3 Money-Saving Platforms You May Not Know About

My husband laughs at me whenever I come home from the grocery store and boast about how I saved 50 cents on this and a dollar on that. It may seem insignificant, but those savings add up. I’m always looking for ways to save money relatively easily, and some platforms are definitely easier to use than others.

Coupon clipping, Ibotta, and Rakuten (formerly Ebates) are common ways people have saved money in recent years, but I personally find them to be too much work. I don’t have a lot of time to devote to finding and clipping coupons from magazines and newspapers. I also don’t often bother with skimming the Ibotta app for items I might buy and, even if I did, I certainly wouldn’t remember to upload the receipts later. And as far as Rakuten goes, half the time I use the platform it either doesn’t work or it takes forever for the cash back to be added to my account.

I’m a lazy couponer, so here are a few of my favorite, easy-to-use applications I utilize regularly to save money.

Fetch Rewards

Fetch is similar to Ibotta where you get money back from certain items/brands you buy, except Fetch is based on a point system rather than a dollar amount. The best part about Fetch is that you can link your email, Amazon account, Target account, etc. so the only thing you have to do is press a button. That’s right —one button. Fetch then scans through your e-receipts and finds all the eligible items and brands and awards you points based on what you purchased. It’s that simple.

Fetch has a huge database of common, everyday brands that qualify for points (I don’t find this to be the case with other platforms such as Ibotta). The points rack up fast and you can exchange them for gift cards to almost any chain restaurant/store once you’ve racked up enough (which, again, doesn’t take long at all).

Fetch frequently offers sign-up bonuses and extra points when you haven’t scanned a receipt in a while. Check it out and use my referral code T1KFN!

Target Circle

If you shop at Target regularly and haven’t downloaded the app and/or signed up for Target Circle then you are missing out for real. There are SO MANY good coupons and deals on Target Circle, and adding them to your account and applying them to your purchase is ridiculously simple.

New deals are added to the app every Sunday, so I usually take a couple minutes to scroll through them that day. It’s not uncommon for me to see 25% off my favorite drink, Buy One Get One 15% off my go-to granola bar, or Buy $100 in Baby Wipes/Diapers Get a $30 Gift Card, etc. One of the best parts is you can stack deals — last week I purchased some applesauce pouches for my kiddos and used a Buy One Get One 25% off AND Spend $25 get $5 off. Such a good deal!

Some deals are in-store exclusive (you just scan your in-app barcode at checkout to apply the deals to your purchase), but for the most part they apply to all methods of shopping: In-Store, Drive-Up, Same-Day Delivery, and Shipping. And if you haven’t taken advantage of Drive-Up yet (especially in conjunction with Target Circle) then you are missing out! You can purchase almost anything in the store for pickup (including refrigerated and frozen foods!) and employees are super efficient at getting your order out to you. Even better, if you forget to run to the store on Saturday to use your Target Circle coupons then you can place a Drive-Up order for pickup later!

One additional perk of having Target Circle is you get 1% back on all purchases that you can apply to a later purchase. My lifetime savings using Target Circle are, last I checked, $284.22! Like I said, the savings add up — you won’t regret signing up!

Flashfood

You know that rack of half off bakery at Giant Eagle? Or the shelves of clearance items in the back by the restrooms? If you’re the kind of person (like me) who checks those racks every time you shop there, then you’re gonna love Flashfood!

Flashfood is a relatively new platform used mostly by select area Giant Eagles and Meijers — everyday they upload the about-to-expire or imperfect items they’d otherwise throw away to the app for half off. From there you can purchase the items and pickup in-store — it’s that easy!

Flashfood is pining for users right now since it’s such a new platform, so they send emails regularly with deals and offers to get you using the app. Right now I have $27 in rewards I haven’t used yet — just for having signed up! You can get a $5 reward today by using my referral link to sign up!

I’ve got plenty of ways to save money, but none are as easy as Fetch, Target Circle, and Flashfood. If you’re pinching pennies or just have a TON of fun saving a buck or two like me, then don’t hesitate to utilize these platforms — they make saving money so simple!