Again in 2018, I had a good experience using the Ibotta shopping app to boost my travel fund.
I added $301.54 to my travel fund in 2018!
This was all money earned by using the Ibotta shopping app. (It’s not money that I siphoned off from paycheck earnings.)
(This post contains an affiliate link. If you use my link to join Ibotta, I receive a small commission at no cost to you. I thank you for your support of SureFooted Travel!)
In this post I’ll share:
- what trip I’m saving for
- how to use the Ibotta app
- how to maximize your travel fund
- why we’re pushing back our big trip to 2020 or later
What am I saving for?
We hope to cruise the British Isles in the future. These Ibotta earnings are set aside for our deposits for two of us. That way we’ll have the money ready at booking time.
My 2018 earnings bring my Ibotta total to $679.95!
It’s a little short of the $700 benchmark I’d hoped to reach by the end of 2018, but I’m happy with my progress.
A cruise ship dining room is my happy place! We love to enjoy a quiet embarkation lunch away from the crowded buffet. I’m looking forward to when I can sail next!
I’m now over 2/3 of the way to my goal. I’ll need at least $900 set aside, cash-in-the-bank, ready-to-roll, to speedily plunk down deposits for two when I capture a good sale price on a British Isles cruise.
How did I earn it?
Ibotta pays for shopping via the app:
- everyday purchases at brick-and-mortar stores
- grocery stores
- pharmacies
- clothing & shoe stores
- and many more
- online purchases
Groupon purchases have been lucrative for me. Click here to read about my big savings on a past hotel stay when I bundled Groupon and Ibotta.
You can join my Ibotta team here to start earning towards your own travel fund.
It’s free to join.
You’ll receive a $10 welcome bonus if you use my link and make your first qualifying Ibotta purchase within a week of joining.
How to make a qualifying purchase to earn your bonus
For a purchase to qualify for the welcome bonus, you usually just have to buy one item of a particular brand – such as a listed brand of yogurt, for example – within the week.
What is called an “Any Brand” purchase doesn’t qualify towards the bonus. The “Any Brand” purchases aren’t related to particular brands. For example, bananas may be listed as an “Any Brand” choice.
The beauty of Ibotta is that I get rewarded for buying things I’d purchase anyway (groceries, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, health & beauty products, etc.).
And many of the “Any Brand” items (fruit, vegetables, etc.) are ones in which there usually aren’t coupons to be found. So I’m especially happy to be earning by buying healthy items!
There’s no better way to end a day than watching the sun set from our balcony. To us, cruising is the most relaxing way to vacation!
How to get your money earned via the Ibotta app
The Ibotta shopping app pays cash back via Paypal. You can transfer your funds from Ibotta to Paypal once you’ve earned $20. With your $10 welcome bonus, you are half way there!
Then you can transfer the funds from Paypal to an interest-bearing savings account.
We love a balcony stateroom! One year I received a personal birthday cake for sailing on my birthday. There’s nothing better than customer service on a cruise ship!
Is your Travel Fund in a Savings Account making good interest?
In 2017 I abandoned my brick-and-mortar bank (where I was getting a measly .1% interest). Now I’m using Ally, an online bank. I started 2017 with my Ally savings account earning 1.05%. This was basically 10 times more interest than I had been making!
As of this writing, the interest rate has grown to 2.18%. Nice!
If you have travel funds languishing in an account making less than 1% interest, I recommend switching to Ally (or a similarly highly-rated online bank of your choosing). (I’m not earning any commissions by recommending Ally – I’ve just had such a good experience, I thought you should know.)
You can easily transfer your Ibotta earnings from Paypal to your online bank. It’s fun to watch as your travel fund grows!
On our first cruise to Alaska, with my mother-in-law, we splurged for a suite on Holland America. The extra seating area and pull-out couch worked well for the three of us. And we loved the Neptune Lounge for suite guests!
Why we’ve pushed back our sail date to 2020 or later
We’d originally anticipated cruising the British Isles in 2019. I figured this would be a wonderful way to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary.
But we’re caring for our elderly lab, Ned. After he suffered a stroke in June of 2018, our vet wasn’t sure of his prognosis. But my sweet boy bounced back! By the end of the summer, he was toddling around as well as before the stroke. We’re so grateful our Ned Devine is still with us in 2019!
But with his ongoing health issues (degenerative myelopathy – the doggy version of ALS – and arthritis), it’s not fair to him for us to be gone for over two weeks. And with the amount of care he requires, it’s not realistic to ask our dog sitter to care for him for more than a week.
Ned is all smiles despite his health problems. He wears a harness with a loop so we can help him up from the laminate floors.
Pausing
As I write this, I’m snuggled inside on a frigid Pittsburgh winter night. All three of my dogs are snoozing nearby. We’re all together, cozy and warm. I’m happy to forgo cruising for now if it means more time with my four-legged best friends.
