Do you follow money saving blogs? If you’ve been following money saving blogs for years and years or even a short while, you know that they’re filled with so many great ideas and tips. Especially the infamous grocery store cash back app and other grocery money saving apps.
Here is a common theme that you find. Groceries are the main areas where, once under control, you will get on top of your money woes.
We’ve watched the world change from printable coupons and Sunday paper coupons to a cash back app, store app or other apps that take care of it all.
In the grocery app world, there’s quite a tangible difference between the point reward apps like Swagbucks and Fetch and the cash back ones. But, I find there is almost instant gratification in using a cash back app, like Ibotta. And also, your money isn’t tied up in a gift card.
Watching money go down the drain
Ibotta is my number one cash app. It’s such a genius idea. I was a DIE HARD fan. I’ve never been able to sell anyone onto the app though. I guess not everyone cares about savings that much if there is an extra step involved *cough, cough*. Me though, I’m all about the savings.
Watching the money in the app rise and rise, I’d cash some out…not all of it though. I loved to see that balance. Then there was a time were I cashed out about 2/3 of my balance. When I went back to use the app I was locked out. I entered my password CORRECTLY (I thought) but it didn’t work. No big deal, I thought. I’ll just request my password. But there was some kind of technical glitch.
“Watching the money in the app rise and rise”
This quickly became a series of unsuccessful and unhelpful emails which lasted for about 2-3 months or so on and off. I couldn’t find a phone number to call either. Needless to say, I have given up. They doled out a new policy which states that $3.99 will be taken from unused balances. I was alerted by email that the first charge has gone through for my account. So, there goes my money.
This has been a painful point for me because, quite honestly I had enough money left in there for my entire weekly grocery budget.
If I didn’t have the money in there and I cashed it out would I have been in the mess? Would the email saga have been avoided? Yes. Because, I would not have needed to log back in so badly because there was no money on the line.
saving money vs playing a game
BUT, my experience with Ibotta has helped me to be honest with myself and ask several questions of my grocery shopping. The most important being, was I actually saving money by using the Ibotta app?
And in my case, the answer is a resounding no. Getting strict with my grocery budget and meal plans helped me see this.
“My experience helped me to be honest and ask myself several questions about my grocery shopping habits”
I realized that it (most of the time) actually costed money to use the app. The fact that I was getting money back made me ignore this. Also, the fact that I have money locked up in the app that I will never have access to, has driven home this point.
Was I actually saving money by using the Ibotta app?
And literally the point of the app is supposedly to save money on groceries! Actually it does, technically. But it did not fit MY grocery budget and I was rationalizing and getting sucked into a game.
So, to my “lazy” friends who didn’t want to go through the trouble of downloading the app “to save money”. I sincerely apologize.
Spending to save vs spending to spend
How did I realize I was spending more money with Ibotta instead of saving?
There were offers that were tied to more cash back, like $1, $2, or even sometimes up to $5 and maybe more. This made me purchase that item whether I truly needed it or not.
It did not fit MY grocery budget and I was rationalizing and getting sucked into a game.
I would rationalize it by saying I will use it to have a better version of me. Sound familiar? For instance, bone broth is what I remember to be a big one. If I really wanted to save money, I could have easily made bone broth in my crock pot or bought a box of plain gelatin which is dirt cheap. I do not consider time to be a very big factor in this preparation.
Creating more choices
I also was introduced to products that I would probably otherwise never buy or be interested in. Of course I bought them because, hey, I get to try something NEW and I’m getting cash back!
“Try a new product and get cash back”
Making more trips to the grocery store. I would go to different stores based on where the app told me the “savings” were which, if I’m completely honest, though that idea has merit, I was really just wasting my time. It’s really painful to admit. Am I the only one?
So, in summary, I was spending money to try to save money. But not spending wisely because I got sucked into the game of buying. I was essentially using more dollars to see more dollars in the app.
I would love to know if you can relate to this or if you have a different approach in your grocery savings.