This is one in an occasional series of articles about saving money.
Back in the day, the coupon/rebate combo got me a lot of free stuff. A lot. For years I didn’t have to pay for toothpaste, shampoo, lotion, deodorant and other toiletries, or for certain food items. On the rare occasions when I did pay, the tab was a few cents to just under a dollar.
This was a godsend at the time, since I was living on less than $1,000 a month and working on a university degree. Bonus: I got so much free stuff that I supplied my daughter with many essentials, and donated a bunch to a social services agency.
Coupon/rebate buying helped me stretch my limited funds. It helped me help others. What’s not to like?
<<Surviving and Thriving has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Surviving and Thriving and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses and recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.>>
But all good things must end, and coupon/rebate deals were no exception. The stores running these loss-leader promotions gradually fell out of the habit. Ever since I moved back to Alaska I’ve had almost no chances at getting the freebies.
Until, that is, I discovered a new coupon/rebate combo.
Now I use some (or all) of the following: the Coupons.com, Shopkick*, Ibotta** and Fetch Rewards*** apps; the Swagbucks rewards program and the CouponMom.com website. While it’s not as crazy-lucrative as it once was, I can say that it’s been worth my while. Two recent examples:
I was paid $1.85 to buy a three-pack of Bic Soleil sensitive-skin disposable razors. (More on this later.)
On a recent Walgreens visit I used sale prices, coupons from the store website, the Ibotta and Fetch Rewards apps, the Swagbucks rewards site and $5 worth of my store rewards. Walked out with a “$3 off your next $3+ purchase” coupon, some points in my Fetch and Swagbucks accounts, and an ultimate average cost of $1.32 per item – not bad, given that the haul included a 30.65-ounce can of coffee, several full-sized toothpastes and two more packages of razors. (Also paid with a rewards credit card; the 32-cent cashback I earned was figured into the total cost.)
We have only one major drugstore chain here (Walgreens) but these apps also provide deals at supermarkets and discount stores such as Target and Walmart. If you live in an area with multiple supermarkets plus dollar stores, CVS and Rite Aid, you can find way more deals than I can. Lucky dog.
In particular I’ve heard great things about CVS deals, if you play your rewards points skillfully. In this post, my daughter recommends paying for the CVS CarePass, which noticeably boosts your savings.
Coupon/rebate best practices
The simplest way I’ve found to corral these bonanzas is to let the Coupon Mom corral ’em for me. Each week the site owner pulls together coupon/rebate combos from drugstores, supermarkets and dollar stores and lists them state by state. She includes links to downloadable coupons, too.
Sometimes an unadvertised or manager’s special results in additional savings. That’s how I got paid to buy those razors:
- Knowing there was a rebate on Bic Soleil razors, I checked the price on the Target app – which informed me there was a $3 downloadable coupon. Okay!
- While shopping at Target, I noticed some of the Soleil razors had been marked down to $4.15.
- Coupons.com gave me a $3 rebate on the $1.15 purchase – and I also got Fetch Rewards and Swagbucks points from the deal.
The Soleil pack will go into my great-niece’s Easter basket, since we’re not only about the candy in our family. The razors from Walgreens will likely wind up in Christmas stockings, unless I donate them.
The Swagbucks rewards program gives 2 SB points for scanning in a grocery or drugstore receipt. However, it also has the “In-Store Deals” option, which tends to give more than 2 SB for certain items that you choose before you shop. Note: You can do one or the other, but not both, so check the In-Store option first.
Recently Swagbucks denied one of my receipts because it said “Carrs Safeway” instead of just Safeway. (Carrs was a local supermarket that was bought out by Safeway some years ago.) I was given the option to appeal, so I did – and I’m glad I did, because ultimately Swagbucks gave me 300 SB for buying milk and eggs.
If you’re not a Swagbucks member (and you should be!) but are an InboxDollars member, check out its “Magic Receipts” program. You select certain items, upload a receipt and get paid in points.
Shopkick will give you points for scanning certain items even if you don’t buy them. Sometimes you luck out and a product eligible for one or more rebates will happen to be on the Shopkick list – and you get a lot more points for buying than for scanning.
Using your deals
Start by creating a stockpile. Free stuff can really stretch your budget, including your holiday giving budget. Years ago an MSN Money reader told me she creates “Christmas stockings” for her adult children: boxes filled with those free-or-nearly-so toiletries, snacks, household items and office supplies. That’s one useful gift. Bonus: The money you don’t spend on toiletries can go toward buying other stuff for your stockpile, or toward a goal such as building an emergency fund or paying down consumer debt.
Give, give, give. One reason the Coupon Mom created her website during the Great Recession was to show people how to get free stuff to donate to shelters and food pantries. I can say from personal experience that being able to give something away makes you feel rich.
Offer them to friends. Charity can begin close to home, too. Got a pal who’s been un- or underemployed in the past year? Mention all the stuff you got for free and ask if they could possibly use some of the toiletries, food items or pet supplies. Stress that these things cost you nothing, and maybe your friend won’t feel beholden.
The coupon/rebate hack may sound clumsy but will soon become second nature. I’m not super-computer-savvy (remember how long it took for me to get a smartphone?) and I’m doing all right. Free food for the pantry at DF’s church. Free toiletries for us. Free snacks and drinks for my niece’s kids.
And, of course, the internal happy-dance when I get something for nothing. Frugalists are funny that way.
Readers: Got any recent coupon/rebate combo deals to share? Do tell!
* (If you download the Shopkick app, I hope you’ll consider using my referral code: WIN358965.)
**Ditto for the Ibotta app. My code is GTOTPRB.
***And the Fetch Rewards app: I’m E6CK1.)
Related reading:
- Extreme Frugality: Waste nothing edition
- Extreme Frugality: Be a frugalvore
- Extreme Frugality: Holiday attitude edition
I’m a member of all the saving sites you referenced and like them all! They are fun and easy. For Walgreens I like being a part of MyWalgreens Health as well. I have $6 in my account now for doing what I normally do. They give you several goals a week and you choose 2. This week for me it’s walk 10000 steps a day for so many days and sleep 7 hours a night for so many nights. You can synch your device like Fitbit to Walgreens to automatically upload data or just every few days manually put it in. That’s what I do. The money I earn from this is earmarked for our Food bank. I will wait for a sale at Walgreens on items used at the Food bank and use my Walgreens Health dollars as well as any coupons I have to pay for the items.
I do CVS rewards, bogo’s and coupon when it is to my advantage. Last week my favorite conditioner went on sale for around $2.00 less than it usually costs. My hair is extremely dry and I can’t use cheap stuff unless I am mid week freshening with rubbing the cheap VO5 into my dry hair. Anyway, I found a coupon on coupons.com for $4.00 off on two, so it cost me, but so much less and it will last for about a year. All year long I look for $1.00 or less good stocking stuffers for my Madre’s girl (hubby’s daughter I helped to raise). It is actually a huge Christmas bag and I find that Dollar Tree will often get limited amount of a name brand product that I or she could easily use. I also found on Amazon (already have prime) 10 pairs of semi-precious gemstones (not the seriously expensive ones) in earrings with stainless steal posts. That will be a big gift for her at only $10. We had tuna casserole tonight and hubby made it with free tuna from CVS rewards. Very inexpensive with multiple leftovers. When my Brother died last April, my Son and I cleaned out his house and found 3+ grocery bags full of canned and packaged food. Most went to the local pantry, some went into above daughter’s stocking bag and a few things we used. You are so right when you say that you feel rich when you are able to give.
I expect your daughter really appreciates the budget boost.
I do love doing the Walgreens deals and I do Fetch rewards. I recently cashed out on Fetch for a $50 Visa gift card. I bought a top and a pair of pants with that and had $4 left over.
I haven’t gone to Walgreens since Corona Virus started. But my family was very happy with all the toilet paper, paper towels and sanitizing wipes I had stocked up on.
I used my credit card rewards to buy my daughter’s birthday gifts in January. Got her a $100 Outback gc as well as a Panera gc.
I pay off my Visa account every month in full. Before the pandemic hit, I used to charge everything I could. (That made tracking my money so much easier.) Anyway, Visa , through a point system, used to give store credit cards or money off plane tickets. I was able to get a $100 Target gift card which I gave to a neighbor who was financially struggling, and I bought an almost free ticket to see my daughter in Phoenix. Not sure if they still do this, but they do give money off of your bill. For paying no interest whatsoever, I managed to get stuff to give away and a trip to boot! And they paid me for never having paid interest to them!
I just cashed in $57 and change on one of my credit cards, i.e., had them apply it to that month’s bill. Then I sent that amount to my Saved Savings fund.
https://donnafreedman.com/join-saved-savings-challenge/
I cannot access your daughter’s website from my phone. Is there a problem with it. I can’t read her articles.
I will ask her. Thanks for letting me know.
Thanks for letting her (and therefore me) know about the issue.
I didn’t see any problems on my end. I checked on my computer (Chrome and Edge) and my phone (Safari). What issue are you seeing and are you using an iPhone or Android?
I’m having the same problem with an Android phone.
Donna-Any chance that you could do a weekly series that does a deep dive into how to best maximize savings from each of these apps? I used to be very facile with CVS and Shoprite (local grocery) deals, but I have not had as much success combining deals using different apps. I have done very little indoor shopping in the past year due to the pandemic. Thanks to your daughter, I signed up for CVS Carepass, but Fetch Rewards and Ibotta don’t seem to allow you to scan in the CVS packing slips even with prices on them. Also, not everything on the CVS website qualifies for free shipping-a CVS rep told me to add a CVS brand item, which seems to work. I used to use Ibotta, but it’s now pretty limited since DH is a Costco shopper and I have stayed out of stores. I have had some success with Target sending me coupons, and combining those with Target Cartwheel. I used to use Shopkick for store checkins, but I never remembered to scan packages, and was not aware that they also gave rewards for purchases.
I too enjoyed the CVS versus Walgreens wars during the recession. I believed your mantra “If it free, its for me.”
Now that it is just me and the hubbie, I buy what I like and he buys what he wants and we don’t have strange bottles of shampoo and lotion cluttering our cabinets.
My groceries are mostly fruit and veg, meat and dairy products so coupons don’t help.
I do collect travel points and miles though. Someday soon I will be in Key West. I will be looking like a seasoned traveler with my pre-loved clothing and second hand leather luggage.
Late to the party, but chiming in to say I just can’t make mysrllf get excited about this stuff. I shop at Grocery Outlet, Costco and the 99 Cent Only Store. I utilize the great Amy D’s Pantry Principle. I volunteer at a thrift shop and find most of my housewares, gifts and clothing there. I buy my semi-expensive shoes on eBay. I feel I spend less overall this way and don’t give up my privacy. I co-chair a community wide food drive and I give generously to various charities. I just don’t have the bandwidth to play a whole different game, yet articles like this give me a bit of FOMO. Am I doing it wrong?