more kicks. Also, it cheated me out of 200 kicks at Best Buy--two trips that I should have received walk-in kicks for. But overall, it's fun and super easy. In one month I earned more than enough for a $5 gift card (1250 kicks).

Checkout 51--earned $3.50. I had high hopes for this app because my first use I got $1 off a gallon of milk. It has stalled considerably since then. It's just mostly cleaning supplies I don't buy. I'll keep it but don't expect much.

Ibotta--earned $10.15. This is my favorite so far and one I use most. Definitely worth my time as it rewards for fresh produce and staple items.

Secret Shopper--earned $20 (but have yet to be paid). I'm not sure I will pursue this anymore. Kind of a hassle. I get offered a lot of car dealership/oil changes but they are for models I don't own.

I also do Disney Movie Rewards, My Coke Rewards, Ebates and other cash back programs.

Have you had success with any of these? Any other apps you'd recommend?

I rarely get my walk in kicks for Target with Shop kick. I report it every time and apparently nothing's ever been done about it. It's a bummer because I do a lot of grocery shopping there.

 

[Marionnette]

I rarely get my walk in kicks for Target with Shop kick. I report it every time and apparently nothing's ever been done about it. It's a bummer because I do a lot of grocery shopping there.

I get the same problem with our Walmart. Their walk-in sensor is in the back of the store, not at the entrance like it is supposed to be. I can walk around that area several times before it registers. And like you said, reporting it does absolutely no good.

 

[Minnesota!]

I do Cartwheel and Ebates. I don't think there is enough savings/making money ability in any of the apps that it is worth my time, honestly.

 

[nhgirl]

I learned about Swagbucks here. I started the beginning of May and I have earned $110 in Target gift cards which a use to buy Disney gift cards then deposited into Disney Vacation Account. I also opened a Chase Disney Visa. With the $200 statement credit I purchased Target gift cards on Raise and in turn purchased Disney gift cards and deposited them into Disney Vacation Account. I have a Red Card so I saved an additional 5%. I have also been going Gift Hulk (I like Swag better). I have earned $10. I started doing Perk but I just run videos so I don't think I have too many points yet. I have also been better about comparing prices, looking for coupons, and trying to save money overall.