How I save money...

Growing older is no fun. And worrying if you’ll have enough for retirement makes it even worse. And I’m a penny pincher, so throw that into the mix and I have a serious problem with anxiety about money. I also see no reason for paying full price for anything. Not that I begrudge those who do and can afford to do so, but it’s just not for me. I’m the friend that always says, “I have a coupon for that!”

Nowadays, there aren’t very many paper coupons available. But there are other ways to save money and get discounts…and you don’t need to be an old person to take advantage of them. Some give electronic rebates/coupons by using their apps to scan (every) sales receipt you get, while others have ways for you to earn points to exchange for cash or gift cards. Most of them also offer users the opportunity to use points to enter sweepstakes for prizes. I tend to stay away from using my points in this fashion.

Currently, I’m using some of these apps to build up (among other things) a pile of Southwest Airlines gift cards. After about 3 months, I have almost $100 in gift cards that don’t expire. Hopefully, I’ll be flying the sunny skies for free in a couple months!

Here are the websites and apps I use with as a brief a description as I can give as to how they work.

*Disclaimer - a lot of these are affiliate links that I will either get points or bonuses for if you sign up and use them. I’ve tried to make sure to include that in each explanation of these programs.

Microsoft Bing Rewards - Every morning, my husband and I wake up and start going through our daily tasks on our respective Microsoft Bing accounts while we sip our coffee. Users can earn up to 150 points everyday by doing searches on Bing.com (5 points for every search), and up to 100 points for searching on the app. They also have a rewards page with daily clicks for points. Things like daily quizzes, quotes, news, etc. They don’t usually offer referral bonuses, but right now, anyone that signs up through my link will get up to 1300 bonus points when they complete their Welcome Quest, and I get 1 point for every search point you get. A sample of what you get for your points - 6500 points = $5 Amazon gift card, and, 21,000 points = $15 Southwest card.

Branded Surveys - This is another website that lets you earn points, but pays out in cash transfers (100 points=$1). I like to do a survey or two while I’m eating breakfast or lunch. Their website is set up for the users to take surveys for leading survey companies about products, politics, or family habits. Different surveys have different point values and are different lengths. They can be anywhere from 5 points to 200 points per survey. Everyday they offer a daily poll question for 5 points (if I do nothing else on the page, I at least get my 5 poll points). They also offer the opportunity to play games for points, but it’s not always as fun as it sounds. You can’t cash out until you have 500 point ($5) and they’ll transfer it right into your Paypal or bank. Or, you can exchange points for gift cards. I take the Paypal option. Currently, they’re offering some type of bonus points for referring friends, but it’s dependent on how much a friend uses the app.

AARP Rewards - So, here’s the old peoples place on the web! Currently, you need to be 50+ to join AARP, but it’s not necessary to be a member to play their daily games or watch informative videos for points. I admit that I enjoy doing mini crosswords and Hurdle (Wordle) every morning to wake up my brain. And every morning, I spend some of my daily points to play a couple of insta-win games for gift cards. Last week, I got a $10 IHOP card that way. Or, if you keep your eyes peeled, you can accumulate enough points for their gift card giveaways. (example - 10,000 points=$5 Jumba Juice gift card). They don’t offer any referral bonus.

UPromise - Got grandkids? We do! But we’ve been using UPromise since our kids were small. Back in the 1990s, it was in it’s infancy and a lot of the cashback came from using their UPromise credit card to earn money for a designated 529 college savings account. Now, it works a lot like the other cashback shopping apps where you scan your receipt. The tricky part is knowing what items and companies are partnered with UPromise and making sure you buy the right size and quantity. If you want to be more casual about earning points, just do their daily checklist to earn 10 cents - 50 cents daily. It actually adds up! Their referral program will give friends “a $5.29 bonus for signing up and a $25 bonus for linking a 529 or student loan account*” and I would get a $25 bonus once the friend reached $25 in qualified rewards (that could take a while!).

Rakuten - A cash back app and extension. I mostly use Rakuten (along with RetailMeNot.com) on my computer for online shopping. The convenient extension detects what site I’m shopping on and let’s me know if I can get a percentage of my purchase back buy going through Rakuten. Once I reach over $10 in rebates, I can cash out to my bank account. They also have an in-store option for shopping if you register your credit card with their site/app. Their referral program is offering a bonus of $50 after friends who sign up spend $50 on qualifying purchases.

Ibotta - Fetch and Ibotta are similar, but I find Ibotta to be a little more time consuming and nitpicky to use. Ibotta requires you to go into their app, find the store you’ll be shopping at (primarily grocery stores), and check off any items that you will be buying. After you’ve purchased those items, you can scan your receipt with your phone and you get the designated rebate put into your account. Once you’ve reached $20, you can cash out. OR, I just found out you can trade it in for gift cards (and yes, they offer Southwest gift cards, so I will be taking advantage of that next time to get closer to my free vacation!). If you haven’t checked off the items before you purchase them, you don’t get the money back. Their referral program is currently offering me a $10 bonus after my friends scan their first receipt, and my friend will get a $5 bonus too.

Fetch - As I said, Fetch is a lot like Ibotta, but simpler to use. Yes, you need to check the app for what rebates are available, but you don’t need to click on anything. When you scan your receipt, the app can read/see where you’ve shopped and what you’ve bought and give you the appropriate points. And if they miss something, just contact them and they’re quick to fix it. Yes…they work in points, not cash. But, I can get a $25 Southwest gift card for 28,000 points. I can also acquire points by playing games and through various bonuses they offer (Example - complete two levels while playing games…get 2000 points!). They’re offering 2000 bonus points for referring friends, but occasionally, this will go up to 4000 per referral. The friend will also receive 2000 points for signing up.

American Airlines AAdvantage and Southwest Rapid Rewards - I wanted to add both of these airlines rewards programs in case it’s sky miles you’re looking for. Just like Rakuten, they work through extension and track where you shop. Instead of offering you cash back and rebates on your online purchases, they give you air miles for their programs. Neither one has a referral bonus program.