The Only Money Saving App You Should Be Using

Don't have time to coupon? This easy-to-use smartphone app gives you the biggest bang for your buck in the shortest amount of time, and there's REAL money involved -- no complicated point systems or coins. It's the easiest money you will ever make!
This Ibotta App Review solves the two biggest questions out there: Is Ibotta really the best money saving app? And secondly, how does it work?

This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy here.

I do NOT have time to coupon, but then I learned saving money can be as simple as picking up my phone. The easy-to-use Ibotta app gives you the biggest bang for your buck in the shortest amount of time. It's the easiest money I have ever made--check out how to use the ibotta app now! #Ibottaapp #moneysavingapps #grocerybudget

 

As much as I love to save money, I resisted using the Ibotta app for the first two years after I signed up — no joke!

 

I like big wins, which means savings strategies that only give me an extra $.50 here or there and take a lot of effort are often just not worth my time. The truth is, I’ve tried money-saving grocery-shopping apps before, and one by one, they almost always disappoint. I either spend wasted time in the store scanning items just to get points, or snap photos of receipts in exchange for a few coins.

Sorry, but my time is worth way more than that!

Since I didn’t really give Ibotta a chance though, I thought I should least give it a trial run so I could make a well-informed decision going forward. And you know what? I fell in love. Now it’s the only money saving app I use because it’s where I get the biggest return for the time spent…..for real. 

I’m not talking just pennies here….I mean an extra $3-$4 for literally two minutes of work, and that’s a serious upgrade over minimum wage if you really think about it!

So if you find yourself too busy to coupon, but still want to save big on items you already buy, I strongly recommend you download Ibotta. Here’s my official Ibotta app review on how it works, the best tips to maximize earnings, and why this money saving app should be #1 on your smartphone too.

How Ibotta Works

If you’re new to Ibotta, it’s basically a FREE smartphone app that lets you earn cash back, or rebates, based on the products you already buy in-store. 

Rewards range from $.25 up to $4.00, and vary based on the type of food or retail item you purchase. It works with retailers like Target, Walmart, Publix, Costco, Walgreens, and hundreds of other stores, plus, it includes a ton of rebates for healthy and organic foods. Which if you’ve ever tried finding a coupon for those types of items, you know how hard that can be!

Many of the rebates offered are on brand name products, but the best part about Ibotta is the ability to earn on generic items too. So it doesn’t matter what brand you buy of milk, eggs, cheese, or vegetables, you’ll still earn cash back. Pretty sweet, right?

ibotta app review - shows product screen, product being unlocked, and then a list of unlocked rebates.

Here’s a sample step-by-step of how to use Ibotta from start to finish:

  1. Do your regular grocery shopping
  2. Open the Ibotta app and find the store you purchased from
  3. “Unlock” any food items you bought {this usually means watching a 15 second video, clicking through to a recipe, or reading a fun fact}
  4. “Verify” your purchase by scanning the barcode on each food item you just “unlocked”
  5. Take a photo of your receipt and submit to Ibotta
  6. Get cash back within 24 hours {usually a lot sooner!}, and once you have $20 in your account, you can cash out via Paypal, or swap it for a gift card

From the time I get home and open Ibotta, to the time I hit the SUBMIT button, it’s literally 2 minutes or less. And this is real money, not just points or coins!

My Ibotta App Review

For those who want a visual run-down of how to use the app, here’s a video tutorial that’ll help you figure out where all those buttons are:

How to Maximize Ibotta Earnings

At the most basic level, you can do quite well with Ibotta, but if you want to go a little bit further and maximize your earnings even more, here’s what I recommend:

  • Verify the product in store. The last thing you want to do is get home with an item that doesn’t qualify. Read the fine print and quickly scan the item required for rebate to make sure it’s the right one.
  • Keep an eye on the Bonus Page. Certain bonuses switch out every few weeks or so and give you the chance to earn an extra $1.00-$4.00 based on how many rebates you redeem. You can also get bonuses for buying a specific number of brand name items or by household category.

Ibotta reward circles in an ibotta app review

  • Add more members to your team. Every friend you invite to Ibotta {who redeems a rebate within 30 days} gives you an extra $5.00 in your account. Plus, the more team members you have, the easier it is to earn extra bonuses for meeting a specific task or total earnings goal.
  • Combine Ibotta rebates with other coupons and store sales. If you have the time and energy to clip coupons and compare them with store sales, you can get even better deals by adding an Ibotta rebate on top of that. I don’t do this all the time, but when I do, it really pays off!

Like I mentioned before, Ibotta is the ONLY money saving app I will use right now. I’ve tried SavingStar, Receipt Hog, Shopkick, and many others, but nothing compares Ibotta’s ease of use and amount earned based on time spent. I know……I’m gushing, but I love it that much!

Right now though, you’re probably wondering what the average earning per year looks like….

Well, as a more casual user — meaning I often forgot to look for rebates and/or take pictures of my receipts — I earned about $60 this past year with about 3o minutes of work. But if used diligently, you can earn at least an extra $100-$200 per year. My friend, Rosemarie from The Busy Budgeter has earned over $500 this year alone, just by using this simple app!

What to Do Next

Now that you’re absolutely convinced you need Ibotta in your life, here’s what you need to do next:

  1. Download the Ibotta app using this link. This adds you to my team so we can help each other earn even more.
  2. Connect your Facebook account so you can start building your own team. All your Facebook friends who also use Ibotta count towards your team.
  3. Grab your last grocery store receipt {must be within the last 7 days} and redeem your first rebate. This will automatically add an extra $5 to your account as a welcome bonus for joining.
  4. Continue to redeem and earn! And check out these other grocery shopping tips to save even more!

I know an extra $100 a year might not seem like a lot, but it’s probably the easiest $100 you’ll ever make. And that, my friend, is worth your time.

Do you use the Ibotta app?

 

Want to know another way I earn easy money? Through credit card rewards — and no, I don’t ever carry a balance. You can find out all my tips and ideas about how to manage money better over on this page.

Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. Read my full disclosure policy here.

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22 Comments

  1. I like the idea of ibotta app, but InstaCart and shipt do not allow the delivery driver to give me, the shopper, the store receipt. This really bothers me because I need it to budget and what can be so wrong about having the store receipt and their receipt? Makes me feel being scammed somehow, spoils the fun of spoiling myself.
    so it sounds like without the store receipt I could not use the ibotta app either?

  2. I can’t link my store cards. I have been trying for over an hour. Any ideas? Thank you.

  3. This is app is not for me. I want to be abe to just submit receipt and presto. Not this browse around stuff. Takes too long.

  4. Ibotta is one of my favorite apps!! However I also find that I make quite a bit with Savings Star and Mobi. This year I have made almost as much with Savings Star as I have Ibotta (I use them every time I shop!). When I can combine coupons with the apps I can actually get stuff for free! All the money I save via the apps I transfer to my savings account!! It has grown quite considerably this year!!

    1. Your comment just kept getting better and better all the way to the end, Rebecca! Transferring what you save to a savings account is such a great way to actually visualize how much you have saved AND keep you from spending your savings away on other things because “your budget can handle it.” Great job!

  5. I’m not a huge fan of ibotta. I felt like every time I looked at the app there was never anything for me to redeem. I want to try and keep up with it more (maybe i’m missing something?)

    1. Be sure to check for the generic items that show up once a week as well, like milk, pasta sauce, bread, eggs, and others. It doesn’t matter what brand you get for those items!

  6. Oooooo I’m so inspired! Totally drank the kool aid and downloaded the app. Now I’m just waiting on my first $0.50 from my gallon of milk purchase yesterday πŸ™‚ It sounds like the kind of app that the more you use it the more you save, so I’m hoping to use this one a lot! Thanks for the tips Kalyn!

    1. Absolutely, Elsie! I try to remember to check every time I come home from a shopping trip. The small savings add up and it hardly takes any time.

    1. Welcome back to the US! Enjoy iBotta while you are here. Maybe you can encourage the creators to expand to Brazil as well. πŸ™‚

  7. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Ibotta app. I live in a small town and Fareway is the only grocery store we have. The really cool thing about Fareway stores is that all I have to do is give the cashier my phone number and they enter it in and all the rebates I have unlocked are automatically scanned in. I don’t have to scan my receipt!!! There are a few stores like that. Makes it even easier!!!

  8. I am a huge fan of the Ibotta app. One of the things I love about it is that there are usually a lot of non branded coupons on produce and dairy. I may not always get to use high dollar rebates (although they have had some good ones on diapers in the past), but every little bit helps and adds up! It’s super easy and a no-brainer…..for sure!!

    1. Non-branded rebates are the best! One thing we always have to watch out for with sales is making sure that we are still getting a better deal than the generic {that is of course if the generic is good quality}. I love that Ibotta takes that away with so many non-brand specific offers!

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