Here Is How I Save 10%-25% On My Instacart Shopping!

But you’re not SAVING money. Instacart is much more expensive than going to the store

I got a flyer in the mail for instacart + Home Depot. Says get $40 off your next order of $100. For those interested code was SAVE40OFF100

I bought about 5-6 times from Costco. And last week when I tried, it gave me a lot of trouble before finally going through. And then I received an email cancelling the order.

Can these be stacked? My experience has been only being able to apply one per order. Is that always the case?

Do you tip your shoppers as well?

Is the Costco sale permanent? Or how often?

Additionally I use my chase saphire reserve at Costco, and then I use pay yourself back at 1.25%

It’s very sad, but instacart has way higher prices than the posted ones at the supermarkets here. We’ve never once used instacart, not even for the free credits some of the chase cards give. Just seems not worth it at all. Many of our common items seem to be 10-20% higher than in store prices.

In addition to Sam’s Club and Costco, I buy Instacart gift cards when they go on sale at CVS.

Regarding Instacart’s pricing, I shop mostly at the stores where the pricing is the same as in the store. I do tip the driver but when I account for the time and gas I save I feel I come out ahead. Instacart is also great when shopping for hard to find items. Plus I save a little of my sanity by not shopping with kids in tow. 🙂

On sams club you can get the cards without a sams membership for $88. You can get multiple cards that way at a better price than newegg.

The biggest issue here is that you are limited how many times you can order. Sam’s Club 2x per person total as well as Costco. If you could consistently order these gift cards you could get the price down to parity but I don’t see how to consistently order them at such a discount.

There was recent news this week of Uber and Instacart joining together in some aspects. That would make the gift card deals, even sweeter.

What do you mean “ purchasing two at a time at different intervals” what is an example of different intervals?

I also save money by not adding random stuff to my cart that look interesting while shopping.
Also, the AMEX blue cash reserve that gives you 6% on groceries works for Instacart no matter what store you’re shopping from. So I get an additional 6% from Walmart etc

For those that like to stock up when they go on sale, FYI it won’t allow you to have more than $1,500 of gift cards stored on the account.

If you order in advance, you also get a $2 discount if you choose a 3 hour delivery window as opposed to a 2 hour window.

I use Instacart for multiple stores. Aside from saving a tremendous amount of time shopping, you generally will save significantly by sticking to ordering the items you need, and avoid the impulse buy at the store.

They are very easygoing with refunding an item that was incorrect although they once flagged my account for doing it too many times (it’s since been removed, I guess because the issue was on their shoppers not me:)

The discount on the gift cards mitigates any upcharge so if you consider that a wash, you still end up way ahead in terms of time and convenience.

One hack is to do a pick-up. e.g. Instacart charges about 10% more for Aldi plus $2 for pick up. They deliver the order to your car and you pocket any difference. I don’t think they let you pick up at Walmart which has the in-store prices.

Any way in splitting up the charge, to use the $15 chase sapphire credit and then use my gift card balance?

Earn 27% (or more) back. Purchase Visa/Mastercar GC at Staples with Chase ink during the rebate. Use that to purchase the Costco insta cart GC!
FYI, I convert my Visa/Mastercar GC to Costco shop cards (in store) and use that to pay for my Costco gas = 5% back for Costco gas (and all in store purchases.

I’m missing the LTO Freedom Unlimited 3%, what’s that? I know I might not see it for me but can you share what you’re seeing?

The lto freedom unlimited 3% back for first year of spending is an offer that expired a few months ago

How many can you buy from Sam’s Club. I don’t have membership but would purchase for this if I can order a bunch of cards.

You also have to account for spoiled produce or wrong items. Almost all my orders have at least 1 issue. I used to report them to instacart and get a credit, but after a few months they flagged my account for having too many reports and they deny any refunds. This even though I’ve only ever reported actual issues. It’s ridiculous. Like I’m supposed to just take the loss if they, for example, send me rotten produce.

I haven’t used instacart in years… needed dog food asap ran out and don’t have time to go until this weekend. This saved me some money and time! THANK YOU!! got the costco gift card, signed up for instacart + trial and I think I get a $15 credit so found a few items to get me over threshold to use full gift card and hopefully get the credit.

I triple up on the savings by using instacart deals such as: $20 off $50 at costco, $2 off for 3 hour deliver window, and 20% off of gift cards. With the three discounts combined, you can actually save a little bit – even if you add all the surcharges, fees and tip.

“3 Chase points per dollar with my Freedom Unlimited LTO.”
Care to explain??

I hope you tip well. Instacart workers typically make well below minimum wage.

Is there a way to split payments to maximize the Chase card benefits?

Not worth using gift cards as they can ban you at any time and keep the gift card balance

Some stores permit a pick up and you can avoid the pick up fee if you have a membership or they don’t charge a pick up fee at that store. Not to mention stacking any instacart promotions.

If Walmart is the same price, do I still need to pay annually for Walmart Plus? I asee Instacart also charges a yearly fee.

is instacart plus worth it?