March is over and March madness is apt for this month! That means it’s time to update you all on my Christmas for Free challenge. Let do the March Christmas for Free Update!
For those of you who are new to the blog and are wondering what I’m talking about you can read the first post here. If you don’t want to read the whole thing here’s the gist. I’ve set a challenge to save enough with savings apps to pay for all of my Christmas gifts this year.
Here’s the March Christmas for Free Totals!
I’m going break the earnings down by each app and let you know my thoughts about going forward with each.
Let’s start with the lowest earner which is Target Circle. There’s been an increase since last of 1.93. That is exactly double what it was last month. Again, we’re not trying to get all the money in one month for this experiment or trying to artificially inflate the earnings. Slow and steady earning with normal monthly shopping. I have faith this total will grow bigger every month considering Target is the go to when I need something. I have a total of $3.86
Next up is Shopkicks – Referal Code: SAVE725778 . Okay this one is a slow earner too and right after I said I wouldn’t artificially increase my earnings I did. Well kinda. I was at Target to buy cat litter and I scanned the near by dog food. It said I was 5 points away from the $2 reward so I decided to scan another item. And then I went down a rabbit hole of scanning.
Next up is one of the new apps I’m using POGO. POGO it’s a data mining app and unfortunately one of my banks has blocked Plaid which is the platform they use so I’m not earning points at that bank. For the other bank that does allow Plaid, I earn for every purchase that runs through my bank account. For every 1,000 point you get $1 so I am currently at $4.20.
Next is Fetch Rewards Referal Code GB0QJ and I reached the $15 reward this month! Thanks in part to two friends who download the app with my referral link. The rest came from bonuses from uploading a Casey’s receipt. I didn’t even realize I was going to get a bonus for that upload but an extra 1,250 appeared in my account. I was able to earn that bonus 3 times this month.
This app give you points for every amazon order, and every receipt you scan. Including thrift store receipts. I have a lot of those. It’s one of my favorites because even if you don’t buy their preferred brand you still get 25 points for every receipts. This makes it supper easy to earn.
Get Upside I LOVE IT! It is by far my favorite savings app along with iBotta. Another $12.85 this month just for buy gas.
My Total is $39.64 so far this year. I still have one pending receipt that will put me over the $40 mark in a day or two.
Next is Ibotta. What just happened?! Yes my Ibotta really did jump from 29.17 to 96.92. I’m as shocked as you are. Here’s how it happened.
Ibotta has various bonus opportunities throughout the month. March has a bunch of March madness bonuses. I qualified for a couple weekend warrior bonuses, and a friend of mine signed up through my referral link and we both received a $10 bonus. You can get that bonus too if you sign up through my Ibotta referral link.
New this month I’m adding Receipt Hog. I had stopped using them because every time I tried to scan a receipt it would sign me out. The app was so bug ridden I gave up. Then a fried of mine said they had completely revamped the app. So I downloaded it again.
Like Fetch Receipt Hog gives you points for every receipt you scan and there are bonus drawings and Hog slots where you can win extra points each month. So far I have $5 on this app. I need quite a bit more to reach the next level. If you want to sign up use my referral code skemp327 and get some bonus points!
Other Savings
In addition to the savings apps when I pay my phone bill on time I get a $5 gift cards to Target. Unfortunately they expire (even though that is illegal in my state) so I can’t save these for Christmas.
I did get a $5 gift card for some hygiene products and this month another $15 in gift cards. I’m saving those as well so that’s another $20
The Grand Total for March!
Drum roll please! The grand total for January, February, and March is $196.62! I’m already so excited with by how much I’ve saved. I’m definitely going to have an easier time paying for the holidays this year.
I’m getting more confident that this year I won’t be paying anything out of pocket for my holiday gifts!
Are you ready to join me? Sign up through my links to get bonuses from each app!
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