I've been sharing all my Money Saving Tips around here for quite a few months. Everything from saving money on Christmas shopping, to Thanksgiving, to have a baby, buying a house, and so much more! You can catch up on the entire money saving series here! With the holidays right around the corner, I wanted to take a minute to share the 5 Money Saving Apps I swear by all year long, but you seriously need to download before Black Friday and Christmas shopping! You just download these to your phone or browser and they will save you loads of money by searching for discounts or giving you cashback! Best part: they are all easy to use and totally free!
This post contains affiliate links.
5 Money Saving Apps You Need To Download Before Black Friday & Christmas Shopping
Cash Direct Club
Just like the name implies, Cash Direct Club is going to directly give you cashback for your purchases. You can either download the browser extension, or login to the website and search retailers from there. It's REALLY easy to use. With the extension, when you are visiting a store within their network, you will get a little notification about the cashback offer. They are also offering $20 cash back when you make your first purchase of $20 or more before the end of the month!!
>>>Sign up here! <<<
Personally, I prefer this to Ebates because they have a higher percent cashback when you spend more. So for instance, both Ebates and Cash Direct Club may offer 3% cashback at a store, but with Cash Direct, they offer bonus incentives if you are spending more than $99 usually. So that 3% jumps up to 6%! That's just an example, it varies by retailer. I still download both, because again, different retailers can be offering different things between networks.
The other bonus with Cash Direct Club, is they are currently offering $20 cashback when you make your first purchase of $20 or more at a retailer within the first two weeks of signing up! Justttt in time for Black Friday shopping friends!!
>>>Sign up for free here! <<<
Rakuten/ Ebates
So I've used this one the longest. It works just like Cash Direct Club, but doesn't have the additional savings bonus for spending more. Now I still think you 100% need to sign up and download it too though! Rakuten/Ebates has more retailers than Cash Direct Club I think. They also run a lot of special bonus promos with stores. For example, they ran a promo the other month where I got 15% cash back on Lululemon!! What a steal!! They rotate their bonus offers all the time, so it's really great.
Personally, I recommend installing both Rakuten and Cash Direct Club extensions since when you are browsing they will both pop up on participating stores and tell you what the cash back is. You'll ust activate the one with the better percent from there. Unfortunately, when you activate one, it'll deactivate the other so you won't be able to double dip!
>>> Sign up for Rakuten/Ebates here! <<<
p.s. this is what it'll look like when you go to a participating store with both the Cash Direct Club and Rakuten offers open:
Honey
Honey is another extension I've used for quite a while now. They've been updating their functionality over the years and actually offer cashback now. I don't like their cashback since they do it as “gold” which you then redeem for cash back or gift cards; whereas Rakuten/Ebates and Cash Direct Club just give you the money.
I like Honey for its coupons though! Basically it collects all the current promo codes for a store, tells you when it last worked, and with the click of a button will try them all for you before you check out. HOW AWESOME?! I've saved tons of money over the years like this!
>>> Get Honey for free here! <<<
Shopkick
Shopkick is an app for your phone. They give you “kicks” when you enter a certain store, scan items in a store, or scan your receipt. Kicks can be redeemed for gift cards. I've been using this for a few years now. They make it VERY easy. They send you a push notification when near a participating store. Then you redeem the kicks in the app. I can get “kicks” for just driving by a Target sometimes and then I'll just turn my “kicks” into a gift card while in the checkout line and redeem right there in store. You can also redeem for Amazon gift cards and a slew more!
Try Shopkick with code SHOP509522 or download here to get 250 bonus points! You just have to make sure you do your first walk-in or in-store scan within 7 days of downloading to get the bonus points! (Which is pretty easy since Target ALWAYS has walk-in kicks!).
Ibotta
Ibotta is fantastic for saving money on all things grocery shopping. They sort deals at your grocery store based on department so you can skip the coupon clipping. And then you can earn cash back by scanning barcodes of the items you purchased once you get home. They deposit your cash back directly into your Paypal account once you hit the $20 threshold!
>>> Sign up for Ibotta here! <<<
Amazon Prime
Okay, so technically this isn't free forever. Buttt you can get a 30 Day Free Trial which you 100% need during Christmas time! Amazon Prime will give you free shipping for your Amazon purchases and free returns! With your Amazon Prime membership, you'll also get access to all the movies and tv shows in their Prime library! Meaning you'll have loads more to stream during winter break and can save money on going to the movies! Win-win!
Amazon is one of my favorite places to shop for holiday gifts since they ship free (with Prime) and they make returns SO easy just in case your recipient doesn't love your gift. Unlike other stores, everyone shops at Amazon, so “store credit” will always get used too. Now that's what I call thoughtful gift giving!
>>> Sign up for your Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial
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<<<Oh and with Amazon Prime, you'll get insider discounts when you shop at Whole Foods! You just scan the QR code on the app and it applies any available savings! Great for all the holiday treats you'll be cooking!
RELATED READS:
39 Money Saving Hacks You Need This Christmas Season
How To Save Money On Groceries Every Month On A Tight Budget
How To Stop Overspending Money: 17 Tips To Stop Once & For All
What You Need To Know [And Do] To Get Your Finances Holiday Ready
13 Hidden Financial Stressors During The Holidays [+ How To Navigate Them]
List of 5 Money Saving Apps You Need To Download Before Black Friday & Christmas
- Cash Direct Club
- Rakuten / Ebates
- Honey
- Ibotta
- Amazon Prime
