Budget: Ibotta and rebates

If you join Ibotta, they send you a cash rebate if you buy certain items and complete tasks.  When you register, if you put in my referral code “smtiuhc“,   you will get $10 and I’ll get $5 as long as you turn in one rebate within 7 days of signup. Any store and any brand rebates don’t count.

Download free app to smartphone. Next you have to download the app onto your Android or Apple ios.

On my phone, I clicked googleplay, did a search for Ibotta and hit install.  It was pretty easy.

Registration.  when you first open the app, a registration screen will show. It’s pretty simple, just fill out the fields.

Find rebates. Now that you are in, go to “find rebates”  You can do this on your laptop/desktop or your phone.  The site is for mobile browsing so it navigates much better on the phone.

If you want to do it on your computer, go to http://www.ibotta.com.

You can pick rebates by store. Once you pick a store, more categories show up on the phone app than the home computer which makes it easier to pick rebates. However, if you need to conserve mb or minutes on your phone when you web surf, use your home computer.

You can also narrow things by search by item.  Sometimes when I am at the store and something is on sale, I do a quick search and add the rebate if there is one.

Click on all the ones you like.  Usually there is a small task: watch a video, click an answer on a survey, look at a recipe, etc. Some rebates you can only add if you’re on the phone.

If it’s your first time, there should be a 50 cent rebate at any store.  I’d do a search for “any”.  There will be a few small rebates from 25 cents to 50 cents for things like eggs, milk, bread or whatever at any store so it’s easy to complete.  You do need to do one manufacturer’s rebate in order to get your $10.  It can even be a small one like I did one for Morton’s Coarse Sea Salt (margaritas, anyone) 17.6 oz and received the 75 cent rebate.

So for Safeway,  I chose the $4 rebate for Pinnacle Vodka and the 50 cent anywhere. For Walmart, I clicked the $1 rebate for 2 Lean Pockets.

Shop. After picking your rebates, next stage buying stuff because you will need the receipt and the barcodes.

Send in proof.  Now that you have the receipt and barcoded stuff, it’s time to send in the proof.  This has to be done on the phone. Open the Ibotta app on the phone.

Click on your store (Luckily Walmart shows pretty high on the list when I open the Ibotta app. In the “On Phone” image above, I touched the Walmart icon to choose the store. I had to scroll down for Safeway).

Click on the “Redeem” button on the bottom.  (See “On Phone” image, see the arrow? Redeem is next to Find Rebates)

A page will come up that says Step 1 of 2.  This is where you take pictures of the receipt.  Touch the button “Continue” on the bottom.

A little screen with a box will show up.  Sometimes you take a pic of the receipt and sometimes you take a pic of the QR computer code on the receipt. Line up your receipt or the QR code between the lines.

If the receipt is too long, that’s ok.  You can take more than one picture.  Once the receipt is lined up, click “take photo” on the bottom. If it asks for the QR, it will automatically snap once you line it up.

(Walmart asks for the square QR. I’m showing the receipt snapshot because when the QR lined up, it snapped before I could, lol. The square scrambly looking thing is the QR code that I centered in the pink square above)

If the receipt is too long, click “add section” on the next page to take another picture.  If you took the whole receipt, click “finish”.

It will ask “are you finished?”  Click “I’m finished”.

 

 

Then it will ask you what did you buy.  Scroll down and click on the items you purchased that match the receipts.

 

Each time you touch one, the Ibotta will ask you to scan the barcode.

Once you line up the barcode, it will automatically take the pic and go back to the What did you buy page.  In my Lean Pockets, I had to scan two barcodes to get the $1.

Once you complete the barcodes scan, the checkmark will change to green.

It’ll say “We Matched 1 rebate” when you’re done.  You can click the “Add Rebates” button to add more.  And repeat until done.

When done, click that bottom button that says “verify …” however many rebates you inputted.

 

You will get a screen asking if you want to “Redeem Another Receipt”.  If you have another one, go through the same process until you have finished all your receipts.

 

When you are finished with all your receipts, press the button “Done”.

 

The screen will tell you it’s sending the receipt.  When it is done, it will change to this final screen showing what you have earned so far and that you have a pending receipt.  Usually the pending receipt will be added to your total within 24 hours.

The $14.50 showing is the $10 joining bonus, and at Safeway $4 for the Pinnacle vodka 750 ml (it was on sale for $9 so ended up costing me $5) and the 50 cents rebate at any store. The $1 one should show up within 24 hours.

You won’t get rich but you are basically getting a discount on things you were going to buy anyways or wanted to try out.

Once you reach $20.00, you can turn the rebates into cold hard cash. $20 is the minimum for a payout. When you’re ready, you can send it to Paypal (which can drop the cash into your bank).