If you know me, you know I love to save money. I’ve talked a lot about not buying things in the first place in all of my minimalism posts. What I haven’t talked much about is saving money on essential purchases. Today I want to share my top tips that have saved me tons of money and aren’t really all that hard to do.
Groceries: Fetch Rewards
I first heard about this app from a YouTuber and was surprised I hadn’t come across it before! Fetch Rewards is super simple to use. All you do is take a photo of your receipt from the grocery store and you automatically get “points.” You can then convert those points into gift cards, including Amazon (which to me is just like getting cash).
The other great benefit is that the app helps you keep track of your spending each month. You can set goals or just take a look at where you’re spending the most.
If you sign up and use my code (4XGD3) you’ll get 2,000 bonus points!
Prescriptions: GoodRx
Prescriptions can cost major $$$. Once you’ve taken the first step and asked for a generic versus name brand prescription, you can save even more with GoodRx.
You can compare the list price of prescriptions on GoodRx and then get a coupon on top of that. It can be used at any pharmacy, in conjunction with your insurance, and it’s as simple as showing the pharmacist the coupon on your phone. You can look up the coupon ahead of time or request to get a card sent to you so you can hand it to the pharmacist each time you get a prescription.
Can’t recommend this enough; I saved over 50% just the other day by using GoodRx.
Fetch Rewards has a partnership with SingleCare, which seems like a similar concept. I haven’t used this yet, but could be another good one to check out.
Eating Out: Seated
I have to thank Joe for this one. Seated is an app for restaurant reservations (and now take out too) where you get rewards each time you eat out at a participating restaurant that can be converted into gift cards (same concept as Fetch Rewards). You take a photo of your receipt at the end of the meal, upload it, and get points that can be redeemed for Amazon gift cards, among others.
Different restaurants have different percentage rewards, so you can pick places that are “surging” to maximize your rewards. You can use my referral link here to get an extra $5 reward on your first reservation!
Shopping: Rakuten, Honey, Discount Gift Cards
I’ve written about Honey (the browser extension that helps you find coupon codes and get gift cards with points) and buying discounted gift cards here. I haven’t shared Rakuten before, which is an extension for cash back.
Rakuten is different than the others because you do truly get cash back, rather than turning in points for a gift card. You get a percentage of each purchase and when you hit a certain threshold you get that money back to you via PayPal.
Another good practice is to take a look at your credit card rewards and see if there is anything you need to activate. For my credit card I have to take a look each month to see the new rewards and add them to card.
How do you maximize your savings? Any tips you love?
-Alyssa J
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