Gaming Ibotta

How much do you think I paid for all of this?

I've been using my Ibotta app quite a bit lately so I thought I'd share a couple tips on how I've been maximizing my returns.

Almost every week there are bonus opportunities that show up in the app.

Usually there is a "Midweek Money Maker" bonus that runs from Monday morning to Wednesday night and a "Weekend Warrior" bonus that runs from Thursday morning to Sunday night. In addition, there are other themed bonuses that pop up from time to time. These are in addition to brand bonuses which run for longer periods of time where you can get some extra cash back by completing several different rebates offered by the same brand. Purchase requirements for the Midweek and Weekend bonuses vary from person to person and week to week. I think that the more you buy, the higher the purchase requirement becomes. This is just a theory though. 

I had some particularly good bonuses this past week so I thought I'd use them to illustrate how I play this game.

I had a Weekend Warrior Bonus of $5 for completing 10 offers that started at 7 am on Thursday morning 3/26/22. I also had a "Swish" Bonus of $5 for completing 17 offers that also started on 3/26/22 and ran until Wednesday 3/30/22 at 1:59 am (so essentially Tuesday night). I also ended up with a Midweek Money Maker Bonus of $3 for completing 6 offers that started on Monday 3/28/22 at 7am and went until Thursday 3/31/22 at 1:59 am (so essentially Wednesday night).

You can double dip on the bonuses, meaning a purchase on Thursday will count for BOTH the Weekend Warrior Bonus AND the Swish Bonus, while a purchase on Monday will also count for the Midweek and Swish Bonuses. That meant I could complete 10 offers over the weekend to get $5, then complete 7 offers Monday - Wednesday and get another $3 plus $5.

The only downside about these bonuses is that you only get credit for ONE purchase of a required item per receipt even if you get money back on more than one item. That means if the purchase limit on widgets is 5 per receipt and you buy 5, you will get the rebate back for 5 but only get credit for one item for the bonus.

So here's my breakdown in actual items.

List will be ITEM / price / coupon / Ibotta rebate / store

Friday March 26th

1. Kraft Parmesan Cheese  $2.98/ no coupon / $1.00 / Walmart

2. Sargento Creamery Cheese Shreds  $2.70/ no coupon / $1.00 / Walmart

3. (2) U by Kotex 40 ct liners @ $2.97 each/ $4 off 2 /$ 2.00 each / Walmart

4. Johnson & Johnson body wash  $4.92 / $1.00 / $1.50 / Walmart

5. Johnson & Johnson lotion  $4.92 /$1.00 / $1.50 / Walmart

6. Schick Intuition Bamboo razor  $5.97 / $4.00 / $2.00 / Walmart

7. Skintimates 4ct razor  $5.97 / $4.00 / $2.00 / Walmart

8. Dixie 10ct Disposable cutting boards  $4.88 / no coupon / $2.00 / Walmart

9. Siggis Skyr yogurt  $1.99 / no coupon / $1.69 / Kroger

10. Mountain Dew Zero Sugar  $1.99 / no coupon / $1.98 / Meijer

11. Canine Carry Outs $1.00 / no coupon / no rebate / Kroger*

*I messed up and bought this at the wrong store so it didn't count

Total before tax: $43.26

Total with tax: $45.47 ($35.59 in taxable items, 7% tax)

Total after coupons: $31.47 (45.47 - 14.00)

Total after Ibotta rebates: $12.80 (31.47 - 18.67)

Total after Ibotta $5 Weekend Warrior Bonus and $0.50 J& J Bonus for purchasing 2 different items: $7.30 (12.80 - 5.50)

Monday March 28th

1. Kraft Parmesan Cheese  $2.98 / no coupon / $1.00 / Walmart

2. Sargento Creamery Cheese Shreds  $2.70 / no coupon / $1.00 / Walmart

3. (2) U by Kotex 40 ct liners @ $2.97 each / $4 off 2 / $2.00 each / Walmart

4. Skintimate 4ct razor  $6.08 / $4.00 / $2.00 / Walmart

5. Aspercreme 3ct Flexi-Motion patch  $20.49 / $19.00 / $4.00 / CVS

What I really wanted a deal on this week was cheese and I was hoping the rebate would reset so I was really happy that it did. I also really wanted to try out the Aspercreme patches. Those were purchased at CVS and I used a combination of coupons and ECBs to get it for $1.49.

I was also glad both the Kotex and the razors reset as I was making $1.64 for every two boxes of Kotex I bought (2 x 2.97 plus tax = 6.36 - 4 coupon = 2.36 - 4 Ibotta = -1.64) and the razors were basically free with the $4 coupon and the $2 Ibotta rebate.

One of the keys to gaming a bonus is to find items that you can get for free to increase your item count if you don't already have enough items that you really need or want. On the other hand, there will be some weeks when there really isn't anything that you need or want. In that case it's senseless to chase a bonus.

I picked up a different "flavor" of razor on Monday and didn't realize it was $0.11 more; either that or they raised the prices over the weekend!

At this point I needed two more items to complete both bonuses. I saw that I could get 9 Elements bathroom cleaner for free if I drove to the Walmart across town and I could also get Compeed Blister Care bandages for free if I also drove to the Walgreens across town (the stores near me did not have them in stock) but I really didn't need those even if they were free, plus I didn't want to waste my gas and time driving to the other side of the county for two items so I just stayed put and hoped the cheese rebates would reset again in 24 hours.

I considered just buying more cheese on a separate receipt on Monday and hope the rebate reset by Tuesday but I also knew I'd be driving by the Walmart again on Tuesday so I decided to wait it out. 

If I was going to buy cheese early I needed a separate receipt because the transaction limit on the cheese was five, meaning I could buy five at once and get a dollar back on each one, but it would only count as one item for the bonus. If the transaction limit had been one I could have bought them all on the same receipt and used the same receipt when the rebate reset.

Tuesday March 29th

6. Kraft Parmesan Cheese $2.98 / no coupon / $1.00 / Walmart

7. Sargento Creamery Cheese Shreds  $2.70 / no coupon / $1.00 / Walmart

Yay!! Cheese reset. Totals for Monday and Tuesday...

Total before tax: $43.87

Total after tax: $44.82 ($13.51 in taxable items*, 7% tax)

*my CVS transaction got royally messed up so it had to be re-rung and when they re-rang it all the coupons I had used came off as CVS coupons pre-tax so I only paid tax of $1.49 instead of $20.49.

Total after coupons: $17.82 (44.82 - 27)

Total after Ibotta rebates: $3.82 (17.82 - 14.00)

Total after $5 Swish Bonus and $3 Midweek Bonus: -$4.18 (3.82 - 5.00 - 3.00)

Grand total of all items after all 3 Bonuses: $3.12

In reality, these items all ended up being free and actually a bit of a money maker because, in addition to Ibotta, I also utilized my Shopkick and Fetch Rewards apps. Using them in combination will be a post for another day.

So let's look at this picture again...

Who pays $90.29 for this? Like is this how much stuff really costs? ...as the majority of it was purchased at Walmart. And one does not live on cheese alone. This is just what I bought for my Ibotta rebates. I got other food too... with different deals and sales.

I track my purchases because, as I've mentioned before, the main reason new couponers stop couponing is they find themselves actually spending MORE money by chasing crazy deals on stuff they don't need. I don't buy things I don't need UNLESS I get paid to take it out of the store. However, if acquiring something I don't need gets me a deal on something I will use, then YES, I'll get it. Tracking my purchases keeps me accountable and I can make sure I'm not wasting money on stuff.

Here's the breakdown on what I got this weekend and let's say I ended up spending $3.12 total.

This is what I really wanted...

Is it worth $3.12? Heck ya, it is.

These are things I don't really need but will use... I mean, at least my dog will be happy and I have a killer apple dumpling recipe that uses Mountain Dew...

These are things I don't need but I'll offer to my destitute college/grad student kids...

Let me know if you have any questions.

If you don't have Ibotta and want to try it out you can sign up with my referral code: nshhsjp

You will get $10 with your first receipt and I will too :)

Double Double Dipping Walgreens

 

I always love a good double dip deal. It's even better when the deal item is fun. This is what fell into my lap today.

First let's talk Ibotta. This was my first double dip.

New offers loaded yesterday and I caught wind of a double dip on the Godiva Domes. Looks like if you purchase the dark pink boxes of Godiva Assorted Chocolate Domes it will count for the $1.50 offer for the Godiva Chocolate Domes AND the $1.50 offer for the Godiva Valentine's Day gift boxes. Better yet, the is a $1 bonus available if you complete both deals. Since this one item counts for both deals you will get the bonus for buying one box.

These are on sale at Walgreens this week for 2/$8 when you use your myWalgreens number at checkout - no coupon needed - you just have to be a myWalgreens member. My store did not have the sale tag up and the regular shelf price showed $4.99, however, if you buy any quantity over two they will ring up for $4 each. Since my store did not have the shelf tag I scanned the box in store with my Walgreens app before I purchased it to make sure of the price. I also scanned it in the Ibotta app to make sure it was attaching to both offers. Ibotta had a limit of 5 per offer so I bought 5.

Five boxes cost $20 but since I would be getting back $3 per box plus the $1 bonus that meant I would get $16 back. $4 for 5 boxes (80 cents a box) is a pretty good deal in and of itself and anyone with Ibotta can do this deal.

The deal got even better for me. This is my second double dip.

I had a digital spend booster in my myWalgreens account for this week for spend $18, get $5 Walgreens cash (WC). If you have one you will find it under "coupons" in your myWalgreens account and you will need to "clip" it for it to apply.

I also had a paper spend booster that spit out of the register after I made a purchase yesterday to spend some Register Rewards that were expiring. The paper spend boosters seem to print randomly and for different amounts. The one I got yesterday was spend $30, get $7 WC.

This is what a spend booster looks like.
This is not the one I used today; this one is for $6 when you spend $20

You CAN double dip on your spend boosters on one transaction if you have both a digital and paper booster. You will need to spend the higher amount of the two boosters but you will earn the WC for both boosters. In my case, if I spent $30 I would earn a total of $12 WC ($5 + $7).

With Spend Boosters your total pre-tax SPEND must be over the threshold amount. If you have Walgreens store coupons or use WC to pay, this amount will be subtracted BEFORE the threshold amount so even though I had over $30 in WC in my account, if I used it to pay for this transaction I would no longer get credit for the spend.

On the other hand, manufacturer's coupons count as a form of payment and are subtracted AFTER the threshold amount is calculated. The Godiva gave me a perfect way to spend money in the store but actually get most of my money back through Ibotta.

I needed $10 more of spend so I picked up some Compeed Blister Pads for $7.99. I had a $4 manufacturer's coupon and there is an Ibotta offer for $4 back so this would end up free. I also picked up Revlon nail clippers for $2.49 because I had a $2.50 Revlon beauty tools digital coupon in my account. This made my pre-tax pre-coupon total $30.48. I also had a $3 *Register Reward from a previous purchase that was a manufacturer's coupon so I used that.

*Register Rewards coupons can be store coupons or manufacturer's coupons. It will be written on the coupon. 

At the register the $2.50 digital, which should have adjusted to $2.49 since my items was less than $2.50, did not come off but at this point I wasn't going to worry about it. I paid $25.61 out of pocket. I got back $12.34 in WC and $20 from Ibotta meaning I MADE $6.73 for my purchase today.

Double double dip complete!

If this Ibotta offer resets this could be dangerous 😉

Walgreens 1/12/22 - When Things Go Sideways

I hadn't been to Walgreens in over a month. I used all my Register Rewards last month on laundry detergent and the rest of what I had earned was sitting in my Walgreens cash account with no danger of expiration. However, I got lured back in today.

Today it was birthday cards. Fancy pop-up birthday cards.

Cards I would never in a million years pay full price for... but for a dollar? Well...

So here's the deal. The cards are really $12.99 but if you order them online they are $1.00. The only issue with ordering online is that you have to place a minimum $10 order for store pick up. The deal was intriguing enough though to send me digging around my Walgreens account.

A couple things stood out.

First, I had two "spend boosters" - these are coupons for extra Walgreens Cash (WC) when you spend (WYS) a certain amount of money.

The first was $3 WYS $12, expiring this Saturday 1/15/22.

The second was $7 WYS $15 on 3 different transactions, good until 1/31/22.

If I spent $15 in one transaction that meant I would earn $3 automatically plus knock out one of the three transactions for the $7 bonus. 

I found multiple deals this week - not necessarily for things I needed but definitely for things that would net me some free money for the stuff I wanted.

So here was the plan...

Transaction #1 - done online

3 Birthday cards @ 1.00 each = 3.00

4 Gillette shave products, buy 1 get 1 50% off

- found some for $2.99, so 8.97 for 4

Aveeno moisture bar for 2.89

Total would be 14.86 before tax, so not $15 but over $12 so I would get the $3 WC.

The Gillette shave products have an offer for $4 WC when you buy 2, meaning I would get back $8 in WC for 4.

There is a digital manufacturer's coupon for $3.50 for the Aveeno. This would adjust down to $2.89 making the Aveeno bar free. 

This is what my order originally looked like...

Well, then I got another email. The Aveeno was out of stock. Ugh. That made my pre-tax total $11.96. I was 4 cents short of getting my $3 WC bonus so I ended up earning a total of $8.11 WC for this order rather than $11.11. Total out of pocket (OOP) cost was $12.80.

So... I started today with $11.82 WC in my account from last month.

Now I had $19.93 WC and paid $12.80 OOP.

I had the 3 cards I wanted plus 3 shave gels and a can of shaving cream.

AND, when I picked up my order I got another spend booster coupon for $7 WYS $30, expiring 1/18/22. This was a physical coupon meaning I could double dip it with my digital spend boosters.

More plotting...

Proposed Transaction #2

(2) packages of  Zantac 25-count

- $12.49, Buy 1 Get 1 50% off

- get $5 Register Reward (RR) WYB 2

- I have (2) manufacturer's coupons for $3 off

- there is an Ibotta rebate for $3 for each package

Pre-tax total would be $18.74 which should get me the $3 WC plus count as one of my three $15+ transactions.

I would end up paying $12.74 + tax OOP but get $6 back from Ibotta, $3 WC, and a $5 RR.

Proposed Transaction #3

(2) Oral B toothbrushes @ 3.00 each

(2) Colgate toothpastes @ 3.99 each

(2) Suave body wash or shampoo @ 2.00 each

- pre-tax total would be $17.98 so that would count for my second $15+ transaction

- use $1 oral B digital coupon

- use (2) $2 Colgate digital coupons

- use $5 RR from Zantac purchase

- get back $4 RR WYB 2 Oral B

- get back $4 RR WYB 2 Colgate

- get back $4 RR WYB 2 Suave

- there is an Ibotta rebate for $1 for each Oral B toothbrush

I would end up paying $7.98 OOP but get back $2 from Ibotta and have another $12 in RR

Proposed Transaction #4

(2) Charmin 9 mega packs or Bounty 6 packs @ 9.99 each

(2) Bic Soliel 4 packs 

- $6.29, Buy 1 Get 1 50% off

(1) Palmolive 8 oz dish soap @ $0.99

- pre-tax total would be $30.41 so I would get $7 WC for the WYS $30 booster plus another $7 WC as this would be my third $15+ transaction

- use $8 off 2 Bic Soleil manufacturer's coupon

- use $0.50 off Palmolive manufacturer's coupon

- use $4 RR from Oral B

- use $4 RR from Suave

- get back $5 RR for Charmin/Bounty

- get back $5 RR for Bic Soleil

I would end up paying $13.91 OOP but get back $14 WC and $10 in RR.

Total after all 4 transactions would be $47.43 OOP - $8 back from Ibotta = 39.43 spent, 

but I added $25+ WC into my account and have $14 in RR remaining, so really I'd be even on my spend with all my products being "free."

NOW WHAT REALLY HAPPENED... 😂😂😂

Transaction #2  

Purchased the (2) Zantac and my RR did not print.

The cashier told me, "Oh, our machine isn't working."

Arghhh!!! Like she KNEW it didn't work but didn't think it was a big deal.

I have made it a habit of photographing the shelf tag because this has happened to me so often.

The manager credited me $5 in WC.

Normally that would be great since the WC doesn't expire in 2 weeks like the RR, however, I was planning to do the "when you spend" deals and if you use WC to pay for your order it decreases your spend amount. The RR counts as a coupon and will not decrease what counts as spend.

At least I got a $15+ transaction out of this.

After tax and coupons, I spent $14.04 OOP. Got back $8.18 in WC ($3.18 for spending $12+ and $5 for my RR) and $6 from Ibotta.

Transaction #3  

Total cluster is all I can say.

I went to the other Walgreens down the street so there would be a functional catalina machine.

I picked up my 2 Oral B toothbrushes and my 2 Colgates then noticed something disturbing on the shelf tag.

What bothered me was that the Oral B, Colgate and Suave were listed all on the same offer. The way this tag was reading, it would mean that I would only get one $4 RR if I bought all 6 items on one receipt.

As an aside here, the Walgreens ad has gone digital and I HATE it. I find it really hard to follow the deals because you have to keep clicking to open things to read the details. Online each deal is listed separately but I know that often times there are multiple items that will qualify for the same deal.

I decided not to take any chances and have my items rung up separately. This would mean that I wasn't going to get a $15+ transaction but I figured I didn't have to do all of them this week. I also felt funny asking to do three separate transactions so I decided to just do two and picked up the Oral B and the Colgate.

Oral B went as expected.

Total after tax and coupon was $5.42.

Since I was no longer doing a "spend" transaction I paid with $5 WC and $0.42 in real money.

Got back a $4 RR and $2 from Ibotta.

Colgate was totally NOT what I expected.

This was the deal I planned on doing...

When I got to the store though I noticed that some of the Colgate was actually $2.99 with what I thought was the same offer...

I thought that since I had (2) $2 Colgate coupons my total at the register should be $1.98 + tax and I'd get a $4 RR. My pre-tax total after coupon was actually $3.98 and I didn't get a RR. When I pointed this out to the cashier and showed her the shelf tag she noted that the tag said "$4 Walgreens Cash rewards" and I DID receive $4 WC.

Ugh. This was a totally different offer. My second $2 Colgate coupon was for the Colgate Optic White which was included in the other offer but not in this one so that is why only one of the Colgate coupons came off.

Total after tax and coupon was $4.40.

I paid with $4 WC and $0.40 real money.

Got back $4 WC.

I decided to stop after that. I didn't feel like chasing more transactions today and, among other things, I noticed at both stores that they were out of the Bic Soleils and low on both Charmin and Bounty.

Maybe it's still too early to get back into actively couponing.

Really, what I primarily stockpile from drugstores is paper products, trash bags, laundry detergent and dish detergent; all the rest is fun and extra, with most of it getting donated.

Todays spoils...

Depending on how you price the cards ($1 vs $12.99),
this is either $42.69 or $78.66 worth of product

Total OOP spend $27.66 - $8 Ibotta = $19.66.

Earned $11.29 net in WC and a $4 RR.

Total WC balance is now $23.13.