Make money by collecting and documenting your receipts. Then you don't have to hold onto them.
Some people don't like any of their activities tracked for the sake of maintaining their privacy. For me, if I can make money off of telling you that I buy organic eggs from Sprouts or blueberry muffins from Costco on a monthly basis, sign me right the hell up!
There are a couple apps that I use on a somewhat regular basis, that provide me with a little extra FREE money every so often, called Receipt Hog and Fetch Rewards. They offer you points just for uploading pictures of your receipts and sometimes answering a few random multiple-choice questions. You can then trade in these points for things like raffle tickets to try and win more points, magazine subscriptions, gift cards to restaurants or stores, donations to charities, or sometimes even cash. I always opt for the cash, if possible, otherwise I'll save up the points and trade them in for Amazon.com gift cards. While it may not be the millions you're looking to make in lieu of a job, the little bits here and there can add up. It's what you then do with that little extra FREE money that will determine how much the miniscule time investment can be worth. What I like to do is take the little bits of FREE money I make with these receipt apps and invest in stocks and ETFs using brokerage apps like Robinhood or Stash. I explain more about these types of apps in another article, "Investment Apps 101". Check that article out for more information on how I got into investing and how you can too, no matter how much or little you make or how little you have to invest.
Another added benefit from these receipt apps is that they keep a documented log of pictures of your receipts, so you don't necessarily need to hold on to those little strips of paper that end up cluttering your kitchen counter, car's center console, or back pockets of your jeans. Let’s take a shallow dive into each of the two aforementioned receipt apps and go over what I like about each one.
Receipt Hog (parent company = Scoutlt, Inc.)
This fun-looking user-friendly app has a little piggie (or Hog) as its avatar that changes his attitude according to your frequency of uploading receipts. You can dress him up in different outfits depending on your mood. This app rewards you with either coins, entries into the monthly sweepstakes, or slot machine tokens, or any combination of the 3, for simply taking pictures of your receipts and answering a few random multiple-choice or ranking-style questions (e.g., How involved are you cooking at home? How was the overall shopping experience? etc.). If you consistently upload receipts, you get weekly bonuses, and the more receipts you upload, the more you level up. The more you level up, the more your weekly bonuses increase. You also get one-time bonuses and perpetual free entries into the monthly sweepstakes for having your Amazon, Kroger, or email accounts connected to your Receipt Hog account.
The more you level up, the more your weekly bonuses increase.
The coins are what you can use to trade in for certain outfits for your Hog avatar (30 coins each), Amazon gift cards, Visa Prepaid cards (same as Amazon gift cards), or PayPal cash deposits. Amazon, Visa, and PayPal prizes have this structure: $5 = 1,000 coins, $15 = 2,900 coins, $25 = 4,300 coins, and $40 = 6,500 coins. The sweepstakes are held monthly and have a 3-tier prize pool (5 winners = 5,000 coins, 500 winners = 200 coins, and 5,000 winners = 20 coins). You get those perpetual entries mentioned before for having those accounts connected, and you can earn more entries by uploading more receipts. The slot machine tokens allow you to pull the arm on the “Hog Slots” slot machine, giving you the opportunity to win more coins or entries to the sweepstakes.
I love this app because it is very user-friendly, simple to use, and literally turns taking pictures of your receipts into making money. And it allows you to get cold hard cash for very minimal efforts.
Fetch Rewards (parent company = Fetch Rewards, Inc.)
Fetch Rewards is a little more robust than Receipt Hog but can be used more simplistically if you so desire. It rewards you with points, rather than coins, for merely taking pictures of your receipts. That’s it! It takes things a step further than Receipt Hog in that it actually lists out certain brands that award points and even runs promos for certain brands with point multipliers on the home screen. It does not have a friendly little avatar, or monthly sweepstakes, but makes figuring out how to acquire more points a lot easier.
Two additional features that Fetch Rewards offers are a Smart (Shopping) List and Recipe Inspiration, located under a “Plan” tab. The Smart List is a shopping list that allows you to add the called out brands from the home screen or add your own items by typing them out. When you do add your own item, the app suggests a similar item that rewards you with points if you purchase it instead. It also suggests complimentary items to those you’ve added to your list to help “Make your list complete”. The Recipe Inspiration gives you access to tons of delicious recipes provided by MyFoodAndFamil.com. There are 13 different categories, ranging from appetizers to desserts with beverages and everything else in between. The recipes are full recipes with Prep Time, Cooking Time, how much it makes, Ingredients, and Step-by-step Instructions.
I love this app because you get out of it what you want. You can use it for merely taking pics of your receipts for points, or you can get really delicious recipe suggestions out of it. This app does not allow you to exchange your points for cash, like PayPal deposits, but you can trade in your points for all kinds of online and in-store gift cards. I typically opt for the Amazon.com online-only gift cards, because I’m addicted to funding Jeff Bezos’ billions, but that is just my personal preference.
Final Thoughts
There are more than these 2 apps for receiving rewards from taking pictures of your receipts, but these are the 2 that I use myself.
Like I said before, it’s definitely not going to make you a millionaire, or allow you to quit your day job, but it will add up and provide a little play money that you could potentially turn into a nice lump sum or an income machine.
If you want to learn more about other apps you can use to make FREE money shopping for what you normally shop for, read my article on “Cash Back Apps”.
As always, thanks for reading!
Great read! Just like apps such as Receipt Hog and Fetch Rewards, you can also make the most of your shopping receipts by participating in the Kroger Feedback Survey through www.kroger.com/feedback. By sharing your experience, you not only help improve their services but also enter monthly sweepstakes for a chance to win gift cards or cashback. It’s another easy way to turn everyday purchases into extra rewards!