Want to save for a vacation? Here are the cash back apps we use to save for a vacation when we plan our trips.

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Budget and Plan

First, let me say that not everyone’s budget is the same. And that some trips you have scheduled may be more expensive than others.

When we save for a vacation, we first research a lot on our destination. Where do we want to go and stay, what adventure do we want to do, what sights do we want to see, and lastly, how will we get there?

Then we sit down and plan.  And when we do plan, it’s usually at least a year in advance. For me, I’m both a visual and a paper planner. In my planner, I add all the details of our trip from the date we scheduled it through the vacation—adding stickers, pictures, etc. It’s almost like a scrapbook planner.

Each month leading up to our trip, I write in the planner what we need to save for the month. I keep track of payments made on the trip and any reservation or confirmation numbers.

The Best Savings Apps For Being On A Budget

But I don’t always carry my planner with me. It gets pretty bulky. This is where my laptop or phone come in handy.  To plan digitally, I like to use an app called Notion.

Notion

Notion is an excellent site for keeping track of everything about your trip. You can create your itinerary, add hotel details, make tables to track trip payments, and more. You can easily access Notion through a computer, laptop, or phone. And everything that you add to Notion syncs in real time. Which is incredibly useful.

How We Save For A Vacation With These Savings Apps

Using phone apps is another way we save for a vacation. We redeem points for gift cards to merchants or visa gift cards. By doing so, we’ve earned some things for free. We are not spending any extra money to do this. We utilize these apps for our everyday purchases. Here are some of our favorites:

Swagbucks

I started using the site and app in 2011 when we planned our first trip to Disneyland. Our trip to Disneyland cost just over $4,000 for a 3-night park hopper. And hotel. That’s including our car rental for a week. 

With Swagbucks, you earn gift cards and cashback for the everyday things you do online. Here’s how: Shop online, play video games (I didn’t play video games), and answer surveys. Or simply by watching online videos.

Swagbucks Points Reward Can Help Save For A Vacation

By doing all of these things, I earned points. With those points, I could redeem gift cards to Amazon to purchase items needed for the trip. I saved Visa gift cards to make payments on our journey and redeemed gift cards to selected restaurants in the area.

You may say you don’t have time to answer surveys or watch videos. Swagbucks makes it easy. You can do these things while you watch TV or cook dinner.

Click here to join Swagbucks.

Shopping Apps Can Help Save For A Vacation: Receipt Pal

I use Receipt Pal to earn points to redeem gift cards to Starbucks. Once I save the gift card, I add it to my Starbucks app.

Receipt Pal accepts receipts from any retailer/store for goods purchased from grocery stores. Every 4th receipt earns you 100 points. And every once in a while, when you open the app, you’ll earn bonus points.

Fetch Rewards

Fetch Rewards works in the same way as Receipt Pal. You snap receipts and are rewarded points for every ticket you snap. You can earn points faster by utilizing personalized offers. Then, you redeem those points for travel.

These personalized offers could be Airbnb, Hotels.com, or Southwest. You can also save the points for gift cards to Target, which we did a few times to buy groceries and snacks for our hotel room.

This is perfect for families wanting a low-cost hotel stay. We sometimes look for hotels with kitchenettes.

Sign up for Fetch Rewards free with my referral code (B6BGX)

CoinOut

CoinOut is another receipt program. It’s a little slower as it takes longer to redeem points. But it works the same way as the Receipt Pal and Fetch Rewards. Once you save the points, you can use them towards Amazon gift cards. Or you can redeem for cash back if you have Zelle or PayPal.

Shopkick

Shopkick is an easy way to earn points (kicks) by scanning items in the selected stores or by submitting your receipts. Some stores, like Target, will give you kicks just for walking in the store. This is another app where I redeem those kicks for Starbucks gift cards.

You can save those kicks for Target, Walmart, Best Buy, and stores like TJMaxx, Marshalls, and Home Goods. This is helpful if you’re on a budget and have birthday, anniversary, or Christmas shopping.

Because I learned how to use these apps to save, we could go on many of our trips for free. The only out-of-pocket expense was the purchase of everyday items we use at home.

Ibotta

Ibotta is another easy-reward app where you can get cash back every time you shop online, on the app, or in-store. 

Ibotta is free to use, though they do assess fees to certain inactive (and deactivated) accounts. However, fees are drawn from your Ibotta account balance, never from your personal bank account.

Sign up for Ibotta free with my referral code (7mwyoa)

Save For A Vacation With Savings Challenges

Another way we save for our trips is by doing saving challenges. For our upcoming couples trip, I’m doing the $5,000 challenge. I label 100 envelopes 1 to 100. I randomly pick a few envelopes for each paycheck and add that amount to the envelope.

You could do a smaller savings challenge if that suits your budget. We’ve also done the $5 challenge. Whenever we have a $5 bill from change, we add it to a jar. If you want to save coins or $100, there are many different ways to do it.

Final Thoughts

All your diligent savings efforts will be rewarded with a truly rejuvenating vacation, free from stress. Stay tuned for more helpful savings tips in our upcoming posts. We hope you found this one to be valuable.

Share your preferred savings app with us in the comments below, and let us know how you’re preparing for your next trip.

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