Coupons, Apps, & Cash Back
Start your week right by saving money on just about everything.
See our list below of some of the top saving sites and apps to save on everything from food, groceries, gas, hotel bookings, and everything in between.
Remember the days you felt embarrassed to go through the checkout line with a stack of coupons? You didn’t want to be the person to hold up the line while the cashier typed in all your codes. Or, even worse, must call management over the intercom when one doesn’t work. Well, with self-checkout and modern-day barcode scanners, those days are over. Earning cash back is one of the easiest ways to save some money each day. See our list below of some of the best websites, apps, and extensions to save on just about everything.
1. ShopSavvy
ShopSavvy’s app offers users a ton of features to make certain they get the best deals. It allows you to price shop between competitors, shows customer reviews, and is user-friendly with its easy-to-use design. Instead of visiting thousands of websites to price and quality compare yourself, it does all the work for you.
Main ShopSavvy user functions include:
- Instant price comparisons between thousands of retailers
- Continuous price tracking from retailers nationwide
- Get alerts when an item you’re shopping for has a price drop
- Get alerts when an out-of-stock item comes back in stock
2. Dosh
Users of the Dosh app and Dosh card earn automatic cash back from over ten thousand places such as Walmart, Instacart, and more. Dosh’s app and card makes saving a hands-free, no prep (such as coupon clipping) experience. Save on everyday items such as shopping, dining, and even hotels.
Positives about the Dosh app and card:
- Easy to connect, use, and transfer cash back funds
- They don’t sell your data to any third parties
- Dosh secures purchases with 256-bit encryption and multi-factor authentication
3. Groupon.com
No introduction needed for this amazing cost-saving website and app. Groupon has made a name for themselves since their launch in 2008. Groupon offers amazingly low deals from services and stores of all types. The catch is that they are, for the most part, time sensitive – offers expiring typically in 24 hours or until the limited quantity runs out.
Groupon’s main benefits:
- Get discounts of up to 75% off all types of products and services
- Simple, easy to use layout and functionality
- Groupon offers many local discounts from stores local to its users
4. RetailMeNot
This is electronic couponing at its finest. Have you ever looked up coupon codes just to find out the code doesn’t work? Well, RetailMeNot is here to save the day. Find thousands of e-coupon codes at RetailMeNot that, you guessed it, do work.
Pros for RetailMeNot:
- See deals randomly if browsing and select specific stores or products if searching for something specific
- When you click on a discount box there is also a link to the stores online store
- Copy the discount code just by clicking the “Copy” button
5. Coupons.com
Are you more of an old fashioned, coupon clipping type of person? If so, Coupons.com is the website for you. They also have a digital version of their coupons for those who prefer a non-printable version. The downside to Coupons.com is that they don’t have that many coupons to choose from. In fact, at the time of writing this, they only have 72 coupons total. They are also mainly coupons for personal hygiene, babies, over the counter medications, and a few food products.
Pluses for Coupons.com:
- Allows you to print an actual coupon that you can use in-store
- Could be combined with an in-store coupon for extra savings
- Can narrow down your search based on 10 different categories
6. GasBuddy
If you listen to the radio regularly, there’s a good chance you’ve heard an ad for GasBuddy, the app that gives you cash back to use at the pump for everyday purchases. You can even unlock GasBuddy Exclusive Deals of up to 25% off with their Free Forever card.
Reason to use the GasBuddy app and card:
- One card allows you to earn cash back to use at the pump for everyday purchases
- There are already over 1.73 million GasBuddy cardholders and counting
- Their app offers other power savings tools such as a Gas Price Map
7. GoodRx
The Great thing about GoodRx is that they have one focus – to keep you from paying too much for prescriptions. And they are very good at what they do, saving you as much as 80% at the pharmacy. GoodRx is even great at saving those who have insurance already. In fact, 75% of their customers have insurance.
Advantages and benefits of signing up with GoodRx:
- Save at all major brick and mortar as well as online pharmacies
- Save even if you already have insurance
- Have more to spend on the things you want rather than on your prescriptions
8. Ibotta
Ibotta is a cash back savings website and app. They offer up to 30% cash back at thousands of top-tier retailers such as The Home Depot, Walmart, and even Groupon. That’s right, with Ibotta you can earn cash back by shopping at another savings website.
Ibotta advantages and incentives:
- Get 100% cash back when you sign up at certain retailers up to the amount in their offer details
- Get up to 30% cash back at top retailers all the time
- No coupon printing or code copying involved
9. Honey
Honey is a free app or Chrome extension that scours over 30,000 online stores to find you the best coupons. Honey will not only find you the best discount codes that work, but they will automatically add them to your cart once they find them. They literally make it as easy as search and save.
Sweet benefits of using the Honey app or extension:
- Find the best working e-coupons fast
- Have them automatically applied to your cart once found
- Easy to use feature on a mobile device or desktop computer
10. Rakuten
With Rakuten you earn cash back for shopping at all your favorite stores. You can use Rakuten by downloading their extension or via their app. Once you have earned cash back, you can conveniently cash out through PayPal, or you can opt to receive a check.
Best reasons to use Rakuten:
- Get a $10 Welcome Bonus upon signup
- hands-free saving just by shopping at your favorite stores
- Save on a wide variety of products and services
Follow These 5 Tips to Maximize Your Coupon and Cask Back Savings
1. Plan meals, entertainment, etc., based on deals and offers
Plan things such as meals and entertainment based on coupons, deals, or cash back offers. For instance, if you find a great deal on Groupon for a restaurant, plan your outing based on the Groupon deal.
2. Check for any usage restrictions
Let’s say family movie night must be on Friday, check to make certain whatever deal you find allows you to redeem it on Fridays. If so, check to see what other deal or coupon you can find that allows usage on Fridays. If you can’t find any offers for a movie theatre that you can use on a Friday, you can watch a movie at home instead. If you are really wanting to go to the movies, look and see if you can find a cash back offer through Dosh or some other cash back service.
3. Don’t purchase an item just because it’s a good deal
Let say you find a buy two get one free deal on bread. That may be a good deal, but if you can barely eat one loaf of bread before the expiration date, it may not be a deal for you.
4. Price shop different stores
An easy way to price shop different stores is by looking online, or through the weekly mail. Many times, you can see the price on the same items at different grocery stores. If you find a significantly lower price on items you need to buy, it may be worth going to more than one store to do your shopping.
5. Sign up for multiple savings apps
Since all savings apps differ based on product types and times they offer savings on certain items, it’s a good idea to sign up for multiple savings apps. This way you can maximize your savings by using the app that’s offering you the best savings at the time. Sometimes you can even use more than one app on the same purchase to multiple your savings!