Download Free App, Get Free $10 AppStore Amazon Credit

Posted on August 1, 2016 // 26 Comments

haydaySeems easy enough. If you have an Android device including Amazon Fire Tablets, download the Hay Day app for free and get $10 Amazon appstore credit. I have no idea what the game is about, but if the credit is indeed only for apps then I can buy an educational app for my preschooler. (We like the Endless series by Originator, and Endless Alphabet is free with Amazon Underground.)

For a limited time, customers who download Hay Day from Amazon Appstore between August 1, 2016 and August 31, 2016 will receive a $10 credit toward purchase of digital content in Amazon Appstore. Only customers who have not previously downloaded Hay Day from Amazon Appstore are eligible for this offer.

Update: This is showing up for me as a $10 Amazon credit towards anything shipped and sold by Amazon. Just add any items over $10 that is shipped and sold by Amazon to your cart, and you should see this. I just added some enzymatic dental chews for my dogs for $12.08 and saw this:

hayday3

As of 8/3, they added the following sentence to the terms and conditions: “Please note, it may take up to 48 hours for you to receive an e-mail confirming that the $10 Amazon credit has been applied to your account.” As of this day, the credit also appears to be limited to App Store purchases as well.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

Comcast Internet Essentials Review: Affordable Internet Access For Low-Income Households

Posted on July 19, 2016 // 62 Comments

comcastieComcast offers an affordable internet access program called Internet Essentials that provides high-speed internet service for $9.95 a month + taxes, a subsidized $150 computer with Microsoft Office, and free digital literacy training to eligible groups. Over time, they have expanded their eligibility rules and also added new features. Specifically, you now get:

  • XFINITY Cable Internet Service
  • 10 Mbps download & 2 Mbps upload speeds
  • No credit check
  • No activation or installation fee
  • No contract
  • Free modem + WiFi router rental

Here are the current ways to qualify for this program.

Low-income Families. You are eligible if you have at least one child who qualifies for the National School Lunch Program. If I read the income guidelines for the NSLP correctly, a family of 4 within the contiguous 48 states can’t make more than $31,590 a year to get free lunches during the 2016-2017 school year.

HUD Housing Assistance Households. You are eligible if you receive HUD housing assistance such as Public Housing, Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8 Vouchers) or Multifamily Vouchers (Project-Based Section 8).

Seniors Pilot Program. You must be 62 years old and live in one of the current eligible areas. You must also be enrolled in an eligible state or federal public assistance program. As of mid-2016, the list includes Boston, Palm Beach County, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Seattle.

Community College Student Pilot Program. You must be enrolled in an eligible community college, and also be a Pell Grant recipient. As of mid-2016, the list includes select community colleges in Colorado and Illinois.

In addition, for all groups, you must not have any outstanding debt to Comcast that is less than a year old. Families with outstanding debt more than one year old may still be eligible. You must also live in an area where Comcast Internet Service is available but have not subscribed to it within the last 90 days.

Problems and controversy. If you are already a low-income family that stretches to pay for Comcast internet access, you would need to cancel your existing service and then wait for a full 90 days before signing up for Internet Essentials. If the idea is to give your children the educational benefit of internet access, then it may be difficult to go without internet for 90 days.

This program is not supported with government taxes. Instead, it is a way for Comcast to make happy with various government regulators when they want to merge with another huge company. Indeed, Comcast as a monopoly or part of a duopoly in most areas may be the reason why average people are being charged $40 or $60 a month for basic internet access in the first place.

In any case, it exists, millions more households are eligible that aren’t signed up, and I think it is worth spreading the word. Apply online at internetessentials.com or over the phone (1-855-8-INTERNET or 1-855-846-8376).

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Frugal Living //

Ally CashBack Credit Card Review: 2% Cash Back on Gas and Groceries + 10% Relationship Bonus

Posted on July 17, 2016 // 7 Comments

allycbccIf you have an Ally Bank savings or checking account, you’ve likely been pitched their new Ally CashBack credit card recently. Here are the highlights:

  • $100 bonus when you make $500 in eligible purchases during the first 3 billing cycles.
  • 2% cash back at gas stations and grocery stores
  • 1% cash back on all other purchases
  • No limits on rewards categories.
  • 10% boost on earned rewards when you deposited into an eligible Ally Bank account.
  • No annual fee.
  • Intro 0% APR for 12 billing cycles on balance transfers. (No 0% APR on purchases.) Balance transfer fee is either $10 or 4%, whichever is greater.

As with all the big banks, Ally is working on their cross-marketing. They want you to keep your checking, savings, IRAs, brokerage, and credit cards all at the same place. Ally’s strong in the online banking side (named best online bank by Money Magazine for the fifth year in a row). Credit cards are here, and a brokerage arm is just around the corner (TradeKing). I am personally interested in such convenience, as for years Ally Bank has been my primary checking, savings, and CD accounts.

Including the 10% relationship bonus, this Visa Signature card would get you 2.2% cash back on gas stations and grocery stores and then 1.1% on all other purchases. While this structure is better than the traditional 1% flat credit cards, the competition has heated up in the last few years. Consider:

The best program to compare against is Bank of America. The BankAmericard Cash Rewards Credit Card offers 1% cash back on every purchase, 2% at grocery stores and now at wholesale clubs, and 3% on gas up to the first $2,500 in combined grocery/wholesale club/gas purchases each quarter. Bank of America also offers a 10% bonus on rewards earned when you redeem your cash back into a Bank of America checking or savings account. However, they also have premium relationship tiers that offer up to a 75% bonus on rewards that would work out to 1.75% cash back on every purchase, 3.5% at grocery stores and wholesale clubs, and 5.25% on gas for the first $2,500 in combined grocery/wholesale club/gas purchases each quarter. To me, this made it worth it to build up a “relationship” with them, including opening up a new brokerage account and new credit cards.

Ally touts this new card as “simple”, but what would have really been simple is a flat 2% cash back card on everything and then a small relationship bonus on top of that. That way, when taken together with an Ally Bank account, the card would have been the best in many respects. Combined with their high-interest deposit accounts, you’d have a combo that could shake up the industry. The weakest point of my Bank of America combo is their piddly 0.05% APY on savings accounts and sad CD rates, whereas one of the strongest points of Ally is the 1.00% APY of their savings account and highly-competitive CD rates.

Bottom line. The rewards are above-average overall, and might be worth a look for Ally-centric customers. However, there are top cards in the marketplace that offer close to a flat 2% on everything, and better gas and grocery-specific cards as well. I personally prefer to pick things à la carte unless the sum is greater than the parts, as is the current situation with Bank of America.

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers //

Google Fi: Simple, Pay As You Go Cell Plan With High-Speed International Data Included

Posted on July 13, 2016 // 4 Comments

filogoWe recently returned from a family trip to Europe, and I found myself missing my data plan more than ever before. I kept thinking about the slow 2G data that T-Mobile includes in their postpaid plans and how it might power data-light apps like maps, weather, Uber/taxi, and public transit “when is the next one coming?” apps. (Oh, how it would have helped in the pouring rain in the middle of the city with a 1 and 3-year old…) Why couldn’t this be offered to the rest of us for a half-decent price? I didn’t even consider surfing the web fully, watching a video, or streaming GPS directions due to the fear of a huge bill.

If you are a regular international traveler, you may have heard of the Google Project Fi cell phone plan. Here are the basics:

  • $20 a month flat for unlimited domestic talk and text, unlimited international texts, and tethering. Non-WiFi international calls can get a bit expensive, $0.20 per minute inside the UK for example.
  • $10 a month per gigabyte of data used, either domestic or international. You pay only for what you use, down to the penny! So if you use exactly 1.4 GB of data, you end up paying $14.
  • No annual contract.
  • Taxes and fees not included, as with other postpaid plans.
  • You must use an approved Google phone. The new ones on sale are the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X (starts at $199 with activation). The older Nexus 6 is also an option.
  • Once you have activated service, you can add additional tablets like select iPads using their data-only SIM card, all while sharing the same data plan.

In the United States, your phone will switch between Sprint, T-Mobile, and US Cellular networks based on which has the best signal. You have full access to the fastest 4G LTE networks where available.

Previously, international data was throttled to 256 kbps, which is roughly 3G speed. On July 12th, 2016, Google announced that due to an agreement with Three, those speed caps will increased “10-20X faster than before”. That means you’d be getting close to full 4G LTE speeds for international data. They also announced a limited-time offer of $150 off the Nexus 6P, bringing the base model down to $349 with activation.

There are some cons. If you are a big domestic data user and/or you have a family plan, Google Fi can end up being more expensive than existing plans from the major providers. There also doesn’t appear to be any plans to support other phones like Apple iPhone or Samsung Galaxy.

Bottom line: Although it won’t work out as the cheapest for everyone, the simple elegance of this plan is the most intriguing feature. For you “digital nomads” out there, recent changes now make Google Fi one of the best plans for frequent international travelers that want high-speed smartphone data wherever they go.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Frugal Living //

UberPool vs. Public Transportation: New York City Promotion

Posted on July 13, 2016 // Leave a Comment

It’s no secret that Uber wants to take over the world… or at least replace individual car ownership. Uber just announced a New York City UberPool promotion that offers unlimited rides this July and August:

  • Two-Week Unlimited Commute Card (July or August) for $49
  • Four-Week Unlimited Commute Card (July or August) for $79
  • Eight-Week Unlimited Commute Card (July and August) for $159

Trips must begin and end in Manhattan below 125th Street. Valid Monday–Friday from 7–10 AM and 5–8 PM. Valid for both new and existing Uber riders. A quick view of how UberPool works:

uberpool2

Quartz ran some rough numbers that found that this promotion can make with UberPool cheaper than taking the New York City Subway:

uberpool1

For now, this is a limited promotion. But I wonder about the future. Even as someone who lives in the suburbs, I have enjoyed the convenience and savings of Uber.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Frugal Living //

Amazon Prime Day 2016 Deals, Wal-Mart Free Shipping

Posted on July 11, 2016 // 2 Comments

primeday16b

(Amazon Prime Day was July 12, 2016 and is now over. Some of the related deals below may still be live.)

Last year, Amazon made up it’s own Black Friday-esque holiday and called it Amazon Prime Day. It was mostly disappointing, but this year they have promised to do better and said that any marked deals will be at least a 20% discount from the previous 90-day average price. Hopefully, it will be worth a look and you’ll be able to save money on things you’ve been looking to buy anyway.

You must be an Amazon Prime member to get in on the deals, but free 30-day trial members also count. If you have a .edu e-mail address you can get a 6-month Amazon Student trial and $10.

Here are all the Amazon Prime Day deals, which will last until the end of July 12th 11:59pm Pacific. Selected ones below:

Other Amazon deals that are available:

  • Alexa users can get a $10 discount on their first Amazon order using Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, or Amazon Tap. Talk to your cylinder to find out more.
  • You can buy an Amazon Dash button for 99 cents and get $4.99 credit towards your first purchase. These WiFi-connected buttons can be hacked to do other things.
  • Free gift if you buy something $50+ from your Amazon baby registry.
  • $10 off your first Amazon PrimeNOW order of $20 or more with coupon code 10PRIMENOW. Do this by 7/12 and you’ll get another $10 off coupon on 7/13 that will be valid through 7/31.
  • Get 20% off Amazon Warehouse (open box and/or used items) with promo codes WDEARLY20 or WDEARLY.

I’ll try to update if anything interesting comes up. Note that other merchants will be piggy-backing on the publicity bandwagon. For example, Walmart.com is offering free shipping with no minimum purchase size through 7/15. Stack this with limited-time 5% cash back + $10 new user bonus from eBates, or the free 120-pack of water balloons from Wal-Mart offer ($14.43 value) for new TopCashBack members.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

Chase Freedom 10% Back on Hotels and Car Rentals via Ultimate Rewards

Posted on July 5, 2016 // 1 Comment

The Chase Freedom credit card has a new special promotion offering 10% cash back on up to $2,500 in combined hotel and car rental purchases made through Chase Ultimate Rewards in July. Details:

  • The purchases must be made July 1–31, 2016.
  • Your actual travel dates can be any time.
  • Applies only to hotels and car rentals booked through ChaseUltimateRewards.com.

In general, ChaseUltimateRewards.com offers prices that are comparable to Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, etc. Hotel prices do vary more than airfare, so I would still comparison shop side-by-side. Note that their hotel room quotes include taxes, which some other sites (like Expedia) add in very late in the checkout process. Also, I found how they listed rooms by TripAdvisor rating to be interesting.

This is addition to the quarterly 5% cash back category, which currently includes Restaurants and Wholesale Clubs (Costco, Sam’s Club, BJ’s).

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers //

JetBlue Will Match Virgin America Points For Potential $1,000 Airfare Value

Posted on June 28, 2016 // Leave a Comment

jetblueva0Earlier this year, JetBlue wanted to merge with Virgin America, but Alaska Airlines ended up winning the bidding war. Now they are just fighting over potential customers, which means some interesting things for us!

The newest promotion offers to match your Virgin America Elevate points subject to certain conditions:

jetblueva1

How good is this deal? If you have 50,001 Virgin America points and fly one roundtrip on JetBlue by 8/31, you can get 75,000 free JetBlue points. 75,000 JetBlue points will vary in value, but a reasonable estimate is $1,050 in airfare. This is based on 1.4 cents per JetBlue point as calculated in my JetBlue credit card review. Assuming you live near a JetBlue-served airport, a roundtrip will cost a minimum of $68 to $200. Therefore, there is a lot of room for “profit” on this deal.

Additional details:

  • Elevate® members must email a screenshot of their account dashboard to pointsmatch@jetblue.com by 7/4/2016. Screenshots must include first name, last name, and points balance. Please include your TrueBlue number in the email. If you are not a TrueBlue member yet, sign up now.
  • Once we assess your balance and eligibility, we’ll email you to let you know if you’re officially registered for the promotion.
  • Then book and fly one roundtrip JetBlue flight by 08/31/16.

How do I get Virgin America Elevate points?

  • You might already have some from being a Virgin America customer.
  • You can transfer Starwood Preferred Guest points on a 1:1 basis. If you transfer a minimum of 20,000 points, you’ll get 25,000 Virgin Elevate points. Thus, if transfer 40,001 SPG points, that would give you exactly 50,001 Virgin Points.
  • You can transfer Citi ThankYou points on a 2:1 basis. So 10,000 Citi ThankYou points would be 5,000 Virgin Elevate points.
  • You can transfer American Express Membership Rewards points on a 2:1 basis. So 10,000 AmEx MR points would be 5,000 Virgin Elevate points.

Reality check. This is possibly a great deal for a net “profit” of $900+ of free JetBlue airfare, but there are a lot of moving parts:

  • You’ll need a plan to get 50,001 Virgin points. Are you willing to give up 40,001 SPG Starpoints to get there? This isn’t a big hurdle, considering that you can simply buy 30,000 Starpoints per account for $735 right now, and you can combine Starpoints from multiple accounts.
  • You’ll need to have a plan to redeem those Virgin America Elevate points, so hopefully you live next to an airport served by Virgin America or partner airline like Hawaiian and want to fly somewhere on their route map. If you’re patient, Alaska Airlines. Based on previous calculations, 50,000 Virgin America points can buy roughly $800 to $1,300 in airfare. Virgin America route map.
  • You’ll need a plan to redeem those JetBlue points, so you should also live near an airport served by JetBlue and want to fly somewhere on their route map. Again, 75,000 JetBlue points is worth roughly $1,050 in economy airfare. JetBlue route map.
  • You’ll need to buy a roundtrip ticket on JetBlue and complete your flight by August 31st. Fares start at a little under $100. Some people will just do a “mileage run” and effectively spend a day flying around in a circle to qualify. If you needed to fly anyway, that would be even better.
Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

Costco Members: Free Sam’s Club Access Through July 4th

Posted on June 27, 2016 // 2 Comments

samslogoSam’s Club must be tired of Costco getting all this free publicity from them switching from American Express to Visa. Their Twitter account just announced that showing your Costco Membership card will get you a free day pass to any Sam’s Club location through July 4th, 2016.

They really want you to know that Sam’s Club accepts all major credit cards including Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover. (Of course, you know that Costco negotiated some really low credit card processing fees from Visa, so hopefully that results in lower prices.)

I’m a Costco regular myself, but Sam’s Club does offer a different selection and I like to visit them from time to time. For example, back in the Spring I bought a large amount of organic gardening soil at Sam’s for a good price, while the same weekend Costco had no soil of any type available at all.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

Free Amazon Credits from Apple eBooks Antitrust Settlement

Posted on June 22, 2016 // Leave a Comment

kindlebooksThe short version: Apple settled an e-Book antitrust lawsuit for $400 million. Click here and log in to instantly check if you were awarded any credit automatically to your Amazon account. Note the purchases that count would have been made sometime 2010-2012, so if you used a different account back then, log in with that one. The credit will expire on June 24, 2017.

The long version:

In November 2014, a federal court approved a Settlement of antitrust lawsuits brought against Apple, Inc. (“Apple”) by State Attorneys General and Class Plaintiffs about the price of electronic books (“eBooks”). Those settlements resulted in credits for qualifying Kindle books purchased between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012. These credits are funded by Apple.

Eligible customers do not need to do anything to receive these credits. If you are eligible, we have already calculated your credit for you and added it to your Amazon account. As long as you have credit remaining we will automatically apply it to your purchase of qualifying items through Amazon.com, an Amazon device or an Amazon app. The credit applied to your purchase will appear in your order summary as a gift card during checkout and in your account history. Eligible customers should have received a notification email from Amazon on June 21, 2016. This credit will expire at 11:59pm PDT on June 24, 2017. You can learn more about the settlements at www.amazon.com/help/ApplebooksettlementFAQs.

I didn’t receive anything myself, but I usually only pay for physical books and just pick up Kindle books when they are free.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi: My Review

Posted on June 21, 2016 // 48 Comments

Citi and Costco have new co-branded credit cards, the Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi and the Costco Anywhere Visa® Business Card by Citi. Here are the highlights for each card.

Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi highlights: (For Personal Use)

  • 4% cash back on eligible gas and EV charging purchases for the first $7,000 per year and then 1% thereafter. You will not get 4% cash back for gas purchased at superstores, supermarkets, convenience stores and warehouse clubs other than Costco.
  • 3% cash back on restaurant and eligible travel purchases
  • 2% cash back on all other purchases from Costco and Costco.com
  • 1% cash back on all other purchases
  • No foreign transaction fees on purchases.
  • No annual fee (with paid Costco membership).
  • Will also serve as your Costco membership card.

Costco Anywhere Visa® Business Card by Citi highlights:

  • 4% cash back on eligible gas and EV charging purchases for the first $7,000 per year and then 1% thereafter. You will not get 4% cash back for gas purchased at superstores, supermarkets, convenience stores and warehouse clubs other than Costco.
  • 3% cash back on restaurant and eligible travel purchases
  • 2% cash back on all other purchases from Costco and Costco.com
  • 1% cash back on all other purchases
  • No foreign transaction fees on purchases.
  • No annual fee (with paid Costco membership).
  • Will also serve as your Costco membership card.

The rewards will accrue in the form of “Costco Cash Rewards”. This means you’ll get a paper coupon snail-mailed to you once every year in February based on your previous year’s spending, which you can either (1) use as payment for goods directly at the Costco cash register or (2) convert to cash or check at a Costco customer service desk. You may also do a partial redemption at a cash register and they’ll give you the remaining balance in cash. Coupon must be redeemed in person on or prior to its expiration date of December 31 in the year in which it is issued.

Bottom line. The new Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi maintains the overall simplicity of the old consumer card while improving the rewards percentages. You can also use it as your membership card, which means getting this card won’t add take up more space. The improved 2% cash back at Costco and Costco.com (formerly only 1%) is significant, as it means that you finally won’t be as tempted to use a non-Costco-branded card at Costco! Both the personal and business cards now have the same rewards percentages.

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers //

I Tried Harry’s Free Razor Trial and This Is What Happened…

Posted on June 17, 2016 // 36 Comments

harrysad
…that’s the ad text that they used to target me, apparently someone who may be interested in bright-orange, modern-looking razor blades. I couldn’t find the exact ad again, but a similar one is to the right. (Alternate title: Harry’s Free Trial Review: Bendy Razor Blades, Easy Cancel)

Well, they were right. I decided to try the Harry’s “Free” Trial which includes a razor and some gel for $3 including shipping. If you don’t like it, just remove the subscription plan in your online account and you get to keep everything else.

Okay, so what happened? The primary reason that I will not be buying any more Harry’s Razors doesn’t involve cost at all. I simply don’t like their design. The blades are proprietary and have a unique “bendy” hinge that I describe as like having a tongue lick you. A tongue that makes it impossible to get the firm shave that I prefer.

I created an animated gif to help illustrate:


via GIPHY

After doing this trial, I found that the Wirecutter review site had a similar opinion:

Rather than clipping to a pivoting axis, the way most modern razors do, Harry’s cartridge attaches with a flexy rubber pseudo-hinge that bends when you press it into your skin. Harry’s claims that this design yields an effect that, like “a paintbrush on a wet canvas … flexes to the contours of your face for precise control.” In fact, the opposite is true: The cartridge yields too much, resulting in a sloppy shave.

I don’t consider myself a picky razor user, for a while I’ve been using a basic Gillette Mach 3 bought from Costco for $1 or under each. (I was surprised to see The Wirecutter also chose a Mach3 blade cousin as its winner.) As I can last more than a month with each razor (dry after each use), I am already spending less than a dollar month on razors. I have not tried the Dollar Shave Club. For me, buying a bulk pack of razors once every two years requires less mental bandwidth than having to manage an online subscription.

I’ll keep the rest of this review short and simple:

  • Ordering was easy, site design is nice, and the trial shipped promptly.
  • Canceling the trial was also easy with no hard sell.
  • I did not like the razor design, and for that reason will not be ordering any more Harry’s razors.

Shaving preferences are very subjective. I would still recommend the Harry’s trial itself.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Frugal Living //
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