How to get discounts on coffee and Shake Shack and more

Did you know there's a way to eat at Shake Shack for 10% off, or get a $1 every coffee you drink, or 15% off DoorDash, or $1 off at Dairy Queen, or $1 off Citi Bike, or 5% off at Ticketmaster, or 10% off at SweetGreen, or $3 off at AMC, or 10% off at Chipotle, or 5% off at Whole Foods, or $1 off at the MTA?

THERE IS! It's true!

Almost every credit card you find (once you get a credit score) will have features of cash backs, or discounts on particular things, or miles and points. These are all fantastic features and my biggest tip is to diversify how many you have and use them for all sorts of different things where they work their hardest.

Introducing the Cash App

The Cash App is an alternative to Venmo that I've written about before but it's now loaded with a few extra features that I thought might be worth an article in and of itself.

Not only do you have the ability to unlock all the discounts I mentioned above, but you also get $5 as soon as you sign up!

Keep reading to find out how (ha!)

What is the Cash App?

Well, it's an app on your phone that lets you send money to others. If you're familiar with Venmo, then it's like Venmo. If you're not familiar with Venmo, then click here to read more.

In America (USA), the banks have a small issue whereby to send money from one account to another it either costs an arm and a leg, or it takes an age (or both). To combat that, apps have appeared that let you transfer straight out of your bank account and into someone else's app which alleviates this issue when it comes to settling dinner and drink debts (or laundry, or Seamless, you get it).

You download the app, you sign up, and blam-o you now have the ability to send money to your friends simply by using their username (mine's $AmericaJosh, just in case you wanted to send me some beer money).

Hurry up Josh, how do I get these discounts?

A mega cool feature of the Cash App over some of its rivals is the fact that you can actually get a physical card with your account, for free!

You also get to design it, so instead of just saying your name on the front, it can have funny squiggles to your heart's content.

Once you have this card in your hot little hands, you have the ability to add “Boosts”. These boosts add a feature to the card in the form of immediate discounts when you shop at particular places!

All you need to do is use the card!

How to use the Cash App boosts most effectively

So now you've got the card, and you're wondering how to use it best. Well, get this: You can change which boost is applied WHENEVER YOU WANT AND AS OFTEN AS YOU'D LIKE!

So. Heres' America Josh's advised path for Cash App Card Boost Success:

Wake up, and swipe your Cash App card at an MTA terminal with the MTA BOOST ($1 saved)
Travel to work and once you arrive, get yourself a coffee at your local café with the COFFEE SHOP BOOST ($1 saved)
Lunch time rolls around and you're feeling a Sweetgreen craving, so head there and order your favorite tasty salad using the SWEETGREEN BOOST (10% saved)
Afternoon tea is here and you need a treat? Head to Dairy Queen and get yourself an ice cream ($1 saved)
You're now finishing up at work and realize that you need some… Oat milk (?) at home so you get on your Citi Bike using the CITI BIKE BOOST ($1 saved) and you ride to Whole Foods and buy your treats using the WHOLEFOODS BOOST (5% saved)
What a day it has been so far!
It's still early so how about a movie at AMC with your AMC BOOST ($3 saved)
Movie over and you've got one craving, Chipotle. So you scurry on down to Chipotle and get yourself your favorite burrito with a HUGE dollop of guac using the CHIPOTLE BOOST (10% saved)
On your way home you realize you need ice cream so you jump onto DoorDash and get some delivered with the DOOR DASH BOOST (15% saved)
As you arrive home and you're resting with your ice cream, you think to yourself “Maybe I should go to that Justin Timberlake concert” (is JT still a thing?) so you jump onto the Ticketmaster app and order tickets for next weekend using the TICKETMASTER BOOST (5% saved – who am I kidding, 5% saved on the fees and extra charges).