September 29, 2015

Promo Codes for $15 Off at Boxed (with a little work)

Retailmenot.com has a number of $15 off promo codes for Boxed.com

Find codes at the Retailmenot.com site

It may take a little work to find one that works.   It appears they are codes to refer friend with 5 uses each.   The codes all appear to be 5 digit random alpha numeric codes.   It looks like the codes are only good for your first order at Boxed.    I tried applying a second code and it told me I can only be invited once.    Also looks like minimum order for the code is $50 but I'm not 100% sure on that point as I can't test it again.   But $15 off a $50 purchase with free shipping is a good deal.   Boxed.com prices also seem pretty competitive.

I had to try a few of the codes myself before I found one that worked.   The first 2-3 I tried said the codes were used up by users.   That indicates that the codes have a limited number of uses.   So I kept trying until I found a code that would work.   When I applied the code it told me that I was referred by someone and gave an email.  Then when I submitted my order it gave me a code to share with 5 friends to give them $15 off and give me a $10 credit after they completed an order.   So it seems these codes are referal codes people are sharing at Retailmenot.    Then once 5 people have used them they're not valid.   But if you check a few of the codes on Retailmenot you may find one thats still good like I was able to.

You can also get 2% cashback at Boxed via Ebates*

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*This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

How Does Jet Anywhere Cash Back Compare?

I reviewed Jet the other day.     Jet also offers a Jet Anywhere service to get you JetCash for purchases made at other merchants.    It works similarly to Ebates or other cash back portals but instead of getting actual cash you get JetCash which is a credit to use at Jet.


Here is a table showing some of the merchants and how the Jet rate compares to the best deal found on cashbackmonitor.com or Ebates :

Jet Best Ebates
1-800-Flowers
12.0%
8% 8%
24 Hour Fitness
7.0%
10% 5%
Ace Hardware
4.3%
7% 3%
Advance Auto Parts
6.4%
8.50% 5.50%
AllPosters.com
8.0%
10% 6%
Ann Taylor
15.0%
6% 2%
Apple App Store
10.0%
3% 0
Best Western
3.5%
5% 2.50%
BuyCostumes.com
10.0%
13% 6%
CVS Photo
5.0%
4.20% 0
eBags
10.0%
15% 12%
eHarmony
46.8%
65% 32.50%
Famous Footwear
6.4%
8% 4%
Gilt City
25.0%
8% 3%
Groupon
2.0%
10% 6%
Hotels.com
4.4%
6% 6%
iTunes
10.0%
8% 7%
Kmart
2.4%
7% 3%
Levi's
12.0%
8% 4%
Magazines.com
16.0%
40% 40%
MLB.com
7.0%
10% 5%
Petco
25.0%
10% 4%
QVC
20.0%
5% 2%
Sears
2.4%
7% 3%
Shutterfly
2.8%
5% 2%
Starbucks
4.0%
5% 2.50%
thredUP
4.0%
5% 2.50%
Tire Rack
4.3%
7% 4.50%
TurboTax
12.0%
15% 7.50%
Wine.com
20.0%
7% 2.50%

Its pretty mixed results.     Jet was the best deal in 10 out of 30 merchants.   Thats actually pretty good considering thats Jet versus all the other competitors.  Ebates was the best only 2 times out of 30.  

I should point out that I'm not accounting for promotional rates that the rebate portals offer for a limited time.   Its possible that any one of the rates above from Jet or the others is just a short term deal.

THere are some notable merchants where Jet has a stand out good deal.   Wine.com, Levi's, Ann Taylor and QVC are all paying very well at Jet versus the others.


Here is a list of the merchants at Jet with the highest JetCash rates:

Jet
Match.com
60.0%
eHarmony
46.8%
Udemy
40.0%
Care.com
36.0%
Magazine Reader Mall
32.3%
STOPzilla
32.0%
The Ladders
28.7%
Petco
25.0%
Gilt City
25.0%
Panda Security
25.0%
Hallmark eCards
21.5%
Weebly
21.5%
Yelp
21.5%
Wine.com
20.0%
QVC
20.0%
J Brand
20.0%
Motorola Mobility
20.0%
Nike
20.0%
Nine West
20.0%
Saks Fifth Avenue
20.0%
Shutterstock
19.0%
Magazines.com
16.0%
Dawgs
16.0%
From You Flowers
16.0%
Moleskine
16.0%
Ditto.com
15.8%
Ann Taylor
15.0%
Lord & Taylor
15.0%
Saks Off 5th
15.0%
Stride Rite
15.0%
Yoox
15.0%
Ghurka
14.2%
H&R Block
14.2%
Journelle
14.2%
Norton by Symantec
14.2%
Snapfish
14.2%
Spreadshirt
14.2%
ChicNova
12.8%
Estella
12.8%
TurboTax
12.0%
1-800-Flowers
12.0%
Levi's
12.0%
Bodybuilding.com
12.0%
FTD
12.0%
Personal Creations
12.0%
Stila Cosmetics
11.5%
Fiverr
11.2%
Blurb
10.8%
Case-Mate
10.8%
Classmates.com
10.8%
Code42
10.8%
Go Airlink
10.8%
Gray Line New York
10.8%
Lonely Planet
10.8%
Michael Stars
10.8%
Open Sky
10.8%
Parallels
10.8%
Soda Stream
10.8%
The Cools
10.8%
VenueKings.com
10.4%
eBags
10.0%
BuyCostumes.com
10.0%
iTunes
10.0%
Apple App Store
10.0%
Adidas
10.0%
Coastal
10.0%
Jewelry.com
10.0%
My M&M's
10.0%
Photos.com
10.0%

--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

September 28, 2015

$100 at Boxed at Livingsocial for About $60 Net

Right now Livingsocial has a deal to buy Boxed.com credits at a discount.   You can get $100 credit for $75 or a $175 credit for $125.   You can also get 15% off at Livingsocial.

details : You have to use the entire credit value in one purchase.   SO you can't use your $100 or $175 in multiple orders and if you don't use it all up in one order you'd lose the remainder.   You need to use the credit by Nov. 7th.    The livingsocial 15% deal expires 9/29.

For the $100 credit:
1. Go to Ebates*  and look up livingsocial and follow link to livingsocial to get 6% back
2. At Livingsocial find the Boxed.com deal for $100 for $75
3. Apply the promo code for 15% : 15SMOREOFF, that brings the price down to $63.75
4. once you get the Ebates*  cashback you ought to get another $3.82 back bring the net cost down to about $59.93

So that gets you $100 at Boxed.com for just under $60 total.    Or the $175 deal for about $105.

If you're new to Livingsocial then you can get 15% cash back by using the TopCashBack* portal and signing up as a new customer at Livingsocial.   That would make the net cost about $54.19

I'd of course recommend you first go to Boxed and review their inventory pretty closely to make sure you can really get good value out of $100 or $175 of credit in one buy.
Boxed.com actually seems to have pretty good prices for some stuff.    They beat Costco prices on two items we buy regularly.     Getting a 40% discount on top of their prices is a great deal for me.
The minimum order quantity at Boxed is $35 and you get free shipping at $75.  


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*This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

September 27, 2015

Simple and Easy Ways to Save Money That Most People Don't Do


If you're looking for some easy'ish ways to save some money that are likely to cause most of you little pain, then I've made up a list below.   By my reckoning, most people don't do most of this stuff so this could be easy money for a lot of people.   Before each idea I gave an estimate of the typical monthly savings people could see.   I'm not giving a full explanation of how to do each suggestion as there is tons of information about these elsewhere.


$50 : Cut cable -   This is a totally unique idea and I'm the first financial blogger to write about it.   But did you know that you can actually save money by NOT paying for cable TV?    Its true.   I personally think this is an extreme measure only for people who hate themselves.  Ok thats just a joke since I personally value our cable but paid TV is very expensive and you can save a lot of money by cutting cable and switching to Netflix, Hulu and a good old antennae.    Of course you won't be able to watch 700 channels of nothing anytime you want 24/7 like Americans have every right to do.


$40 : Drop your landline phone -    Around 50-60% of people still have a landline phone.   Many homes can live without a landline at all.   But if you have a need for a landline you can use an Obihai OBi200* and Google voice to get free VOIP phone service.   The Obihai will cost you ~$45 up front but there are no ongoing fees afterwards.

$40 : Use a rewards credit card -  Citibank's double cash card and the Fidelity Amex both give 2% cash back on purchases.   I've discussed before that a typical family could net about $800 a year by using cash back cards.    But if all you do is start using a 2% cash back card you could easily get around $40 a month in rewards.   You can do even better by juggling the 5% promotional deals and signing up for new cards with bonuses.

$20 : Use a discount cell phone service - I'm paying $15 a month for my cell service right now.   Many people can slash their cell phone bills by going to discount providers.   The plan that is best for you will depend on your usage, but its a safe bet you can save money over the major carriers.

$10 : Shop around for Car insurance - People pay around $100 a month on average for car insurance.  You can quite likely save 10% if you shop around rates.

$2 :   Use online shopping portals :    I'm just throwing out a wild guess that the average household could get about $2 back a month by using portals like Ebates* when they do their online shopping.

$0.02 :  Start your own Blog :   Its the road to riches!!


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*This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

Jet.com Review

I used Jet.com a little while ago for the first time.    If you haven't heard of Jet they are a new online merchant.   To shop at Jet you have to have a membership similar to clubs like Costco or Sams club. So they seem to be a mix of Costco and Amazon.

 Jet has been offering a number of different promotions for memberships and discounts.   Here's one list of promo codes or try the Retailme.not list   You can find codes for 1 year or 6 month memberships and $10 or $15 off first purchase.    Now through September 30th they are offering free shipping with no minimum.

For my first purchase at Jet I used one of the discount codes to get $10 off.    I also got a large enough order for free shipping.

At first it was a little hard to see exactly how the discounts at Jet worked.   But basically if you buy more stuff you get a larger discount.   You see the final total discount in your shopping cart.

I normally buy several items on Amazon's subscribe and save deal which gets me the 15% discount rate for buying 5 items at a time.    To make my Jet purchase I looked up each item side by side on Amazon and on Jet to compare prices.   In my case I found two specific items on Jet that were a good discount compared to the price on Amazon so I bought those items.

I also found that if you increase your order quantity for items on Jet then you get a better discount.

As an example lets look at Brawny paper towels at Jet.

The 6 pack of towels is $9.99.   However it says "Add more than 1 item to cart
to get additional savings"    If I increase to 2 packs then it says "$1.20 extra off when you add to cart" which is 60¢ each.   Going to a 3rd pack it goes up to "$2.10 extra off" or 70¢ each.   The discount per roll keeps going up as you add more items.   It hits the limit at 10 items with a $13.90 discount or $1.39 per 6 pack.

But if you're looking for Brawny then you'd do better getting a subscribe & save purchase on Amazon for the Brawny Pick A Size 24 Giant Roll Paper Towel* which is just $28.49 or $1.19 per roll.

If you buy multiple different items on Jet then you also get a better discount.    As a test I added 10 quantity of a bottle of conditioner to the existing order of 10 x 6 packs of Brawny.   The discount for the conditioner was $10.90.    However if I then deleted the Brawny product and just left the conditioner the discount on the conditioner drops down to $10.60.   In this case you save another 30¢ if you buy both products together.   Now thats not a huge discount but its additional savings all the same.


For my order I paid $35.95 total for my order on Jet including the $10 promo credit.    On Amazon the same purchase would cost me $63 and change.     I saved about $27 on these items by buying a higher quantity of them on Jet versus an Amazon subscribe and save deal.

I honestly don't recall how long the items took to arrive from Jet but it wasn't too long.   It seemed the products were drop shipped but I'm not sure on that.  I've also seen people reporting getting drop shipped deliveries from Jet.    I think this is Jets business model.


Here's the basic steps I used to make my purchase and maximize the value at Jet : 
1. get a promo code
2. shop Jet for specific well priced items versus Amazon and other merchants
3. increase quantity of items on Jet order to increase discount


Bottom Line:   Jet can give you a good deal on specific items if you shop around and even better discounts if you buy a larger quantity.  Throw in one of their promo codes and its even better.
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*This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

September 25, 2015

Best of Blogs for Week of September 25th

Every Friday afternoon I share some of the more interesting or notable posts that I have seen in the personal finance blogs and other sources for the past week

The Big Picture shares Housing Highlights From the 2014 ACS

TheSimpleDollar answers What Is a Reverse Mortgage and How Does It Work?

MyMoneyBlog talks about Raise.me: Build Your Own College Scholarship with Small Achievements which looks like a good way to get some college money for students
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Amazon Prime is $67 Today for New Members

Amazon is running a deal today offering Amazon Prime for $67 for new members.  

The normal price is $99 so thats 1/3 off.  

The deal is good today only and only for new members.


--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

September 20, 2015

5% Cash Back Promo Categories for Q4 2015

Here are the 5% cash back promotional categories for Q4:

Discover card : Amazon.com, Department Stores, Clothing Stores

Citibank Dividend : Best buy & Department Stores

Chase Freedom :   Amazon.com, Zappos.com, Audible.com & Diapers.com

Some good choices for Q4.   That gives me two different options to get 5% back at Amazon between the Discover and Chase.     We also have two choices for general department stores between Discover and Citi


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September 18, 2015

Best of Blogs for Week of September 18th

Every Friday afternoon I share some of the more interesting or notable posts that I have seen in the personal finance blogs and other sources for the past week

DQYDJ shares a BBB, BB, and B Rated Corporate Bond Total Return Calculator
that they made.   Looks like BB has given the best returns lately.

Moneybox tells us The Government Just Made It Much Easier to Tell Which Colleges Are a Waste of Money and they share an ed.gov site where you can pretty easily look up universities and get basic stats on graduation rates, earnings of graduates and student debt levels.

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September 17, 2015

Amazon Subscribe and Save Filler Items Under $2 for September 2015

Late edit :

Kraft Easy Mac Original Cheese, 2.05-Ounce Microwavable Cups (Pack of 10) = $1.94


 Updated list of items under $2 eligible for Amazon Subscribe & Save :

Pac-Kit 12-015 Antiseptic Povidone PVP Iodine Wipe (Box of 10) = $0.91

Pac-Kit 1-009 Fabric Adhesive Light Woven Flexible Knuckle Bandage, 3" Length x 1-1/2" Width (Box of 8) = $1.33

Barilla Protein Plus Spaghetti Pasta, 14.5 Ounce = $1.48

True Lime Limeade Stick Pack, Black Cherry, 10 Count (1.06oz) = $1.70

PureBites Beef Liver Cat Treats, 0.85-Ounce = $1.69

Wilton Red Sprinkles = $1.69

Dial Complete Foaming Hand Wash Spring Water, 7.5 Ounce = $1.75

Dragonfly Sweet Gooseberry with Chili, 6 Ounce = $1.77

Lipton Pyramids, Bavarian Wild Berry 20 ct = $1.80

Scotch-Brite Mirror Cleaning Cloth, 29cm x 29cm, 1-Count = $1.79

DEWALT DW4518 4-1/2-Inch by 1/8-Inch by 7/8-Inch General Purpose Metal Cutting Wheel = $2.03    (ok so thats 3 cents over $2)


I'm citing the price for each item including the 15% discount that you'd get with 5 items which is the point here.

I try to list a variety of items so you'll have a better chance of seeing something on this list that you'd actually get use out of so its not just bought and wasted.

Warning :  If you use items off this list then make sure to watch them and cancel your subscription if you no longer want them or if the prices go up.   The cheap items I find seem to change pretty quickly so they may have large price hikes or be removed from the subscribe and save program.

Prices change!   Note the list will get out of date within days or weeks.  I'll probably post a newer list before all of the above items are gone or have price increases.  But if you can't find something good here you can always go to Amazon and search for Subscribe & Save and sort based on prices and poke around to find something cheap to use as a filler.

I've discussed before how you can get a  better discount on Amazon Subscribe and Save purchases if you order 5 items at once.  However if you don't buy a lot of stuff then it can be hard to come up with a 5 item order.   However if your products are worth enough then it can be worth it to add some filler items to get up to 5 items to get the 15% discount. 

Say for example, you want to buy a couple cases of Pampers Swaddlers Diapers  that run $45.97 each with a normal purchase.   With Subscribe and save you'd get a 5% discount.to get the price down to $43.67.    But if you have 5 items in your S&S order then it is only $36.78 or a $6.89 savings.   And if you're buying two of those then thats double or $13.78.    Adding the 4 cheapest items listed here to the S&S order would only cost you $4.99 total with the 5 item discount so its worth buying those items to get you a net savings of $8.79.

Note if you don't want the filler items and only use them to get a 5 item discount then you can of course always give away the food items to someone you know or donate them to the local food bank.


--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

September 15, 2015

Amazon Prime NOW review


Amazon is now offering 2 hour local delivery for some products via their Prime NOW service.    You can even pay $7.99 extra to get delivery within 1 hour.   From what I can find it seems you can only order via a smartphone app.  

The Prime NOW delivery service is only available for Prime members.
If you're not a member you can sign up for a 30 day free trial of Amazon Prime

Prime NOW is only available in limited areas.    Cities include :
Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Dallas, Indianapolis, Baltimore, New York City, Boston, Philadelphia Washington DC, Atlanta, Tampa Bay
There are more on the list as Amazon is expanding too.   To see if your city is covered you can put your ZIP in the website to check.

Right now they have a deal for $20 off a $50 order with promo TRYITNOW
The deal is for first time customers and only good for items direct from Amazon.

I tried Prime NOW myself and this is my experience.

The app works just fine.   I used the android version but I'd assume the Apple version is similarly easy to use.

Item selection is more limited than the entire Amazon store but they seem to have some stuff there in the perishable grocery category that isn't on the normal Amazon store.  I decided to get some grocery items we normally buy that are priced similarly (probably +/- %5) to our local grocery stores.

I searched for items and put them in my car and scheduled a delivery.

It seems that you need a minimum order of $30.  

Scheduling delivery gives you an option for a 1 hour delivery with $7.99 extra charge or a free delivery in a 2 hour window.    Right now its about 4:36PM as I'm writing this article and the options are for delivery at 6-8PM or 8-10PM tonight.   It also has delivery window options starting tomorrow at 8AM every 2 hours.

The order process prompts you for a tip for the delivery person.    They automatically filled in a "$6 (recommended)" tip.   I am not sure how they figure their recommended tip amount.   My order was for about $36 after the $20 off or $56 originally.   I tested a cart amount of $32.50 and they recommended a $5 tip.  But in any case they seem to expect a tip as this model is more like pizza delivery than UPS driver apparently.

I ordered perishable items and it indicated that someone would have to be home to accept the delivery.   That only makes sense as you don't want your food sitting on your front porch in the heat going bad while you're at work, or elsewhere.

My order was on Sunday and I put in my order at 11:35AM.    The delivery was made about one hour later around 12:30 PM.  

I'm not really sure how Prime NOW compares to other grocery delivery options like Instacart.  I haven't done a more thorough investigation.    But my one test worked just great.

Bottom Line:    The service works just fine.  Using the $20 off of $50 deal makes it worth trying.  Even with the $6 tip cost I saved about $14 off of some grocery items.


--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

September 14, 2015

Free Cinderella (2015) Blu ray deal For New TopCashBack users

TopCashBack is again offering a free Cinderella blu-ray deal if you preorder the movie through Walmart.

Follow this link to TopCashback for the deal

Again the deal is only good for new TopCashBack users.

This time the deal is good through tomorrow 9/15.

Note that is a referral link so if you sign up via my link I'll get paid.


--This article may contain referral links which pay this site a commission for purchases made at the sites.

September 13, 2015

Home Storage Gold IRAs Are a Bad Idea

I just saw a google ad for a "home storage gold IRA".    It had a picture of a older dude grinning behind a pile of gold coins and a home safe.   My reaction was to roll my eyes and think : "oh geez".   Clearly this is a borderline scammy investment to exploit peoples fears that the world is going to crumble or corporate thieves / socialists are  going to make the stock market evaporate.   So the only solution is to have your money in good old fashioned gold.   And if that isn't crazy enough for you then why not put your IRA in your own safe too!

I really don't have to investigate this to conclude that the fees are going to be ridiculous.     Its a given.   Fees for self directed IRAs are steep and this is adding another layer of cost on top of that.   Not to mention the high costs of buying and trading in physical gold.

Worse the scheme may not even be legal as far as the government and IRS are concerned.
The Law360 article : Are 'Home Storage' Precious Metal IRAs Legit? discusses the topic and they seem to conclude that its probably not appropriate management of an IRA.    IRA funds are supposed to be managed by a trustee and putting the money in your own safe is not really going to fly.   I imagine that the self directed IRAs used for real estate investments are probably border line as far as the rules go and piles of gold in your house is not going to fly.


The way the companies pitching the deal structure it you generally have to set up an LLC to hold the investment.   Now thats not really legit if you setup the LLC then put the money in your own home.  Plus that system adds to the costs.

But thats not the only source speaking against these things.     An article from Globalnewsire :  Home Storage IRAs: Risky New Trend May Leave Retirees Liable  quotes Trevor Gerszt, investment specialist and CEO of Goldco Precious Metal saying : 
""I've cautioned people in the past about so-called 'home storage IRAs,'" he says. "Unscrupulous providers tell consumers the law allows them to store gold and silver held in their IRAs at home, when it's clear the IRS codes forbid that."   Now he may be biased since from what I gather Goldco Precious Metal helps people do self storage IRAs using a bank as the storage location which is competing with home storage.  But still.


I don't think I've hidden my opinion about gold as an investment.  Gold is not a good investment.  
But then hey, if you'd ignored me and bought gold when I called the peak in 2009 
you'd have seen your money double and then plummet and you'd still be up ~20%.

I talked about high premiums on gold coins and if you're not careful you can spend a lot more than what gold is worth.    You can do better if you shop around but even then generally you pay ~2-5% over spot prices.   Then you'd likely pay similar fee when you sell.   So between them you're looking at say 5-10% in transaction fees buying & selling.     You're better off just buying a gold ETF to avoid those steep transaction costs.Buying and selling physical gold generally has relatively high fees each way.


Theres a few good reasons to avoid home storage gold IRAs:

High transaction costs of buying/selling physical gold.

Self directed IRAs have hefty fees.

Using an LLC will generally add the cost of licensing for the LLC, and that can be several hundred dollars a year in some states.

Home storage of gold held by an IRA is probably not even legal under IRA rules.

Bottom Line:  Don't do it.  Its a bad idea and probably not even legal to boot.    If you really must insist on investing in gold then just buy an ETF.

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September 11, 2015

Best of Blogs for Week of September 11th

Every Friday afternoon I share some of the more interesting or notable posts that I have seen in the personal finance blogs and other sources for the past week

This ones a bit older article from Jalopnik site :
No, You Don't Have To Be A Millionaire And Pay Cash To Buy A New Car
Some good thoughts there on buying cars and I generally agree that new cars aren't as nearly as pricey versus late model used cars.  However I don't see the same results in my local market where they have new cars going for less than used.

DQYDJ writes Continued: The Shanghai Composite Versus the NASDAQ In 2000
showing eerie similarities between the current Chinese stock market and the NASDAQ around the 2000 internet bubble bust.

Financial Uproar says Don’t Fight It; The Lender of Last Resort Will Always Exist
I basically agree that payday loans serve a purpose and something serving that purpose is always going to exist.  Hey its better than a actual loan shark.  At least "Cash Store" won't literally break your kneecaps.

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Free Cinderella BluRay via Walmart for NEW TopCashBack Members


New members of TopCashBack can now get a Free copy of the Cinderella Blu-Ray.   If you buy the movie at Walmart for $19-20 you can then get $22 cashback from TopCashBack.

visit the :
Walmart Freebies page at TopCashback

This deal is only for NEW members of TopCashBack.

Yes thats a referral link so if you follow my link there I'll get a referral bonus from TopCashBack.


edit :  I should also point out that this is the NEW Cinderella movie from 2015.

Here's the deal as pasted off the TopCashBack page :

Visit Walmart through TopCashback, pre-order one Cinderella Blu-ray DVD while it's priced at any figure between $19 and $20 and within seven days $22 cashback will post in your TopCashback account. 

Walmart's offering free shipping on the purchase or, if you want to get your hands on the movie faster, there's also free in-store pick-up at any of its many locations from the movie's official DVD release date on Tuesday, Septmeber 15 (next week). The $22 should cover the cost of the DVD while it's priced between $19 and $20 and any sales tax you may possibly incur, effectively making this beloved classic fairytale the ultimate fantasy freebie.

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September 10, 2015

$20 Shutterfly Credit After Using Visa Checkout For a Purchase - YMMV

Notice : Three different people have commented that they are not getting the credit for this deal.  It may not be working properly.   If you've tried to use it then I'd recommend escalating the request to customer support at Shutterfly and Visa to request resolution. - update added 9/28

Visa Checkout has a promotion right now with Shutterfly where they'll email you a $20 credit for Shutterfly if you use Visa Checkout to make a Shutterfly purchase.

The deal is good for orders made Sept. 1st till Nov. 3rd.    You'll get the $20 promo code via email after using Visa Checkout for your purchase.

They don't seem to cite any minimum purchase requirement or other requirements for the initial purchase using Visa Checkout.  I'm assuming / hoping then that you can use a promocode for a free photo book or similar and then pay for shipping using Visa checkout to qualify for that $20 promo.   However I haven't verified that yet.


The details are below:


Annoyingly their website wouldn't let me copy/paste the text so I took a screenshot and above is a graphic.


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September 9, 2015

Citi ThankYou Points Gift Card Options


I got a Citi ThankYou Premier card a few months back because they had a promotional deal to get 50,000 points after spending $3000 in 3 months.    I've met the required spend and now I've got my points.    They have a few options to use the points.   The best option is to book travel through Citi which gets you about 1.25¢ per point.    I plan to hang on to my points for the time being to maybe use them for future travel.     My backup choice to cash out the points is to get gift cards.   Gift cards aren't as good as cash but they could be close to it if you get a card for a merchant you'd shop at anyway.   Gift cards seem to be generally 1¢ per point on ThankYou rewards so 2500 points gets you $25 in gift cards.


Here is a simple copy / pasted list of all the gift cards you can get with ThankYou points as of September 8th.


1-800-FLOWERS(R)
American Eagle Outfitters
Avis(R)
Barnes & Noble
Bath & Body Works®
Bed Bath & Beyond®
Best Buy®
Bloomingdale's
Brinker International®
Brooks Brothers
Budget(R)
Buffalo Wild Wings
Build-A-Bear Workshop(R)
CVS/pharmacy®
Cabela's
Carnival Cruise Lines(R)
Cheesecake Factory
Citi Bike
Cracker Barrel
Darden Restaurants®, Inc.
Dean & Deluca
Destination Maternity(R)
Dillard's
EXPRESS
Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Foot Locker
Gap
Gilt
Hyatt Hotels & Resorts(R)
Kohl's
L.L.Bean
Landry's Restaurants Inc
Lands' End(R)
Legal Sea Foods
Lowe's®
Macy's
Mandarin Oriental
National OurEnergy
Nike
Omaha Steaks(R)
Panera Bread®
Papa John's
Red Door Spas
Red Robin
Regal Entertainment
Regis Salon
Restoration Hardware
Royal Caribbean International(R)
Ruth's Chris Steak House
Saks Fifth Avenue
Sears
Sephora(R)
Sports Authority(R)
Staples(R)
Starbucks
Sunglass Hut
T.J. Maxx/Marshalls/HomeGoods
TGI Fridays™
Target
The Childrens Place
The Home Depot®
The Limited
Tourneau
Victoria's Secret
Walmart
Williams-Sonoma(R) Inc.
iTunes



The list is going to change over time but they don't seem to change it too frequently.   I bolded a few merchants that would be practical choices for lots of people.

There is a lot of variety there and if you do choose to cash out points with gift cards then you can likely find something valuable to you.


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