Ibotta: A Money Saving App

By Jeff

February 26, 2023

I’ve been using Ibotta for several years. My lifetime earnings with Ibotta are $1107.93. And, Angie’s lifetime earnings are $1044.70. This isn’t really a life-changing amount of money but it is a significant amount of money none-the-less. And money saved on everyday items means more money that can be used for something fun instead, like travel!

Ibotta can help you save on your grocery bills if you are careful with it and don’t go buying anything and everything that has an offered discount. It’s like so many things; it’s important to look at what the final cost of the item is going to be after the Ibotta discount is factored in to determine if the item is a good value or not. Lots of items might only save you 50 cents. However, there are often items that offer savings of much more or might even be offered for FREE after the Ibotta Cash Back. Ibotta savings can also be combined with other coupons which can result in even better savings.

I’ll give you an example of a recent purchase I made:

Razor Blades for shaving are EXPENSIVE. No doubt about it. Schick Hydro 5 Blades are being sold for over $4.00 per blade many places including Ebay.  Ouch!

A 12-pack of Schick Hydro 5 Blades costs $29.47 at Walmart. Target and other stores have similar pricing.

$29.47 + $1.62 Tax  = $31.09.  That’s $2.59 per blade.  ( $31.09 / 12 blades )  Still pretty expensive in my opinion.

Ibotta had an offer for $10 Cash Back on this 12-pack of Schick Hydro 5 Blades. That’s a pretty good savings.

There was also another 10-cent savings for the receipt.

Working off our prior math, we now have $31.09 LESS ($10.10) Ibotta Cash Back  = $20.99

Now our cost is just $1.75 per blade.  ($20.99  / 12 blades )

And that’s about as good as it gets anymore. For many years I’ve always tried to buy Schick Hydro 5 Blades ( or an equivalent Gillette or other 5-blade razor cartridge ) at $2.00 or less per blade so this was a good deal.

In my experience, 5-blade razor cartridges give a smoother shave and last longer than single, double, or triple-blade razor cartridges. They last longer so the 5-blade cartridges end up being the best value for shaving.

Ibotta will also offer bonuses for redeeming offers. Sometimes these bonus offers are good, sometimes not and it depending how big your shopping order is will determine if hitting that bonus is achievable. For example, sometimes there will be a bonus for like $5.00 for 5 Ibotta offers redeemed.  This is usually very easy to achieve and can result in extra savings off your net grocery spend, especially if there are items that are already going to be FREE after Ibotta reimburses you because each of these FREE items also count for a spot in the offers required to achieve the Ibotta bonus.

Normally it’s good to be mindful and not purchase items you wouldn’t normally buy. However, if you have the opportunity to try a product for FREE, and sometimes get paid to try it, then why not, you have nothing to lose.

If you have a partner in your life, you can refer them once you have Ibotta and receive a bonus for that referral. It’s ideal in this scenario to check both Ibotta accounts because we find one is often targeted for better offers than the other. For example, sometimes my account might have an offer that I need to complete 17 offers to get a $5.00 bonus. While Angie’s account might only require completing 5 offers to get that same $5.00 bonus. Sometimes we will shop with both Ibotta apps and sometimes we will just use one because the offer is better.

Here’s a referral link if you’d like to sign up for Ibotta. There is no cost to sign up and there is no membership fee either. Full disclosure: Ibotta does collect data on purchases so that is what you are giving Ibotta.