Lots of people ask us how we can afford to travel full-time without working while on the road. Without going into how we prepared ourselves financially for travelling full-time which is included in our blog bio and FAQ's, we will instead share a few of the ways we save money and earn cash rebates which we try to maximize everyday.
Here are just a few ways that we earn or save money....
1. We try to use our cash back credit cards wherever and whenever we can to generate cash rebates. Not that we want to promote increasing credit card spending or to recommend specific credit cards, we simply look for ways to earn cash rebates from the purchases that we are going to make anyway. We like to use a combination of credit cards in order to maximize the cash rebates we are able to earn. We use the Chase Freedom card for those purchases that qualify for the quarterly bonus categories earning us 5% cash back on those purchases. And in general, we place all other transactions on our Citibank Double Cash card earning us 2% cash back versus the 1% cash back that we would earn if we used the Chase Freedom card. On occasion, we may introduce other cards in the mix based on sign-up bonuses or other bonus opportunities that come up from time to time. Just to give an idea, we have earned over $3,400 in cash rewards since we started travelling full-time.
2. While looking for additional rebate opportunities, Shonah came across various blogs discussing shopping rebate apps and websites. There are a variety of cash rebate apps and websites out there, but the main shopping app we use is ibotta (available for Apple and Android). Ibotta is a smartphone app that earns us cash rebates on everyday purchases from many of the stores that we shop from including big box retailers, major grocery stores, some clothing stores, and even some restaurants. Since signing up this year, we have earned $116 in gift cards that we redeemed for Amazon and Starbucks. The majority of those rebates came from grocery and alcohol purchases (mostly from Walmart or major grocery store chains) that we were going to make anyway. If you are interested in earning rebates from ibotta, feel free to use our referral code: hmgione to earn cash back and not only will you get a $10 sign-on bonus after submitting your first rebate, using the referral code will add you to our team increasing the team's opportunities to earn monthly cash bonuses based on total team rebate submissions. In addition to ibotta, we use the SavingStar and Find&Save apps but those aren't as extensive in their offerings as ibotta.
3. In addition to earning cash rebates using the apps, to save money at the time of purchase we utilize the Retail Me Not, Coupon Sherpa, and Gas Buddy apps for discounts and specials. The Gas Buddy app gives us the ability to seek out the lowest prices for diesel for STEV and premium for STEV II. Since using the app, we have saved hundreds of dollars on fuel since Gas Buddy shows us the huge swings in prices from one block to the next. We also print manufacturer coupons from the Walmart coupon page that can be used at any store that accepts coupons.
4. While online shopping isn't always convenient for delivery of physical items while travelling, we still take advantage whenever we can. Amazon.com is one of our favorite online shopping websites and use it extensively while at home and whenever convenient while on the road. And thanks to one of our very good friends, we are grandfathered on his Prime friend's membership which allows us to take full advantage of the 2-day Prime shipping benefit.
5. We also try to keep our legacy airline, hotel and car reward programs active to retain those previously earned points, miles, or membership. The most prominent opportunity is earning airline miles from retail and dining purchases wherever possible since while we enjoy travelling in STEV, we also like to travel by flight from time to time.
Just some quick tips on ways that we obtain cash rebates and rewards to supplement our spending money while traveling that can also be used by everyone. Happy Shopping...
