Ibotta

Ever wondered if you can make money while saving money? As ridiculous as that sounds, that's what Ibotta gives you.

Ibotta is the one of many apps that track a user's spending habits and reward you for sharing your data with them. Start small with generic rewards like any brand milk, any brand bread, OJ, and so on. These will give you a $0.25 if you unlock them and scan your product's bar-code and bill. The app has an impressive list of retailers signed up, including some big wigs like Wal-mart, Target and Walgreens.

Some of the categories you can get cash back for:

Grocery
Liquor
Beauty
Apparel
Babies and Kids
Arts and Crafts

The most common one I use is obviously Grocery. I mean, you anyways buy milk, oj, bread and all that jazz, might as well get something in return for it, right?

Making the most use of this app requires a certain discipline, because that's where the money lies. A simple strategy is to check your most commonly visited retailers to see what they have on offer, make a note of them in your shopping list and then make the shopping trip. One can easily get a reward of $5 per week if they can remember to do that simple act.

I have been using this app for a good 6 months now and am happy to report that it hasn't crashed frequently and haven't really faced any bugs.