4 Ways to Make Saving Money on Grocery Fun

We all want to save money for our future. Saving money ensures financial stability and security. Because of our busy schedules, saving money on regular grocery purchases might be time-consuming and challenging. Fortunately, there are many apps which are 100% free to use on our smartphones that help in saving money. I have tried out a few of them and here is a list of 4 apps that work for me and are easy to use.

And they are such a fun way to make saving money on grocery fun. After all, who doesn’t want to use all that time on their phones for a great cause … adding to their own savings!

1. Receipt Hog

It is very easy to earn money with Receipt Hog. We can snap any receipt (grocery/ restaurant/ fuel bills), get points for every receipt and a few bonus points for some receipts. These points can be redeemed to gift vouchers like Amazon or restaurant gift cards or converted to cash through PayPal.

The simple design makes it easy to take a photo of the receipt in a few seconds. Since it accepts all types of receipts including fuel and restaurant bills, this app is better than all other money-saving apps. There are different levels that each user will be assigned to depending on how many receipts he/ she is submitting in a month. As we reach higher levels, we get more bonus points for each submitted receipt.

Receipt Hog is not accepting applications as of now, but keeps the new users on the wait list and will approve later. So, check for updates @ https://app.receipthog.com/portal

2. Ibotta

This app works best for regular grocery shopping. There are many apps which will give rebates/cash back for grocery purchases, but usually, the rebates will be on specific products or brands. But, the specialty of Ibotta is that it sometimes provides cash back for any purchase/ any generic purchase like any yogurt brand/ milk brand etc., A cashback of $0.25 is given for any receipt monthly twice or so. So, whatever we buy, we get cash back regularly. If we buy the specific brands recommended by them, we might get more cash back of course.

I have been using this app for 2 years and I usually get $20 gift card every 6 months. This might not be a great way of earning money, but more shopping = more cash back. Ibotta app directly shows the cash back and total in our account and when it reaches $20, we have several options to choose from. We can choose gift cards for all famous restaurants/ amazon gift cards/ gift cards from major retail stores.

Here is my referral link to sign up on Ibotta.

3. National Consumer Panel (NCP)

This is the most reliable app though it is not as easy to use as the above apps. NCP is a market research company which is a joint venture between IRi and Neilsen. When we apply and get selected for the panel, they send a scanning device. We have to scan each and every product purchased and can enter every grocery purchase through scanning device by scanning barcodes. For every grocery receipt that we scan, we earn some points and the accumulated points can be used to buy any products in NCP website/ or buy gift cards for movies/ restaurants/ clothing retailers. The process might seem tedious initially, but it will take only 5 to 10 mins of our time to scan the products and transmit the data.

When compared to other apps, we get more points for every purchase through NCP. After a few days, NCP will let us return their device and allows us to use their app to scan purchases, which is a lot easier to use by the way. After using NCP scanner for about a year, now I am using NCP mobile app. Sometimes, they also send some surveys, by answering which will give a few more bonus points.

There is no referral program as of now. Here is the link where you can apply to become a member. It might take some time to get approved as a panel member and there is a possibility that you might not be approved at all.

4. Walmart app

If you are in the USA, I assume, you do a lot of regular shopping at Walmart. You might have known that there is an app for the retailer. But, do you know that there is a feature called ‘Savings catcher’? This is the wonderful feature that can save money on regular purchases.

Savings catcher works this way –

1. We scan the receipt in ‘Savings catcher’ section.
2. Walmart compares the prices of all items we purchased at Walmart with the prices at other stores. If there is any price difference – say, Kohls has the same item for the lesser price, Walmart issues the cash back of difference amount.
3. If the price is less at Walmart than other stores, we might not get any cash back.
4. The accumulated cash back can be set up as Walmart pay and can be used for our next purchases at Walmart.

So, this feature indirectly does a price match for us. I was surprised to receive more than $40 till now from Walmart because of Savings Catcher.

So, these are the apps that help me in saving money on my regular grocery purchases. Did you try any of these? Let me know in comments.

Also, do let me know of other money-saving apps. I will be happy to try.

PS: This post contains a few referral links and I might receive a commission when someone signs up with those links.