If you throw away receipts, you’re throwing away money.
I’ll go even further — if you’re deleting your emails, it’s like lighting cash on fire.
Your receipt is low-hanging fruit for earning extra cash, and typically, you don’t need to do more than take a picture of it in order to rack up earnings. Take a look and see what I mean.
1. Paribus helps you get cash back when there’s a price drop on something you bought online.
Sign up for Paribus and resist the urge to delete email receipts for your online purchases! It’ll pay off because you might get unexpected cash back when an item you bought goes on sale.
Here’s how it works: Paribus monitors your online purchases, and when it finds an item that received a price drop after you bought it, Paribus can help you request the difference.
You could do that legwork yourself and constantly check on everything you buy to see if it went on sale within each store’s price adjustment period. But who has time for that?
Best part — it’s totally free. Find out about all Retailers That Offer Price Adjustments.
Paribus compensates us when you sign up for Paribus using the links we provided.
2. Ibotta offers hundreds of dollars in savings when you scan your receipt.
Active Ibotta users earn up to $300 per year just for scanning or taking a picture of that little piece of paper we call a receipt.
The way to save the most money with Ibotta is to plan your grocery list around current cash-back offers.
For example, if you need laundry detergent and you’re not brand-loyal, buy the brand that has an Ibotta offer.
Another way to use Ibotta is to simply double-check the app after you get home with your grocery store receipt and redeem offers for anything you bought. Since there are hundreds of Ibotta offers, you should be able to redeem at least one per receipt doing it the lazy way!
3. You can get free produce through Checkout51.
Similar to Ibotta, Checkout51 is a rebate app that offers cash back on grocery items. Yes, you can double dip with Ibotta and Checkout51 if you can find the same offer inside both apps.
But one of the best things about Checkout51 is their “Choose Your Own Offer” which is typically $0.25-$0.50 off an item. A banana at Walmart usually costs about $0.29, meaning you can get it for free.
We’ve seen cash-back offers for bananas, broccoli, tomatoes, oranges and more.
RELATED: Your Ultimate Guide to Rebate Apps
4. Upload any receipt to ReceiptHog and earn “coins” you can trade in for gift cards.
First off, ReceiptHog isn’t always open to new users, so you’ll need to sign up to get on the waiting list if you find this is the case.
But it’s worth it because it’s easy and mindless to earn “coins” for uploading literally any receipt, plus you can play games to earn more coins if you want to.
Each receipt earns 5-15 coins which you can trade in for gift cards. On average, roughly 180 receipts will get you a $10 card.
5. Get cash back for your online and in-store purchases through CoinOut.
With CoinOut, you’ll earn cash back for taking a picture of any receipt, similar to ReceiptHog.
But what makes CoinOut slightly different is you can also earn for online purchases when you initiate your purchase through the CoinOut website, similar to Ebates.
To upload physical receipts, download the CoinOut app and tap “Scan.” Once your receipt is uploaded, you instantly earn money. I earned $0.10 for uploading a Target receipt.
You can cash out to your bank, PayPal or Amazon. There’s no minimum amount you need to earn in order to cash out to your bank or Amazon. You need to earn $10 in order to cash out to PayPal. Cash out up to once a week.
6. Scan your gas receipts to get cash back through Trunow.
Trunow will tell you where the cheapest gas near you is and then give you cash back when you buy gas at that location.
For example, I can earn .05% cash back when I buy my gas at Chevron, Shell or Maverik near my house.
You can use your rewards toward in-app purchases at full value, or you can take half the value of your rewards and cash out via PayPal. This means if you’ve earned $25, you’ll only receive $12.50 if you cash out through PayPal.
7. Fetch Rewards offers points that translate into gift cards when you take a picture of your receipt.
Upload any grocery receipt to the Fetch Rewards app and you can earn points toward gift cards to your favorite retailers like Target and Amazon.
One thousand points is equivalent to $1, and you can cash out once you earn 3,000 points (or $3).
For example, when you buy a jar of Pond’s skin cream and upload your receipt, you can earn 1,000 points.
Find out everything you need to know about Fetch Rewards.
8. You’ll earn the most Shopkick points for uploading a picture of your receipt.
There are lots of ways to earn “kicks” or Shopkick points. You can earn by walking into certain stores, scanning items you’re not buying, and more.
But the way to earn the most kicks is to buy certain items and upload a picture of your receipt to the Shopkick app.
For example when you buy Clorox Stain Remover and Color Booster Liquid together, you can earn 400 kicks for uploading your receipt.
Roughly 250 kicks equals $1 cash back, and you can cash out for gift cards once you’ve earned 500 kicks.
9. Unlock high-value cash-back offers through SavingStar using your receipt.
SavingStar has a few different ways to redeem offers and earn cash back. There are load-to-card offers which are tied to your loyalty rewards accounts at stores like CVS, Rite Aid and Kroger.
Or you can scan your receipt to earn cash back at stores like Walmart, Walgreens, Target, Albertsons and more.
To do this, select an individual product offer like “Save $2.00 on Neutrogena Acne Wash” or a “one-or-many-offer” like “Save 4.00 when you spend $16.00 on Sargento Cheese.”
Individual offers are straightforward savings similar to Ibotta. But for “one-or-many” offers, you need to reach a spending threshold in order to redeem it. You can redeem it all at once or work toward it over a few days. Just upload each receipt and you’ll see your progress toward the reward.
You can use your receipt to redeem a SavingStar and Ibotta offer, but you can’t stack a SavingStar and Checkout51 offer.
Cash out through PayPal or for gift cards once you earn $20. Learn more about how to use the SavingStar app.
10. Upload your organic grocery receipt to Makeena for cash back.
Makeena offers a ton of rebate offers on produce — I’m talking $0.10-$20 back when you buy items like arugula, avocados, bell peppers, carrots, cucumbers, apples, kale, garlic and more!
Most of these offers are for organic items, but sometimes there are offers for produce that don’t specify “organic,” meaning you can save even more if you buy non-organic.
You’ll also find offers for popular healthy brands like Udi’s, Gardein, Earth Balance and more.
Some Makeena offers are only available for the first 1,000 people to claim, and you need to have already made your purchase before you can unlock an offer — uploading your receipt is the proof that you made the purchase.
Cash out via PayPal or Venmo once you’ve earned $20.
11. There might be a survey on your receipt that’ll earn you a coupon.
Many stores and restaurants offer surveys at the bottom of their receipts, and if you call the number or go online to complete them, you could get a coupon.
For example, Dick’s Sporting Goods usually offers a coupon for $10 off a $50 purchase when you complete the survey on your receipt.
Look for coupons on the bottom of your fast food receipts as well. You might find freebie offers or promo codes for up to 50% off certain menu items.
12. High-value coupons often show up on the bottom half of receipts.
Craft stores especially tend to offer coupons at the bottom of their receipts.
Look at your Jo-Ann Fabrics receipts and Michaels receipts for offers like “25% off your purchase” or “50% off your jewelry-making purchase.”
Always double-check for coupons before you recycle a receipt!
13. You’ll need the actual receipt in order to do a mail-in rebate.
This seems like a no-brainer, but your mail-in rebate is going to be no bueno without your receipt.
And you don’t want to pass up mail-in-rebate offers, because there are some that are pretty sweet — like Macy’s small appliance offers that run in the fall.
I’m talking about blenders, electric skillets and panini grills for only $10 after a mail-in rebate (regularly $44).
UP NEXT: Hidden Ways to Outsmart Retailers and Save Money Shopping Online
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