6 Apps That Can Save Or Make You Money At The Grocery Store

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Vacationing on the coast, drinking good wine with friends, spending an afternoon at the grocery store…

Wait. One of these things doesn’t belong.

While clipping coupons and standing in long lines at the local supermarket are unappealing, grocery shopping is a task we all have to do. But what we have to do is let it drain our income.

As technology advances, so too have our methods for maximizing savings at the grocery store. Mobile phone apps are now the top way to save at your grocery store each time you visit. In fact, if you play your apps right, it’s almost like you are getting paid to shop.

Here are some of the best apps for saving and making money at the grocery store.

1. Ibotta

Easily the top app for grocery savings, Ibotta allows you to browse offers before leaving your home, likely while making your grocery list. Select any offers you plan to purchase, then go shopping like normal.

You can use Ibotta at a wide range of grocery stores, including Shoprite, Target, Family Dollar, Food City, Cub Foods, Giant Eagle, Kroger, Meijer and Safeway. But Ibotta also works at retailers outside of the grocery game, such as Barnes & Noble, CVS Pharmacy, Kohls, Home Depot and more.

After shopping, take a photo of your receipt and earn cash back for any of the featured products you selected. The cash will be deposited into your Ibotta account within 48 hours, which can be redeemed for cash or gift cards once you reach the $20 threshold. At the time of writing, Ibotta users have collectively earned nearly $425,000,000 cash-back rewards.

Be careful: Just like retailers will try to drive impulse buys with clever in-store product placements, Ibotta could tempt you to add items to your list that you weren’t planning on buying. To truly maximize your savings, only add items that you already intended to buy.

Available for: iOS and Android

2. Checkout 51

Checkout 51

Checkout 51 operates under the same principle as Ibotta. Browse deals before shopping, claim the ones you want, go shopping and upload your receipt with your smartphone.

Pro Tip: Download both apps. If Ibotta and Checkout 51 happen to feature a deal for the same product on your next trip, you can get double the rewards by submitting it to each app!

After Checkout 51 processes your receipt, it’ll credit your account with your cash back. Once that cash back reaches $20, you can request a check.

Available for: iOS and Android

3. SavingStar

SavingStar is another rebate-based app, but it operates a little differently from Ibotta and Checkout 51.

When you download SavingStar, you can link up all your store cards, such as cards for Kroger, Target, Food Lion, Walmart and CVS Pharmacy. Select rebates for items you plan to purchase, and at checkout, simply swipe your rewards card — the rebate savings will immediately be added to your SavingStar account.

You can claim your rebate rewards once you have saved at least $20. These can go to a PayPal account, directly to your bank or to a charity of your choice. SavingStar works at 70,000 store locations.

Available for: iOS and Android

4. Key Ring

Key Ring

Key Ring helps you become a more efficient shopper — and retain your sanity.

There’s a good chance you forgot you have a rewards card for at least one store, right? So rather than keep all your store cards in your purse or wallet, or on your keyring, just load the information into the Key Ring app and access them when you need to. This app is especially ideal for stores you may not frequent often.

Available for: iOS and Android

5. Shopkick

Shopkick is another app that rewards you for shopping in store or online.

What’s cool about this app is that you can earn points just for entering a partner store or scanning products you see on display, without even buying them. This also works online: Visit select partners and view select offers, and voila, you earn points. To earn more points you’ll need to make actual purchases.

Every 250 “kicks” (or points) equal one dollar. You can redeem those kicks for a wide variety of gift cards ranging from Amazon to Starbucks.

Available for: iOS and Android

6. Instacart

Swirled/Hilarey Wojtowicz

If you spend so much time at the grocery store shopping for your own family, why not make a little cash on the side while you’re there?

You can sign up to be someone’s personal shopper with Instacart. With the app, you can see who’s in need of a shopper when you want to go to the store. The app gives you the choice to work as a full-service shopper (independent contractor) or an in-store shopper (part-time employee).

Available for: iOS and Android

Timothy Moore is an editor for a market research company focusing on technology, finance and digitalization. He also works as a freelance writer covering personal finance and automotive advice for sites like The Penny Hoarder, Glassdoor, The News Wheel and more.

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