Get paid to shop in 2022 with these 5 apps

Save and make money for doing your everyday shopping.

5 min readJan 12, 2022

~This article includes affiliate links, but all opinions are mine and are genuine, these are really apps that I use every day~

It’s the new year, and one common resolution is to save or make more money. With these 5 apps, you can do both. The best part? It’s shopping that you already do every day.

The trickiest thing about trying to save money while also taking advantage of cashback programs, sales, and coupons is that sometimes you end up spending more money trying to get rewards (which is obviously what these companies are going for, and I fall for it with Dunkin’ every day).

However, with the apps that are listed down below, you can get money & savings by doing shopping that you were going to do anyway. Just make sure that it was shopping that you really were going to do anyway, or you’ll fall into the rewards trap (curse you, Dunkin’).

1. GasBuddy

GasBuddy is an incredible app that saves you money on gas in a few different ways.

You can use it to find the cheapest gas near you.
They will send you a gas card that can save you up to $0.25/gallon at the pump.
You can use that same card to purchase things at stores like Petco and Home Depot and get ‘gasback’ (cash back… but for gas).

There are also additional bonuses from downloading apps from their partners or going to certain gas stations.

If you drive and can’t afford a Tesla, chances are you buy gas regularly. This is a great way to save pennies to watch your dollars grow!

2. ibotta

ibotta is an app that allows you to scan receipts in return for cash back. In order to redeem your receipts, you need to select what store you are shopping at from their list (unless they have a promotion going on where you can scan any receipt, which happens often), then you take a picture of your receipt.

I recommend going on the app to look for deals before you go shopping, so you can determine if the cash back is worth potentially switching brands. There are also bonuses for buying certain items (i.e. any brand of milk, any brand of eggs).

This is a super easy way to make money, and when you get $20 worth of cash back, you can have the money sent to your bank account, PayPal, or through a gift card.

3. Fetch Rewards

Fetch Rewards is very similar to ibotta, except there are no store restrictions. They look for certain brands/products on your receipts, however, any receipt will get you at least 25 points (every 10 points is 1 penny).

You can also link Fetch Rewards to your online accounts (i.e. Target account, Amazon, any account from their list that you use to purchase things), and get points after it scans your accounts for e-receipts.

Fetch Rewards pays out its users through gift cards, but that includes things like Amazon or Visa gift cards (I like Dunkin’ and Longhorn Steakhouse).

4. Rakuten

Rakuten you have probably heard of, it is formerly known as Ebates. Rakuten is another cash back app, but is primarily online. You can add it to your browser as an extension to unlock cash back when you shop online. You can also link your credit and debit cards to your Rakuten account to get cash back on in-store purchases.

Different stores are worth different cash back percentages, and they also have promotions where they raise the cash back for certain purchases.

Rakuten pays you through PayPal or a physical check, so that’s all cash!

5. Rewards Apps

I kept this one vague because it really depends on your location and what stores you frequent.

For example, my primary grocery store is Acme. I use their rewards app to meal plan around their sales and coupons (I recently got $160 worth of groceries — including 6 lbs of ribeye — for $40). How I did this was by looking at their weekly ad, buying the sales, using rewards-member-only coupons, and then I made the order a pick up order, for which I had a $30 coupon.

While rewards apps may not necessarily pay you, you get your essentials (and even luxuries, that ribeye was delicious) at a ridiculously discounted rate.

AND THEN I used my cash back apps to get money back (tax-free, as these are technically refunds).

The same thing applies to gas stations. You can get reward accounts if you prefer one gas station to another (my boyfriend is convinced that the gas station down the street waters their gas down), or get all of the rewards accounts to get points wherever you go!

You could use this in conjunction with GasBuddy to find the lowest prices. It all just takes a little bit of time to calculate and find what’s best for you.

Stacking

So the real trick to all of this is stacking. Stacking is when you use coupons/sales/rewards in conjunction with one another to get the ultimate discount.

In the previous paragraph, I mentioned how I got $160 worth of groceries for $40. I also got cash back on that $40 by using Rakuten (I ordered online), then scanned my receipt on ibotta and Fetch Rewards.

Another example: I recently got my boyfriend to download Rakuten using my referral code. Rakuten had a promo for 10% cash back on certain stores and gift cards. His little sister’s birthday was coming up, so he purchased a $50 gift card through Rakuten. He got $5 in cash back, then because he purchased something worth more than $30, he got a $30 bonus, then I got a $30 bonus. We were splitting the gift card 50/50, so we both actually made a profit on the gift card.

He got $10 (-$25 + $5 + $30) and I got $5 (-$25 + $30).

Stacking is amazing. It’s such a good feeling when you save more than you spend, or in some cases, make money off of spending!

I hope that you guys were able to take something away from this article, and I wish you a very lucrative 2022!