My Favorite Money Saving Apps

Lately I have been using a few apps in order to earn some extra spending money for cruises.  I don’t make nearly enough to pay for an entire vacation, but I am usually able to convert my earned money into Disney gift cards that at least cover some or all of our onboard charges.  The idea to start using these apps was actually given to me by a reader many months ago, and I am so grateful that she shared her ideas with me.  If you want to read about ways that I save much larger amounts of money on cruises, you can read my post about that here.  Let’s get started.

Ibotta

The Ibotta app is an easy way to get cash back on retail purchases, mostly for groceries.  You simply unlock the grocery items on the app, purchase the products, and then use the app to photograph your receipt (or QR code).  Most of the products on the app are name brand, so if you like to buy name brand stuff then this could work really well for you.  I prefer to buy store brand items for most things, but I can still almost always find rebates for things like “any brand milk/bread/juice/eggs”, the few items I do prefer name brand stuff for, or produce.  Each grocery trip will earn me anywhere from $0.25 to $10.00, but over time it adds up.  Once you earn the required threshold of $20.00, you can transfer your money to Paypal or Venmo.  I transfer mine to Paypal and then use it to buy Disney gift cards at Disneystore.com.  If you want to sign up for Ibotta, use my referral code “qrotdsn” when you do and you will get a $10 welcome bonus!  If you sign up on the app, just type in the referral code when prompted.  If you sign up on your computer, you can click on this link and the referral code will be applied:  https://ibotta.com/r/qrotdsn.

Ebates

If you do a lot of online shopping, there is no reason you should not be using Ebates.  You just click through their website or app before making an online purchase, and if the store and item qualifies, you will get a certain percentage of cash back.  The amount you can make varies widely because the percentages for stores, and even categories of stuff from the same store, vary widely.  But, it costs nothing to use it so why not try?  The great thing about this app is that they give you actual cash, but the main draw back is how often they give it to you.  Every 3 months, they either mail you a check or send to your Paypal account everything you earned during the previous 3 months.  So, you have to wait a while to get your cash.  There is also a minimum threshold of $5.00 that you must earn before they will send it to you.  I have my cash sent to Paypal and then use it to buy Disney gift cards from Disneystore.com.  If you want to sign up for Ebates, use my referral link to get a $10 bonus after your first purchase:  https://www.ebates.com/r/DMCDAN52?eeid=28187.

If you want to read more about how I save money on Disney cruises, you can do so here:

Discounted Disney Gift Cards

Disney Cruise Guide to Freebies, Discounts and Upgrades

My Tips For Saving Money on a Disney Cruise 

How I Maximize My Onboard Credit

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