I'm not a mobile app person. I download as few of them as I can get away with, I don't like how the icons clutter up my display, and I hate the incessant notifications I get from them all day, even when I disable them. The word "disable" must have a different meaning to most app designers than it does to me...the hits keep coming.
I did, however, download an app a couple months back that has legitimately been worth it, and has already saved me some cash on my biggest expense (groceries): Ibotta.
Right now, I probably spend about four hundred a month on grocery items; it's without question my biggest recurring expense. There are a couple reasons for this, one of which being my refusal to cook with low-grade vegetable oils, due to their general toxicity. Instead, I rely mainly on coconut oil and ghee, and neither of those, barring the occasional sale at La Bonita, are cheap. This is where Ibotta comes in.
Ibotta allows you to take pictures of your receipts, and submit the receipts to them. Prior to doing so, you scroll through their current offers at a particular market, like Sprouts, and select what you intend to pick up. Then, when you submit your receipt, it compares your items to the pre-selected goods, for which there are manufacturer refunds offered, and you get money back on those purchases. Simple.
Ibotta doesn't help much with some of my big ticket items, like Ora King salmon, or heritage eggs, but it saves me a ton on those cooking oils, as well as other items, like the shredded coconut and bitter chocolate I use in my yogurt parfaits in the morning. In fact, when I hit the store the other night, I ended up getting 15% of my bill back in refunds.
I know there are other apps like Ibotta out there, but I haven't tried them yet. A lot of these things just straight up do not apply if you live in Hawai'i, so there was a long period where I just gave up on that kind of thing. Returning to the mainland, though, now I can save again...so that's something.
Huzzah for saving money.
Hmm... never heard of Ibotta. I'll definitely look into it. Thanks for introducing me to it :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm not much of a mobile app user either except for restaurant rewards and a few games.
'disable' may be used as an illusion with terms & conditions (that no one reads) defining the binding language.
I tried ibotta and other apps but I'm so bad at keeping up on them and looking for the best deal.
ReplyDeleteThat's really helpful! Definitely will take this into consideration for my life.
ReplyDeleteThe chimichangas be killing my wallet son, I'm about to start using this app lol.
ReplyDeleteMy wife uses ibotta some times. She has had some difficulties with it with stores like Target though.
ReplyDeleteI've heard of ibotta, it sounds interesting, but if it's going to save me a few cents here and there, it's really not worth it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that information with us Andrew. I'm definitely foing to get that app because my monthly grocery bill is high also.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, I'll have to try it out.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of ibotta either, interesting thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI've heard of apps like these but i don't do much grocery shopping since I still live with my parents. I bet my monthly spending isn't more than $150.
ReplyDeleteGroceries are also my biggest expense so I'm definitely going to check that app out. I use a general "money saving" app called Qapital which helps you automatically save money when you use your card for certain expenses. For example, I have my settings set so that if I use my debit card for any purchase higher than $10, the app will automatically take 10% of how much I spent and take it from my checking's account and save that money on the app. So slowly but surely, the app will forcibly help me save at least a few bucks upon every purchase I make with that card.
ReplyDeleteMight have to try it! Thanks for the info.
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