5 Money Making Apps I Use Almost Every Day

I turned 39 this past June, and it got me thinking pretty hard. I set two big goals for myself: pay off all my consumer debt and lose the rest of the weight by my 40th birthday (see the video here).

It’s amazing the difference dedicating yourself to a goal makes. I have been using all five of the money making apps and money saving apps I’m talking about here for a long time… some for a year, some for many. The diference is, in the past, I just saw this as extra money to spend. Now, if I get an extra $10, an extra $20, whatever it is … the money goes straight toward debt, bills or savings. You really start to see, bit by bit, how every amount counts.

Regardless of your goals, I hope these money making apps and money saving apps get you a little bit ( or a LOT) closer to them.

ibotta

You’ve probably heard of Ibotta, and haven’t used it ’cause you thought it was too much work or whatever. To me, it’s totally worth it. But to each their own. So you pick a rebate . I honestly use the alcohol ones a lot, but there’s all kinds of stuff. For example, there’s free ones in there.

Here’s how it works. When you scroll through, you find rebates for the things you want to buy. First, you pick the store you want to shop at. Say I happen to be going to Target, and I see a rebate in the app for $1.59 back on a new type of cottage cheese. This is an example of a deal I actually used, and after the rebate, I got the item for free.

You put the money in and you get it back. I did that and basically got a free item. That’s how it works. At some stores, you have to scan your receipt. For other stores, like Family Fare in my area, you just enter your loyalty number when you check out, and you set up your ibotta account to be tied to your loyalty number. A couple days later, those rebates automatically come in.

Once you build up $20 in the app, you cash it out to PayPal, or you can get a gift card. I personally cash out to PayPal. So say I take my $20, and then I use that to pay down a credit card. Little bit at a time, right?

Speaking of Family Fare, if you have one in your area, sign up for their emails and their coupon app because they have a free item every week, and I geek out about it all the time. I’ve gotten free cooking spray, free plastic spoons, a free box of Peanut Butter Chex, and a bunch more. By the the way, Peanut Butter Chex are the devil. They’re so addictive!

I’ve been using ibotta for several years, and in that time, I’ve earned back over $500. That’s a lot of money to get back if you’re spending it anyway. I don’t buy anything that I wouldn’t already be buying.

You can sign up for ibotta here:
https://veggieeveryday.com/ibotta

Receipt Hog

This is an app where you just scan your receipts, and it’s that simple. And when you reach 1,000 points, you get $5 back. You can also wait to accumulate more points and redeem larger dollar amounts. You can then transfer the money to your PayPal or redeem it for an Amazon gift card. I just go with PayPal because it’s cash, and I can use it to pay my debt down.

Get the app:
https://www.receipthog.com/

National Consumer Panel

National Consumer Panel is a program where you record and submit your purchases. This one might be a more tedious one for some people, especially if you buy a ton of things. But for me it’s worth it because you build up points and you can use it for Amazon gift card, which heck yeah! I can take a $25 gift card, buy things I would have bought anyway and spend that $25 on something else, saving or paying down debt or whatever it might be.

NCP Registration:
https://join.ncponline.com/home?cid=7011N0000011pkm&vcd=2&vpub=null&vsid=2016

Long Game

I use a this saving app because the child in me still loves to make a game out of things. Here’s how it works: you set it up to save a certain amount each month, whether it’s $20 a paycheck or whatever you can afford. You can also just put in money whenever you can if you don’t want to do autosave.

You get coins on a daily basis that you use to play games, and you can win more money. I’ve won between $15 or $20 from playing the games over five or six months, on top of the interest I earn. Even if you win just cents in a game, it’s free money and you’re building up more than a regular savings account. It’s kind of addicting, and it makes saving fun. On top of that, it’s completely separate from my regular bank accounts, so I’m never tempted to tap into the money for reasons I might regret later.

Long Game Promo Code (get 1,000 coins to start winning money right away): https://refer.longgame.co/?h=Liz_9W6EEZ

Stash

The next thing I’ve been doing is investment apps. I’ve been doing indexed fund low-cost apps, which is the way that I’m paying down my debt and working on building up my assets at the same time. Low-cost index funds are a way to start building money, and you can do it for so cheap. There’s no entry point. So you can invest $5. You don’t have to have a boatload of money. So I’m trying out different ones right now. I’m doing Betterment. I’m doing Ellevest, which is targeted more at women. And I’m doing Stash. And so far I can’t report on the performance ’cause I’ve only been doing this for a couple months, but Stash has been my favorite because they have a stock back program where if you put money into their debit account and make purchases through that, then you get stock.

I’ve starting paying some of my bills with that account. I got stock in Sprint for paying my phone bill. I went to Target, got some Target stock. If there’s not a specific stock associated with where you buy, you can choose what free stocks you get. To me, that’s much safer than doing a cashback credit card because with a credit card, it’s so easy to run it up and get yourself into trouble. With a debit card, you’re only spending the money you definitely have in there. With this, you’re using the debit card and you’re still getting stocks, which is pretty freaking cool in my opinion.

Stash Invest Referral Link (get $5 free to start investing) https://get.stashinvest.com/lizpy7rv

Betterment Referral Link (90 days free investing): https://www.betterment.com/?referral_…

Ellevest referral link (get $20 to get started!): Ellevest is investing by women for women, and when you use my link to sign up — we both get $20! https://www.ellevest.com/invite/nx4c2p

Get STarted with Money Making Apps

Try out these money saving and money making apps for yourself. I hope they help you. I love money and I hate it. That’s why I ended up with debt… because I just want life to be fun. That’s why I have trouble losing weight, too, right? So, these help me buckle down while still making it fun. I never thought I’d be a money nerd, but it’s happening people, and I’m glad.

I get a small kickback from some of the links in this post. This does not cost anything extra for you, and allows me to bring you more great content. So if they help you, thanks for your support!