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I love to save money. Sometimes I think the only reason that I live the way we do is because of the fact that I love to save money. Maybe it comes from the life I’ve lived or maybe I just like money. Not sure which one it truly is, but the point is I really like to save money. While I wouldn’t say that I’m willing to do anything to save a buck, I am willing to work to save it. One of my problem areas though is groceries. I don’t really coupon the way that I used to and saving money on groceries can be a tad bit tricky if you’re not couponing. No worries though. I’ve got it figured out and down to a science and now? I’m going to share with you how I buy $275 or more in FREE groceries every single month. How?
Simple. I earn free gift cards!
Just as a heads up, this is a VERY pic heavy post! If you are only interested in how I do it, scroll past the photos for the full walk through. This is also a very long post. Just scroll past it all if you want the nitty gritty!
Looking for Part 2? It’s over HERE!
I want to make it clear. I’m not talking about couponing. I haven’t couponed on a regular basis in over 3 years and honestly? I don’t have the time to start now. Getting food and household goods totally free does take work. It doesn’t happen in a flash and I spend every month working to be able to do my order each month. If I don’t work like I should, I don’t have what I need to “buy” my freebies.
I also want to make it clear that I do this ALL with online ordering. I don’t step foot in a store for these grocery freebies. I could, but since I’ve worked it out so that Amazon.com is a huge part of my strategy, I choose not to. I would likely end up spending quite a bit so to avoid that, I only visit the store for things like fresh meat, produce, dairy and things like that unless I absolutely have to. Just as an example, here was the order I made about a week ago. I spent $0.00 out of pocket between Amazon and Target and actually ended with $4.00 still left on my Target gift card. Because the Amazon order was so large, I’ve had to break it into several different screenshots and if you pay attention? You’ll see the gift card balance that I actually have started for next month’s order too. There is one item blacked out on the screenshots. The item was for my daughter and in order to protect her from embarrassment, I have blocked it out.
Scroll down to see what I ordered this month then read on for HOW I do it EVERY month! Totally. Free.
Okay, so now that those things are clear, we can move on. Basically the way that I earn so much in free gift cards is by working the sites I use every day. I have a specific pattern that I do every day and that pattern has helped me to keep my earnings consistent on a monthly basis. Some involve my phone and others are on the computer. I’ve got it worked out so that it really only takes me a couple of hours of actual work each day and it pays off big time.
In the second part of this post (which will be shorter), I will show you the actual process that I take to find the DEALS to use my free gift cards on!
First, while I’m waiting on my morning coffee to brew, I grab my phone and open up the Swagbucks TV app. I turn it on and let it play while I’m drinking my coffee and waking up. Usually I’m pretty close to my daily goal or my max point limit from videos by the time that I get fully awake. Once I’m on the computer, I head over the Swagbucks.com and do the Daily Crave, Daily Poll and NOSO points offer. If I’m a few points short of my goal, I either do a quick offer or survey to get me there or I will search several times that day to reach it. This gives me a total of around 40 Swagbucks per day at the bare minimum, but when you add in the bonuses I receive for reaching my daily goal day after day, some days I earn over 300 total points. Hitting your daily point goal on Swagbucks is crazy important since the bonuses you receive each day increase.
After I finish up Swagbucks, I pop over and log into Superpoints. First I do the daily click for my “free” point of the day. It may only be 1 point, but that adds up to 30 points each month and that is 30 points closer that I am to my goal. Next, I open up the Super Easy Button, click 10 or so times then move onto getting step 3 set up.
Now it’s time to set up my phone to work for me. I open up my Perk app and run either the popular videos or app trailers section. This step requires no work once you turn it on other than to occasionally click the screen to let the app know you’re still watching. I let mine play whenever my phone is not in use and I keep the volume down so that I’m not driving myself insane.
Next, I log into InstaGC. This is my absolute favorite way to earn online and it is one that I have been very successful with. I do different surveys, offers and clicks until I get to $5.00 each day. Most days this is what takes the absolute longest, but even at my longest day, I have never spent more than an hour doing it. Some days, if things are crediting for me like mad, I will keep working on it until they slow down. This always creates even more in free gift cards for me since I still go for the minimum $5.00 in earnings each day. I tend to let my earnings accumulate to around $15 or $20 then cash out for whatever free gift card I want. They’re paid instantly so I don’t worry too much about having them at a specific time. This site earns me a MINIMUM of $150 in FREE Gift cards every single month.
I do use four other apps to help myself earn free gift cards. Both are random and aren’t included in my daily routine. Two allow me to earn free gift cards and two pay me cash back for any groceries that I do happen to buy in the store.
Shopkick is used when I send my hubby to the store. We get points for just walking in (sometimes) and points for scanning product item bar codes while I’m in the store. I then cash my points out for instant Walmart or Target gift cards.
Receipt Hog (be sure to use code sapt6425 for FREE spins when you join!) is the other one that I use. For this one, you’ll scan your receipts and just about any receipt you have from a store or gas station works. In return for “feeding the pig,” you’ll score spins. Spins mean points and points means an Amazon Gift card or a Paypal payment.
iBotta – iBotta pays cash back when you purchase items that they have an offer on. You purchase the item, scan the bar code then upload the receipt. They have multiple payout options, but I tend to get free Amazon gift cards from them so that I have more for my monthly grocery order. They do frequently have offers for cash back on fresh produce, meat and daily as well as other regular grocery and household type items.
Checkout 51 – This one works identical to iBotta except they only pay in cash. When you reach $20 in your account, they will send you a check.
So do you have a question? I’ve answered a few below that I commonly get. If you still have another, leave a comment and I’ll answer as soon as I can!
Q: Do You Buy The Same Items Each Month?
A: No. I buy to stock up so what I buy each month lasts my family for at least 3 months. The only exception is that yes, I buy dog food, laundry soap and things of that nature every month to keep my stockpile replenished. For instance, the pasta sauce that I bought this month will last us through October at least. I won’t need to replenish it until November and possibly December.
Q: Can I use this system to buy organic, gluten-free or other specialty foods?
A: Yes of course! Earning free gift cards like this allows you to buy anything you want for free as long as you have earned the gift cards needed to cover it.
Q: Do you do this all year long?
A: No. I buy food, pet supplies and household items from January to the end of September. In October, I stop spending my gift cards and save them for Christmas. Yup. I get Christmas free too this way.
Q: Is it really worth it?
A: I look at it this way. Any money that isn’t coming out of my pocket? Especially when I’m thinking of hundreds of dollars each month? Its a good thing.
Q: My prices in store are the same and/or cheaper than I can get on Amazon, why should I try this way?
A: Your prices in store come out of the cash in your pocket or checking account. Food and household goods bought with free gift cards do not. If the price is significantly different then by all means skip that item, I have several that I skip each month because of that very reason. If they’re close though? You save much more by using the gift cards.
Can you explain the background of these sites? I’m just a little nervous to try without knowing what they get out of it?
Emily, most of them make a commission when you complete an offer, survey or task. They in turn share part of that commission with you as your payment. I hope that made sense and helped!
Thanks so much for the information. Was not aware of ordering groceries like that online. Especially not with gift cards earned like that. Didn’t realize how much they could really add up to in a months time neither. I’m gonna have to try this one out for sure. Again thanks!
Thank you for this info!!
How do you keep track of your gift cards, or how are they sent?
Kylie, most are e-gift cards. We use a budget binder for our monthly budget and expense tracking so I print them out and add them to a sleeve in that if I want to keep a physical gift card. Most places though you can just add to your account. Usually they don’t expire so there’s not any worry about losing the funds.
Thank you for your post. I found it very helpful in learning new ways to save money on groceries! I signed up for and started working on instaGC and when I viewed a few slideshows for points, I didn’t get them at the end. Are they suppose to be instantaneous or will they be applied within a certain amount of time (like 24 hours)?
Melissa, some are instant and some will take time. It should tell you on each one how long the points usually take.
Aloha Stacy,
My wife and I are trying to get out of debt, and find your post very informative. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us all. Do you still do all of this and is this system still current. I am going to ask my wife to start the same system as you, do you have any pointers for us. I also will do what I can to increase any chance of getting gift cards. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Aloha Shane,
Yes we still use the same system. Sometimes it goes to groceries, other times a bill. Just depends on the month. 🙂
Hi Stacy,
Great series! Please keep it up. 🙂
I have a question about Superpoints – which is now RewardShopping: when I click on “rewards”, there’s nothing to redeem – just purple bars listing individual tiers. I am a bronze member, so shouldn’t I be able to at least SEE what rewards are available?
Thank you so much for helping a newbie understand!
-Jen
That’s odd Jennifer. Try clearing your computer cache to see if that helps. If not, email them to see what they have to say.
Hello Stacy,
I am so excited to see this program works out. I have always wanted to shop for FREE using gift cards but I never knew how it worked. I was curious on what budget binder you use for your monthly budget and expense tracking. can you share this with us?
Hey Allyssia, I’ll work on a budget binder post. For the most part I use a line item budget.
I use most of the sites/apps you mention here, but I’ve never heard of instagc, I’m definitely going to give them a try! Thanks!
I am a couponer (not extreme) and I can NOT wait to do this. If it keeps me from having to SEARCH for deals as much as I do, I am all in!!
So u have a certain price cap u spend on a certain item. Say u won’t spend over $x on pasta sauce or detergent?
Correct. I price everything out by unit price. For pasta, it is a per pound price. For detergent it is per load. I won’t pay over what my price points are for those items and because I watch things, I haven’t had to.
I have an odd question. Do you need to claim all of these many gift cards you earn on income tax? It would seem as though you have to claim it somewhere on your return since it’s money you are receiving, albeit in the form of gift cards.
Thanks for all of the creative info on earning gift cards.
Hey Willa, great question. As with any type of income, you need to report anything above $599.00 per year. It is considered income whether it is a gift card or cash.
I’ve been trying this for a couple of days now, i’m really hitting a snag with Swagbucks. I havent qualified for a single survey yet and am really having to spend a lot of time reaching my daily goal. What is the NOSO points offer? I dont want to have to make a purchase or get tons of junk in my mail just to make a few points, any tips?
Chelsea, make sure that you’ve filled out your profile for the individual survey offers. THat can help with qualifying. NOSO (No obligation special offers) is simple to do. Click to start then skip through everything unless you see something you want to sign up for. You don’t have to though. Takes about 30 seconds. 🙂
Hoping to receive a response since so much time has passed since you wrote this.
I saw many negative reviews about instaGC on Surveypolice.com. Most complaints refer to receiving gift cards or “cashing out” and customer service issues. Have you experienced any problems with instaGC?
Hi Cynthia, I have been a member since they first opened and have never once had an issue that wasn’t resolved. The only issue I’ve ever actually had was when my Paypal disconnected so my payment didn’t go through. It was a very simple fix and the admins of the site were right there to resend my payment the following day. The way their payment structure works is that any payment $25.00 or below is instant. Literally. You click the button and it opens your gift card in another window or sends you Paypal right then. Anything over $25 is sent within 72 hours.
I suspect that a large amount of those people on SurveyPolice are those that haven’t followed the rules, etc although I don’t know that for sure. There are a lot of reasons that someone might not be given their payment from a GPT sites, fraud usually being the largest. What I can tell you is that I’ve earned just over $6,000 total with them since I started (pulled this screenshot as I was typing my reply lol) and I absolutely trust them for payment. 🙂
This sounds great! Do these all still work? Do you have to use a computer or can I do them all on my phone? I don’t currently have a computer.
Amy, yes they still work and most, if not all, should allow for mobile use. 🙂
Hi Stacy! Your post was very informative and I have joined four of the sites you recommended. My issue is that the survey’s don’t seem to be going well for me. You stated that you were able to make enough to garner about five dollars a day on Instagc. I have worked it now for 3 days attempting to get that much per day and have spent HOURS trying to do so. Any more advice about how to hit that mark?
Hi Lesley, make sure you’re clearing your cookies after each survey or offer. Sometimes that can help. Also, if you look in the upper right of the InstaGC screen there’s a ? that has a guide with a lot more tips to help.