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Hello,
Thanks for stopping in today! Are you still thinking about New Year Resolutions? Maybe you’re trying to forget about that already because you are so tired of hearing the word “resolution”! It almost never fails that people make a resolution about money or weight this time every year. A lot of people avoid these because they just don’t enjoy them and thinking about them makes them unhappy. Face it, when you make a list of “fun” things to do, calorie counting and budgeting aren’t usually up in the top ten list are they? Its down right hard to stick to a resolution that doesn’t excite you and for a lot of people, if money does excite them, it’s because of something negative like debt, poor budgeting skills, or in some cases just the lack of upward job mobility.
Well, what if I told you that I may be able to help you not think so negatively about money? Now before you get all upset, I’m not saying fall in love with money, just stop assigning a negative emotion to the physical “money” that we use in our society. Really, money itself is an inanimate object that doesn’t have a positive or negative emotion or character of its own, we assign the traits we want money to have to money! Let that sink in just a minute. Money is not alive, it has no feeling of its own and it can not choose how to be used, you give it life by what you do with it.
For those of you starting off with a budget, there are many things on the market to help you. Like anything, it takes practice and I still haven’t perfected documenting every single cent right away. I use the Everydollar app on my phone and computer and DH has it too so we can sync all our spending. However, budgeting is really a whole different post from what I am trying to get to. Likely, when you start your budget though, you will find a lot more month and a lot less cash on the paper. My friend over at “whatifweallcared” (https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/73348879/posts/1722430001) blogged about how she recycles her money and it got me thinking about the things I do to make our money stretch a little farther out each month. This is where today’s post comes in, what if you could recapture some of the money you are already spending? Well, I’m here to show you how! I absolutely LOVE to “recycle” and “reuse” the same money I know I have to spend anyway.
Do you shop online regularly? Perhaps you too are Prime for life you are so addicted! Well, there is something you can do to save on that Amazon purchase.
- BeFrugal is a website that will help you recapture some money you spend on Amazon. They will give a rebate for certain Amazon categories like “Prime Pantry” and many others. Once your purchase is confirmed and the waiting period is over, you can request the money be sent to you via check, a direct deposit into a US bank, PayPal, or an Amazon store credit. If you choose the Amazon credit they usually add another 1% bonus to your cash value! Amazon is not the only store they have either. There are 100’s of stores. You can look alphabetically or just type in the store you are looking for into the search bar. I’ve also earned cash back from Kohl’s, Sears, and Walmart with them. I’ve been using them since October and I’ve gotten a little over $18. What I like about BeFrugal is the variety in the way I can be paid. Since I do use Amazon a lot the extra bonus for choosing that method is nice. I also like that you can redeem once you hit $25 in confirmed money. Sign up through my link and we both earn a bonus! Just click and begin to save! https://www.befrugal.com/referral/?ref=WDJNDZL
- Ebates is another website that helps to capture money. I’ve used Ebates a lot longer but I’ve only earned about $9.25 from them. They seem to have a lower reward than BeFrugal but they also pay out at $5.00. Another thing that can be a down side is they only pay out every 3 months. This is done instead of the wait period that BeFrugal has. Let’s face it, if everyone starts returning the things they buy, they may loose money if they pay out too soon. Ebates just makes it clear you’ll get a “big fat check” as they call it every quarter instead of showing you the different confirmation dates that BeFrugal has. It’s really up to you which is best, you can do what I do and see who has the largest percentage at the store you are buying from, you can go with a known pay period of every quarter, or you could choose to get the cash as soon as you hit $25. Ebates only pays in two ways, a check sent by mail or PayPal. Each website has deals with different stores that may offer double cash back days or bonuses for sharing your link. Right now, Ebates has a bonus that will give you a $10 bonus for signing up with my link and if you spend $25 at any of their stores, I will also get a $15 bonus! If you think Ebates and quarterly checks is the way to go for you follow my link and sign up! ebates.com/r/DJTODD8
Not an avid online shopper? Not to worry! I have you covered, listed below are my favorite in store ways to recover that hard earned cash.
- iBotta is an app for the phone that I am crazy about! If you use coupons at the grocery store, you need this app! You can use your coupons in store and then submit your receipt and get a rebate on some of the same items. I use this app every week when I shop. Sometimes they have a rebate on “any item” all you have to do is submit the receipt. I always cross reference (well, let me say I attempt to always) the sales flyer with my iBotta app and then plan meals around those things. If I can get a hold of coupons, even better! If not, I feel good knowing that I’ve done what I can to redeem the fragments I can of money I had already spent. Probably my favorite perk about iBotta is the team building! They give bonuses for recruiting others and for redeeming the products. For instance, if your team redeems a total of $10 and you personally redeemed 8 rebates of a specific product (not the “any items”) then you will get a bonus awarded of $1 extra. Sometimes they have mid-week bonus or holiday ones. They also have rebates off of websites like Amazon, Jet.com, and Boxed. I prefer to have my iBotta money redeemed with PayPal and redemption starts when you reach $20. They also have Venmo as an option and multiple different gift cards! Want to help build my team and start yours? This incentive pays you $10 for signing up with my link and gives me $5 in return for helping you find a way to recapture your own money. https://ibotta.com/r/ojhbeov
- CheckOut 51 is much like iBotta but they don’t have a referral code for me to share and they don’t offer team bonuses when we redeem together. Just go to your app store and search and they will send you a paper check when you reach $20. I have gotten lots of coffee rebates here and though I certainly don’t use it as much as iBotta it’s a nice Christmas boost to be able to request this check at the end of the year. You can request it earlier but since it takes me longer to reach the minimum I decided to just let it sit until Christmas and use it for all the unexpected things that come up in life during that busy season.
- ShopKicks is an app on the phone that allows you to earn points even if you don’t make a purchase! You can earn points by walking into stores like CVS, Target, Publix, Walmart and more with your app on your phone. Many of these places even have public wi-fi so you don’t burn up all your data (in the event you aim for those T-Mobile kickbacks or the google Fi data refunds like me). You can also earn products for scanning items in the store even if you don’t buy them. If you choose to buy, even better, double up your points. I’ve been using this app since late October 2016 and I’ve almost got enough for a $25 gift card. Right now if you choose to sign up with my code, we both get 250 bonus kicks when you walk in to your first store! How great is that. Download the Shopkicks app to your phone and use code: JOY831917 to start earning your gift cards.
- FetchRewards used to be MobiSave but the developers decided to go to a point based system that allows you to redeem them for gift cards. When my friend got married this November, I redeemed a $10 gift card to Bed, Bath and Beyond to purchase her wedding gift. I do miss the near instant cash back I was able to get from MobiSave but the selection of products was also much more limited. FetchRewards give points for both specific products that you purchase and specific brands that you use. I like this because I may not buy a certain product but I will buy that brand so I will at least earn some points. Right now FetchRewards will give 1,500 bonus points to you with my code and match the bonus for me too! Download the app to your phone and use code: VB4TX
How about you? What ways to you save money? Please share them below, perhaps I can learn another way to help stretch our income too.
Have a great day.
Until next time-
Davi
Thanks for the link!!
Another fun resource is Menards. . they have amazing ‘free after rebate’ items every week plus other great rebates. The rebate comes in an in-store coupon in the mail. There is no tax charged on what you buy with the rebate check (so far). You can stack coupons on the rebate without losing $ off the next rebate. . . Soooo Fun!!!!
I have nominated you for the Liebster Award!! Go to https://whatifweallcared.wordpress.com/2018/01/07/liebster-award-2018/?preview=true to receive your award and see the rules. Congrats on an awesome blog!!
Thank you! You are too kind. 🙂 Hope you have a great week!
You’re welcome!! Your writing is appreciated ?
Very informative post and great read!
Great tips. I’ve never heard of the BeFrugal website. Thanks.
Thank you! I’ve been using them for awhile now and I really like it. I appreciate you dropping by today. 🙂