DouHiring/iMoney: Earn $10 in a Week

DouHiring also known as iMoney is an app that pays you to download other apps. It's the app with the lowest amount of ratings that I use personally, but I recommend jumping on this app before it gets to busy. 

After you make an account everyday when you open the app for the first time you'll be prompted wth a sign in bonus! The daily bonus is $0.10 but when you reach the higher days you'll get raises from $0.25 to $1.00.  This is my counter, even if I don't remember to use the app I always try to log in and get my sign in bonus.

How Does the App Work?

Douhiring is a simple app, but there's one thing you HAVE to remember I order for it to be successful for you. Everyday they add new apps to be tested at 4pm Eastern time. Remember 4pm Eastern. There are only so many apps that get loaded and each one only needs so many testers, so it's pretty time sensitive and you'll want to log on as close to 4pm as you can. When you open your app at 4:00 it will roughly look like the image above, though with different apps for downloading.
You will find all the apps in the official App Store.

When you pick the App you want to download first you'll be taken to a page that looks like the screen shot above. Here's how this works:
You click the copy and download link and the App Store should open automatically on your phone. Go to the search tab in the store and copy the text into the search. The copied text in this case was "New York subway"  if you see underneath it says download at Rank #51, that means if I were to count down each app the one with the thumbnail i'm looking for would (should) be the 51st App listed.
Now, this isn't always 100% and sometimes you'll get apps ranked in the 200's. I do like to count, just to keep track of my scrolling and so I don't accidentally pass it. The apps will move rank on occasion, the downloads can trigger them to be moved up in rank so you'll save yourself some time and frustration by taking it a little slow and just being sure you don't pass the app.
The second thing you might notice, the search phrase and the thumbnail don't seem related and they're not. Sometimes you may be able to get away with adding or changing the phrase based on the thumbnail but 99% of cases I recommend sticking with the phrase given, the app will definitely come up even though it might be a scroll away.

Now you've downloaded the App! I always pop back in the DouHiring App and use the Open App button, just to be sure it will work and it guarantee's that you've loaded the correct app. If the App opens you're on the right track, if an error pops up it means you've downloaded the wrong app. I have had this happen on a few occasions and it was because the thumbnails of two different apps were so similar I could hardly tell the difference between the two.
Once you've got the App open you don't have to do anything else. Just leave the app open for 3 minutes (don't let it go dark). At this time the app you're testing may ask for your permissions, I never allow it access to anything. It doesn't get attached to any accounts, no permission for my camera or photos, nothing. DouHiring is still going to give you a pay out for the app, so don't worry.

Once you've left the App open for the minimum of three minutes go back into your DouHiring App and click the green receive rewards button. You'll receive whatever the promised payout it from the app or a message will come up telling you how much longer you need to have the app open before you can receive the pay out. And don't worry, if you close the app you can reopen it and start right at the time you left off. It's 3 minutes total. There is a maximum time limit as well, usually it's between 30 and 60 minutes to do the whole process, plenty of time!

I do recommend trying to be tight on those three minutes, the quicker you are the more apps you'll be able to load.

How Can You Cash Out?

Alright congratulations! You've worked for a couple days and you're ready to cash out. It's super easy. Go to your account page and find your account sum and click withdraw.

DouHiring offers a Paypal option and an amazon option and there is no converting points to dollars the dollar amount in your account is what you have access too.

When I first signed up for the app I was a bit skeptical, so I ran a handful of apps. They were even offering a bonus at the time complete your first 10 tasks and get a $3 bonus, so I didn't even have to work that hard for my first pay out. I really just didn't believe this app was going to pay me and I wasn't going to waste a ton of my time. It was all real though! I received the deposit in my Paypal account I believe 2-3 days later and I've since spent the money without a problem. I've been using the app frequently since then. While I do remember to get my sign in bonus everyday I do not remember to check it at 4pm everyday, I don't remember half the time so with a good reminder and 30 minutes a day you could easily double the funds I've collected.

Is there a Referral Program?

Yes there is! It's a pretty limited referral program which I prefer. It keeps the focus on the work of the app rather than just adding as many people as you can. I've been using the app for over two months and I have yet to see them offer any additional incentive for referring people.

You can earn up to $10 for referring your friends, and you earn a portion of it as they earn. See above, on my account it says I've referred 3 friends but when I break it down further the $8 I've earn have all come from 1 account.
So if you complete your first handful of tasks and have 1 friend complete a handful as well you can reach your first $15 in less than a week. A great starting pace especially if you're in a pinch and you need a couple bucks as soon as you can get them.

What Do I think?

This is currently my favorite #1 money making app. This app is kind of the epitome of why I started this blog. It's not about making hundreds of dollars in a couple days, I've never make a claim you can get rich or even come close with any app, but you can absolutely find an extra $20 a month here and there with a bit of effort. I spend at most 45 minutes on this app and like mentioned I only remember to use it about 45% of the time, so I know someone out there with more dedication than I will see even more results than I have.

I have only had two instances where the app was down temporarily and they either walk you through the fix or it worked again in a day or so. The little glitches do have me giving it a 4.5/5 star rating, they are minor usually but still inconvenient none the less. 

If you're looking for that extra $10-20 a month I highy recommend giving this a go. You can easily make $10 your first week with the starting bonus so for that reason alone I would check this out. I mean $10 for your Paypal or Amazon account, why not?

A Beginners Guide to Ibotta

If you're here scoping out prospective apps to earn a little cash on the side you've probably heard of Ibotta, you probably even know someone who uses it! Ibotta is an app that provides its users with rebates and bonuses for buying products they feature.
By far the most and highest rated app of all the ones I've written about before. An incredible 4.8 rating with over 568,000 reviews, but do all those reviews really mean it's worth the time? Or is it just temptation into buying things you'll never really use? Don't worry, we'll cover as much as we can.

How Can I Earn Money with Ibotta?

Ibotta Home page

There a few ways to make money with the Ibotta app, but they all stem around making purchases and receiving cashback. When you open your homepage you'll see a list of recommended retailers. Your app may have local stores, online retailers and chains. VG's Grocery is a local grocery chain near me owned by Spartans. I was surprised when it appeared in the app because it's a fairly small chain and it doesn't show up in very many of the shopping apps. So make sure you check for any stores you shop at regularly, big or small!

If you move over to the next tab, "Find Offers"  you'll see a list of stores you shop at regularly (once you get going) and a list of categories to find these offers. The best tip i can give you here is to take a few minutes and scan each category. It's worth your time, I promise! You never know where you might shop or what you might buy that will be listed. For example, the restaurants tabs is super under utalized and you never know what places may pop in and out. Right now, Applebee's is a featured restaurant. If you connect your credit card to the app (it is secure) you'll receive 5% cash back. Most often you'll see cashback specials on drinks but these offers aren't uncommon either. You can also find rebates at gas stations and convenient stores, so just give it a good eyeful and keep in mind what they've got listed when you go out. Restaurants and Bars will be cashback method number 1. The second and easiest way to earn cashback is with product rebates.

If your grocery has a loyalty card, you can save some time and effort by adding it to the app before you start shopping. The app will save your card information and then when you're shopping it will automatically add the rebates you've selected in the app to your account. No need to save and scan your receipts, at least not for this app.
You do have to select the rebates you intend to use BEFORE you shop though. I've gotten lucky and added a few later on and had them still credit, but I've also missed credit because I wasn't paying enough attention.
How do you add rebates? It's super simple! Go to the page for the store you intend to shop and look through the different rebates. You'll see tabs for nearly everything from Beauty to Dairy. One of the best tabs to keep an eye on is the "Any Item" tab, where there will be generic products listed like "suncreen" and you get a set amount of cash back for any brand that falls into that category. Once you
 really get into using the app, the "Buy It Again" tab may be your friend as well.
If your store doesn't have a loyalty card, you'll need to save your receipt and take a picture of it with the app to earn your credit. Using that loyalty card means you dont have to worry about those receipts. I will warn you though, the app takes longer to credit loyalty card purchases, my most recent taking nearly a week but it did show up! Receipt credits usually take around 24-48 hours to verify.
Also important to note: Once you connect a loyalty card, you can't scan receipts without removing the card from your account.

Another method of earning with Ibotta is the standard cashback method of shopping online through one of their links. Unlike some other apps I find that Ibotta's rates are fairly competitive with other sites that offer the same service (Ebates/Rakuten specifically) but they're not always the same. So a little extra shopping around could get you a few more percent cash back.

The third method of earning that sets Ibotta apart from other apps is that they are always offering bonuses! You can earn a brand bonus for buying multiple products from the same brand and they also offer contests and weekly bonuses all with their own guidelines.
Right now, there is a bonus going on called "Big Boom" when you redeem 15 offers you receive a $10.00 bonus credited to your account. They also regularly offer weekend and weekly bonuses that require you to fufill offers and the amount of offers you have to complete often changes, so always keep eye out.
They also offer their monthly bonuses! You see that Level 1 June bonus for $0.50. Now to be elligibe for these bonuses, you need to connect a Facebook. This is a great way to see really how many of your friends are using Ibotta (you might be surprised). These monthly bonuses put you and your friends on a "team" and when you reach a combined minimum earning and redeem so many offers individually you'll receive that bonus.
My July bonus has a $20.00 minimum and 15 offers that need to be redeemed.

Keep and Eye Out

On occasion stores will appear with these beautiful offerings. This means that you will receive a flat amount of cash back based on what you spend. It works just like the online cash back offers except you don't have shop online. It can be done in store. These are my personal favorite offers because they're super convenient and often times I earn a LOT more.
Another store that has similar offers frequently is JoAnn Fabrics. When I first started using Ibotta, they always had offers that read "Spend $30 and receive $5 cash back" and I am a crafting queen! And always remember to use your JoAnn coupons in combination as well.

What Can I Earn with Ibotta?

One of the reasons Ibotta is such a great source for cash back is because they have dozens and dozens of different methods to receive your cash back. I don't even have half of what's available pictured above. The best part is that you can also just deposit the money into your paypal or Venmo accounts and use it however you please! Ibotta does require minimum of $20 to withdraw your funds and some gift cards are a $25 minimum.

Do They Offer Referral Bonuses?

Absolutely! When you refer your friends to the app and they sign up, you receive $3 as long as they use it by the end of the month. They're always offering different referal bonuses and promotions so keep an eye out and pass on the savings!

If you're interested in signing up with my referal link just click below:

https://ibotta.com/r/oobltyi

So, What Do I Think?

First let me show you what my takeaway has been. My lifetime earnings with Ibotta is $152.17 includng the $52.17 I currently have in my account at the moment. According to the app I registered July 13, 2015, now like my trends with other apps even though that is when I signed up I definitely didn't make a commitment to using the app then. In fact, this is even now an app I try to use but really only get about 50% of its worth from it, and while I am working on getting the most of the app. I do find this one a little harder than some others.

The big thing with Ibotta is that I don't use a lot of the products they regularly promote, but I always feel tempted to get those bonuses and deals. On more than one occasion, I've felt like I wasted more of my time scanning the app for a deal than actually getting anything back. The reality of Ibotta is if you want to truly maximize the app, it's going to take some research. There are a lot of blogs that go through and break down which rebates to use to get those cash back bonuses and how to really maximize your ability to get cash back. This is something I plan on doing in the near future! Breaking down deals and really getting into depths of saving, especially when it comes to using multiple apps and coupons.

So my verdict on this app in terms of use: Does is really give you cash back? Absolutely! Is it worth the products? Only if you're really buying products you use.

I definitely recommend this app because it's even $0.10 per grocery trip adds up, thats where most of my $150 came from, but don't let the app talk you into spending on products your famliy doesn't need. If you can't avoid that temptation, skip the app because it will cost you more in the end. 

For those of you out there who can stick to your lists, definitely go for it! The Any Item offers are worth the app alone and they will take you less than 5 minutes  to sort through.

CoinOut: Are the Pennies Worth the Time?

 CoinOut is a receipt scanning app that gives you money for uploading pictures of your receipts. You may have seen this app featured on the popular entrepreneur show Shark Tank. Let me just say, this App has become easily my favorite It has a 4.7 rating with over 26,000 reviews. Please, if you spend

any time doing any of these Pocket Stuffer add this one to your list. I'm really pushing this app because I can almost guarantee you'll be able to get something from it. It's so user friendly and simple that there's no real reason not to have this one on your phone.
The CoinOut app is available in the App Store and Google Play.

How do I Earn Cash Back with CoinOut?

Earning cash back with CoinOut is one of the easiest things you'll do. Below you'll see a step by step method. First it's important to know that you can scan and receive cashback from almost any purchase you make that gives you a receipt. That means you can go out buy your groceries, grab lunch and fill up your gas tank and have the chance to receive cash back on all of those receipts. The only receipts that don't qualify are receipts for lottery, bank slips, money orders, hand written receipts or any receipt that doesn't have a product on it. 

The second step is also very easy! After you click the scan button you'll be prompted to take a photo of your receipt. Simply follow the guide on the screen and load your receipt into the program.

The third step doesn't require anything from you at all. If you wait a few minutes or seconds the app will go through the receipt and tell you how much cash back your receipt is worth and add that to your app saving balance.

CoinOut Home Page

Photograph your receipt

Receive your cash back

How Do you Receive Your Cash Back

CoinOut has three options to receive your cash back. You can choose from an Amazon gift card, a direct bank deposit or a deposit into your Paypal account. I don't personally believe in giving my bank information to places like this, no matter who endorses the site or how secure it is so I would advice the Paypal or Amazon option here.

Something else you should know about receiving cash back is that you can make a request once per week. There is no minimum balance need for the Amazon gift card or direct deposit options but if you elect to cash out with Paypal you need a minimum of $10.00 in your account to cash out.

What Else Should You Know?

•  You have two weeks (14 days) to submit in store receipts through the app. After that time they won't be accepted.
• The amount of receipts you can upload changes daily. The app creators set a limit each day, right now there isn't a way to know that limit until you reach it.
•  You can also earn cash back by using links through the app. to shop online. It may be worth looking up the current percentages they use for cash back because I've found you can usually get better rates other places.
•  The amount you receive for your receipts is actually done at random. There isn't a set amount for certain stores or products. The app creators actually set a range that can be received for each receipt and what you receive is handed out at random.
• You can submit up to four E-receipts per day by sending a copy of your E-receipt to Receipts@coinout.com Unlike in store receipts these receipts have to be received the same day the order is placed. In order to receive your cash back you must include the e-mail used for your account and the phone number attached in the e-mail.
•  It can take up to 48 hours to receive your cash back, if you run into any issues e-mail Support@coinout.com

Are There Bonuses?

CoinOut offers bonuses for different things throughout the app. If you scan through the small icon on the home screen of the app you'll find some of them talk about bonuses like the one pictured below the +$1 Badge. The badge below automatically awards you account an extra $1 when you reach a balance of $20 without cashing out. There are other bonuses as well that have different requirements and they also have rewards with purchase for different things. They're worth scanning through to see if you might be interested in anything. 

Do They Offer a Referral Program?

There is a referral program! You can receive $0.75 for each person you refer to the app. In the Refer and Share option you have the option to share on Facebook, Twitter or via e-mail. There is also an option to get a link that you can share anywhere you like. There is a refer option as well that gives you the option to send out a link via texting and connecting to your contacts. If you're interested in signing up and want to help me receive a referral bonus consider Clicking This Referral Link

What Do I Think?

Well, I wasn't kidding when I said this is one of my favorite money making apps. It's not because that balance adds up so fast, because I'll be honest with you it doesn't. It's because this app is SO easy to use that it would be silly not too. It takes seconds and even if you only receive $0.02 for each receipt it's extra cash you wouldn't have other wise. The time trade off is so minimal that it makes it worth it.

I mentioned its a slow earner. I found it interesting that I started using the app back in February and as of today (June 26, 2019) my balance is up to $3.30. I'll admit when I first downloaded the receipt I slacked on using it. I uploaded maybe one receipt a week, if that. I really got into using the app about two weeks ago and now I make sure to get those receipts and upload them daily so I don't miss out on any of that cash back. 

Again i'll say that you're not going to get rich using this app, but why not get something back? If you're using other apps to save money throwing this one in the mix doesn't take much more time and it only adds to how much you're going to receive in the end.

I plan on doing some kind of update on where my status is in these apps and how much I've managed to save up, so hopefully you'll be able to see my progress in the future and it will inspire you to join me!

Speaking of joining me if you want to sign up for this app and get me a referral bonus click on the link below, i'd greatly appreciate it! Also important to note as long as I can keep track I will never include referral bonuses in the amount saved up.

https://coinout.com/referrals/new?r=GDK2AZ9

Verydice: The App for stuff!

 Verydice is an App available in the Apple App Store (Apple products only), it focuses on a dice styled game to earn you points that you can use towards prizes, raffles or gift cards. Verydice boasts a 4.8 rating with over 23,000 reviews, so it's safe to say there are a lot of happy users out there.
What separates Verydice from the other apps we've review thus far? Well this is the first app that is more focused around being a game and there are no products or stores involved!

How Do You Earn Rolls?

Verydice as you can guess uses a dice game to earn you points towards the prizes, raffles and giftcards. Before you can earn points towards your prizes you have to earn your plays in the game called Rolls. They provide a ton of ways you can earn these rolls for your game, but we're only going to go over the three easiest methods you'll use the most.
Once you get the app open you'll go to the bottom left corner where it says Action Feed, that will show you the list on the left side of the page which is all the ways you can earn those rolls.
You always have the option to purchase Rolls under the Get Instant Rolls tab, this isn't worth your time and you'll never get your money's by making purchasing. It's best to stick to the free methods.
You want to start with the second tab View A Sponsored Ad. The advertisements you get will vary based on what's available, sometimes it's a handful of 10 second ads that you have to skip through and other times it's just commercials for different apps. You can use this tab three times an hour to earn 3 rolls. This can get a little glitchy on occasion and sometimes the rolls don't always come through, it doesn't happen super often and it's a quick enough method that I just ignore it when it does.

The second method for earning rolls is similar to the first, it is the Watch Videos for Rolls. Simple enough and exactly as it sounds. You can use this tab twice an hour for two rolls and it usually just shows you a 30 second advertisement for an App.
Those two methods are really the fastest ways to earn yourself rolls for this game, but there is one more method here i'll discuss and that is the surveys. I feel like any mention of taking surveys for any kind of rewards always gets and eyeroll and usually for a good reason and this app isn't any different. When it comes to surveys I don't feel you ever really get what you put in and they always promise more than they put out. Verydice uses three different services to offer up their surveys and unless you're desperate for those extra rolls I lay on the side of letting your hourly rolls add up over time and using them all up together to try an win a tournament. They can be good in a pinch for a few extra rolls but overall I found this survey service as disappointing as most others.

What are Tournaments?

Verydice offers a couple ways to earn bonus tickets towards your prizes and tournaments are one of the easier ways to get them. There are two types of tournaments offered Classic Doubles Tournaments and Lucky 7s Tournaments.

The classic doubles tournaments refers to the bonus you get when you roll doubles in the game. If you can roll a set of doubles for each number on the dice you earn a jackpot bonus that varies depending on your dice multiplier. The goal in the tournament is to get as many of those jackpot bonus' as you can the top 10 leaders with the most jackpots will win a ticket bonus starting 10,000 bonus tickets increasing to 200,000 for the number 1 winner. This sounds far easier than it really is though, it can take dozens of rolls to get even one set of doubles let alone all 6. The only good thing is that for each set of doubles you get a doubler bonus and they can appear in any order, although you can't bank multiples for later. In the most recent Classic Doubles tournament the number 1 winner had 126 Jackpots just to give you an idea that is over 756 rolls, so saving up your rolls for a while to have a chance in these tournaments is a great method to getting extra tickets on your account. The upside is that the 10th place winner in this tournament only had 28 jackpots which is still a minimum of 168 rolls and was likely far more than that but the number feels much more realistic.

The Lucky 7s Tournament really isn't much easier to win than Classic Doubles but it only takes three rolls to earn a bonus "Scratcher" which can get you up to 1,000 bonus tickets. When I save up to play in tournaments this is usually the one I go for mostly for the instant gratification of those bonus tickets! Each scratcher is guaranteed some kind of bonus and with it only taking three rolls to earn a scratcher I like those odds better.
     What makes this tournament different? Instead of getting doubles on all 6 numbers instead you have to get three specific rolls to earn a scratcher. If you roll a 1 & 6, 2 & 5 and a 3 & 4 you'll earn one of those scratch cards. Now you can get those three rolls in any order and you can earn as many scratchers as your rolls will get you. Tournament 91 shows the Number 1 winner had 113 scratchers (A minimum of 339 rolls) winning a bonus 100,000 tickets and keep in mind that 100,000 is only for the tournament prize it doesn't include any of the scratcher bonuses. The person who came in 10th place had 29 scratchers (A minimum of 87 rolls) with a bonus win 10,000 tickets.

Before you get to excited about some of those tournament numbers let me share my own experience just to put it into perspective a little better. In the past I've played the Classic Doubles tournaments but I now have a preference for the Lucky 7s I like the bonus points from the scratchers. I recently saved up over 750 rolls and entered one of these tournaments on a whim. I ended up taking a dozen or two surveys to try and get extra rolls to up my position and I must have earned 100+ more rolls and I ended up with 17 scratchers and I came in position 13 or so. So I was just out of reach of the bonus tickets BUT I earned over 7,000 tickets from the scratchers. Next time I plan on saving up 1,000 rolls minimum before entering a tournament i'm determined to get at least 10th place in one of these tournaments!

Earn More Tickets with Multipliers!

Verydice has this awesome feature where you can multiply the tickets you receive from your rolls by multiplying how many rolls you use at a time. you can choose to use 1 or 50 rolls at a time and your ticket results are multiplied based on that.  For example using the x1 dice if you were to roll a 6 and 5 you would receive 6+5 (1)= 11 tickets. If you're using the x5 dice  a 6 and 5 would receive 6 +5 (5)= 55 tickets. When you start getting those doubles it can be even more worth the multipliers, there are no multipliers at this time for the scratch card game.
Do I recommend playing with multipliers? This is very subjective it can be worth it, but it's still a game of chance which means it can also not be worth it. The only time I ever use multipliers is when I get bored and am willing to risk earning less per roll overall. There's no point in playing this game if you're not enjoy it at least some of the time, so have fun! When you only play to earn it gets old and it can be hard to keep coming back. Most of the time I skip the multipliers, I've always had more luck betting less but you may not find the results the same.

Daily Rolls!

I covered a lot of the methods to earn rolls up above but there is one more I haven't covered yet which are your "Free Rolls" or your Daily Spin. Every 24 hours you will have the opportunity to view a short ad (30 seconds of less) immediately following the advertisement you'll have the wheel above pop up on your screen, it'll go around a few times and you'll end up with a number of rolls from 1-10 in your account. 

What are the Prizes?

One of the things that sets Verydice apart from other redemption sites are the magnitude of ways to redeem your tickets. They have a HUGE bank of things that you can turn your tickets in for from daily essentials like paper towels to a Michael Kors phone case and wallet. 

Now the prizes are categorized by cost but to determine if you're really getting the most out of your tickets it'll take some individual math on the product you're wanting to redeem for.

They also have a tab of prizes called "Hot Deals" where they put some of their prizes up at a discounted cost of tickets. It's worth checking every now and again, you really never know what's going to show up.

Like many other apps they also offer gift card redemptions for your tickets. They offer over a dozen options for different gift cards including the highest denomination I saw which was a Lowe's gift card for $1,000 which costs 1,300,000 (1.3 Million) tickets. That is a hefty amount of tickets and it's only available in Lowe's and believe it or not Burger King which I find odd, but to each their own. 

When it comes to gift card redemptions tickets seem to follow the same line of pricing from card to card if not all identical they run very close to each other.

Gift cards run around 1,300 tickets per $1.00 the lower amounts like $15 gift cards run closer to 1,500 tickets per dollar but there isn't really a break for saving up for those high value cards.

There are Free Raffles?

Yes! All it takes is another 15-30 second advertisement per raffle but you will get a variety of raffles each day for free. I receive 6 free raffle entries a day and as long as I remember I try to use them. There are a variety of things given away daily from gift cards ($5-50 usually), make up brushes and even free rolls to add to your account. I won't lie I rarely remember to enter these. I have been using the app for about a year or so and I've only entered in a couple dozen raffles maybe. This is the kind of thing I would NEVER waste tickets on, but since their free as long as I remember I enter. I have never won anything from a raffle but it still adds a little extra excitement to the app and for the cost a few second I like the chance. 

What About Referrals?

If you're wondering about the referral program look no further. Yes, like many apps in this family they offer a few bonuses for getting your friends to sign up after you. Now I never like to include referrals in the ways to earn because it's never really a guarantee. How often have you had someone promise they'll sign up but you never see those points go in your account?  Lets be honest with each other here, too often. And I really can't complain because I know I've been guilty of this too.

What is my Referral code? 547622

Verydice actually offers two incentives to get you bugging your friends to sign up though, so this one might be worth a little nagging (and just a little). When you go to invite your friends you'll get three options, a Share Code, Facebook invite and a Friend Code (QR code). I love it when apps and sites offer actual links and not just a combination of numbers and letters you have to send a dozen times because it's impossible to actually remember. They make it pretty easy to get the link on your friends device, you can even text it to them. 

What do these referrals get you? Well on sign up you will receive 30 rolls for each friend that signs up, which is a pretty good deal, that is 5 hours of bonus rolls in just a few minutes. You will also earn 5% of your friends lifetime tickets that you can cash in at 500 ticket increments. 

I love any program that offers a lifetime bonus and 5% is pretty hefty. These tickets don't take long to earn and it's easy. Plus anytime you and your friends are together you can put out a casual reminder to get those rolls. After all friends help friends get bonus cash.

So, What Do I Think Overall?

I think this app warrants 3/4 Stars. It's easy and it's fast so you can accumulate a lot of tickets without spending a ton of your time. It's also pretty forgiving, there's no daily log in bonus so no pressure to really commit long term. If you notice my balance above is a little over 35,000 tickets and that's with a very minimal commitment over about a year. I have a love hate relationship with this app because I find it so repetitive that it just bores me. You can earn the bonus rolls every hour and it takes less than 5 minutes to earn the 5 rolls and I have made it a goal lately to earn at least 25 rolls a day. That has only been my goal in the past two weeks or so. If I really work to remember the app earning 1,000 rolls in two weeks is completely doable but like I mentioned it's boring. I've seen the same advertisement for magnum ice cream bars hundreds of times now and I don't think ice cream is THAT enjoyable, for Magnum it's not working for me.

Another problem I've run into with this app, almost every I know has already tried it. It goes around the social media's about once a year as being a trendy way to get "stuff" so unless you've caught that wave you may not be able to find much for referrals. That doesn't mean it's not worth it though, referrals or not I use this as a grazer. I'm just earning my rolls and tickets as I want.

One of the things that does bother me about this app is that you have to have the latest version or the app won't open and there seems to be an update every two weeks or so. That's more of a person problem for as many of these apps as I use you'd think i'd always have the latest versions of everything but I hate taking the time to update my apps.

I'll be honest anything that rates under a 3/5 is probably an app I won't use long term or maybe even at all. So far I've only shared apps I use myself fairly consistently but I know i'll get farther out into the sea of apps even I don't have the patience to deal with. 

I really think this app is worth the space on your phone and worth remembering, its just boring. Boring is just another word for easy though in this case, it takes minimal effort to go through the motions.

Shopkick: Can You Really Make Money?

Shopkick is one of the few apps where you can earn points towards gift cards without having to make any purchases. Shopkick is a super easy to use app that has a great 4.7 Star rating in the App Store with over 40,000 reviews!

How can you earn points with Shopkick?

The great thing about Shopkicks is that they offer several ways to earn points that you can turn into gift cards. All the methods are very straight forward and easy! The first way to earn Kicks is simply by walking into the store. 

1. Some stores in the Shopkick app will offer you a point incentive just to walk inside! It's very easy: Just make sure your Bluetooth is on and that the location services are turned on for the app. Open the app when you're near or in the store and once you're close enough, the Kicks will appear in your account! It really doesn't get any easier than this! Plus some outlet malls don't even require you to physically be in the store for the kicks to activate, so you can earn extra points just by driving around your local mall.

2. The second method to earning kicks is by scanning products in the store. This is another no purchase necessary way of earning points and they add up quicker than you expect. The screenshots above show a variety of products that are available now that you can earn kicks on. Underneath the picture there is a small image of a barcode with a number beside it, that means you can earn points by scanning the barcode on these specific products. 

This is definitely one of the fastest ways to accumulate kicks. The only real problem I've run into is that it can be pretty draining on your phone’s battery, especially in the big box stores where service is spotty. When it comes to scanning products the app, can get pretty picky as well so making sure you're reading the product descriptions and scanning the right products will help save you time in the long run. For example, magazines usually want the same cover they have pictured so depending on the time of the month you may be too late or too early for the issue listed.

3.  Method number three for earning Kicks is probably exactly what you expect: buying the products. If the products in the app line up with your shopping list you can be set to earn a lot quicker but I don't advise going out of your way to buy products just for the points. 

I've done some very basic math and found that it takes 250 kicks to equal $1. Just comparing that to the example of what you can earn for buying products you can see that the points on this app can accumulate quickley, and in the future I'll go over how stacking different apps and coupons can get you products at steep discounts or even free! Just remember that number 250 points = $1 always know your value. 

How do you earn with these purchases though? It's very easy! Make sure you are getting the right product and simply purchase it. Then all you have to do it click the receipt button, then select the products on the receipt that qualify for the Kicks, then take a picture of the receipt. 

In some cases your kicks may load immediately but I've also had to wait up to 48 hours before. I don't recommend throwing your receipts out until you have the kick balance on your account, I've never run into any issues but I also live by the saying it's better to be safe than sorry.

4. The fourth method for earning Kicks is shopping online through the app or making other out of app purchases. This is a service I don't use very often, there are often better places to get more cashback but you can find the occasional bonus. 

    Right now you can earn 450 Kicks for using the Shopkick app to buy through the Walmart Grocery app. That is a good deal considering your Walmart purchase may not include any kicks at all. They also have other services available through this feature as well including Postmates, SeatGeek and Amazon Prime just to name a few. The terms and conditions of all shops vary so make sure you're skimming over the details so you can maximize your points the most.

5. The fifth method of earning Kicks is the easiest most hassle-free of them all, but you'll only earn a few Kicks a day this day. Inside the app at the bottom of the screen you'll see a small tab labeled Discover. In this tab you'll find any bonus Kicks that are being offered at the moment. At the top of the screen you can see where it has a list of "Quick Kicks" today I was offered three bonus points for watching three very short advertisements of products listed elsewhere throughout the app. I try to scroll through this tab daily just to make sure I get all those extra Kicks and that i'm not missing out on something new that may have appeared in the app that I already plan on buying. Sometimes you can even earn Kicks just for scrolling through some of the advertizing pages. 

Is it really worth the time and effort?

When it comes to using Shopkick it can be an app that takes up a bit of your time, especially if you wander through the store and scan all those extra products you may not even be buying. The screen shot above is from my own account, right now i'm lingering between $25 and $50. I'll be honest the balance i have is over a year old, that being said in the past I have used the app at a bare minimum. It's just something that slips my mind when I'm in the store. I have been working on using the app more effectively in the past two weeks and I can already see a huge boost in my kicks (2,000+). All in all since the Kicks don't expire you can accumulate these, forget them, add more and keep the cycle going until you have enough to redeem for what you want. This app 100% is worth the effort and battery killing, this one is just too easy to pass up!

What can I redeem my Kicks for?

 Shopkick has a really great variety of giftcards that you can turn in your Kicks to receive. The options below are less than half of everything that is available. They even have some more outlandish items like a Vespa Scooter and a $300 gift card to Tiffany & Co. 

Their reward shop definitely has something for everyone and there is a Paypal option as well though it is listed at a higher amount of points per dollar and you can definitely get a better deal on other items.

Is there a referral program?

Yes! Shopkick offers a referral program so you can receive a bonus for getting your friends to sign up. As long as your friends register and earn Kicks in their first 7 days of signing up you both receive 250 Kicks. If you might be interested in signing up for this app, feel free to use my sign on code to get that bonus, you can also use any of the links provided within this blog.


How does it rate overall?
I give Shopkick 4/5 stars. I'm not a fan of how it kills my battery but the fact that these Kicks don't expire lets me forgive it. Aside from spending the time in store, this app is about as close to that free money as you can get.