Citibank Checking Billpay and Mobile Check Deposit $100 Promotion

Posted on June 3, 2014 // 5 Comments

Citibank is running a $100 bonus promotion good for existing checking account customers. You have to first enroll in the offer by 7/31/14, and then you can earn $10 per month for doing each of the following activities from 6/1/14-12/31/14:

  • Online bill payment
  • Mobile check deposit
  • Outgoing Popmoney person-to-person money transfer

So you could technically get $30 a month, but the total possible bonus over the entire 7 month period is only $100. I don’t think this promotion is juicy enough to warrant opening a new Citi checking account, but it’s a pretty easy $100 if you already have one. Bonuses arrive within 60 days after a month with qualifying activity, and will only get reported on a 1099-MISC if you earn over $600 in miscellaneous taxable income from Citibank in a year.

Filed Under: Banking, Deals & Offers //

Limited-Time Offer: 60,000 Bonus Points For Chase Ink Bold and Ink Plus, $300 For Ink Cash

Posted on May 25, 2014 // 14 Comments

myinkboldUpdate: This LTO is now EXPIRED

Chase has just boosted the sign-up bonuses on their Ink cards. The Ink Bold Card and Ink Plus Card cards now offer 60,000 Ultimate Reward points after spending $5,000 within 3 months, which are worth 60,000 United miles, $600 cash, or $750 towards travel. That is 20% or 10,000 points higher than the standard offer. I believe this matches the highest bonus ever for these three cards.

The Ink Cash Card with no annual fee and 0% interest for 12 months is offering a $300 bonus (up from $200) after spending $3,000 within 3 months.

Chase Ink Bold Card bonus link

  • For a limited time, earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 in the first 3 months from account opening. That’s $750 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
  • No interest charges because it’s a pay in full charge card.
  • Earn 5X points per $1 on the first $50,000 spent annually at office supply stores, and on cellular phone, landline, internet, and cable TV services.
  • No foreign transaction fees.
  • 1:1 point transfer to leading frequent travel programs with no transfer fees.
  • Direct access to a live service advisor anytime.
  • Free Employee Cards.

The 5X rewards on office supply stores from these two cards are handy as you can buy a wide variety of gift cards at Staples, Office Max, and Office Depot from prepaid cell phone reloads to Amazon gift cards to Home Depot and other retailers. This effectively gets you back 5X Ultimate Rewards points on a lot of your everyday spending.

Chase Ink Plus Card bonus link

  • For a limited time, earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 in the first 3 months from account opening. That’s $750 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
  • With Ink Plus, you have the cash flow flexibility with the choice to pay over time or pay in full.
  • Earn 5X points per $1 on the first $50,000 spent annually at office supply stores, and on cellular phone, landline, internet, and cable TV services.
  • Earn 2X points per $1 on the first $50,000 spent annually at gas stations and for hotel accommodations when purchased directly with the hotel.
  • No foreign transaction fees.
  • 1:1 point transfer to participating travel programs with no transfer fees.
  • Free Employee Cards.

The major difference is the Ink Bold is a charge card that you must pay in full each month and Ink Plus is a credit card where you can carry a balance. The good thing about this is that you can get both cards for the same business and thus both bonuses.

Chase Ink Cash Card bonus link

  • For a limited time, earn $300 bonus cash back after you spend $3,000 in 3 months from account opening.
  • 5% cash back on the first $25,000 spent annually at office supply stores, and on cellular phone, landline, internet, and cable TV services.
  • 2% cash back on the first $25,000 spent annually at gas stations and restaurants.
  • 1% cash back on all other card purchases with no limit to the amount you can earn.
  • 0% introductory APR for 12 months on purchases and balance transfers.
  • No annual fee.

Many people aren’t aware of the fact that they can apply for business credit cards, even if they are not a corporation or LLC. The business type is called a sole proprietorship, and you may be a consultant, freelancer, or other one-person business. This is the simplest business entity, but it is fully legit and recognized by the IRS. On a business credit card application, you should use your own legal name as the business name, and your Social Security Number as the Tax ID.

Filed Under: Credit Cards, Deals & Offers //

Sam’s Club Membership Deal – Zulily

Posted on May 12, 2014 // Leave a Comment

samslogo

Deal site Zulily has a special Sam’s Club Plus membership deal where for $45 you get over $91 of value:

  • One-year Sam’s Club Savings membership ($45 value), which includes a membership card for the primary cardholder and a complimentary membership card for a spouse or other household member.
  • $20 Sam’s Club gift card
  • Coupons good for free stuff ($26.83 total value):
    • Free Take and Bake Pepperoni or Cheese Pizza (16”, up to a $7.99 value)
    • Free Cheesecake Squares (16 count, a $11.98 value)
    • Free 5” x 7” Canvas Mini Print With Stand (a $6.86 value)

New members only, so you can’t use this to renew a current membership. Deal ends May 19th, 2014 at 6am PDT, and must be redeemed by August 17, 2014. Free stuff can be redeemed up to 30 days after joining. Valid at any Sam’s club location.

Remember that you can save a bit more on your Zulily purchases with cashback shopping sites like eBates ($5 new customer bonus) and Mr. Rebates ($5 bonus).

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

Too Busy To Buy Paper Towels and Soap? New Amazon, Target, and Groupon Shopping Services

Posted on May 7, 2014 // 3 Comments

Who knew that the next big thing would be toilet paper and soap? We must be running out of things to “disrupt”, as everyone wants to deliver household and grocery products to your doorstep. What’s next, door-to-door milk delivery?

Amazon Prime Pantry. Amazon has been in the game for a while already with their Prime and Subscribe & Save services, but with Prime Pantry you can buy individual products in everyday sizes (not bulk), up to 45 lbs in a box, all for a flat $5.99 shipping fee. Must be a Prime member.

primepantry

Target Subscriptions. Target just started its own regular delivery service that offers an additional 5% off and free shipping with no minimum purchase requirement. You can still get another 5% off by paying with the Target REDcard. Newly expanded but still limited selection compared to Amazon. No membership fee.

targetsub

Groupon Basics. Groupon’s new bulk shopping service offers 100+ household products with free shipping on orders $24.99 and up within the continental US. Currently, get 5% back in the form of Groupon Bucks which can be used towards future purchases. Limited selection that is more focused on certain brands, but supposedly growing soon. No membership fee.

grpnbasics

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Frugal Living //

Amazon Mom: Buy $45 in Gift Cards, Get $5 Free

Posted on May 2, 2014 // Leave a Comment

azgcAmazon Mom is running a gift card promotion where if you buy $45 or more of selected gift card packs, you’ll get a free $5 gift code by June 15th. Give them as gifts or use them yourself and essentially get 10% off $50 in gift cards. This offer is good ONLY to Amazon Mom members with a free trial or paid membership to Amazon Prime. While supplies last.

Amazon Mom is a program that has some nice perks for parents (open to anyone… mom, dad, grandparent, or caretaker). The main draw is the 20% off diapers & wipes as well as baby food and other household items (5% Subscribe & Save discount + 15% Amazon Mom discount) and the fast shipping.

If you already pay for Amazon Prime at $99 a year, you can sign up for Amazon Mom for free. New Prime/Mom members are eligible for a 3-month free trial of Prime (must not have had free trial previously on your account) where you’ll also get the free 2nd-day shipping of Prime but not the video streaming or free Kindle book borrowing. Canceling is easy, you can even cancel the trial ahead of time while still getting the remainder of your 3 months.

Also see my Amazon Mom Subscribe & Save program tips. I use Amazon Mom and get an S&S delivery every single month.

Student with .edu e-mail? Get a 6-month free trial of Amazon Prime and then 50% off after that with Amazon Student.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

Flickr Photo App: 1,000 GB Storage Free + iCloud Replacement

Posted on May 2, 2014 // 11 Comments

flickrapp2Photo site Flickr recently updated their iPhone and Android apps. This just happened to coincide with me running out of space both on my Apple iCloud and Dropbox accounts, so I took another look at the Yahoo-owned site and found it actually fit my needs at a great price point – free!

As they say, the best camera is the one that you have with you. Since the birth of our first child, we’ve quickly racked up over 20 GB of pics on our phones alone, and much more from our point-and-shoot. iCloud only gives iPhone users 5 GB of free storage, so I found myself paying $40 a year for the 25 GB upgrade (with a discounted iTunes gift card of course) but ate through that as well. Since I keep both USB hard drive and online cloud backups, I was also running out of room even on my free Dropbox account. I used to pay for an unlimited photo service called Everpix, but they shut down last year.

In comparison, Flickr offers everyone 1,000 GB of free photo and video storage at full resolution with no caps or image compression. (I figure that should last us until kindergarten…) 100 GB of space runs $100 a year on both Dropbox and iCloud – I know there are cheaper options but these have the most convenient sync software.

flickrapp4My favorite iCloud feature was the ability to automatically and continuously backup the photos on my phone. Nothing to remember, just take pictures. With their updated free app, Flickr can also auto-upload and sync your iPhone photos taken with the default Camera app. (I’m assuming the Android app has a similar feature.) It doesn’t appear to upload any of your old pictures automatically, just the ones taken after you install the app and enable the Auto Sync feature (see screenshot). Auto-uploaded pictures are always set to Private by default (viewable by you only).

The new Flickr app also has several new features like an in-app camera with Instagram-like filters, sharing feeds, and better photo editing tools. After I manually back up the old photos, I plan to downgrade my iCloud account back to the free 5 GB level.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Frugal Living //

Lyft Promotion Credit Codes: Free Ride Credits

Posted on April 22, 2014 // 2 Comments

lyftappLyft is a smartphone-based ride service that competes with traditional taxis. They are similar to Uber, but Lyft calls their fares “donations” and aggressively recruits casual drivers who can apply directly from their app. (Uber does a similar thing with their UberX service whereas their UberBlack and UberTAXI service employs professional full-time drivers.) Lyft drivers are screened with DMV and background checks, as well as provided $1 million in liability coverage. Riders pay entirely through the smartphone app. Drivers keep 80% of the total fare.

Here is a list of all the cities they serve. Right now Lyft is aggressively expanding and the following promotions are available:

  • Download their iPhone app or Android app first.
  • New users: Get free ride up to $25. Hail a pink-mustached car driven by a private individual in their private car. Cities. Get $50 off your first ride with promo code SLICKDEALS. If that doesn’t work, you can get a $20 ride credit via my referral link. If you live in a city where they are just starting out, you may also get a bunch of additional free rides for being a “Lyft Pioneer”.
  • Residents of Pioneer cities get free rides for two weeks. Pioneer cities are places where Lyft is just starting out. If you join the app in a Pioneer city, you’ll automatically get a number of free rides (up to $25 each) valid for the first 2 weeks after you join. Currently, Pioneer is only available in Indianapolis, Minneapolis-St.Paul, Atlanta, Phoenix, Charlotte, Denver, Dallas, Silicon Valley, Baltimore, Orange County, Sacramento, Houston and Columbus for a limited time. (I think Cincinnati, OH, Detroit, MI, Tampa, FL, and Tucson, AZ also qualify.) Details here. Launched 4/24 as part of “Lyftapalooza” were ALBUQUERQUE ANN ARBOR BUFFALO COLORADO SPRINGS CORPUS CHRISTI FRESNO JACKSONVILLE KANSAS CITY LEXINGTON LINCOLN LOUISVILLE MEMPHIS MODESTO NEW HAVEN NEWARK OKLAHOMA CITY OMAHA RALEIGH DURHAM ROCHESTER SAN BERNARDINO SPOKANE TOLEDO TULSA VIRGINIA BEACH.

Get free ride credits to other ridesharing sites including Uber, Flywheel, Gett, Sidecar, Silvercar here! It is pretty neat to summon a ride from your smartphone and track it by GPS as it gets closer to you.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

Target Mobile Coupon Text Codes: $10 off $50 in Food Purchases & More

Posted on April 13, 2014 // 2 Comments

targetgroceryAttention Target shoppers… Target is offering some special coupons if you text specific messages to them at 827438 (TARGET). They’ll reply with a link to a unique coupon code that you just show the cashier on your smartphone. This week there is a pretty good $10 off coupon if you spend $50 on food and beverage purchases, and then I got sucked down the rabbit hole and wanted to find all the other available codes (even though I’m really not an avid coupon person). Here are all of them that I could find:

  • Text GROCERY to 827438 for a $10 off $50 coupon good on food and/or beverage purchases. Excludes alcohol, baby food, nutrition shakes and bars, pet food, Target Cafe and Starbucks Cafe. Expires 4/19/14. (GROCERY2 works as well.)
  • Text OFFERS to 827438 for a link to sign up for future coupons offers on your phone. Obviously, this means you’ll get ongoing marketing messages from Target. Up to 5 texts per month.
  • Text BABY to 827438 for a link to sign up for Target Baby Alerts. New subscribers get 10% off your first online baby order (excludes clearance items, diapers, wipes, training pants, and formula). Up to 6 texts per month.
  • Text APPAREL to 827438 for a $5 off $25 coupon good on Apparel and/or accessories purchase. Men’s, Women’s, Kids all included. Expires 4/19/14.
  • Text RECIPE to 827438 for a bunch of various food-related offers (this week $2 off $5 fresh fruit purchases, $1 off various easter and Target Pantry items). Expires 4/20/14.
  • Text SPRING to 827438 for a bunch of various offers (this week food, detergent, toilet paper, diapers). Expires 4/23/14.
  • Text THANKS to 827438 for a bunch of various offers (looks very similar to SPRING code above). Expires 4/23/14.
  • Text BAREURHAIR to 827438 for a bunch of various grooming-related offers (razors, shampoo, toothpaste). Expires 4/23/14.

Messaging and data rates may apply. Text STOP to 827438 to end. All the coupons say “Limit one identical coupon/offer per guest, purchase total must be met for each coupon/offer individually.”

Some of these coupons you can just find on their Weekly Ad coupons page.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

Free PDF of Rich Dad Poor Dad Book

Posted on April 9, 2014 // 7 Comments

richdadRich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter is probably one of the most controversial best-selling personal finance books out there. Some people love it, others hate it. I am bringing this up because until 4/13 you can download a PDF of the book for free at RichDad.com. Specifically, you have to sign up for an account with your name and e-mail. Unless you really want a lot of spam, I’d use a disposable or temporary e-mail address. After verifying the e-mail I was able to download the PDF without issue.

I read and reviewed Rich Dad, Poor Dad in 2005, and while I do admit the book has many flaws I guess I still have a little nostalgic soft spot for it. Somehow his message of buying assets with your hard-earned money and not liabilities connected with a lot of people. Don’t get me wrong though – having read three other Kiyosaki books and listened to an audio CD series, my opinion is to skip everything else Kiyosaki sells! Just read the original. Don’t buy any other books or products, and please please don’t pay for a get-rich-quick seminar.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

Free Starter Personal Finance Book: How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly

Posted on April 7, 2014 // 7 Comments

ifyoucanbookWilliam Bernstein, author of several books on investing, has recently released a short book targeted at giving young folks a primer on saving for retirement. The title is If You Can: How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly (Amazon link for the reviews). It costs the minimum 99 cents there, but you can also download it for free in PDF, MOBI ebook, and Amazon AZW3 formats. From his website:

For years I’ve thought about an eleemosynary project to help today’s young people invest for retirement because, frankly, there’s still hope for them, unlike for most of their Boomer parents. All they’ll have to do is to put away about 20% of their salaries into a low-cost target fund or a simple three-fund index allocation for 30 to 40 years. Which is pretty much the same as saying that if someone exercises and eats a lot less, he’ll lose 30 pounds. Simple, but not easy.

Not easy because unless the millennials learn a small amount about finance, they’ll fall victim to the Five Horsemen of Personal Finance Apocalypse: failure to save, ignorance of financial theory, unawareness of financial history, dysfunctional psychology, and the rapacity of the investment industry.

The book is only 27 pages long, but there are also several “reading assignments” of other books to complete your education. Those other books are not free but they have all been around long enough that it shouldn’t be too difficult to borrow a copy from your local library.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers, Retirement //

Free eBooks on Real Estate Investing and Renting Out Your House

Posted on April 7, 2014 // 2 Comments

biggerbookBiggerPockets.com is a popular discussion forum for real estate investors. Founder Joshua Dorkin and Senior Editor Brandon Turner have also written a couple of books about the subject. For a limited time, they are free in Amazon Kindle format.

I have not read either book (yet). According to the Amazon reader reviews, it looks like there is some solid beginner information inside both books along with numerous references back to their BiggerPockets website. I believe the first book is also available as pages on their website but it may be easier to read this way.

Download the books now while it is still free and read them later. As a reminder, you can read Kindle books on a web browser, Mac or Windows computer, tablet, or smartphone.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //

Amazon Mom 3-Month Trial + 50% off Diapers

Posted on March 27, 2014 // 2 Comments

Amazon Mom is a program that has some nice perks for parents (open to anyone… mom, dad, grandparent, or caretaker). The main draw is the 20% off diapers & wipes (5% Subscribe & Save discount + 15% Amazon Mom discount) and the fast shipping.

If you already pay for Amazon Prime at $99 a year, you can sign up for Amazon Mom for free. New Prime/Mom members are eligible for a 3-month free trial of Prime (must not have had free trial previously on your account) where you’ll also get the free 2nd-day shipping of Prime but not the video streaming or free Kindle book borrowing. Canceling is easy, you can even cancel the trial ahead of time while still getting the remainder of your 3 months.

Right now, new Amazon Mom members with free or paid Prime who join between March 27, 2014 and April 10, 2014 get 50% off their first pack of eligible diapers. You can still use Subscribe & Save to lower the price even more. Details in link.

Filed Under: Deals & Offers //
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