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Month: April 2019

Qapital Logo
Qapital, Saving Made Easy

Qapital, Saving Made Easy

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Today I am going to tell you about an easy way to save some extra money using an app called Qapital. Qapital is an app that is available for both Android and iPhone. This app has many financial services built in, but the one that I take the most advantage of is the automatic savings feature. There are many apps like this one now, including Acorns. However, I prefer Qapital.

Back in the day I used to fill my coin jar in a few months. Every day, I’d empty my pocket change into the jar and watch the level rise. Once the jar was full, I’d take an hour, count and wrap the coins and take them to my bank. Today, I hardly ever carry cash, so my coin jar doesn’t fill up as quick as it used to. That’s where Qapital comes in to play.

Within the Qapital app you can setup rules for automatic saving. I have mine setup to round to the nearest dollar. Before, if I was paying with cash, my change would go into by coin jar at the end of the day, but now, with Qapital, it goes into my Qapital account in real time. You can link as many credit card and debit card accounts as you would like. I have most of my cards setup, as well as my checking account. With the checking account option, I also round up on my bill payments to save even more. According to their site it’s savings without thinking about it.

With personalized savings Goals and automated savings Rules, you can save money without thinking about it.

Qapital Website

Last year using Qapital, simply rounding to the nearest dollar on every transaction, I made close to $350. This money was used mostly for gifts, birthday and Christmas. I could have changed the rule at any time through the year to save even more by adding a dollar to each transaction. You can also pause the rule at any time, though I would not recommend this.

Overall, I am pleased with Qapital. The app has an average of 4.7 out of 5 stars in the Google Play store for Android and the iTunes store for iPhone. This app is secure, using 256-bit encryption. It also has overdraft protection and FDIC-insurance up to $250,000, so your money is safe. Many of us struggle to save money, but when you’re not thinking about it, there is no struggle.

Use any of the links from this post and receive $20 for signing up. If you have used Qapital or if you use it because of this post we want to hear from you. Post your comments below and share your experience. We look forward to hearing from you.

This post is the opinion of the author and results may vary. Please research this service and understand the terms and conditions prior to signing up.

Walmart Grocery
Walmart Grocery Shopping Made Easy With This App

Walmart Grocery Shopping Made Easy With This App

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Walmart Grocery Pickup Service

Today I am going to tell you about a way to save time on grocery shopping. Walmart is now offering Walmart Grocery on their new Walmart Grocery app and on their website. On a previous post I told you how to earn cash back when you shop online and Walmart Grocery is on the list. So not only can you save time using this new service but you can also earn cash back using Ebates when you order. This new service is very similar to curbside pickup that most chain restaurants are now offering. You place items into your shopping cart on the app or on their website, choose a pickup time, checkout and then pickup your order during your pickup window at the store. You’ll receive a reminder email and if you install the app, a notification will appear on your phone when it’s time to check-in.

I was amazed the first time I used this service. 5 aspects of this service stood out to me.

1. Discount Code

There is a discount code on your first order. I received $10 off my order for being a first time user. You simply must spend $50, which is not that difficult these days.

2. Ease of Use

The app was extremely easy to use and the reminder feature was very helpful. You’ll receive a notification on your phone through the app and you can check-in when you’re on your way to the store. Doing this allows the staff to be ready with your order right when you pull up to the parking area. There is a great search feature. It is easy to read the ingredients and nutritional facts on the photos of the products. Cost per serving is also available just like it would be in the store.

3. Directions

The signage setup in the Walmart parking lot leading you to the Grocery pickup is superb. Their signs match the Walmart Grocery logo and they have orange arrows on the ground pointing you in the pickup direction. Once you park under the orange carport, the app will notify again asking what parking space you are in and what color your car is. The door will open and your order will emerge on wagon in big blue bins with a friendly Walmart associate.

4. Great Customer Service

The associates are friendly and quick; they will verify they have your order and tell you if there were any substitutions. You can have the trunk open or if you have a hatchback, you can get out to open the hatch or they will open it for you. No tips are allowed, the associates simply ask for you to participate in the survey and put their name in the survey. On the first order, they also give you a welcome bag with coupons, a bottle of water and some snacks.

5. Convenience

What can I say, I love this service. Throughout the week I will be adding items to my cart and when I’m ready I will then go to Ebates, link my Walmart shopping trip and then checkout. I have purchased fruit and produce and the associates have selected great looking items. Items that you order go into your favorites and after a while, you’ll simply be able to shop from your favorites. Walmart does offer items based on your cart, think Amazon, people who purchased this, also purchased that. If you forget something or realize that you don’t need an item that you just ordered, according to their help, you can add or edit your order up to your cut-off time.


Changes to your order can be made at any point before your cutoff time, when we transmit your order to the store so they can begin picking your order.

Walmart Help

On my last order I just found out that if you need to pickup your order after your pickup window on the same day you can simply check-in at a later time and they will still bring out your order.

Overall, I am extremely satisfied with this service. I have used this service around 10 times. Post your comments below if you have used this service or after you try it out because of this article. I look forward to hearing from you.

This post is the opinion of the author and results may vary. Please research this service and understand the terms and conditions prior to signing up.

Ebates
Ebates, Get Paid to Shop

Ebates, Get Paid to Shop

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Today I am going to tell you how you can earn cash back whenever you shop. We all buy items for our living space, gifts for birthdays and holidays, clothes, groceries, so on and so on. Wouldn’t it be great to get some of that cash back? Ebates is an app that gives you cash back for shopping.

Ebates offers online and in-store cash back opportunities using both their website and phone apps. In-store is great because sometimes you want to see the product you’ll buy prior to making a purchase. You simply link your credit card to the store that you will be shopping at. Once a purchase is made using that card at the store it will show up in your Ebates account. Online cash back is even easier:

At Ebates, we don’t ask you to fill out forms or earn points. In fact, earning Cash Back with us is as easy as 1-2-3:

1. Shop: First, start an Ebates Shopping Trip. To do this, simply be sure to click on any Ebates link to the store you’ll shop with before you make a purchase.

2. Validate: When you click an Ebates link, you’ll see a pop-up confirmation letting you know you’re ready to shop and earn Cash Back at that store.

3. Purchase: Complete your purchase as you normally would. This will also complete your Shopping Trip.

Ebates Help

Sign-up Is Easy

Sign-up for Ebates today prior to your next shopping trip online or in-store. Always check their site prior to making a purchase when you are shopping online and in-store. You’re going to buy the product, so you may as well earn some cash-back. I will be writing an article on how you can even double-up on cash back using one of your credit cards that is giving cash back at the type of store you are shopping at.

There are a couple of caveats with the online cash back. One, not all categories are eligible for cashback. You’ll see all the eligible categories when you click on a store. Larger online retailers such as Amazon and Walmart contain a large amount of categories, so make sure you pay attention to whether your category is eligible. The second caveat is that you need to add items to your cart after you link to the store from the Ebates website. The cash back works best if you follow this pattern. You can still get cash back after a purchase if it does not appear after a few days by going to Help and Missing Cash Back.

Missing Cash Back
Missing Cash Back screenshot

Big Fat Checks

Ebates sends out their BIG FAT CHECKS quarterly. This money can be used to pay bills, buy gifts, give to charity or buy something for yourself. I have personally been using Ebates since 2018 and have earned close to $500.

Ebates Payment Schedule
Ebates Payment Schedule

You may be wondering how they can afford to pay consumers to shop, what data are they tracking? According to their website:

How Do We Make Money?
Our business is based on a simple idea: When you follow our links to visit a store, that store pays us a commission on whatever you buy during your visit. We then share that commission with you, our members, as Cash Back.

In other words, retailers pay to partner with us because we send shoppers to their websites or brick-and-mortar stores. They may also pay us to help grow their brand. That means we might feature them on our website, in emails, etc. Because of these partnerships, members like you benefit by earning Cash Back and getting great offers.

To sum it up, we help retailers succeed and, at the same time, help our members save money.

Ebates Advertising Disclosure

Ebates has been a great addition to my financial arsenal. I have personally not received promotional emails from the stores I have made purchases from using Ebates. Their advertising disclosure displays their business model and you can contact them for additional information. Anytime I they have missed a cash back, their online customer service is quick to fix the error, even giving cash back as a courtesy for ineligible items or categories. Sign-up and try it out. I’m glad I did. Happy shopping.

This post is the opinion of the author and results may vary. Please research this service and understand the terms and conditions prior to signing up.

Trim
Trim Can Save you Money on Monthly Expenses

Trim Can Save you Money on Monthly Expenses

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Today I am going to talk about an awesome app that can save you money on some of your monthly expenses. If you are like many out there you spend hundreds of dollars a month on cell phone, cable and insurance bills. Trim is a financial service app that will assist in lowering your monthly payments.

I have currently used the Bill Negotiation service offered through Trim for successful bill reduction in my Spectrum Cable, AT&T Cell Phone and Verizon Cell Phone bills. In total I have saved over $500 in the two years of utilizing this service. According to their site:

We may upgrade your plan if a better promotion is available that will save you money, and we won’t compromise your own use and needs of the service in any way. We don’t put you on a new contract unless you give us permission to do so.

Trim Help

I know what you’re thinking, “It’s too good to be true.” Trim has a great business model, one in which we, the consumer, pay a percentage of the money that they save for us in an entire year. For example, say you pay $150 a month for cable and they negotiate your bill to $120 a month, a savings of $30 monthly. You would save $360 for the year! Using their bill reduction service Trim would charge you $90. So overall, you would save $270 annually. By using this model the consumer does not need to call, deal with customer service, be put on hold or travel around phone trees to save on their bill. Trim is able to provide this service by charging a percentage of the amount saved. They will also continue to monitor your accounts yearly to keep your bills down.

This post is the opinion of the author and should not be used as a financial aid. Please research this service and understand the risks, cost and fees associated prior to signing up.