Saving with Shay


Welcome to Saving with Shay!
I've been saving since 2011. Life changing medical illness or accidents can strike at any time. And over 60% of US Citizens live "paycheck to paycheck". Meaning, one single missed paycheck can put a family in financial ruin and at risk of loosing their home, like I once did. Sadly, the US infrastructure that we pay into all of our adult lives is NOT usually accessible when a "healthy abled-bodied" adult suddenly becomes ill or hurt and out of work.
I learned this the hard way in 2011 when I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and Bipolar Disorder (as well as Lupus that I'd had since childhood). And again in 2020 when I nearly died from a rare disease called Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (aHUS). I sustained so much organ damage and comorbidities that I'm permanently medically disabled now.
But it took a two-and-a-half-year BATTLE to finally receive disability status and income. And in that time, our infrastructure failed me... I lost my home, vehicle, life savings and career- all because I was sick. In a situation like this it was almost impossible to keep myself alive while fighting a rare disease and complications AND even harder to take care of two young children.
If I didn't know how to extreme coupon and subsidize income from my phone, then we absolutely wouldn't have made it. And even almost 5 years into my new life with disabilities, financials woes can still be a concern with the ridiculous inflation we're being told "isn't happening". Everything cost more- food, toiletries, paper goods, utilities, homes, cars, vacations, clothing, shoes, medical care, medications and even funerals. And increases in salaries are not matching the increases in cost of living.
So whether you're suddenly sick, suddenly injured, suddenly out of work or just want to save some money- I'm here to teach you how! You can save and earn at an extreme level like I do or just save 30%-90% off of your groceries each week. Do whatever makes sense for you!
Ways to Save
Extreme Couponing
Extreme Couponing is simply shopping more efficiently, utilizing store sales and coupons. But no gatekeeping here! The secret to couponing is this...
1. Stores have sales cycles...a cycle where items will reach a highest price point and a lowest price point. Sales cycles in the SE are around 4-6 weeks.
Ex: You go shopping on the 1st and walk past Tide laundry soap and it's $6.97, but you're not out of laundry soap, so you don't buy any. But you go back 2 weeks later when you need Tide and now it's 11.97!
2. The secret is- purchase things you use when it's at its lowest price point.
3. When items are at their lowest price point, there is usually a coupon available that coincides with the sale item. These are usually available for free in grocery store apps.
4. When items are at their lowest there's usually a cash back rebate in one or more coupon apps (that might give you the same discount MULTIPLE times)
5. This combination can make items nearly free, fully free or even pay you overage.
6. Stock up on items when they're at their lowest. Buy enough to last until the next sales cycle when that same item will probably be on sale again. (In the SE, this typically means buying 2-4 bottles of an item)
7. Do NOT purchase things at full price ever again
Earn Money on Your Phone
Something new to couponing is Coupon apps. These are apps that give you back the value of a manufacturer coupon, for items that you purchased in the store. If there's a coupon available for an item, then that same exact coupon is available in each or most coupon apps. Meaning you can be paid for the same coupon 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 times. I'll cover this more shortly.
But those same apps also offer real CASH for taking surveys, playing games, and trying out offers. Believe me, I have tried almost every app and I know most hardly pay anything. But I have a few apps that are worth the time and pay. I'll have a list below explaining each one.
The biggest question people have is "but how do we get paid? Is it just points and giftcards??? NO
Out of the 9 apps I consistently use, 7 out of 9 will pay cash to Paypal, Venmo or your bank. Only 2 pay gift cards. So in addition to shopping each week and redeeming my receipts multiple times, I also do a dedicated amount of surveys, games and offers.
Coupon Phone Apps
STEP 1 I recommend starting a new email for your coupon adventures, like mine that's shaythecouponqueen@gmail.com. You'll need to attach an email to your new store, restaurant and couponing apps. So it'll be flooded with lots of retailer emails. It'll also be easier to cash out to paypal and venmo if all the emails are matching.
STEP 2. Download apps for each store you shop at. These include but aren't limited to:
- Your local grocers like Publix, Kroger, Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Winn Dixie, etc. (Not all store apps are created equal, some are great, some are not LOL)
- Discount Stores like Dollar General & Family Dollar
- Mass Store Apps like Target, Sam's Club, Costco, etc
- Drug Stores like Walgreens and CVS
- Specialty Stores like Sprouts, Ulta, Lowes, etc.
- Restaurants you frequent like McDonalds, Applebees, Sarku, Wendy's, Charley's, PF Changs,etc
Most of the stores you shop at have apps that contain hundreds of dollars worth of coupons, that they reload more of every week. Create a free loyalty account after you download each app. Attach your phone number in the app. Once saved, check out the apps and find a button that says "coupons", "savings", or "deals". Press the "+" by each coupon to save them. And now when you checkout at the store, you simply type in your phone number and the coupons you loaded will come off the total.
This one step can save you an average of 30%-60% off your grocery bill.
Mass stores and drug stores can be very expensive, but with couponing you can save 30%-90% at these stores with their digital coupons and store cash back deals.
And the same goes for specialty stores. They know they're a specialty store so they typically offer better loyalty offers like higher value coupons, rewards points systems, birthday freebies and more. For example, Sprouts had 3 coupons in app that gave a full sized Pizza, bag of chips and a box of crackers for FREE. You just needed the app.
Lastly, restaurants offer great loyalty discounts, coupons, birthday freebies and even free items for signing up.
Step 3: Set up your FREE Payment Apps
In step 3, you'll be setting up your Couponing Rebate apps (pays your back for a lot of your purchases). But you'll need a way to get you cash. Thankfully each app gives several options:
1. Gift Cards
Many apps let you cash out to giftcards for major retailers, restaurants and so on. Most of the time this pays out instantly. We take advantage of this in apps that only pay GC by getting restaurant gcs. That way we can indulge on dining out for little to nothing.
2. Directly to your bank:
Some apps let you cash out straight to your bank account. But the only downside of that is that it's not instant and takes 1-3 business days.
3. Paypal
You can set up a free account and order a free debit card from Paypal. Most apps will cash out to Paypal instantly. And you can use the debit card or transfer from Paypal to your bank. Use my link to earn $10 after your first purchase. *I recommend using the same email for this that you use for your grocery store apps and coupon rebate apps.
Sign for Paypal: https://py.pl/1mTvqK
4. Venmo
You can set up a free account and order a free debit card from Venmo. Some apps will also pay out to Venmo like Aisle or Brandclub. *again, use the same email across all things
Step 4: Coupon Apps
The last step to getting started is downloading the coupon rebate apps. There's TONS of different ones to choose from. But these are the ones I use the most. Use each link below to set up your apps and get bonus cash for using my links.
For Swagbucks, Ibotta, Checkout 51 in order to do receipt redemption, Select the stores you shop in the app. And 1-2 times per week you'll need to add items you want to buy, by clicking the "+" sign in the app BEFORE you go shopping. Then after shopping take a photo of your entire receipt to get paid back real money.
Swagbucks: Receipt redemption, surveys, games and online offer rewards. 100 Swagbucks= $1.00. This is one of my top 3 apps for making the most money. I get repaid/earn $100-$150 per month from this app. Unless I play a game and that usually pays another $10.00-$50.00. Plus this app offers various levels with added perks and bonuses. Pays out to gift cards or Paypal.
https://www.swagbucks.com/p/register?rb=114034285
Ibotta: Receipt redemption. This is one of my top 3 apps for making the most money. I was repaid $362 from Ibotta last month (May 2025). Pays out instantly to gift cards or Paypal. Or to your bank in a few business days.
https://ibotta.onelink.me/iUfE/8cc13c64?friend_code=pjlaww
Fetch: Receipt Redemption. 1000 points= $1.00. Snap a photo of your receipt and it does all the work. Also has a new game feature but their points system is the least lucrative.
https://referral.fetch.com/vvv3/referralsocial?code=87J4V
Checkout 51: Receipt redemption, surveys, gas discounts and online offer discounts. It recently combined with the Shopmium app and has great receipt offers now. This is now easily in my top 3. Last month I was repaid almost $50. No referral code though.
Brandclub: Tracks your shopping for you (including Amazon!) Login into all of your store/shopping accts and this app does the rest. Also has guaranteed surveys (only allows 3 per day though). 3 surveys per day, at a rate of $0.35-$0.50 each= $31.50-$45.00 per month plus whatever you earn from shopping credits. Also has media you can watch for cash, online offers/discounts and affiliate commission
https://app.brandclub.com/appshare?referralCode=dcecc6db-6ff6-4c3d-b4d4-a86d43988930
Shopkick: Receipt redemption. It offers "kicks"(points) in exchange for specific purchased items. 250 kicks= $1.00, 1250 points= $5. Offers for most retailers but this app has the best offers at Walmart. Also pays small amount for walking into stores and for scanning items in store.
code SAVE896121
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shopkick.app&hl=en_US
Rakuten: Cash back on online shopping. And offering $30 referral bonus! *Spend $30 after all sales/discounts THRU the Rakuten app at one of your fav retailers (I did this offer at Walgreens online, so I spent $30 on $50+ of products, earned $23 of Walgreens cash, AND earned the $30 credit.
https://www.rakuten.com/r/SOULCA88?eeid=6991100
Topsurveys: Surveys and Games. These surveys never boot you out halfway through like Swagbucks surveys.
https://topsurveys.app/register?ref=9f145cc7-3832-46cf-a74a-6eee9bcf0c9b
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