As we are planning out our budget, our debt snowball tracker is telling us our debt snowball will be paid off in 3.5 years. Well, that is not going to work for us. We want to knock out our debt snowball even sooner than the 3 years the planner is telling us it will take. So with that in mind, we have been drafting together different plans on how to accelerate our debt snowball.
One way that we have found to speed up our own debt snowball, is to be intentional. Yes, this means with your money, but it also means with your time as well. We have tried all sorts of side hustles over the years, so I wanted to share our favorite with you so you can start to be intentional with your family’s future too!
There are a lot of different options no matter your personality, so I’ve broken them down into the following categories. There is literally something for everyone:
This article is all about the Everyday Shoppers. Some might not consider these “Side Hustles” per say, however, there is some planning and leg work that goes into earning your cash back, so that sounds like work to me! No matter if you are a shopaholic, or just a mom trying to put groceries on the table, there is something here for you to earn money back into your account!
#1 Extreme Couponing: I just can’t do it. I tried, and it is so overwhelming. But! I will say what little bit of couponing I do know how to do, saves a good amount of money and makes our dollar stretch a little farther each month.
One thing I did successfully when I couponed, was Bundle Sales. I would shop CVS and Walgreens (Although CVS is my #1) and purchase everyday items. Stuff that I would use, but a lot of it. I am not saying I “extreme couponed” and bought out the entire store of laundry detergent, that did not seem very ethical to me. What I did do was use the coupons that were loaded onto my store card for the week, shop their weekly ads, and purchase detergent, shampoo, razors, deodorant, and toothpaste, always toothpaste. ProTip- NEVER pay more than $.50 for a tube of toothpaste. I would take my “overstock” items- the ones I wasn’t planning on using right away and make bundles. I would sell them typically for $15, and my family and friends would buy them from me. And no, I did not cheat my family and friends out of money. I did the leg work and purchased these items at a very low price, and was able to sell them to my friends and family for almost half of what they would have paid for them in the store. My bundle values would be around $30 each, I would sell them for $15, and I ultimately paid $8-$10 for them, so I would make about $5 a bundle. So my family and friends saved money, and I earned a little extra cash, what a win! If you are an extreme couponer, or in my case a moderate couponer, get creative!
Another way to make money by shopping is through Cash Back Apps.There are tons. I know. Where to start. Umm, why not use all of them?! I use Rakuten, DOSH, Fetch, Ibotta, and Coupons. Sometimes, I get overwhelmed with the apps I have to go in and do something on like Ibotta and Coupons, but the others are so simple and require little work from me.
#2 Rakuten: Okay, let’s break this down. Rakuten. 10/10 would recommend, my absolute favorite. If you do ANY online shopping, you need to set up an account right now! Rakuten offers cash back to thousands of amazing stores that I shop at online. Walmart, CVS, Shein, Ulta, Chewy, Buy Buy Baby, Bed Bath and Beyond, Croc, just to name a few.
How Rakuten Works- You create your account, look through the offers, click on the store you wish to shop to activate the offer, complete your purchase and Rakuten puts your cash back in your Rakuten Account. They pay you your “Big Fat Check” every quarter via PayPal or mail. This quarter, our Big Fat Check was $90! You can even install it on you browser, and when you pull up any website that has a Rakuten offer, it will pop up automatically and all you have to do is click to activate your shopping trip to get cash back. This is absolutely the easiest way to make money back off of your purchases.
Click here to get $30 Cash Back when you spend $30 on your next Rakuten shopping trip!
#3 DOSH: This is so simple as well! You honestly, don’t even do anything. Create your account, add your cards to your digital wallet, and sit back and wait. There are different offers within DOSH, and once you use one of your linked cards to purchase anything that is included in the offers, DOSH recognizes it right away and adds your cash back to your account. You cash out your earnings via PayPal, Venmo, or straight to your bank account, whichever you prefer! I have earned $51 via DOSH since using it, I missed out on it for a while because one of my cards expired and I forgot to update it in the app. Don’t make the same mistake!
#4 Let’s make Fetch happen: Fetch is also very simple. You do not have to
do any leg work, simply create an account, do your regular shopping, grocery, retail, online, it doesn’t matter. Get your receipt and scan it. If any product offers line up with what you purchased, you will receive points. Even if you don’t have any offers, you will still get 25 points per receipt. I can’t tell you how many receipts I have scanned for just 25 points, either way, it will all add up and benefit you. You can even link your email address to your Fetch Rewards account, and it will scan your email for e-receipts and check them for offers. I do occasionally have an issue with it reading my Walmart online receipts, but I report it, and show them what I purchased and what offers I should have received, and customer service is great about honoring those offers. Once you reach an allotted number of points, you will be able to cash out in the form of gift cards to a number of places like Amazon, Starbucks, and Walmart.
Use this referral code to receive additional points with your first scanned receipt: XDXVH
#5 Onto Ibotta: Ibotta is great! You create an account, add offers you are planning on purchasing, purchase items, scan receipt, scan items, and boom cash back! My only hesitancy in using Ibotta religiously, is that it is a lot of work. That is especially true if you purchase in store and not online. Luckily, I shop at Food Lion religiously, and I have my Food Lion MVP linked to my Ibotta, so if there is an offer that I purchased, Ibotta will recognize it. The same goes with my Walmart account. And I have also found that even when I purchase in store at Walmart, Ibotta will recognize it and give me cash back. I honestly don’t know how that even works, and I think I am too scared to ask.
So with this process in mind, I sometimes just go on Ibotta and add offers that I am maybe possibly going to get at some point down the road. That way it is already loaded on there, and if it picks up that I purchased that offer, then I get credit without even thinking about it or having to remember it in the store. I can’t tell you how many times I have added offers previously, forgot all about them, then went to the store, got in my car and opened my phone to see Ibotta gave me cash back. This is probably the laziest way to do Ibotta shopping, but hey, it works!
Use this referral code to get additional cash back on your first scanned receipt: rjelysq
#6 Lastly, we have Coupons: Coupons sometimes comes in handy. I
typically use the instore coupons when I shop at grocery stores, as well as drug stores like CVS or Walgreens. They are so convenient. No clipping, organizing, you just add them to your account, scan or enter your number at the register and it takes it off at the register. Typically, if you use these coupons on the in store apps, you are not able to use the same coupon that is offered on the Coupons app. Sometimes, you can double dip, but it is very rare. But there are also times you can only get the coupon on the Coupons app. You will need to clip the coupon, prove your purchase (Receipt and Scan Product Barcode) and they will automatically issue your cash back in your PayPal account. There is no minimum amount to get you cash back, it is given to you instantly.
Set up your Coupons account here, they typically offer a cash back bonus upon signing up!
You are already spending the money, so put these apps to work. You not only get cash back in your wallet, but more importantly you get cash to put back towards your debt snowball.
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