*Posts may contain affiliate links to products I like or even products I don’t like. Sometime they throw things in the mix that I’ve never even heard of. Click on pics and words knowing it may take you to a sales page, and if it does… I hope you like it. :)*
This is by far the easiest way to make money. For years my sister had been telling me about Ebates which is now Rakuten. “It’s so easy” she said. “You barely have to do anything.” Of course, I was skeptical and didn’t follow up on it. How was I going to make money doing nothing? It must be a scam.
Well… Last month I decided to look into it a bit more, and figured I might as well sign up and give it a try. It couldn’t hurt. If I made nothing, I only wasted the 1 minute it took to sign up, if I did make money, then I would be happy.
Make Money on Everyday Purchases
Boy am I glad I signed up. I bought a few sports bras and a stick vacuum from the Walmart website and made $10!! If I had known I could make money just by buying things I needed anyway I would have done this years ago! I love Rakuten more than I imagined I would. I know $10 doesn’t seem like much, but for only spending $30, a $10 return is pretty good.
It even has cashback offers at my favorite place of-all-time to shop, Amazon.com. Looking back, I could have made hundreds over the past few years. *sigh* That doesn’t matter now, I’m looking forward to getting cash back on my future purchases.
Where Can I Earn Cash Back?
The answer is, pretty much anywhere. Hundreds of stores are linked to Rakuten for cash back and coupon deals. My top 10: Amazon, Walmart, Groupon, Macy’s, Old Navy, Under Armour, Ulta, Travelocity, Barnes and Noble, and Sams. Those are all stores I already shop at, I might as well get money back from them.
Yesterday, I bought my son’s birthday present on Groupon, a ticket package for a hockey game. Today I opened up my email and I had received nearly $5 back in rebates. How awesome is that! $5 for buying a gift, that’s the kind of easy money I’m talking about.
How To Make it Super Easy
Rakuten has an easy button, so you can get your cash back with minimal effort. On their website they have the option to add an Ebates tab on your browser bar. For my first purchase I went to the Rakuten site and searched for the store I wanted, then followed the link. Now I just do my thing like normal, and before I checkout, I just click the Rakuten tab. I went from taking maybe 1 minute to search on the website, to only taking 3 seconds to move the mouse and click. It really can’t get any easier.
Go to the Rakuten website and check it out. If you like easy money, you’ll fall in love with them, like I did.
Save Even More Money
If you like Rakuten, you will flip out over Ibotta.
Think about it. Seriously! Do you ever go more than a week without buying groceries? Even before I got married and had kids, I went to the grocery store at least twice a month. I would bet you’re the same way.
How It Works
After you download the Ibotta app and sign up, you are taken to this screen
From here you can search for stores you regularly shop in. I did for all of the stores I go to on a monthly basis: Food Lion, Walmart, Lowes Food, Harris Teeter, Target, CVS… stuff like that.
Or you can scroll down and see what they have suggested for you. After you get on the app a few times, they’ll automatically have your top ones suggested.
When you scroll near the bottom, you’ll see some websites that offer additional rebates. At the very bottom are categories you can choose from if you’re looking for a specific group or item. As you can see here, this app offers Groupon rebates as well. They really know how to get me.
Then
To choose a rebate, click on the plus sign on the image.
Sometimes you have to answer a poll question or watch a short video (typically 5 – 15 seconds long).
That’s all it takes to add a rebate to the app.
To Redeem the Rebates
This is where a little bit of effort comes into play. But not much.
To get a rebates you chose you have to scan the receipts of your purchase, to prove you bought it. That part is super easy, it’s no different than online banking, where you just hover over the paper and then take the photo with your phone.
Do you see the round green button on the pictures above. It’ll be on your app too. Just tap it. It will ask you what item you’re verifying and then you take the picture of the receipt. It takes about 8 seconds total to complete this part.
Some stores make it EVEN EASIER. A few have the option to enter your rewards card number and then it automatically gives you the rebate when you purchase the item. Just be sure to scan your rewards card at the checkout!!
It really can’t get any easier than that. It is the definition of FREE MONEY!!
If you want free money use my referral links to sign up for Ibotta and Rakuten.
North Carolina, USA