A few ways I save money on groceries

I've talked a bit about the need for our family to be better with our money. There are a few shopping apps that I use in order to maximize the things that I buy. Two things to remember though before I share these apps:

1) Don't buy junk just because you get cash back. There are offers for many items on these apps that I don't buy. Be careful not to buy the sugar sweetened beverage that you normally never buy, just because it's a good deal. On the same spectrum there are always great produce deals on these sites. This week for example on Savingstar you get %20 cash back on bananas.

2) Don't buy something just because there is a cash back coupon for it. Many people may get into the same trouble with normal coupons, just because you can get a bit back for it, doesn't mean it was on your list. Make a list, plan your meals THEN check the following apps to see what you may get cash back for.

Now the apps I use MOST:



Checkout 51. Click above to look into it. I like this one because they always have a "pick your own" type of produce offer. The likelihood that I bought something on the list is always high. This week it is .25 cents back for either oranges, raspberries, grapefruit or bell peppers. I bought a big fat red bell pepper for .49 cents and then got .25 cents back for it. There are other things also such as popcorn, coffee creamer, Heinz mustard etc. Normally there is at least $2-$3 a week of stuff on this app. Again, these are things I normally would buy anyways. So once you hit $25 you request a check and boom a week or so later it is in your mailbox. I cashed out 2 times last year, each time was effortless and that money went straight to debt.

Savingstar

Savingstar always has some neat Buy X of Whatever and get X amount back. For example there currently is a buy $10 of Bush's Beans and get $3 back. I had some $1 off coupons for Bush's Beans, I bought 10 cans when they were on sale for $1 and got back $3. So 10 Free cans of beans for my pantry plus $3. They also have freebies every so often so buy for example a box of jiffy cornbread mix and get the price back in your app. You can cash out for paypal, starbucks gift card or bank deposit. I normally do the paypal, then transfer it to my savings account or whichever debt we are working on.

The last one is Ibotta. 
Here you search by the store you are shopping at and it gives you the items you can purchase. There are some called "any brand" for things like a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread. They don't care the brand, which is nice because I buy a lot of generics. They have bonuses often also for things like redeem 5 offers get $5 extra dollars or something. This really is a great one to use. You can cash out for paypal or e-gift cards. I had $50 worth of Target gift cards I got from here that I used to purchase some extra baking supplies and gifts for Christmas.


All of these can be found in your app store on your phone. They are all free to download. You normally either have to scan the bar code of the item you purchased or take a picture of the receipt, or sometimes both. The apps are all super easy to use and tell you what to do.

There are some others one I use that I'll try to write about soon. Any apps that you guys MUST MUST use you would like to share with me for grocery savings?

Happy Homesteading!