Walmart "Saving's Catcher" (hint: it doesn't catch your savings)

Walmart is usually a pretty cheap place to shop, but they do NOT have the best prices in town, and they know it. They do the best they can to keep your business anyway, with policies like Price Match and Savings Catcher. Price Match is amazing. Savings Catcher...not so much. You can read about Price Matching here.

The Savings Catcher is a feature on the Walmart app. Basically, after you've shopped at Walmart, you scan the code at the bottom of your receipt into the app. They app claims it will check the current advertised deals of local competitors, and if they find that someone else has what you purchased at Walmart on sale for cheaper, they'll give you the difference in a gift card.

Walmart - Price matching

I love Walmart. Say what you will about the people who shop and work there, but Walmart does the most of any other store to make sure they keep your business. I am particularly bias to Walmart because there is one directly behind my subdivision, so it makes my shopping life simple.

I will be honest though: Walmart does NOT have the best prices in town. If fact, Walmart RARELY has the best prices in town when it comes to my shopping list. 

That being said, Walmart has a fantastic policy called Price Match, and therefore I do most of my shopping at Walmart because it allows me to get almost everything I need in one place. 

Receipt Hog - the in's and out's

I almost didn't download Receipt Hog because of user reviews, but in hindsight, I'm glad that I use them. I have been using Receipt Hog for the same amount of time as Receipt Pal, and I've only earned about 1/3 the reward, but a lot of that is due to different rules about how to use the app - in other words, there was a learning curve :)

When I first started using it, Receipt Hog only accepted receipts from certain types of merchants, which made it frustrating because I couldn't upload receipts from gas purchases, restaurants, or thrift stores. However, with their most recent update, they now accept all receipts for at least some kind of reward, even if it's just a chance to play their slot game for a few extra coins.

ReceiptPal - the in's and out's

I discovered receipt apps in June, and I have to say I really love them.  The idea is that you take a picture of your receipt when you get home, no matter where it was purchased from, and you're rewarded with a small amount of points. Once you reach a certain amount of points, you can cash out.

ReceiptPal is the easiest between the two that I use, because all I do is take a picture of the receipt. It can be a movie ticket stub, a printed invoice receipt from the doctor's office, or whatever you have to prove that you spent money. Since I already take a minute to sit down and upload my receipts into my rebate apps, it doesn't take much effort to upload them to the receipt app as well.

My favorite deals - December 18th

Today was an awesome shopping win for combining sales, rebates, and coupons! Here are some of the deals I made off with:

Angelsoft bathroom tissue is at Albertson's for $3.99 (you have to buy in groups of two to get that price) for their 12 pack of double rolls, or a 24 pack of their regular rolls. By itself, I consider this to be a stock up price, but SavingStar has a "one or many" rebate on AngelSoft, where you get $5 back after you spend $15. Since I'm almost out of toilet paper, I stocked up (bought 6 packages) and after the rebate will have only paid $0.13 per regular roll ($0.26 for the double rolls).

Snap by Groupon - the in's and out's

***Update: As of March 2016, Snap will no longer be a Cash Back app. You will be able to use this app to receive discounts at certain retailers, just like you would if you were to purchase a deal off of Groupon. If you have over $20.00 in your Snap account you can cash out like normal (until March), and if you don't have $20.00 by March, they will convert the money you do have in your account into "Groupon Bucks" and add them to your Groupon account. If you don't have a Groupon account, they create one for you based on your Snap account. Unfortunately, I don't find Groupon to be a good money saving tool for me and my family, so as of March 2016 I will be uninstalling the app from my phone. Unfortunately, the $9.00 I have in my account will be wasted because I won't get that money in my bank account. All that being said, Snap has been a GREAT app for me, and I don't regret using it!***

Snap (Also called Snap by Groupon) is an app I've only had for a short while, but I've made over $60 in the first month of using it, so I consider it a good investment of my time and of the space on my phone. Please feel free to use my referral link when you sign up! http://goo.gl3VfmGh

MobiSave - the in's and out's

I'm fairly new to MobiSave, but I wish that I had been using them from the very beginning when I started my journey to couponing and rebate apps.  There are some really fantastic perks to MobiSave, which in some ways makes them the most user friendly app out of all the apps I use, although they don't have near the selection that most apps have.

Checkout 51 - the in's and out's

Checkout 51 was almost not worth my time, but they just made a sweet partnership with SmartSource, so I'm feeling like I will start using them A LOT more.  They have a lot smaller selection, although now it's about tripled since the partnership rolled out.  I'm excited that they partnered with SmartSource because that means a lot of my coupons will match their rebates (SmartSource is one of the 3 companies that puts out coupon inserts in Sunday papers).

SavingStar - the in's and out's

SavingStar is my second favorite rebate app. They have some pretty unique things about them, and they require a lot less than other apps as far as reserving a rebate or cashing out.

To start with, my favorite thing about SavingStar is that the majority of their rebates are exact duplicates of current coupons. For example, last month there was a rebate on SavingStar for $2.00 off one box of Garnier Fructis hair color, and there was also a printable coupon for $2.00 off one box of Garnier Fructis hair color. So basically I would pay $2.00 less at the checkout, and then receive another $2.00 back as a rebate. $4.00 off a box of something that is normally $7.00 is a pretty darn good deal. This method of using both the rebate and the coupon for the same purchase is also perfectly legal (it's listed in their policy), although they have specifically stated that they "might" implement methods in the future to limit coupons stacked with rebates.  "Limit" does not mean "eliminate", so I'm remaining optimistic about this possible change.

Ibotta - the in's and out's

I have to start out by saying that Ibotta is by far my favorite rebate app. They are probably the most well known, and are partnered with the most companies and stores. They offer the largest selection of rebates, and therefore also have the most rebate bonuses. Bonuses are where you get an extra $1 or $2 or sometimes even $10 for redeeming certain rebates. Since I started in May, I have made almost $100 using Ibotta. Most of this comes from using their "any brand" rebates. They have a variety of rebates for any brand and any size of something, usually generic foods that everyone buys.

7 Rebate Apps that will save you money!

I can't say enough how much I love rebate apps. First, let me start out by explaining that they are free to use, generally easy to cash out on, and completely legal.  I also want to be upfront: they take work. You have to make sure the item you have purchased (or plan on purchasing) matches the information on the rebate. Just because you have a rebate for Purex laundry detergent, doesn't mean that it matches the size of the one on sale. If you are only using rebate apps and not trying to combine them with coupons or sales, than generally it's a simple process. If you're combining it with other offers, you have to read the fine print on all of them so that you actually get the deal you think you're getting.

Recipes, substitutes, and DYI tricks

Having food storage is great, but knowing how to use it is where it really helps you. Over the last few months I have found that I save a great deal of money by substituting something I already have in my food storage for something I need in a recipe but don't have. I save money because I'm not running to the store to buy the exact product the recipe calls for, and I can rotate my food storage. It has also helped my family eat healthier and be more efficient. I find that usually my substitutes are cheaper to use on a regular basis, and it makes my food taste great too.

Couponing and Rebate Apps

I have found that the best way to get out of debt while building your food storage is to coupon. I'll make this simple: Coupons add up and they ARE worth your time. Since I started couponing in May I have saved over $650.  This isn't from coupons alone, but when combining the coupons with store sales and rebates. Broken down, I've saved about $225 from coupons, about $275 from sales, and about $150 from rebates.

Starting our Food Storage

Food storage (also known as "stockpiling") is a huge part of my life. There have been countless times both while I was growing up and since I left home that I've been able to survive difficult financial circumstances because I took the time to store food and other needed supplies on a regular basis before the crisis hit. I am an avid believer that couponing is the smartest way to grow a stockpile while spending as little as possible. It allows you to grow your stockpile faster and do so without breaking the bank - which is why couponing has it's own section on this blog. This section of the blog is a place to record our food storage so that I can keep track of what I need, what I have, and how I acquire each thing. I wanted to have this space to also talk about how having food storage is blessing me right now.

Getting started with becoming debt free

This page is a place where I track our journey to becoming debt free, it is meant to be a place for my family to keep ourselves accountable, although if you find you benefit from reading about how I do things, then I hope it helps you too!  Each month I will post about our progress: how much we paid off that month, and how much longer we have until we are completely debt free. I'll also post about how we redirect our money once each debt is paid off, and any tips I have for making ends meet without going into debt. I'm excited to see our progress!