January 31, 2016

How To Get Free Stuff From Sears and Kmart SYW Weekly Member Deals

I previously discussed how  I Got $165 Worth of Stuff at Sears / Kmart for $37 using Shop Your Way (SYW).    You can use SYW deals to get free stuff if you use the points to buy stuff you'd need anyway.  

Here are the steps you can use for free stuff ;

1. Sign up for SYW.  Its free.
2. Find a good cashback deal for Sears & Kmart.    You can use Cashbackmonitor.com  Right now Discover Deals offers 5% back for either store and eBates offers 3% as examples.
3. Look around the Kmart and Sears sites to find something you need or would buy normally that is a good price.  Household stuff you buy regularly like paper towels or soap might be a safe bet at Kmart.   You can also find good deals on clothing at Sears.      Make sure you can either pick up the item in store conveniently or that they offer shipping.  
4. Watch the weekly member deals at Sears and Kmart for 100% points items.   You'll want to find something that is useful to you in some way.   Don't worry about the prices paid since the plan is to get this stuff for free after the points.  The promotional points usually expire in a relatively short period (30 days commonly) so you'll need to use them quickly.
5.  Once you've found something worth getting for 100% at either store you can buy it.   If you want shipping then look to buy >$35 to take advantage of free shipping.    Use the cashback deal from step #2 as well for extra cash back.
6. After you've bought the 100% points items from step #5 you should get your points.
7. Take your points from 6 and use them to buy an item you identified in step 3.

Lets run through an example...
1. I'm already a SYW member.
2. I would use the Discover deal for 5%.
3. I will buy some of the paper towels at Kmart.  They are $8.99 for 8 rolls which is a competitive price.
4. I see various phone accessory items at Kmart and Sears right now.   Among the list of 100% points items I might want a car charger for $14.99 and battery backup for $12.99.   Thats $27.98 and it looks like both qualify for free shipping.
5. I go to Discover Deals and follow their link to get 5% cash back.  I then go to Sears and buy both items with my Discover credit card.
6. I get credited $27.98 in points that will expire in 30 days.
7. I go through Discover Deals use the $27.98 in points plus and $7.98 with my Discover card I buy 4 of the paper towel packs for $35.96.

I spent $35.96 on my Discover card.    I will get $2.15 cash back.   Thats a net cost of $33.81.   I get 32 rolls of paper towels, a car charger and a phone USB backup battery.    You'd also get SYW some points from the paper towel purchase to use on a future purchase.

Note thats just an example to illustrate how it works.

Keys to making it work well :
1. Make sure you identify stuff you need and would buy anyway at Sears and Kmart for good prices.   If those paper towels are 25% cheaper at Winco then this isn't such a good deal because you should just buy them at Winco.
2. Don't bother unless the 100% points items in the weekly deals are something you want, or can make some use, gift to someone,  or resell.    I don't need or want a phone backup battery personally.   I don't know anyone really who'd want it as a gift and I doubt I could resell for much.  So I wouldn't actually buy that item myself.    
3. The SYW program also has pretty frequent promotions with coupons and free points deals.   You can try and combine those with the basic strategy above.  Whether or not deals can combine will vary and I'm not sure what rules they apply for that.

Additional things to consider:
If you find a particularly compelling deal at the weekly deals that isn't 100% points back but still a great buy then it might be worth doing.    Depends on what they're selling and if you need it or not.   For example, they've got Nutribullet 8 piece sets for $79.99 with $20 points back.   That $79.99 seems to be the standard price and the $20 is basically 25% off.  If you're looking to buy one of these anyway then this is a good deal for you.


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

January 29, 2016

Best of Blogs for Week of January 29th

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 nifty calculator that shows Who Makes Up the Workforce, by Year and Age? 1962-2015

DoughRoller has a basic comparison of tax software with Comparing The 5 Best Tax Software Programs
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January 28, 2016

Craigslist & Zillow Rental Comps for January 2016

After checking rental comps on Rentometer.com I've decided to stop using that service.   Their data seems stagnant (at least for 3 of 5 of our properties.)     I'm going to now instead use Zillow.com and Craigslist.com to check rental comps.

Here's the Zillow :

Zestimate
A $1,500
B $1,400
E $1,675

Here is Craigslist :

sample median 10% floor
A : 3 bed house 31 $2,000 $1,300
B : 3 bed house 59 $1,450 $900
C : 1 bed apt 87 $620 $525
D: 1 bed apt 171 $700 $495
E : 3 bed house 33 $2,200 $1,500

This is the first time I'm checking rental comp from these sources so theres no previous data to run comparisons on.

For Zillow I just check the Rent Zestimate figure for the single family homes.

Checking comps on Craigslist is much more involved.   I have to pull up the housing search, center the property and search for the number of bedrooms.   Then I also limit it to similar style properties (houses vs apartments) and designate if we do or don't take pets.   Then I have to do a little trial and error to see where the median and bottom 10% rent levels fall.  I look at the total number of properties for rent and then find the price level below which 50% and 10% of the listings fall.  For example if there are 59 units then I try and find the price point where ~30 are above and blow for median and then about 6 units are below for the bottom 10%.

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January 26, 2016

TopCashBack Friend Referral Bonus is $20.16

If you have any friends that could benefit from joining TopCashBack then you can get $20.16 by referring them.

Follow my referral link to find out how.

If you aren't a member then check out their site.   Its pretty competitive with other cashback shopping portals like Ebates.


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

Current Discounts & Cash Back Deals at Discover Deals - January 2016


Below is the current list of offers for Discover Deals shopping portal.   I just did a copy and paste of all the offers listed and then reformatted it a little bit to sort by merchant name.

This list changes over time and is likely to become out of date before too long.  

 1800Flowers.com 20% off for Valentine's Day
 Ann Taylor online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
 Athleta online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
 Atlantis and More Bahamas Resorts 5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
 Aveda online Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
 Azamara Club Cruises® 5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
 Barnes & Noble online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
 BestBuy.com Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
 Bliss online Earn 15% Cashback Bonus
 Bloomingdale's online Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
 Bumble and bumble online Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
 CB2 online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
 Celebrity Cruises 5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk 
 Cheryl & Co. 20% off your purchase of $49 or more
 Claire's 20% off one regular priced item
 Columbia online Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
 Cookies by Design 15% off your purchase
 Darphin online Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
 Dunham's Sports 20% off one regular-priced item
 Edible Arrangements 15% off your total purchase
 Enterprise Save 5% plus a free upgrade
 Expedia $50 off $500 Flight + Hotel package
 Fairmont Hotels & Resorts 5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
 Fannie May 15% off your purchase
 Finish Line online Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
 Fruitbouquets.com 15% off your purchase
 FTD online Earn 25% Cashback Bonus
 GNC online Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
 Gymboree 20% off $40+
 Hertz Save up to 25% + $5 off per day, up to $30, on your car rental
 Hobby Lobby 40% off one item
 Homedepot.com Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
 Icing 20% off
 Karisma Resorts 5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
 L.L.Bean online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
 Lancome online Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
 LivingSocial online Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
 Lobster Gram Free shipping on purchase of $150 or more
 Lord & Taylor online Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
 National Car Rental Save up-to 25% and get a free weekend day
 Norwegian Cruise Line 10% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
 priceline.com Save up to 60% with Express Deals® hotels
 Regent Seven Seas Cruises 5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
 Royal Caribbean International 5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
 Saks Off 5th online Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
 Sam's Club Get a gift card worth up to $25
 Shoes.com Earn 15% Cashback Bonus
 ShoeSource 10% off Payless
 Toshiba online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
 UGG online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus
 Van Heusen Save $10 on purchase of $60 or more
 Viking River Cruises 5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk
 Zales online Earn 10% Cashback Bonus
1800Baskets.com Earn 20% Cashback Bonus 
1800CONTACTS.com Earn 10% Cashback Bonus 
1800Flowers.com Earn 10% Cashback Bonus 
Abt.com Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
ACE Hardware online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Advance Auto Parts online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Anthropologie online Earn 10% Cashback Bonus 
Apple online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Auntie Anne's Buy any flavor Pretzel Nuggets, get a free pretzel 
AutoZone online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Avalon Waterways® 5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk 
Avis $25 off a weekly rental 
Avis Free upgrade 
Avis  Free weekend day 
Avon 10% off your purchase of $40 or more 
Backcountry.com Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Banana Republic online Earn 10% Cashback Bonus 
Bass Pro Shops online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Bath & Body Works Save 20% online 
Bed Bath & Beyond online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Blue Nile 10% off jewelry 
Bobbi Brown Cosmetics online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Brookstone.com Earn 10% Cashback Bonus 
Budget $15 off weekend rental 
Budget $20 off a weekly rental 
Budget Free upgrade 
buybuy BABY online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Carnival Cruise Line® 5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk 
Carter's babies and kids 20% off your purchase of $40 or more 
CheapOAir.com $25 off Service Fees on flights for 2+ passengers 
Chuck E. Cheese's $29.99 for a large 1-topping pizza, 4 drinks and 50 tokens 
Clinique online Earn 10% Cashback Bonus 
Coach online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Crate & Barrel online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Crazy 8 20% off your purchase of $40 or more 
Crystal Cruises® 5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk 
Cunard Line® 5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk 
Dell 10% off PCs, tablets, and more 
Dell Home online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Dell Small Business online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Dillard's online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
drugstore.com Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Eddie Bauer online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Estee Lauder online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Express online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Foot Locker online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
GAP online Earn 10% Cashback Bonus 
Globus® 5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk 
Godiva online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Groupon online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Guitar Center online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
H&R Block online Earn 20% Cashback Bonus 
Hard Rock Resorts Caribbean 10% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk 
Hard Rock Resorts Mexico 10% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk 
Holland America Line® 5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk 
Home Decorators Collection online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Hotels.com Save 5% on select hotels 
Hotwire.com $20 off Hot Rate® Hotel booking of $100 or more 
HP.com Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
HSN online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
J.Crew Factory online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
J.Crew online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
JCPenney online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Jo Malone London online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Jockey outlet stores $10 off a purchase of $50 or more 
Jos. A. Bank online Earn 10% Cashback Bonus 
Kiehl's online Earn 10% Cashback Bonus 
Kmart online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Kohl's $10 off a purchase of $30 or more 
Kohl's online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
LAB SERIES online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Lands' End online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
LEGO online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Levi's online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
LOFT online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Macy's online Earn 10% Cashback Bonus 
Magazines.com Earn 25% Cashback Bonus 
Microsoft Store online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Motherhood Maternity online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
MSC Cruises 5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk 
Neiman Marcus Last Call online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Neiman Marcus online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Nike.com Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Nordstrom Rack online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Nordstrom.com Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Oceania Cruises 10% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk 
Office Depot® Office Max® online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
OLD NAVY online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Orbitz.com Earn 5% Cashback Bonus on Prepay Hotels 
Origins online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
OshKosh B'gosh 20% off your purchase of $40 or more 
Overstock.com 5% off your purchase 
Palace Resorts® 5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk 
Panasonic online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
papajohns.com 25% off 
PersonalCreations.com Earn 20% Cashback Bonus
petco.com Earn 10% Cashback Bonus 
PetSmart online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Pier 1 Imports online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Prescriptives online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Princess Cruises 10% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk 
ProFlowers online Earn 25% Cashback Bonus 
PUMA online Earn 10% Cashback Bonus 
Puritan's Pride $10 off $50 purchase
QVC online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Ralph Lauren online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Saks Fifth Avenue online Earn 10% Cashback Bonus 
Sam's Club online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Samsung online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Sears $25 off a Kenmore® appliance purchase of $499 or more 
Sears online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Sephora online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Shop.NHL.com 10% off 
Smashbox online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Starbucks online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Sweet Tomatoes 15% off entire check 
The Body Shop online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
The Limited 40% off a $75 purchase 
The Limited online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
The New York Times Wine Club Sampler Club for $59.95 
The North Face online Earn 10% Cashback Bonus 
The Popcorn Factory Popcorn Factory 20% off your purchase of $49 or more at 
The Sports Authority online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Timberland Factory Stores 10% off $100 
Tory Burch online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Trafalgar 10% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk 
TurboTax Save up to $20 
Ulta Beauty online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Under Armour online Earn 15% Cashback Bonus 
Universal Studios Resort 5% Cashback Bonus through Cruise & Vacation Desk 
Vacation Weddings 5% Cashback Bonus 
Vera Bradley online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Victoria's Secret online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Vision Direct online Earn 15% Cashback Bonus 
Vitamin Shoppe $10 off $50+ purchase plus free shipping 
Walgreens online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
Walgreens.com 30% off contacts + free shipping 
Walmart online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 
White House Black Market online Earn 5% Cashback Bonus 

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January 24, 2016

Rental Comp Data for January 2015 ... I No Longer Trust Rentometer Data

I've been tracking comp data for our rentals via Rentometer.com roughly quarterly when I remember.   I'm however now about to give up on Rentometer.    The last time I checked was August and the data I looked up today is completely unchanged for 3 of our 5 properties.

Here's the January 2016 data :

A B C D E
2bed 3bed 1bed 1bed 3bed
house house apt apt house
10% $766 $766 $374 $409 $1,014
20% $865 $847 $411 $450 $1,099
median $1,000 $976 $490 $565 $1,225
80% $1,245 $1,153 $555 $609 $1,424
90% $1,345 $1,233 $592 $650 $1,509
 # prop                34               35               34               35               35
 dist              0.5             1.3             0.9             1.8             0.4

Properties A, C & E are exactly the same in all points compared to August and that can't be valid.   I know for a fact that rents for the areas that A & E are in are going up pretty fast.


I'll probably switch to using Zillow.com and/or Craigslist..com    Zillow just gives their Rent Zestimate which is just a single dollar estimate of rental value.   But it doesn't seem to handle the mult-plex properties too well since it doesn't seem to cite rents for individual apartments.   It works well enough for the single family homes though.

Zestimate numbers today for the SFH are :

Zestimate
A $1,500
B $1,400
E $1,675

Plus I can get a lot better filtering on Craigslist so it will be better.    It takes a lot longer to do such comp checks on Craigslist however which is why I've liked to use the simple / easy test on Rentometer.


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January 22, 2016

Best of Blogs for Week of January 22nd

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

MyMoneyBlog shares Vanguard Mutual Fund Expense Ratio Change History
Going from 0.9% to ~0.2% doesn't seem like a huge leap but it could add up to ~20% more money over 30 years.

TheBigPicture discusses risk with Crashes, Terrorists, and Sharks, Oh My!

The Simple Dollar tells us How to Save Money with a Video Gaming Hobby

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January 15, 2016

Best of Blogs for Week of January 15th

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

MyMoneyBlog shares the Investment Returns Ranked by Asset Class 1996-2015
as created by Callan associates

MMB also lists Five Ways To Get a Free Credit Score (No Trials!)

The Simple Dollar lists Six Basic Personal Finance Facts People Should Know (but Constantly Get Wrong)

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January 14, 2016

Is AAA Life Insurance a Good Deal?


I received an offer in the mail to buy AAA group life insurance.    The rates are pictured to the right.

That image is probably too small to read as shown but I'll cite some example prices.

$300k of coverage rates :

18-34 year old male (non-nicotine user) for $31.24 per month.
40-44 year old female is $31.57
50-54 year old male nicotine user at $266.92
70-74 year old female at $416.34

I went to Term4Sale.com to get some example quotes and this is the cheapest option from A+ rated insurers :

20 year old male for $14.70 a month
34 year old male at $15.66
40 year old female $17.82
44 year old female $25.93
50 year old male nicotine user $182.86
54 year old male nicotine user $266.85
74 year old female gave no options available.

Pretty much across the board, the AAA group rates are higher for the age groups I looked at.
Of course the quotes on Term4Sale are based on good health so your exact rate may differ depending on the details.   The AAA insurance offering does say they don't require an exam and they only as a few basic health questions.    AAA does also have options for people in their 70's which I didn't find on Term4Sale.  

It pays to shop around for this kind of thing.

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January 12, 2016

ShopYourWay Deals for $10 or $15 Back and 100% Points Items at Sears


ShopYourWay Everwhere site features several merchants that can get you $15 back in the points during the month of January after you spend $15 or more..    Partners include :   Groupon, Fandango, Dollar Tree, Diapers.com, Old Navy, Office Depot, Staples, Carters, GameStop, REI, Petco, Petsmart and others.       If you had any thing to buy at these merchants then using the SYW portal will get you some free extra points.

This week they also have $10 back on Chaps, Rakuten, Vans & Liz Claiborne brands with ShopYourWay when you spend $10.      Thats in the weekly new brands deal. Offer good for 1/10 to 1/16 only.

For the $10 and $15 deals the terms say that : Purchase requirement before taxes and after gift card payments and other discounts and must be made in a single transaction.  and Points may take up to 45 days to be awarded to member account.


Sears has a number of items which will get you 100% points back.      They have several phone charging accessories like cables, 12V to USB car chargers and a few batteries.
See the SYW Weekly Member Deals for all the discounts.
This is kind of like a free after rebate deal but you get the purchase price refunded in points.   The points do however have a relatively short expiration date.    Generally they have free ship to store but ship to home availability may vary.   The 100% back items bought at Sears can also be stacked with other cashback portals.   Discover Deals gives 5% back at Sears for example.

If you're interested any of these SYW deals then make sure you've got a good use for points at Sears or Kmart.   Buying phone cables to get free points and then not having anything good to use for those points isn't going to save you money in the end.   Also be aware of the expiration periods for the points deals.


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

January 10, 2016

I made $2469 and 3 Hotel nights in Credit Card Rewards Total for 2015

We did pretty good on our credit card rewards this year.   Total rewards were $2469 and enough points at IHG for 3 hotel nights.

Here is the list of cards, rewards and spending :

bonus total spend
Amex blue $200 $215 $1,370
Usbank Cash+ $100 $139 $1,226
Fidelity $384 $19,178
SallieMae $773 $24,271
Costco $49 $5,033
Citi Premier $500 $550 $3,452
Chase freedom $218 $2,812
Chase IHG 3 nights $1,024
Discover $141 $3,308
$2,469 $61,674

In total I got 4% back on the spending on our cards.     Plus the 3 nights of hotel points is worth a good $300 to $600 which we'll use eventually.

I signed up for 3 cards in April.    Amex Blue Cash, US Bank Cash+ and Chase IHG
Then later on in June I got a Citi ThankYou Premier card with 50k bonus points.

Amex had a $200 bonus and US Bank was $100.   The IHG card gave me enough points for 3 hotel nights.   The Citi ThankYou Premier card got me $550 worth of gift cards.    I could have hung on to the ThankYou points and gotten about $687 in value if I'd used them for travel.  But we don't have any travel plans and I'm going to want to cancel that card soon since its got a $95 annual fee.  So I decided to just cash out and not worry.

In April my fico was 837 and its now at 825.   It hit a low of 812 in June.   I certainly took a ding on the score short term after signing up for the 4 new cards but it recovered.   And any score over 800 is still very good, so its not as if it hurt me.

I tried my best to maximize 5% categories on the cards.    We use Salliemae for its 5% at Amazon, grocery & gas.   But those categories max at $750, 250 and 250 of spending respectively each month.   Other than that I used the US Bank Cash+ for its cell phone 5% category.    The Chase Freedom, Discover and Citi Dividend cards all have rotating 5% promotional categories each quarter.   I didn't get a ton off those in general.  However in Q4 Chase had 10% back on Amazon so I maximized that one.

With $61,674 total spending I could have gotten $1233 if we'd just used the 2% cash back Fidelity Amex.   So the extra work of juggling cards and signing up for bonuses more than doubled our rewards.  

We did spend a lot.    $61k is a lot of money to put on credit cards and most people aren't going to be spending that much.    On the other hand the best return was on the new card bonuses and you don't need to spend a ton to qualify for those.   If you spend more like $1000 a month you could have signed up for the same cards I did and ended up making around $1000 total rewards and bonuses.
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January 8, 2016

Best of Blogs for Week of January 8th

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 shows us The Biggest Public Company in Every US State

The Simple Dollar tells us that For-Profit Colleges Aren’t Worth the Price

Doughroller reports the new 2016 Federal Income Tax Brackets, Deductions, and Exemption Limits
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$20 eBay Gift Card Credit For Free Using $100 for $95 Deals

UPDATE 4/28/16 :   eBay is no longer allowing you to buy their gift cards using gift cards.  

Today eBay has a deal to get a $100 gift card for $95.    That doesn't seem to spectacular as its only 5% off.   But... you can use gift cards to buy this.   AND... you can do it again next time they have a deal... and again... and again.. By doing this you can make $5 in eBay gift card balance every time they have such a sale.   So far as I've done it 4 times on Dec. 23rd, 27th, 29th and now January 8th.  My original $95 is now worth $115.   As long as they keep doing it there is no reason I can't keep getting $5 free every time.

I found the deals posted on Fatwallet.   Todays deal is posted there.     If you watch Fatwallet you'll see the $100 for $95 deals posted.   It only then takes a minute or two to go buy a card.

Of course you do have to start with $95 and you've got to have a reason to want credit at eBay.   They do have a variety of gift cards from other merchants (Target, Home Depot, Sears, etc) to buy so that could be a good use for you if you don't want to buy merchandise at eBay.

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