Let me be frank with you – you are filtering out all your emails except the ones that contain your meeting invites. However, we are all living in the world filled with digital noise, but ignoring cash back apps is literally wasting money. And it seems that the activity is appropriate only for coupon clippers, not middle managers. It is about optimizing personal burn rate.
There is a kind of trick in using these services. It is pointless to catch all dollar deals you might meet in your inbox. The idea is to automate routine tasks to collect the cash while focusing on important things, like your quarterly results.
First of all, you have to use popular services like Rakuten or Ibotta for all the purchases you are making. For example, Rakuten is the best tool in case of online shopping provided that you install their browser extension. And once Ibotta was limited to grocery products. Nowadays, you can use it for shopping in Target, Best Buy, etc. Install both of them, link your credit/debit cards and forget about them until the cash back arrives.
However, if you want to become a smart guy with it, you have to stack the cash back like lasagna of savings. Use your Chase Sapphire Preferred card to get points, visit some cash back portal like Rakuten to find the deal that you are going to use, and then visit RetailMeNot for promo code. It takes an additional thirty seconds of your time. Does not it seem like a good ROI?
Do not forget about retailer’s own apps. Starbucks Rewards and Chipotle app are worth of your screen estate. If you are already purchasing a coffee there, why not to get it occasionally for free? At least, it will help you to ease some of Monday mornings’ pain.
The trap is that you have to avoid “shiny object syndrome” and do not purchase unnecessary things just because you will get a cash back from it. In such case, you will fail the elementary math test. Think of cash back as a nice bonus, not anything else. It is the only way to benefit from it.
I always transfer my cash back as soon as I reach the threshold needed. It is silly to leave your money just lying around in these applications like chips in the casino. Transfer it immediately to your high-interest checking or even your brokerage account. Watching how your money multiplies on their account is a very rewarding experience.
Well, the most efficient app is the one you are using. Choose 2-3 applications that match your needs and delete other applications. You have already enough tasks to perform. Let robots do their job.