Who doesn't like to get something for free? Especially when that something is money or a cash equivalent! I started out looking for ways to "earn" gift cards when I was a SAHM (stay at home Mom). We were living on one salary with 3 mouths to feed and I for one really liked eating out and renting movies. So what is an unemployed Mom to do? Well I started spending more time on the internet for one. I dabbled in some eBay resell items and random searches. Quite honestly I am not sure how I came across MyPoints.com but it started me on the path to riches. Well relative riches. If I "clicked" on emails and signed up for newsletters, took advantage of insurance rate quotes or 30 day trial periods for various websites I earned points. Those points could then be cashed out for gift cards for a variety of different retailers including Burger King and Blockbuster. So this became a way for me to get to splurge without it coming out of the budget. After time I we started to use these points to "pay" for Christmas presents each year. Gabe's Grandma Smith really enjoyed the Olive Garden Gift card we sent annual. Needless to say that this prompted me to sign up for survey sites like e-Rewards where you earn a "dollar amount" that is then cashed in for magazine subscriptions or travel reward points. This one has come in handy when we are short on Hilton Honors points and need a little extra to get the free hotel rooms.
Fast forward several years, no need to get specific right. Now we have computers in the palm of our hand with built in cameras and 100s of APPS. So now you can "make" money on the go! Plus if you layer on the APPS you will get three times the payout. That's right 3 times the payout (in the case of a grocery receipt). Let me explain; and this is in no certain order, download the following APPs: Coin Out (as seen on Shark Tank) , Fetch Rewards (referral code C3EXM gets YOU 3000 points), Shopkicks and Ibotta .
Starting with Shopkicks, which costs you nothing but some time while you are already at the store. Scanning barcodes of specific products. That's right just open the APP, select the store and for each item show, scan and earn. Some stores give you points for just walking in! At Christmas time I could get 50 points just for walking in the doors at Marshalls and then I would walk right back out. If you purchase an item on their scan list you get even more points. Points cash out for gift cards for a boatload of retailers including movie theaters starting at the $5 level.
Now let's take a look at what each of these give you when you give them a photo of your receipts. Starting with Coin Out.
Coin Out will give you random amounts of pennies for scanning any sort of sales receipt. There is a limit as to how many a day you can upload but you can do this every single day of the week. Plus they don't even have to be your personal receipts! That's right, I am cleaning up the environment by picking up receipts that I find laying on the ground and getting pennies. After all, how many of you would honestly not stop to pick up a penny, a nickel, a dime, a quarter? Like I said, it is a random amount from 1 cent to 26 cents and some times they give random bonuses just because! You can cash out starting at $5 or you can build it up and up and up. You have the choice of a PayPal deposit, checking account deposit or Amazon gift card.
Next up is Fetch Rewards . Now this is just for your grocery related receipts. So if you got some groceries at CVS you can still take a picture and upload. Every receipt is worth a minimum of 25 points unless your receipt has a 0 dollar amount, in other words the total has to be at least $1 for it to count. More points will be awarded based on certain items that Fetch is highlighting for that time period such as Goldfish crackers, Prego sauce, or Scott paper towels. FYI you do not have to select the items to get the points, it is automatically taken care of for you. Starting at 5000 points (not hard to do), you can select from a large variety of gift cards almost any genre/retail experience you can think of.
Lastly is the Ibotta APP. Now with this one you do need to do a few extra things to get credit for your specific purchases. You must preselect the items before purchase in most cases when a store rewards card is used (exception being Harris Teeter). Make sure that you have inputted all rewards cards prior to use or you will not get the points, such as with Lowes Foods and Food Lion. Ibotta cashes out at $20 and your choices are PayPal, Venmo, or gift cards.
Now it may seem like a little thing but imagine how much you could build up for a few minutes of your time each day over 365 days. That's right, the Condies will be paying for Christmas with Ibotta cash, Fetch Rewards gift card, Shopkicks Gift cards, and Coin Out cash in 2019.
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