Merry Christmas!!
I can finally say that without being a weirdo. I can also light my Christmas tree in the evening and not be worried my neighbors are judging me (I put my tree up early this year….early NOVEMBER to be exact). This blog has been a blog in the making. I have wanted to be certain that my advise was as honest and as helpful as possible, so I had to do my research (about three months of it).
For most people the holiday season can be both joyful and stressful. The stress of ensuring your money will last you through the end of the year or being sure you are not over spending…while also buying the perfect gifts for all the important people in your life. All that worry can replace the joy of the season with a big bah-humbug. I truly wish that this post will help you keep the season spirit and maybe also help you in the coming new year.
The most helpful way to save money is to not spend it. However simple that is, it is not always easy. As a teacher, I am on a very tight budget but I also find the need to spend money here and there for fun activities, or simply to show that a care. Since I find it hard some months to “just not spend” money, I wanted to find a way to still save while spending money. So I went on a hunt!
(disclaimer: none of these products are sponsored at this time.)
Swagbucks.com
While I was searching many bloggers mentioned Swagbucks.com. A place were you earn points by doing tasks like watching videos or taking polls. The downfall I found about this site is that I just don’t have the patience to watch 12 videos for 1 cent and also apparently my demographics is very popular so many of the high paying surveys will not allow me to actually take the survey. So if you feel like you are unique (demographically) and you’re okay spending some time watching videos that are just not that interesting then that website will work for you. If you use Swagbucks and love it then maybe leave some advice below I just don’t really like it.
Ebates
Ebates has been around for year and I love it! If you have never heard of it, basically it is a rebates system primarily for online orders. So if you buy things on the internet more than in person this is a great site for you to use. I find that buying clothes through Ebates gets the most money back. For this year I have received about $30 back in Ebates/rebates. If you are interested in trying it out I have provided a link on my page, feel free to use it.
Receipt Hog
This is an app that pretty much gives you points for submitting your receipts. Once you have enough points (1000 = $5) you’ll get get either an Amazon gift card or the amount transferred to our Paypal. The sad thing is that when my sister tried to get an account for this app they told her there was now a waiting list due to a limited amount of money. Though, honestly this was the least helpful app or product that I used the past three months. In those three months, after submitting the receipts (and even illegally using some of my friends receipts) I still only have 300 points. I think that if you were a big shopper or had a bigger family who all shop then it wouldn’t be as bad as it is for me.
Shopkick
I like to describe this as “Pokemon” for adults on a budget. With this app you go into certain stores (Macey’s, Target, ect) and you scan certain items and receive points. If you buy the item you get even more points. Some stores even have points for just stepping foot (or close to) into the entrance. It has fun noises and is rewarding getting points without having to really buy anything. My sister lives very close to a mall and she gets to points simply walking home and not even stepping food into the mall itself.
The downfall of this app is that it takes a lot of points to receive anything in return. Though, it is so easy and fun that I am willing to put in more time to wait and get a gift card.
If you are interested in trying it out here is my referral code (if you use this link then you’ll give me more points. 😉 ) https://app.shopkick.com/r/1WQyE .
Ibotta
This is by far the best and most effective of all the apps/websites that I have used. This is like Ebates in app form and for everyday groceries or purchases. I have been using this for about a month just buying items that I would have already bought (such as bananas, milk, and Eggo waffles) and I already have $25 saved up. I could cash it in to a Paypal account or choose a gift card. I often make a shopping list through the app of items I want to purchase and that makes it really easy to use when I am in the store.
A downfall to this app is that depending on the season there might not be certain items that you want to purchase. However, I have found at least one thing that would give me a rebate each time I grocery shopped.
Again if you are interested here is my referral code is bdmewxn.
All of these apps/websites allow you to save money while also spending it on things you would have bought anyways. Of course most of these apps require you to do something in return. The biggest thing is to do their shopping research, but I believe that if I am going to have to buy it anyways I might as well get some money back for it, so I don’t mind if they use my receipts or shopping habits for research. 
I hope you can find some use to these apps/websites. Have fun with it!
travelingwithroots.com 