Make money back on your Groceries

We spend so much money at the grocery stores and it seems that every time we go the price we pay goes up and the amount we get is smaller. I am an avid couponer but as we do not eat many processed food  there aren't usually many coupons to use on our basics. That's not to say I don't make any money back on my shopping trips. I have blogged before about this to a point but have had questions asked so this is a more in depth post about it. How can you make money back when shopping? There are a few ways actually.  Some are from the computer, some are connected to your shopping rewards cards, some apps on the phone, not to mention good old couponing and sale finding.

Reward cards, one of the first things to grab up and it seems like almost everywhere has them now adays.   Usually found at the customer service desks these cards offer discounts to members, coupons can be loaded on them from some of the sites, we'll get to in a bit.  Some have reward programs such as cents off of gas, groceries, prizes to earn etc.. Check out your local grocery,  pharmacy and retail stores for these programs.

Rewards cards can be used in tandem with websites such as SavingStar and Upromise to compound savings. These sites use our cards to keep track of our purchases. So if using Upromise which is a site to help build fund for our kids college tuitions by the way,  anytime you buy from a certain company online a small percentage of your purchase will be added to your account which can later be put towards your children's or your own college payments. Ecoupons can be added to your rewards cards for added savings.  Plus with Upromise grandparents can be added as well to help build up savings.  SavingStar on the other hand you jump on the site (there is now an app as well) and you choose the deals you will use also in ecoupon form. Once your purchase is made the account which is linked to your savings card, makes a deposit to your account. This can be cashed out once a limit has been met. Stores such as Walmart that do not have savings cards now have options to scan in your receipt.

SavingStar  has  an  app and it's  certainly  not the only one out there. Ibotta is a well known app that allows you to choose the deal you want to use in the stores you shop. Once home you scan the product and take a picture of the receipt, send the info over and they add money to your account. Once you have hit $10 (like most sites) you can cash out for a PayPal payment or gift cards. Snap by Groupon works much the same. Receipt Hog is simpler. Just take a picture of your receipts and they give you tokens. Hit a certain amount of tokens to get the prize you choose.  Check Points (code kolsen88)  is another app that works a little differently. This one you "check" into stores by scanning a certain product or two in the store you are at and answering a question. Points are added to this account to be cashed out for prizes as well. Here I usually get Amazon gift cards.

Coupon printing is a big thing now but don't waste your opportunity by printing through coupon sites.  Point building sites such as Mypoints and Inbox dollars  will give you points for printing and using the exact same coupon sites. Points build up just by using the same coupons you always use anyway. Both of these sites pay in gift cards or PayPal. These site also have other ways of building up points from surveys to emails or online shopping.

Remember to stack these savings. For instance you buy two bags of chips, cost $3.95 a bag, so costs $7.90.  First the store has a sale buy 2 for $5 with store card, $2.90 saved. You've printed a $1 off of 2 coupon at Mypoints, now you've saved $3.90. Both Ibotta and Snap have $1 off deals as well and your savings are up to $5.90, hey look at that you've made $0.90 back and your not done! Points are being added to your Mypoints and Receipt Hog accounts and SavingStar has a buy $20 worth of this brand and get so much back so there is potential for more money back. For what should have cost you almost $8 you are now earning money back! 

Update 3/30/2016
One I want to add a disclaimer that yes some of these inks are to affiliates and monies may be earned from them in a round about way.
Two I have a few more of these amazing apps to add to the list!
A great one for organic non gmo foods is Shrink. Works just like Ibotta.
Another that is also organic is berrycart.
My last update is about Snap by Groupon. It is still a shopping rebate app but the format has been changed.