If you're an Amazon Prime member and you haven't used the Amazon Photo app before, you may be eligible to get a free $10 Amazon credit in seconds! Simply download the Amazon Photos app onto your phone or computer, sign into your account before December 20, 2020, and upload a single photo. You'll then receive an email from Amazon within 7 days confirming your promo credit.
This $10 credit must be used by December 31, 2020. In order to use it, you'll have to make an order including at least $25 of products sold sold by Amazon.com or Amazon Digital Services LLC (look for “sold by Amazon.com” or “sold by Amazon Digital Services LLC” on the product detail page).
Amazon has renewed this promo every time since they started this in July 2018. So if you previously took advantage of this freebie, you won't qualify again this time around. To learn more or receive your credit, head to Amazon.
With everything happening out there *waves hand towards window,* I know some people are having trouble making ends meet. You should see my bank account right now! 🙃While making money via quick surveys is available to most of us, I recently stumbled across an even better survey site exclusively for military families.
If you're an enlisted military member, veteran, military spouse, or military parent then you qualify for Military+Families. This includes Coast Guard, National Guard and Reserves, which means roughly 10-15% of Hiffers should be able to join!
The payout for their surveys are a bit higher than what civilians are offered via other sites. This is a great way to earn a little extra cash during lockdown without having to put on pants! Simply answer a few basic questions to see which surveys you qualify for, then earn points and cash out for giftcards to Amazon, Walmart, Target, and iTunes!
If you sign up before May 31, you'll receive free Allstate Identity Protection throughout the rest of 2020. You're able to sign up for any of the individual or family plans, so this freebie could be worth up to $315.
Some of the services you'll receive are data breach alerts, bank account monitoring, and up to $50,000 in stolen funds reimbursement. You will need a credit card to sign up for this, but you don't get charged now. You will have the option to elect a paid subscription before your free service ends, but it's not required.
If you're not in the market for identity protection, perhaps this freebie from Ikea might help. It's a free instruction set on how to stay home in self-isolation!
This past summer, I wrote about earning money by scanning your receipt with ReceiptPal. This past week, as I cashed out an Amazon gift card with them, I started wondering what other apps will pay you for snapping quick photos of your receipts. Turns out there are a ton and my newest favorite app is Fetch!
If you've been using ReceiptPal, then Fetch will seem just like home. Scan your receipt with your smartphone, earn points, then spend those points on gift cards. You're literally getting paid for everyday shopping you're doing already.
After downloading Fetch for either Android or Apple iOS, create an account and enter promo code FETCH2K. This bonus promo code expires soon, but earns you 2000 free points – good for $2!
Earn your first gift card today
When I posted this last month, multiple Hiffers earned $5 gift cards right off the bat.
Thanks, Goob! In less than 10 minutes I downloaded the app, set up my account, scanned my grocery receipts from the last 2 weeks and earned enough points for a $5 gift card. This is awesome!!
Same for me as the previous commenter! Scanned the receipts I had in my wallet and along with the bonus (and a bonus for buying hot dogs, lol), got myself a $5 Amazon gift card.
I had a few recent receipts in my purse and, not knowing if they’d be accepted, decided to try and capture them. They were accepted and, along with the referral bonus, in about 10 minutes including sign-up time, I had enough points for a $5 Visa card. WooHoo! Of course I’ll be proactive now and build toward a real reward. Thanks…
How Fetch Works
One thing you'll quickly notice is how much more info there is with Fetch! Not only do they scan your receipt, but it'll actually break down what you bought into categories and give you a nice summary.
On top of that, Fetch gives bonus points if you buy certain products. These items rotate each week and you don't have to buy them in order to scan your receipt and earn rewards. However, if you happen to buy any of them, you'll get a few hundred or even thousand bonus points.
My absolute favorite feature is you have 14 days to scan your receipts in Fetch. ReceiptPal forces you to scan receipts within 5 days, which left me forgetting to scan tons of receipts. Now, I let them pile up on my shelf. Then I scan them each weekend and toss them away.
I find I'm earning points, and therefore gift card rewards, much faster with Fetch. Not only are their rewards easier to obtain by having lower thresholds, but even the time I spend in the app itself is small. The camera function couldn't be faster to snap a picture and move on with the rest of my day.
When joining Fetch today, don't forget to enter code FETCH2K so you get your free points!
One of my small gripes is that Fetch doesn't work with some retail receipts, like clothing stores. I kept forgetting about this and trying to scan retail receipts before my pea-brain finally started remembering.
Common Fetch Questions
Is there a limit to how many receipts I can submit? – You can submit up to 14 receipts per week.
Can I use coupons or other receipt rewards apps and still earn Fetch rewards points? – You bet! Fetch can be used with coupons and other apps, so you can save money and stack your rewards earnings on top. In fact, there's no reason not to use multiple receipt reward apps!
How long do I have to submit a receipt? – My favorite Fetch feature is you have a full two weeks (14 days) after the purchase date to submit your receipts.
Where does Fetch work and what stores participate? – Fetch works with most major grocery, convenience, liquor, drug, club, and big box stores. A full list of participating sites can be found on their website.
Is it seriously tax time again? Already?! You've got to be kidding me. I swear, it's every freaking year, like clockwork.
Before I get to any freebies, let's get one thing out of the way. If you assume I'm going to take this opportunity to post my favorite Simpsons tax day video, then you know me too well!
If you're looking to get your IRS tax return in faster than Homer or before another huge backlog piles up, then I've got some free and discounted options below!
Free 2020 Federal Tax Filings
TurboTax Free Edition – TurboTax offers both free federal and state tax returns if you use the most common forms, like a 1040. However, they even offer slightly more forms for free than most other services – you can see a full list by scrolling down and click on grey “tax forms” tab. Also, if you're a returning customer, almost 50% of your work is done by transferring last year's info with a single click!
H&R Block Free – Another free federal and state tax option is H&R Block. On top of being free, they're heavily promoting the difference between them and TurboTax.
H&R Block is offering 45 forms required for filing your free online taxes, which is twice as many as TurboTax. They specifically mention these situations to look out for.
For Families – Child and Dependent Care Expenses
For Students – Student Loan Interest Deduction
For Students – Tuition and Fees Statement
For Uninsured – Health Coverage Exemptions
Obviously, if any of these situations apply to you, H&R Block sounds like the way to go!
If you find you need to upgrade to a different plan, you can get up to 35% off, but I'm not sure for how much longer.
TaxAct – Another provider offering $0 federal and state tax filings is TaxAct. Their free plan is for people with basic 1040 or W2 income.
A new feature for 2020 is their free service now also includes dependents, retirement income, college expenses, and plenty more scenarios.
Credit Karma Tax – Credit Karma Tax is a premium product that's 100% free, from start to finish. That includes all of our super-useful features, plus free filing for all supported forms and situations. Have a side-hustle? Own a home or sold some stock? Other tax services might charge you to itemize these deductions – but we don't.
From what I can tell, they don't even have a premium plan, so there's really no coupons or promo codes needed.
TaxSlayer – The final, highly rated service on our list offering both state and federal tax returns for free is TaxSlayer. Like the others, this is primarily aimed at single, married, and student filers with a basic 1040.
Their paid services start at $17, but SLAYIT35 should save 35% off any of their plans!
FreeTaxUSA – Finally, we have FreeTaxUSA, who my friend swears by. One of their nice perks is that they offer all of their federal plans, both Free and Deluxe, absolutely free. So if you have a slightly more complicated federal return, you can still get it completely free with FreeTaxUSA.
The downside is they don't offer any free state tax returns. However, I looked around, and believe you can save 10% with either code FREETAXUSA10 or COUPONS10.
So there you have it! With one of those six sites, you should be able to file your taxes for free or extremely cheap. Now hopefully we get a break from all these taxes next year! I hear it's a leap year, that's gotta help us somehow.
The annual Entertainment Coupon Books for 2021 are not only jam packed with coupons, but are currently on sale for only $20 shipped! This sale ends 11/9 at 2pm EST.
These coupons don't expire until December 31, 2021, so you have a full year to redeem as many coupons as possible. It only took my sister and brother-in-law a few weeks to make their money back with last year's coupon book.
One of the perks of these books is that all books come with a digital subscription! That means in addition to your hard copy with physical coupons, you also get access to over 75,000 digital coupons. They're accessed via Entertainment.com's website or mobile app and are perfect for traveling away from home, where space might be limited.
I first posted about the Entertainment Coupon Books back in 2009, but it's been a while since I've refreshed folks on their savings. Each year, they offer location-specific coupon books that come packed with coupons for local restaurants, entertainment spots, and retailers.
Remember, this great offer expires on 11/9/20. If you're a Hiffers who already bought the 2020 coupon book, what do you think of it so far? Any coupons you've especially loved this time around?
Due to the global covid-19 pandemic, most clinical trials are suspended until further notice.
If you're one of the millions of Hiffers perpetually broke (I assume millions of you read HIF over each other's shoulder on a single, shared laptop), I know how you feel. However, it could be worse. Imagine if we were also sick on top of being strapped for cash! I know when I was going through chemo, the last thing I needed was another bill.
If you find yourself in a similar boat, one possible method of making a little side money is through paid, legitimate medical research studies. If you have a qualifying illness and live in a needed area, you can apply for a paid clinical trial earning hundreds of dollars!
These types of studies help doctors and research scientists better understand illnesses and diseases as well as find treatments and cures. Some of the studies are demographic while others involve study products or placebos. The trials are run by Acurian, a company who specializes in recruiting potential qualifying candidates for the trials.
When applying for these, I still recommend using your freebie email and freebie phone number. That way, if you change your mind on participating in a trial, you can easily stop any future calls or emails.
While researching Acurian and clinical trials, I came across ClinicalTrials.gov, a searchable database of licensed clinical trials run by the U.S. National Library of Medicine. While many of these do not pay for participation, I've included links to recruiting studies for many of the diagnoses below. When applicable, I also included links to unpaid NIH clinical trials.
As usual, I'm not a professional anything! If you get accepted to a paid study, please make sure to talk it over with your medical doctor first!
Requirements: Men & Women, ages 18-75. Must have been diagnosed with Crohn's disease, with active symptoms, and do not have any serious associated diseases like Cancer, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, etc.
Locations: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin
Of the 30 million Americans suffering from diabetes, 90-95% of them have type 2 diabetes. That, coupled with the large pool of locations, means quite a few Hiffers might qualify for this valuable clinical trial!
It's estimated there are 4 million US adults diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. While it can affect people of all ages, even children. However, most people are diagnosed during middle age and are more likely to have Fibromyalgiaas they get older. If you have lupus or rheumatoid arthritis (RA), you are more likely to develop Fibromyalgia.
Requirements: Men & Women, ages 18+. Must have had Type 1 Diabetes or Type 2 Diabetes for at least 5 years to qualify. Also need to display symptoms of Diabetic Gastroparesis for at least 3 months and have a history of at least 2 vomiting episodes in the last two weeks before study screen.
Locations: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, United States, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, United States, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia
These are some basic, simple studies that might end up paying big for you, a family member, or somebody you know with one of the medical conditions listed above. If only we all could make a little money off our health concerns!
ReceiptPal is a cool rewards app for both Android and iPhone that lets you turn your receipts into gift cards and cash prizes. My favorite feature is that ReceiptPal lets you earn points on almost every type of purchase!
Unlike Ibotta, where you can only earn cash back at participating stores, ReceiptPal works with virtually every place that gives you a receipt! For instance, I ordered a pizza last night from a local mom and pop restaurant. However, ReceiptPal doesn't mind that they're not a chain pizzeria and allowed me to earn points!
With their super simple app, you earn points through a variety of ways, including:
Snapping photos of your paper receipts.
Connecting your email to automatically credit e-receipts mailed to you.
Connecting your Amazon account to automatically credit any purchase with the online retailer!
As you earn points, you'll be automatically entered into their weekly sweepstakes for cash prizes. Once you have enough points, you'll also be able to cash them out for gift cards for Amazon or other local retailers.
What qualifies as a valid receipt?
Receipts are those where you or a household member were involved in the purchase.
Receipts can be from any retailer/store for consumer goods purchases of all types such as convenience stores, travel and entertainment, restaurants, grocery stores, clothing stores, sporting goods stores, electronics stores, gas stations, car dealerships, online retailers, etc.
Receipts must include the store name, purchase date, total amount spent and either phone number or zip code of the store (the entire receipt must be in the photo).
In my experience using the app lately, points are added to your account almost instantaneously. I've also found myself asking for receipts for small purchases, like a single soda at the deli, simply because it gets me one step closer to a free gift card.
So if you've ever wondered how you could get paid to upload receipts, then you should definitely check out ReceiptPal on either Android and Apple!
If you missed the earlier free EpiPen replacement post, then definitely check that out. It's an amazing freebie that's still active if you can't afford an EpiPen.
In that post, I briefly mentioned how HIF has a brand new free prescription card that you can print out and start using immediately. It's a free drug card that helps people without health insurance afford their important medicine. You can print this page or bookmark it and start using it immediately!
Well, today I woke up to this alert.
That's a $78 prescription bill that some Hiffer only paid $25 for! I have no idea who they are or what they bought, but the idea that I helped somebody knock 2/3 off their medicine bill puts a giant smile on my face.
If you don't have health insurance but still need medication, then all you have to do is print out a free drug card and take it to any participating pharmacist (CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Costco, most grocery chains, and thousands of independent retailers) to get a free discount on your prescription drugs.
How much are the free prescription savings?
Most savings are anywhere in the 10-30% range, but as you can tell from the example above, some drug discounts go as high as 85%!
Again, this discount drug card is only for Hiffers without health insurance, but it's 100% free and all you have to do is print out a card at home and take it to your nearest participating pharmacy the next time you need any medicine!
Multiple Ways to Save on Meds!
It's surprisingly easy to use the free drug card.
Each of these methods works, so take your pick!
Print It!
Print unlimited copies of this page (in black and white, no need for color!) to always have a copy. Keep a card in your car glove box, purse, wallet, etc. so you always have a free card when you need it!
You can also give printed cards to friends and family who qualify. There's no reason not to share the savings!
Again, you can share this link with friends and family via email, Facebook, or social media. They can show it to their pharmacist and if they qualify, start saving instantly!
Write It!
Write down the information on a slip of paper! There's only a few, small pieces of information in order for your pharmacist to save on both human and pet meds.
GROUP ID: NATIONAL01
MEMBER ID: NDC3497
BIN: 009893
PCN: ROIRX
App It!
Use the free app! It's available for both Apple iOS and Google Android.
I will follow up with you via email, so please use your correct information!
Print a free pet drug card too!
It's not just us humans that need meds either! If you have a pet, you can also print out a free pet drug card! 🐶 🙀
Make sure you print this page or bookmark the link on a smartphone so you don't miss the savings!
I can't emphasize enough that this drug card isn't meant to replace health insurance, but instead help those without it. If any of you fall into that category, hopefully this will help you save a little money!
If you have experience with these, please share in the comments.
The Dosh app (or Do$h, based on their logo, but I refuse to call them that) is one of the new cash back apps that automatically gives cash back based 100% on your everyday purchases. It's like an automatic, mini-Ebates for your everyday food, gas, and clothing purchases.
After creating a free account and linking your credit card, Dosh monitors your purchases and automatically gives you cash back if you buy anything at a participating retailer. You don't have to remember to apply for the credit or click a link before you make a purchase. It's completely automated by robots waiting to replace us and designed to run in the background of your hectic, daily life.
I've been using it and a few other similar apps this year and they're great. While you won't make a killing, it's nice logging into my accounts every month and seeing I earned a few bucks simply for buying gas at Exxon or dinner at the local Chinese restaurant.
Since their founding in 2016, Dosh has already paid back $25 million to their users. Like I said earlier, you won't make a killing, but 2% here and 3% there start to add up over time.
PayPal is offering $5 off a $10 purchase at Subway to the first 50,000 customers using this promo before May 30, 2019.
All you have to do is click on “Use Offer” to save the deal to your PayPal Wallet. Then shop through the Subway app and pay for your order with PayPal at checkout. Your $5 discount will then be automatically applied to your purchase. Please note, your discount will not be displayed when checking out in app, but will be applied automatically to your qualifying purchase as long as you have successfully loaded the offer to your PayPal account. You can verify this by checking your PayPal “Wallet” section after you've clicked “Save Offer.”
The promo didn't start until today, so I'd imagine this will be available for at least another few days. I don't see it lasting until May 30 though.
While most of Ibotta's cashback coupon rebates are for specific items or brands, they also give free cash-back on generic “Any Brand” offers with no brand requirements whatsoever.
If you purchase any of the items listed below at a participating grocery, online, or drug store, then simply take a picture of your receipt and upload it into the app. Your account will then be credited for the cash back – all for free!
If some of the links below don't work for you, don't worry! Ibotta is a location-specific app. To find ALL the FREE no-brand coupons available to you just login, enter your zip, and search “any brand” on either their app of desktop site!
Ibotta Any Brand Offers
Unfortunately, as of 2019, Ibotta no longer uploads these deals to their website. You can see find them all in the app though!
