A Guide to Shopping for Shipt and Instacart in California

 You may have read my posts either on shopping for Instacart or for Shipt. If you haven't, I recommend reading both of those first. This post is to talk about the best way to use both of them, specifically if you live in California. Why only in California? Well California has a new law in effect that guarantees a certain amount of earnings for app based workers. Some other states or areas may have similar laws, but I will only speak to California specifically since that is where I live.

First, what is the guarantee? The guarantee is that you earn 120% minimum wage in your city per hour worked plus $0.30 per engaged mile. California minimum wage is $14.00 an hour so 120% is $16.80 an hour. This is all BEFORE tips. But when exactly do these guarantees start? That is different for each company because of the way their apps are set up.

The guarantee starts the moment you accept a batch and ends the moment you mark as delivered. So you are guaranteed for the time and mileage to the store, shopping at the store, and driving to the delivery spot but not driving back (unless you have already accepted another batch). So for Instacart, I recommend not driving after your delivery and waiting there until you get another one so you can count all those miles.

The guarantee starts from the moment you swipe "Heading to Store" and ends the moment you mark it as delivered. This means it is very important to remember to swipe "Heading to Store" the moment you can so you are paid for that time and mileage. Now, this can get tricky because of the scheduling on Shipt. For example, I once had an order that I delivered and then I had over an hour until my next one. I turned on Instacart (I'll talk about this in a moment) and started heading toward the store that was next on my Shipt orders. Should I have already swiped "Headed to Store" even though there was still a lot of time? I feel I should definitely be paid for the time and mileage between the dropping off and heading to the store but I understand it isn't fair to charge them while waiting to do the next order. Or is it? Luckily I got an Instacart order then so it didn't really matter but there was still some miles unaccounted for in either app. I'm not sure how well they regulate this and there aren't really any instructions so I guess use your best judgement.

This is all calculated at the end of the week. They add up all the hours and miles to come up with the weekly guarantee for what you worked and if you made less than that (before tips) they will pay the difference. If you made more than the guarantee (before tips), you get just that.

Now, how can you use this to your advantage while using both apps? I like to set up my schedule on Shipt and accept as many deliveries in that time as I can. Make sure you plan well on Shipt: shop for multiple orders at the same store at the same time, pick up small orders from other stores on your way, plan the best route to pick and drop things off that saves the most amount of time. This isn't really about the guaranteed earnings because if you're doing it correctly, you should be making much more than the guarantee. This is about doing as many as possible which leaves more time for Instacart, which is where you can really use the guarantee.

If you have an empty hour or more on Shipt, turn on Instacart. You can even turn it on at the beginning of your shift and leave it on as you may be able to shop for both Shipt and Instacart at the same time. I haven't tried this but it is possible if you are really good at planning. But, make sure you have enough time to do an Instacart batch. Because you will be doing Instacart in such short bursts, only one or two between your multiple Shift orders, most likely the base earnings will not be the guarantee. 

It also might depend on your area. Maybe Instacart is more popular so you do mostly Instacart with a sprinkling of Shipt. Either way, do both at the same time. With the ability to plan ahead on Shipt, you can make it work pretty easily. I've noticed that the base amount for Instacart is much lower than Shipt. I've also noticed people seem to tip greater amounts on Shipt. This means you will get a greater adjustment for the guaranteed earnings on Instacart but the potential to earn more on Shipt which I why I prefer to do Shipt mainly and Instacart to fill in the gaps. But that may be different in your area. Test out which works better for you. Have fun shopping!

Sign up with Instacart through my link here or use code CLANA99F3C at sign up. Sign up with Shipt here and use my Shopper ID: 100062822 at sign up.

Make Good Money Shopping for Shipt: A Shipt Shopper Review

 Recently I wrote about my experience shopping for Instacart (you can read about it here). Well this past week I tried out shopping for Shipt, and it was a GREAT experience. There are things that I prefer about Shipt and things that I prefer about Instacart but overall, I like the way Shipt is formatted better. Ultimately, to make the most out of your time, I actually advise doing both at the same time but I'll make another post about that specifically. 

As with Instacart, Shipt is a service where customers send in an order to a store and the shoppers do the shopping for them and deliver the items to the customer's house. With Instacart, you log on and then you receive notices about available batches, as they're called, near you. But with Shipt, you put in the schedule you want to work ahead of time and receive notifications for batches during those times in your specified area. This could be days before or during the time. I generally receive most of the notices in the morning as I put my schedule starting at noon. This works out nicely because you can plan not only your day, but you can plan out how the route.

What do I mean by plan your route? Well for example, I may have an order to deliver between 1-2pm from Target and another order to deliver from 2-3pm from Party City. Well the Party City in my town is right across the street from Target. So I will go do the shopping for the Target order, then stop by Party City to pick up that order (as long as it's not balloons because that takes up a lot of space!). Then I deliver the Target order and then the Party City order. I've even planned it out once where I did this but the delivery for Party City passed Best Buy which I had an order for so I picked that up on the way to the Party City delivery then delivered that one. Being able to do this saves a lot of time which leaves you open to do more shopping which is how you make the good money.

Now, there were some times where I would have an hour or more before my next Shipt delivery and nothing coming in. This is where I think doing both Shipt and Instacart works out well. Turn on Instacart during that time and chances are you will get something to fill the time. Most things take about an hour unless the delivery is quite a ways away. 

With Shipt alone, I averaged $18.44 an hour. But when combined with Instacart, I averaged $23 an hour. 

Pros:

• Flexible hours. You decide when you want to work.
• Pretty good pay and you are able to stay in your area
• You get exercise! 

Cons:

• Sometimes orders are gone before you can accept them
• It can be difficult to deliver to people in apartments and/or busy streets with no parking
• The app isn't as clear as Instacart sometimes and has trouble updating often

I highly recommend this as a side gig or even a main gig. Depending on how things go with my work, I may switch over to doing deliveries permanently as I enjoy it a lot and now see the potential for high earnings. Sign up to be a Shipt shopper here and use my Shopper ID: 100062822 at sign up. Sign up for Instacart here. Read a list of pros and cons of each here.

Something else I learned, if you live in California, there is now a guaranteed earnings for anyone working these types of platforms (Uber, Lyft, Instacart, Shipt, Door Dash, Grub Hub, etc). This helped in the earnings amount, especially during the short Instacart deliveries. If you want to learn more about the guaranteed earning in California and how to utilize it to your advantage, read this post here.

Make Good Money Shopping and Delivering Groceries Through Instacart: An Instacart Shopper Review

 The pandemic has hit both my husband and my work really hard. My husband had been driving for Lyft and Uber (read about it here), which was not safe to do during a pandemic, and my work in after school theatre programs had been (understandably) virtually non-existent. We had relied on the expanded unemployment to get us through the first bit of the pandemic, but that has ended now. My hours are still very limited but I like to remain open to be able to do whatever is needed at my work and since the virus is still very much spreading, my husband didn't want to go back to rideshare driving. So we thought we would try out working for delivery companies. Most of the food pick up places didn't need any more drivers but Instacart, shopping for and delivering groceries, was available and today I tried it out for the first time and really enjoyed it!

I'm sure most of you know or understand the concept of Instacart: customers send in their order and those orders are sent out to available shoppers/drivers to pick up the items and deliver to the customer. It only took a few seconds after I logged in to get my first order. It was a little bit of a drive but seemed a nice pay. All in all from accepting the order to delivering the order, it took an hour and 20 minutes but it was $22 profit. Pretty much immediately after delivering that one, another one came up. This was much closer and I was able to complete it more quickly (I learned a lot during the first shopping experience, more on that later). That one was $18 and I finished in about half an hour. Pretty good! 

Then it was a little slow. Some orders came in but either didn't seem worth it or another shopper snagged it up before me. Then I was quick to try and take the next one, though that may have been a bit of a mistake. It was only for $8 and it was pretty far away, though closer to where I live. 

I only was on for 2 hrs and 48 minutes and made $46. Not bad! That averages over $15/hr* (see update at bottom). I definitely learned things that I think will help improve that amount.

Pros:

• Flexible hours. You decide when you want to work and when you want to stop.
• Pretty good pay and you don't get pulled far away from your area like driving for rideshare
• You get exercise! Driving all day is bad on your body but with this, you're mostly walking around which is really nice.
• App is super easy to use and very helpful in making sure you get all the right items.

Cons:

• Sometimes you don't have long to decide to accept an order so you might take one that's not really worth it
• It can be difficult to deliver to people in apartments and/or busy streets with no parking

Tips:

• Don't use self checkout unless it's only a few items. It's a huge hassle with a lot of items and isn't worth a shorter line
• You don't need to ask the customer about replacements. The app will help you through that.
• Make sure you look at the distance before accepting. Driving far away for a small amount is not worth it.

Note: You can sometimes have multiple orders in what they call a "batch". These are different customers' orders at the same store. I haven't had one of these yet, so I'm not sure how well that goes.

I highly recommend this as a side gig or even a main gig. It was a lot of fun, almost like a scavenger hunt to find the right items! Sign up with my link here or use code CLANA99F3C at sign up. Have fun shopping! 

Update: I highly recommend doing Shipt in addition to Instacart. Read about driving for Shipt here. Read a list of pros and cons of each here. I also found out that if you live in California, there is now a guaranteed earnings for anyone working these types of platforms (Uber, Lyft, Instacart, Shipt, Door Dash, Grub Hub, etc). So there were some adjustments to my pay for this and I ended up making $71.62 which ends up being closer to $24 an hour! Read more about the California rules and how to use it to your advantage here.

Get $20 for Signing Up With Stash

A while back, I wrote about getting a free stock for singing up with Robinhood (see the post here). But there's another simple investor app that will also give you stock for signing up and it is called Stash. Stash will give you $20 worth of stock or $20 to invest in other ways.

Here's what you need to do:

1. Click on this Stash Invest $20 Referral Bonus Link.
2. Sign up for your new Stash Invest account and complete registration.
3. Connect your bank account and fund at least $5 to your new Stash Invest account (either invest or bank account).
4. The $20 bonus will be credited to your new Stash Invest account within 3 business days.

Please note, the bonus funds cannot be withdrawn from your Stash Invest account for a period of 90 days from the date received. Stash also does have a monthly fee to have an account. The first month is waived but after that, there will be a fee. Because of this, I don't think keeping a Stash account is the best because there are other free apps that do exactly what they do. So, when signing up, choose the cheapest account and then after 3 months, close it and it still will have been profitable.

To close your Stash account, here's what you need to do:

1. Log into your account via the Stash website. 
2. In the upper-right corner you’ll see your name. Click on this link and you’ll get a new page with a vertical menu on the left-hand side.
3. About mid-way through the list of selections is a Subscription link. Click on this and you’ll get another page with details on your current subscription. 
4. In the Your plan menu there is a Manage link. Click on this link and scroll to the bottom of the new page. 
5. You’ll see a Close my Stash for good link. Click on this and you’ll be able to cancel your subscription.

Write for BuzzFeed and Get $$$$

 I wish I had heard about this earlier, but late is better than never! BuzzFeed has a summer writing challenge where if you write a post or make a quiz between June 15 and Sept 15 and it reaches a certain number of views, you could be awarded cash! I tried my hand at making a quiz, and it was really fun! Check it out:

What Hogwarts House Does Your Pet Belong To?

If you want to try your hand at making some money, check out the rules here. Have fun!

Mercari: My New Favorite Site/App

 Recently I've been getting into knitting. I had bought some yarn a while back for a specific person to make something out of and when I tried out a new stitch than I had been doing, I realized I did not have enough yarn to complete the project. I had bought the yarn on Amazon so I went to order some more but they were out of stock! I did a general search and found out that all the stores that carried it were sold out. So I did what I usually do in these circumstances, turn to Ebay.

Ebay is great when you are trying to find something that is no longer being sold in stores. If it is a newer product, you can even find brand new unopened packages. I did find some of the yarn I needed but it was very expensive, like four times the amount I paid on Amazon. I figured before I bought that, I would do a little more searching. And so I cam across Mercari.

Mercari is basically another Ebay. Individual people sell things on their website and app. It doesn't look like there are auctions (actually something I don't usually use on Ebay anymore) but you can barter with the sellers on price.

I found someone selling the yarn in bulk, 4 rolls of it. I only needed 2 more but the price at this bulk level was much more reasonable. I figured I could either save the yarn for another project or resell the ones myself that I don't end up using. Problem solved.

Of course AFTER I made the purchase online I received an email from Mercari saying "Get $20 off your first purchase on our app". Well that caught my eye. Of course the finer details were of a purchase of $50 or more but that is still too good of a deal to pass up. If you make sure your purchase is exactly $50, that is almost 50% off.

So I thought about something higher priced that we were wanting. It dawned on me. For a while now, my husband and I were wanting to get some more joycons for the Nintendo Switch but given it wasn't a NECESSITY and that the prices are ridiculously high, we hadn't made the purchase. So I thought I'd give it a try to see what there was. Lo and behold, there was the exact colors we wanted (green & pink) that said brand new unopened box. And the price? $67. These sell for $80 retail, sometimes as high as $90 for those colors. We jumped at it. All in all with taxes, shipping, and coupon we paid $53. A STEAL.

That enough is reason to sign up for Mercari and at least make one purchase. But then I saw that they offered $5 in credit after you make your first seller listing. Easy. I already have things listed on Ebay so I just recreated one of those. Boom $5 credit. Found another thing we wanted at a cheaper price than retail.

But wait, there's more! They also have a referral program. Refer someone and get $10 credit after they make their first purchase (and $40 after they make $100 in sales, but that's a bit too ambitious). I love doing this trick when you have a partner that you can kind of rig referral programs for. I referred my husband and we found something else cheap that we needed. Now this one does take some waiting because just making a purchase doesn't do the job. We had to wait for the item to arrive and rate the seller to close out the sale for the credit to be applied. But still. It's a deal.

Anyway, I will definitely still be using Ebay but I love having an alternative to go to. Plus, it seems like maybe they will send out other deals as well. 

But try it for yourself! Sign up with this link and get $10 off your first purchase!

Carmen's Blackberry Holiday Pie

 This year it was just my husband and I for both Thanksgiving and Christmas (thanks Covid) so that meant that we got to chose (and had to prepare) all the food. One of the most important things for both holidays is dessert! We had to have a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving and while I love baking, I do usually get a premade crust to simplify things. Well those tend to come in packs of two but we couldn't have two pies for two people so I thought I'd save the other crust for Christmas.

So what kind of pie should we have for Christmas. Since my husband insisted on the pumpkin for Thanksgiving, it was my turn to chose. Berry pies are my favorite and I was really craving blackberry pie. But that just seemed too summery. I wanted to make it more holiday feeling. I knew I wanted to incorporate orange, because that's my husband's favorite flavor and seemed very Christmasy, and spices. So I looked online for something.

I found two recipes that I liked so I decided to blend the two: one using the filling recipe (with some alterations) and one using its streusel topping recipe. The result was delicious and very seasonal so I thought I'd create a new recipe for future use and for others to enjoy. So here you go! 

(I know this isn't really about saving or making money and I also did that thing that I hate where people do a blog entry before a recipe but oh well!)

Carmen's Blackberry Holiday Pie

Ingredients:

For Filling

• 6 cups blackberries fresh or frozen (if frozen, thawed and drained)
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons cane or granulated sugar depending on the sweetness of your fruit
• 2 teaspoons fresh orange juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 4 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon orange zest

For Streusel Topping

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger
• 1 teaspoon finely grated orange peel
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon whole milk
• 1 cup sliced almonds

Instructions

1. Buy or make a pie crust (use your favorite recipe if making one yourself)
2. Preheat oven to 400°F (at high altitude) or 375°F (at sea level)
3. In a large bowl, blackberries, 3/4 cup sugar, orange juice, zest, and vanilla extract. Mix gently several times and set aside for 10 minutes.
4. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix. 
5. After the 10 minutes have passed, add cornstarch mixture to the fruit and combine until no more white is seen.
6. Take the shell from the refrigerator and pour the fruit mixture into the pie. Make sure to spatula the sides of the bowl, as this is where precious juices and thickening agents like to hide.
7. Place pie on the center rack and bake for 30 minutes. (High Altitude Only - reduce temperature from 400° to 375° after 15 minutes.)
8. Meanwhile, make the streusel topping. Blend flour, sugar, crystallized ginger, orange peel, and salt in processor.
9. Add butter; using on/off turns, blend until coarse crumbs form. 
10. Blend in milk (mixture will resemble moist coarse crumbs). Transfer mixture to medium bowl.
11. Stir in almonds. Refrigerate until ready for use.
12. After 30 minutes total, remove pie from oven and add streusel to the top. Turn the oven down to 375°, place a pie shield around edges to prevent over browning, slide a pan one rack below, and rotate the pie 180°. Continue baking for another 30-35 minutes, or until the top is golden and the juices are slow to bubble. 
13. Once pie has finished baking, transfer to a wire rack. Let cool for at least three hours or overnight. Slice and enjoy!