Beautifully Frugal: Tech-Savvy Ways to Earn Extra Cash
In a tech-savvy world where phones keep us connected to friends, family, and the world around us, why not use it to save some extra cash too? I’m thrilled to share with you a few of my personal favorite money-saving apps, how they work, and the potential rewards waiting for you. There are countless money-saving apps available, yet it's often challenging to differentiate which apps are worthwhile. Personally, I love the idea of earning cash back, so those are the apps I tend to gravitate toward.
In January of 2023, I decided to embark on a tech-savvy, money-saving journey, where my goal was to discover and try different money-saving apps throughout the year. As the year comes to a close, I am excited to share my findings, experiences, and thoughts on a few apps I utilized this year. Let’s dive into an honest review of some popular money-saving apps.
I have been using Fetch since January 2023 and it has become my favorite app. Fetch is a rewards app where you earn points by scanning your receipts. Each receipt guarantees a minimum of 25 points, yet certain purchases can earn you more. Once you accumulate 1,000 points, you can redeem them for a $1 reward in the form of a gift card. There’s a large variety of gift card options to choose from, making it a worthwhile app to invest your time into while earning rewards from stores you already regularly frequent. All that’s required to earn points and cash is keeping my receipts from shopping trips and snapping a quick picture to earn points — it’s so simple! I have earned a total of 60,000 points, which translates to $60 in rewards!
Another favorite app of mine is Upside. Whenever you buy gas, groceries, or dine out, Upside offers cash back rewards. Personally, I have only used it for gas, yet it can be a great tool for all the items I mentioned. By utilizing Upside for gas rewards, I already earned $75 in cash-back this year! Another great feature of Upside is the choice of how I want to receive my rewards. Typically, I opt to have them deposited into my PayPal account.
It's important to note Upside only allows you to earn rewards at participating gas stations, and not all states offer gas cash back rewards through Upside. You can view a list of participating establishments near your area here: https://www.upside.com/find-offers.
Ibotta is another cash-back rewards app which also provides rebates. It works similarly to Fetch, where you scan your receipts to earn rewards. What differentiates Ibotta from Fetch is you have to manually select the items you wish to receive cash back on, where Fetch automatically rewards you points for scanning a receipt regardless. This extra step is why I prefer Fetch — as a busy mom, I like to maximize my rewards with minimal effort. However, if you have a little extra time, Ibotta is a great app to capitalize on cash-back rewards for shopping you already do. Once you redeem the cash-back, it can be directly deposited into your bank account.
OnMyWay is an incentive rewards app which encourages users to avoid using their phones while driving, and you earn rewards for every mile you stay off your phone. While I found the concept interesting, it honestly wasn't my favorite app. That being said, I think it's a good app for a younger crowd or those who travel a lot for work or recreation. Here’s why:
The app automatically activates when driving more than 10 mph and will give you 2c cash rewards on every mile you don’t text or use any distracting apps. That can add up if you’re driving long distances, and the message is clear for newer drivers: drive safely by staying off your phone.
Passengers with the app also get paid, so multiple people can benefit even if they aren’t the one driving.
Like Ibotta, the rewards are not applied instantaneously, meaning you have to put in some effort to claim the rewards you wish to earn. That effort might look like referring a friend or posting to social media to redeem rewards. For example, to redeem a $5 reward at Chick-fil-A, I had to activate the reward, record a video of my purchase at the restaurant, and post it on social media with a specific hashtag. Once I completed this process, I linked my Venmo account, and OnMyWay paid me the $5 cash-back within 48 hours. It felt like a lot of work for a small reward, especially since I'm not fond of posting this type of content on my social media. That being said, younger savers who are social media-savvy can easily incorporate this into their social routine and earn money back.
You’ll receive $100 in rewards when you become an OnMyWay user.
Despite earning the opportunity to receive $183 in rewards this year, I found the activities needed to actually redeem the rewards was too much for my liking. Additionally, the rewards you can claim change daily, and you can only redeem one reward per week per business. I don’t think I’ll continue using OnMyWay due to these restrictions and the effort required to actually see the payout hit your bank account.
Rakuten is a rebate app where you earn cash back for shopping. When you use the app to shop through stores like Walmart or Target, you receive cash back on your purchases. I appreciate how the cash back can be redeemed via PayPal, however, I don't like having to remember to shop through the app. It would be more convenient for me if I could simply submit my receipt after shopping in person, similar to Fetch. While you can shop in-store with Rakuten, the options are limited and I don't find it worthwhile to shop at unfamiliar stores just to earn 5% cash back.
My Two Cents…
Out of all the apps I tried this year, Fetch and Upside were the ones I participated with and enjoyed using the most. They allowed me to earn cash back with minimal effort, which was ideal as a busy mom. I accumulated $135 in rewards combined by the end of the year with these two apps — while that isn’t an astronomical amount, I typically save these rewards for Christmas shopping and can get one larger gift or several small gifts with this extra cash. Others may put this money towards a travel fund or even use this money to fuel their morning coffee runs.
Trying different money-saving apps this year was a great experiment and I hope others can see how easy it is to save some extra cash. While I only explored a few apps, I hope this inspires you to try something new to add to your savings. Diversifying your income streams is something that always comes up as a possible way to increase wealth, so why not do it passively with some fun apps!
As always, if you need guidance or someone to walk with you on your financial journey, feel free to reach out to our team of Trusted Advisors today!
