the Renaissance Housewife
  • Home
  • Topics
    • Saving >
      • Kitchen >
        • Food >
          • Recipes
      • Bath & Laundry
      • Medicine Cabinet
      • Office
      • Electricity
      • Gardening
      • Foraging
      • Animals
      • Weekly F. A.'s
      • Printables & Downloads
    • Earning
    • Investing
  • Books
  • About
    • RH Recommends
    • Newsletter & Updates
    • Travel
    • Beta Readers
    • Legal Stuff

Get Free Produce with Ibotta and Checkout 51

4/14/2016

3 Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Last year for several weeks, I tried couponing with the help of the Krazy Coupon Lady. The website would tell me each week what the deals were. Then I would spend about 20 minutes printing out coupons, liking Facebook pages, and doing whatever else required. Then I would spend an extra 10 minutes at Walmart looking around for the thing (because it was probably something weird, like Glade scent warmers or multi-purpose cleaner or ranch dressing mix). 

After a few weeks, I quit. It just wasn't worth it! I wasn't good at collecting Red Plum adds, I didn't have a phone to download rebate apps (because there are like a HUNDRED of them!), and it took too much time to get a free product that I would never use.

Recently, Hubs gave me his old phone and I've been experimenting with rebate apps again. And guess what... it's worth my time! Using the apps only takes a couple minutes each week. I get FREE produce and save money on groceries that I actually use (unlike the ranch dressing dip, which is still sitting in my pantry). 

My 15-Minute Strategy for FREE Produce & Saving $$$
Now that those two things are out of the way, let me share my system for using Ibotta, Checkout 51 and Receipt Hog. You can download all of these programs from the app store for free.

1. Take 5 minutes per week to unlock rebates. I've found that Thursday is a good day, because both Ibotta and Checkout 51 have added new rebates by then (we shop on Sunday). 

2. Only unlock rebates that are "any brand". I typically find one usable rebate on Checkout 51, and 3-4 rebates on Ibotta. These are for things like onions, carrots, bananas, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, bread, pasta or milk. Don't bother looking for name brand rebates, because you will just end up wasting time and money.

3. Add these items to your grocery list.

4. At the grocery store, be sure to spend LESS money on each produce item than what your rebate is worth. For example, I often get $0.25 rebates for "any brand banana". One banana costs $0.20, so if I only buy one banana, it is free (and I get an extra nickel!). During my latest shopping trip, I also had $0.25 rebates for tomatoes and carrots. I bought one single tomato ($0.17) and three bulk carrots (@$0.67/lb=$0.36). So for this trip I spent $0.73 on extra produce, and will get $0.75 in rebate money.

In addition to getting free produce, I also use "any brand" rebates for things that I might buy anyway, like bread or milk. Then I always pick the cheapest brand. For example, if I have a $0.25 rebate for bread, I will buy hotdog buns that cost $0.88. Or a $0.25 rebate for milk, and I buy milk that costs $1.79 instead of $2.00 or $2.50.

5. Go home and take a picture of your receipt with your phone. Ibotta only requires you to capture the QR code at the bottom of the receipt, but Checkout 51 still makes you take an actual photo. The receipts will upload and rebates added to your total amount earned.

6. Also upload pictures of your receipts on to Receipt Hog. This is a new app that I've been experimenting with. While you can't get rich with it (my average receipt is worth $0.02-$0.05 to upload), I figure that since I have my phone and receipts out anyway, I might as well snap a few pictures. The nice thing about Receipt Hog is that it also accepts receipts from non-grocery stores like Sears or the Home Depot. Instead of "coins", for these receipts you earn "spins" on a digital slot machine. Sometimes you win coins from spins, but more often than not I don't win anything. But it's still fun. Recently I tried uploading a McDonalds receipt. It was accepted, but instead of coins or spins, I only earned a drawing in the "sweepstakes", which is actually probably worthless.

I haven't come to a conclusion whether or not the Receipt Hog app is worth my time. If I entered one $10 receipt every week, it would take me almost two years to earn a $5 Amazon gift card. However, you do get a lot of coins for signing up, some free spins, more coins for adding your email address, etc. And with the occasional coins from spin receipts or "leveling up", I'm hoping to earn a $5 gift card in less than a year. After that I will probably find a new app to use.

How to Use Rebate Apps Effectively
1. Realize that rebates are not "free money". You have to SPEND the money before you get the rebate. If I have a $0.50 rebate and buy a $0.50 apple to use the rebate, I get a free apple- NOT a free fifty cents. If you spend less than what the rebate is, you get free products, and maybe a tiny bit of free money (remember how I bought $0.73 of produce and got a $0.75 rebate?).

2. You must only buy things on your grocery list, unless your rebate makes the item absolutely FREE. If you go out of your way to purchase a $3 box of cereal because there is a $0.50 rebate, you are still spending $2.50 on a box of cereal that you never would have bought without the rebate. However, milk is something I buy every week and if Ibotta has a $0.25 rebate for it, of course I am going to use that rebate.

Hourly Wage
Using Ibotta and Checkout 31 saves us about $1.50 every month in regular purchases and gives us about $3.50 in free produce. I think this is worth doing. If I can get $5.00 of value per month with one hour of work, my hourly wage is $5.00. This qualifies as "worth my time" because it is 1) over $4.00/hr., and 2) enjoyable for me.
​
Another Tool in the Kit
Like shopping at a bent 'n' dent, rebates are another small thing you can do to cut grocery costs. Saving only $5.00 per month really adds up. Over the course of a year, you could save $60! 

What are your favorite rebate apps? Do you think they are worth your time?
3 Comments
Breanna
4/14/2016 12:45:10 pm

I love all of these apps! I also use the Shopkick app for grocery shopping as well- I usually average about $5.00 in gift cards each month. Every little bit adds up!

Reply
Bethany
4/14/2016 10:49:52 pm

That's awesome! I will have to look into Shopkick as well. Thanks for mentioning it!

Reply
Breanna
4/15/2016 08:14:57 am

You're welcome! Thanks for the post!


Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Bethany

    Housewife, happy wife, and mama to one. :)

    Picture

    Picture
    The Housewife's Guide to Frugal Food
    How to Eat for $10.00
    ​per Week

    Picture
    The Housewife's Guide to Menu Planning
    A Weekly Menu to Save
    Time & Money
    Picture
    The Housewife's Guide to
    Frugal Fruits and Vegetables

    No Garden? No Problem!

    Watch Meals From the Bunker:

    Picture

    Check out my Youtube Channel!

    RSS Feed


    Picture
    Baby Girl's Birth Story
    Picture
    8 Cheap Ways to Eat Healthy
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Animals
    Book Reviews
    Books
    Christmas
    Cleaning
    Clothing
    Cooking
    Couponing
    Education
    Ego
    Electricity
    Farmers Market
    Finance
    Foraging
    Frugal
    Frugal Accomplishments
    Frugality
    Garage Sales
    Gardening
    Gifts
    Grocery Budget
    Grocery Shopping
    Herbs
    History
    Hobby Farm
    Home Based Business
    Home-based Business
    Home Decorating
    Housekeeping
    Industry
    Languages
    Laundry
    Marriage
    Meal Planning
    Medicine
    Minimalist
    Network Marketing
    Organization
    Plants
    Product Reviews
    Quotes
    Recipes
    ROI
    Rv
    Sewing
    Simplicity
    Spanish
    Spending Report
    Travel

    Archives

    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    August 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014

    Full Disclosure & Disclaimer

    Picture
    Picture
    I get cash back for many online purchases including wedding gifts and Ebay stuff!

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from dasWebweib, amanessinger, thewritingreader, diakosmein