Eight Apps I Use to Get a Ton of Free Stuff

It isn’t laborious to get me to obtain an app. If I see an advert for one, it is going proper on my telephone. I do not care in any respect if it is all a scheme to get my knowledge—my knowledge is on the market, child, and it is too late to care, so I would as effectively reap all the advantages these flash-in-the-pan, VC-bolstering packages may give me.

More often than not, I do not get a lot. However generally, I get free stuff! I like buying and selling my knowledge and my finite time on this earth for meager rewards. In the event you do too, listed below are eight apps I take advantage of on a regular basis to get free stuff, from meals to extra tangible items.

The perfect apps to get free meals or drinks

Dunkin’

My beloved app greets my by identify every morning.
Credit score: Lindsey Ellefson

As I’ve famous earlier than, however the Dunkin’ app is elite relating to rewarding clients for spending cash on donuts and occasional. In the event you play it proper, you may get all types of treats without cost. Sure, it’s important to spend cash to earn cash, however if you happen to’re already going to Dunkin’, that does not actually matter. For each greenback you spend, you get 10 rewards factors, however if you happen to go to 12 instances in a month and hit “boosted” standing, every greenback you spend till the tip of the month earns you 12 factors. Factors add up shortly, and you do not want all that many to attain one thing free: You may get an espresso shot for 150, a donut for 250, a sizzling or iced espresso of any measurement for 500, and so forth.

There are additionally point-enhancing promotions happening on a regular basis. Typically, you get bonus factors for ordering a sure snack or visiting at a sure time. On Mondays, you get 100 factors only for inserting a cellular order. Quickly sufficient, you may rolling in free munchkins.

McDonald’s

Within the food and drinks sphere, I’ve a membership and related app at just about each restaurant chain. McDonald’s is among the many greatest. The app is fabulous as a result of it is continually working promotions the place you may get a free something-or-other, often for doing nothing however utilizing the app to position your order. On days once I’m feeling frugal however not notably health-conscious, you may catch me mobile-ordering my method to a medium fry and an enormous Food regimen Coke—and the fries are free so long as I spend a minimal of $1, which is about what the drink prices.

Proper now, the app is providing up a free double cheeseburger or six-piece McNuggets while you purchase one. I even have sufficient factors for 2 McChickens or a big iced espresso. Each greenback you spend earns you 100 factors, however as with the Dunkin’ app, you additionally get bonus factors for fulfilling sure stipulations, like double factors on breakfast orders. The primary time you pay by means of the app along with your linked card, you may additionally get 1,500 factors, which is sufficient for a cheeseburger.

7-Eleven

Have a look at all my choices.
Credit score: Lindsey Ellefson

7-Eleven has a severely underrated rewards app. I often get a greenback or so off my purchases each different go to, and since many of the items out there at this comfort retailer are themselves only a few {dollars}, that principally means I am getting free Doritos or Vitamin Waters each week. Each greenback you spend will get you 10 factors (until you are spending on age-restricted objects or gasoline), plus you possibly can earn additional factors for day by day promotions like shopping for two of a sure merchandise. When you get 1,000 factors, you’ve got $1 to spend. A greenback off for each $100 spent is not nice, however if you happen to benefit from these random weekly specials, you possibly can rating plenty of bonus factors.

Seated

For a barely totally different spin on getting free stuff from a meals app, attempt Seated, which I’ve additionally evangelized for earlier than. What units it other than different restaurant-affiliated apps is that the free stuff you get for utilizing it do not come from the eating places themselves. As a substitute, you get a share of your a refund each time you employ the app to make a reservation and eat a meal, which you’ll be able to then spend on present playing cards for companies like Uber, Amazon, and TJMaxx—or simply have it deposited again into your checking account as money. Once more, you are spending cash to make cash, but it surely’s higher than getting nothing if you happen to’re spending anyway. I’ve gotten lots of of {dollars} again from Seated and turned that into lots of of {dollars} value of free stuff.

Seated has an concerned, helpful interface.
Credit score: Lindsey Ellefson

Declare

This week, I used to be served up an advert for Declare, an app with the tagline “receives a commission to eat and store.” Buddy, you do not have to inform me twice. After linking a debit card and my Venmo account, I set to work determining the right way to earn my free stuff. The gist is that when per week, you possibly can select a restaurant or retail institution from a pre-selected checklist and stake a “declare” on it. Which means if and while you spend cash at that spot throughout that week utilizing your linked card, you get $10 despatched to your Venmo account. To try it out, I bought a declare for Wingstop, which occurs to be throughout the road from the put up workplace the place I ship out my Poshmark gross sales. I took a stroll, dropped off my gross sales for the day, then ordered a six-piece wing field. By the point I bought house and tucked into the hen, $10 had appeared in my Venmo account. I’d have needed to cease and eat that day anyway, so this was free cash.

Whilst you can solely choose and use one declare per week, you possibly can earn extra claims by inviting associates to the app. You choose the institution you need a declare for—proper now, decisions embody Starbucks, Chipotle, Blue Bottle Espresso, Dunkin’, and extra—and the place you need your good friend to get their free declare for. As soon as they use your referral and hyperlink a card to the app, you each get a bonus declare.

BBHMM.
Credit score: Lindsey Ellefson

The perfect apps to get free stuff

Influenster

The unique app that helped me once I was too broke for good make-up a decade in the past.
Credit score: Lindsey Ellefson

I am method into make-up and private care objects and I am at all times on the lookout for methods to get my palms on extra. Years in the past, I downloaded Influenster, an app that promised free samples in alternate for a bit effort on my half within the type of reviewing merchandise throughout the app. After incomes up some cred throughout the app, I began getting free stuff despatched to me, with the caveat that I’d thoughtfully assessment it. There have been different duties I may full, like creating public Instagram posts about merchandise, however I declined—that is not my model. Even with out finishing these challenges, I’ve gotten a ton of free stuff. I even secured just a few lipsticks from Revlon that I ended up liking a lot I’ve persistently repurchased them within the years since 2017. Nice app.

Iris

I’m incomes gems at a price you would not consider.
Credit score: Lindsey Ellefson

These days, I’ve gotten very into Iris, which is principally a brand new spin on Influenster. You earn “gems” by reviewing merchandise, posting in discussions, and customarily interacting with the neighborhood, which is comprised of individuals taken with magnificence and skincare. These gems can be utilized on “drops,” or limited-time affords of merchandise you may get despatched to you free, however which you should then assessment. The drops you are eligible for rely in your degree throughout the app, with the standard scaling up as you climb the latter.

Drops are fairly restricted: One could solely have just a few items out there, so it’s important to order it the second it hits your telephone, until you are saving your gems for one thing main. Proper now, I am entertaining the delusion that I am going to earn 45,000 gems quick sufficient to snag the ultimate remaining Dyson Airstraight, a hair device that prices $500 in the true world. The great factor about Iris is you could’t use actual cash to purchase gems or expedite your progress. You actually do should do all of it by yourself, and you will pay nothing out of pocket.

A number of months in the past, I used my gems on a travel-sized bottle of Glossier fragrance, which saved me about $40. I did not have to attend lengthy, the bundle got here straight from Glossier as if I might ordered from the corporate instantly, and all I needed to do was write a assessment the subsequent week.

Goss

Goss is analogous in phrases to Iris by way of doable rewards, however your earn them very otherwise. The easiest way I can describe it’s like sports activities betting, however for popular culture. By utilizing in-game forex to position bets on issues like what number of likes a star’s Instagram put up could have inside 24 hours or who might be voted off a actuality present throughout its subsequent episode, you may purchase a totally different in-game forex that may be traded for real-life merchandise. After just a few (very enjoyable) weeks of betting some time again, I earned sufficient to get a Summer season Fridays lip balm. May I’m going to Sephora proper now and purchase one for $24? Completely I may. Is it extra enjoyable to reply questions, place bets, and gamify the entire ordeal? Completely it’s.

You can purchase in-game forex with real-world cash, which units this one other than Influenster and Iris, however you do not have to. By finishing arbitrary challenges like logging in each day or inserting sure varieties of bets, you possibly can shortly rack up sufficient credit to stick bets persistently, with out spending a dime. You additionally get rewards by inviting associates along with your referral code.

Now the unhealthy information: The app is down for scheduled upkeep as of this writing, and will not be again till August. I have been lacking it because it disappeared just a few weeks in the past, and am eagerly awaiting its return so I can use my accured in-game forex to purchase some self-tanner and a tote bag.

Sure, I do know nothing is de facto free

What’s that phrase?”If it is free, you are the product?” Effectively, sure. All of those apps require me to present corporations entry to my knowledge, from my pursuits to my buying habits. I am additionally racking up time enjoying video games, writing critiques, and even spending cash to earn a few of it again. I perceive that, however in these situations, it is a commerce I am keen to make.

By selecting apps that line up with the stuff you’d already be doing or spending cash on—in my case: shopping for make-up, strolling to Dunkin’ twice a day, and losing time on my telephone—you possibly can earn free rewards, and take advantage of your routines and idle time. Life could be a downer, so I would as effectively discover methods to show a secular activity into free fragrance.