Ronco Showtime Rotisserie Grill - $65

The Ronco Showtime Rotesserrie Oven is on sale at $65.  Free Shipping


Start your purchase from Top Cashback and get 10% back as well!  

Don't have Top Cashback?  Sign up here for free.   They usually have the best cashback percentages (even better than Ebates) although it take a little longer to get your money.


I don't actually know if this is a great product, but I do remember watching their infomercials every sunday morning growing up and I always wanted to just "Set it and Forget It"!  It seemed like the machine could do anything and it all looked so tasty!  You know what I'm talking about JK.

Here is a youtube in case you've never seen it


In case you remember the old informercials, this is a great book called "But Wait, There's More" about the history of informercials and Ron Pepeil.  You can buy it for about $5 including shipping.

Banana Republic - 30% off + 30% off with Banana Republic Credit Card

If you are a Banana Republic credit card holder, use coupon codes BRSPRCARD and SPRING30 and both will take off 30% off your order and are stackable.

bananarepublic.com

Free shipping on order over $50


Start your purchase from Top Cashback and get 5% back as well!  

Don't have Top Cashback?  Sign up here for free.   They usually have the best cashback percentages (even better than Ebates) although it take a little longer to get your money.

This $60 pair of pants went down to $29.15 with free shipping.  You would still get another 5% back for topcashback, which would take off about $1.50 from the price.  The banana republic credit card will also get you 4% back towards a banana republic gift card

Advance Auto Parts $50 off a $100 Order

Use coupon code DOW12.  If you are one of the first 500 people, you will get $50 off.  If you are one of the first 1,000 people you will get $40 off and if you are one of the first 2,000 people you will get 30% off everything.

Start your purchase from Top Cashback and get up to 8% back as well!  

Don't have Top Cashback?  Sign up here for free.   They usually have the best cashback percentages (even better than Ebates) although it take a little longer to get your money.

Starbucks - $5 for $10 Credit Groupon

Update: The deal is now live.  You need to redeem the gift card here once you buy it.


It is unclear exactly when this will go live (midnight tonight?), but it is not live as of 10pm.  Either way, you can get a $10 credit to Starbucks for $5

Sign up for Groupon here.

Start your purchase from Top Cashback and get up to 15% back as well!  

Don't have Top Cashback?  Sign up here for free.   They usually have the best cashback percentages (even better than Ebates) although it take a little longer to get your money.

$10 in Best Buy Rewards for a $10 Purchase - Facebook Required

If you like Best Buy's App on Facebook and then go to the Best Buy page from there you will get 500 Best Buy rewards points for spending $10 or more.  The 500 points will get you $10 in Best Buy gift cards which can be used to buy Amazon gift cards at Best Buy.

I bought a 16GB USB for $9.99 and with tax it came out to $10.86.  

Credit Cards for Your Wallet - Quarter 2 2013

Disclaimer - The Discover offers are no longer valid.

Related Links

Best Credit Cards

Credit Card Sign Up Offers
New Credit Card - Bank of America Better Balance Rewards

These are the Credit and Debit cards that will be in my wallet from April 2013 through the end of June.

• American Express Blue Preferred – 6% cash-back at groceries (up to 6k a year), 3% at gas and 1% everywhere else.  There is a $75 annual fee so it is only for those who spend a lot of money on groceries.
• $150 sign up bonus for spending $1,000 in the first 3 months
• You get 6% on a gift cards you buy at the grocery store as well.

• Chase Freedom – 5% cash-back on Lowe's, Restaurants, and Movies.  $75 maximum cash back per quarter.
• Chase Freedom 2013 5% categories
• $100 sign up bonus for spending $500 in 90 days

• Discover it™ - 5% cash-back on home improvement stores.   $75 maximum cash back per quarter
• 5% cashback for Discover is actually more than 5%
• Discover 2013 5% categories - they haven't fully released them so I'll wait and see
• Not going to be in my wallet unless I know I am going to a home improvement store

• Bank of America Cash Rewards - 3.3% cash back on gas, 2.2% groceries and 1.1% on everything else with a Bank of America Checking Account (3%, 2% and 1% without their checking account).
• $100 sign up bonus for spending $500 in the first 60 days 

• Bank of America Better Balance Rewards - $25 back for every quarter that you pay your full bill or more than the minimum balance in every month.  Another $5 if you have a Bank of America Checking account.  eBanking Online Checking account has no monthly fees.
• Best Usage - Set up a monthly bill on this card and auto pay the full balance.  You never have to think about it and then every three months you will get $30.

• Fidelity American Express Investment Rewards – 2% cash-back everywhere else.
•  This card is always in my wallet

• Charles Schwab Check Card – Unlimited Free ATMs Withdrawals at every ATM in the world
• This card is always in my wallet

The Da Vinci Code - Free Ebook

Until March 24th, you can get The Da Vinci Code for free as an Ebook.


Thank you GW for the tip!

Sign up for 5% Categories Q2- Chase Freedom, Discover It and Citi Dividend

Disclaimer - The Discover offers are no longer valid.

It's time to sign up for Q2 categories to get 5% cashback.  The main feature from April until the end of June is Home Improvement

Chase Freedom - 5% back on up to $1,500 of purchases at restaurants, movies and Lowe's - Activate here
         Apply for Chase Freedom here - $100 Sign up bonus for spending $500 in 90 days

Discover It - 5% back on up to $1,500 at Home Improvement Stores - Activate here.
         Apply for Discover it™

Citi Dividend - 5% back at Home and Garden Stores, Home Furnishings and The Home Depot.            Activate here.  $300 max of 5% cashback per year (instead of $75 per quarter with the others).
           Apply for Citi Dividend - $100 Sign up bonus for spending $500 in 3 months.

Bank of America Better Balance Rewards - $100-$120 Free Yearly

Update - 10/12/2014 - It is confirmed that you can spend only $1 every month and still qualify for the $25-$30 quarterly reward.  

If you can't find another automatic bill to pay, please consider signing up for a $1 per month subscription to Oren's Money Saver via Paypal.  You will get a cheap and automatically generated monthly bill and help keep the blog going at the same time.  There is a subscription button at the top right of desktop site.  Thanks for the support!

Here are the exact words from the Better Balance Program rules:

How do I earn Quarterly Cash Rewards? 

For every calendar quarter in which your account is open with active charging privileges and 

all of your monthly payments are Qualifying Payments, you’ll earn a $25 Quarterly Cash 

Reward. Plus, you’ll get a $5 Customer Bonus if you also have a Qualifying Customer 

Account — that means up to $30 per quarter, or $120 a year

The definition of a qualifying payment from the same rules is:

Qualifying Payment — A monthly payment 

received on or before the Due Date, which 

is more than the Minimum Payment due; 

a payment in full received on or before the 

Due Date is a Qualifying Payment

This means that you can spend $1 every month (or less) for 3 months and get back $30.  Not too shabby!

Thank you to anonymous who pointed this out! 

Bank of America Better Balance Rewards Credit Card

Bank of America has introduced a new credit card called the Better Balance Rewards Card with a new interesting rewards system.  The rewards are not tied to how much you spend.  Instead, you get $25 for every quarter that you have paid more than your minimum balance.  You get another $5 per quarter if you have a different account with BofA.

Sign up for an eBanking Online Checking Account with no monthly fees and qualify for the extra $5 a month.  You can qualify for a free checking account if you have a direct deposit of $250 monthly or have a $1,500 balance


Your yearly rewards come out to $100 without a checking account and another $20 with a checking account.

The best system is to autopay a monthly bill with the card and have the credit card bill paid on autopay.  Once you have set it up, everything is automatic.  All you need to do is collect your money.


You can sign up for the Bank of America Better Balance Rewards card here.

There is no annual fee.


Thanks JC for the tip!

Free $5 Starbucks Gift Card for ATT Customers

If you register your ATT phone number and sign up for AT&T alerts and confirm your geolocation, you will get a text message that you will need to respond to.

After that a text message will be sent that explains how to get your $5 code.  The whole process takes about 5 minutes.

Earning and Using Frequent Flyer Miles - Part 3

This is part 3 of a series on Frequent flyer miles, part 1 was an introduction and part 2 explained how to find more information from other sources.

Airline Alliances

Almost all major airlines in the united states that have international flights are part of an alliance of airlines that include other airlines from all over the world.  There 3 main airline alliances are: Star Alliance, OneWorld Alliance and Sky Team Alliance

• Star Alliance - This is the largest alliance with 27 members.  The most important members for most readers are United Airlines, Turkish Airlines and US Airlines (at least until it merges with American Airlines) because they all fly to Israel somewhat regularly.
• Sky Team Alliance - The second largest with 19 member airlines.  The most important are probably Delta, KLM and Air France.
• One World Alliance - The smallest with only 13 member airlines.  The most important are probably American and British Airlines

What is an Alliance?

An alliance allows individual airlines to expand their reach without having to expand their fleets. Airlines partner together and share some aspects of their business. 

• The major advantage for passengers is that frequent flyer miles from one airline can usually be used to fly on partner airlines of the same alliance.  Let's take an example:

• United Airlines and Turkish Airlines are both part of the Star Alliance.  This means that I can use United Mileage Plus miles to fly on United Airlines flights or Turkish Airlines flights or any other member of the Star Alliance.

• The second great benefit is that one can miles earned from one partner can be credited to your account from the other partner.  Once again, here is an example.  If I fly on Turkish Air and I provide my United Airlines Mileage Plus number, I will earn United miles for my Turkish Air flight even though I didn't take a United flight. 

Here is a picture from my United Airlines account: You can see that I earned United Mileage plus miles for my Turkish Air flight

The most important point to take away is that you only need to have a frequent flyer account with one member of an alliance and combine all of your miles into one account.  In fact, using multiple accounts can be detrimental as I will explain.

For instance, in our scenario let's say I had a United account and a Turkish Airlines Miles and Smiles account.  If go on a United flight direct to Israel and a Turkish Airlines flight to Israel with a stop in Istambul, I would get 11,320 miles in my United account and 11,410 miles in my Turkish Airlines account.  If, however, I gave my United number for the same Turkish Airlines flight, I would earn all 22,730 miles in my United account and I am now much closer to earning my next flight through miles.  I can then use my United miles to fly on any Star Alliance partner with those miles (Booking will be explained in a later post).

Does it matter which Airline I choose within an Alliance?

We have now established that it is important to have at least one airline in each alliance that is your miles currency for that alliance.  Does it matter which airline I choose?  Big-time, and here's why.

Even though each airline is partners with the others in the alliance, they do not treat their miles equally.  Each airline has a different calculation of how many miles it "costs" to go to the destination of your choice.  

I will take flying to Israel as an example again.  (All of the following information can be found from milez.biz). Flying Economy with United miles usually costs 80,000 miles for a roundtrip ticket, while using Turkish Air miles usually costs 105,000 miles for the exact same flight.  If you goal is a free flight to Israel, you will get there 20% faster by collecting United miles than by collecting Turkish air miles.

In addition, many programs charge fuel surcharges for redeeming frequent flyer miles that can cost a few hundred extra dollars.  For example, within the One World Alliance, British Airways charges a major fuel surcharge for flying international on their Frequent flyer program, but doesn't charge a fuel surcharge for using their miles to fly within the US on American Airlines flights.  Their miles are not too valuable flying internationally, but can be quite valuable flying domestically.  American Airlines does not have a fuel surcharge for flying internationally, unless it is on a British Airlines flight.  Therefore, if you are collecting One World Alliance points and are interested in international flights, you are better off with American Airlines miles and if you are interested in domestic flights, you are better off with British Airways points.

For an example of how confusing surcharges can be and for much more detailed information, look at this dansdeals forums post.

Next week in part 4, I hope to talk about booking frequent flyer miles and to find available flights.

My Chase Freedom is not Looking Forward to Next Year

One of the best parts of my Chase Freedom card is that I have a Chase checking account connected to it which gives me Chase Exclusives.  The gist is that I always get at least 10 points on every purchase with no minimum.  They also give a 10% bonus on your points every month which effectively raises the rate to 1.1% instead of 1%.  The 10 extra points make it my card of choice for smaller purchases because % back can be very high  ($1 purchase will get you 11% back).

Today, I walked into a store in Queens to buy a coffee.  The store belongs to a certain ethnic minority that I belong to as well.  I tried to pay for it with my Chase Freedom card and I was rebuffed.  "$10 minimum for credit cards".  Epic fail.

This is a going to be a serious problem next year when I move to the New York area.

Unfortunately, you can't sign up for the extra 10 points anymore even though those who signed up are grandfathered in, but there have been reports that you still can get the 10% bonus, though it is now once a year instead of every month.

I would sign up now if you haven't already, who knows how long this will last.

Office 365 Free for 6 Months with .edu Email Address

Office 365 allows you to collaborate on projects with other users in the cloud and comes with Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, OneNote, Access and Publisher.

Now, you can get 3 months free with this link and another 3 months free when you share the offer on Facebook

Office 365 normally comes with 7GB of storage on Skydrive.  With this offer, you will get another 20GB of storage for free.  After the 6 months your storage limit will go back down to 7GB and you won't be able to add anything until you pay the regular fee or remove files to get under the 7GB limit.


Thank you YP for the tip!

Dunkin Donuts Half Price Coffee 3pm-7pm?

I bought Dunkin' Donuts coffee in Buffalo a couple days ago and it was about $0.85 instead of the regular $1.70 or so and I asked why and the lady told me that coffee is half price from 3pm to 7pm.  I asked if it was just this store or all Dunkin' Donuts and she said all of them until the end of March.

A quick google search doesn't come up with anybody mentioning this so either the information is mistaken, it is only this one store or I am breaking this news.  While that is nice to think about yourself, I highly doubt the third alternative.


Don't expect to go in and get the discount, but don't be shocked if you do.

Starbucks Espresso at Barnes and Noble - BOGO

Buy one Starbucks Espresso at Barnes and Noble and get a second one free with this printable coupon. Expires 3/31

Valid only until Noon

NY Times for Free - Getting Past the Paywall

The NY Times only allows you to read 10 articles a month.  Once you get past the 10 articles, you have to start paying to read anymore, but there is a way to get around that.  Here is what I do:


You can go to nytimes.com as many times as you want and the different categories (i.e. world, politics) as much as you want.  The clock only starts ticking when you click on an individual article.

When I find an article title that tickles my interest, I google nytimes and the title of the article and when you get to the article through google it doesn't count to your 10.  For example, you can google "nytimes ryan budget plan aims to roll back obama agenda" and it will come up as the first hit on google.  You can copy and paste directly from the times website so you don't have to type the whole title yourself.

\

Earning and Using Frequent Flyer Miles - Part 2

Last Sunday, I gave a basic introduction to Frequent Flyer Points and Miles in Part 1 and I hope to continue that tradition every Sunday until I run out of helpful hints and tips.


As I already mentioned, I don't consider myself an expert in travelling cheaply.  I don't travel more than a few times a year and they are usually short haul domestic flights.  If you want to get real expert information, I would suggest the following blogs and forums.  Their authors travel a lot and really know the ins and outs of the different programs and are able to make a living blogging about it.  Much of my knowledge comes from them as well:

Here are my favorites:

• dansdeals.com - My favorite blog to read by far is dansdeals.com.  I check his blog every day, often a few times a  day, and his knowledge is unquestioned.  His amazing skills are especially on display in knowing how deals can be used by orthodox jews, but it is certainly not limited to that. 
• He knows more about airlines than the employees of those same airlines.  This is just one example from this post
• -If the agents in the airport are all clueless you should direct them to look up “gg onestandby” in their system (they’ll know what this is) and look around lines 85-89 which spell out the details of the procedure for this award. (Parenthetically, when trying to get a gate pass to access a club when I’m not flying I sometimes need to tell an agent to look up “gg checkpoint line 53″ which instructs agents to give you a security pass for you and your guests to access post-security United and USAirways clubs even if you aren’t flying.) 
• If you can get past some of the airline jargon, you will learn a ton.
• forums.dansdeals.com - After that comes forums.dansdeals.com or DDF (Dans Deals Forums) where like minded people come to share their insights and stories.  Since it is a forum not every member is quite as trustworthy as Dan, but there is quite a bit of information that never makes it onto the dansdeals site that is still great.
• extrapackofpeanuts.com - His information is great, but his writing style is wonderful as well.
• boardingarea.com - This is one site that has a lot of bloggers that write for it.  My favorites are dealswelike and frequentmiler but I always go to boardingarea.com and check the latest posts to see if anything interests me.
• flyertalk.com - flyertalk has by far the most information out there.  It is a forum site with over 470,000 members who just about only talk about flying and miles.  It is an overwhelming site but if you can learn to navigate it, you will learn more there than anywhere else.  Once again, since it is a forums site, you can't trust everything everyone says but you will quickly learn which members know what they are talking about and they will correct any errors.

There are lots of other sites out there as well, but I don't personally read them regularly so I can't personally recommend them.  What I can say is read, read, read.  Knowledge is key to learning how to maximize your rewards.


If you missed last week, here is part 1

Also check out  Part 3 for a discussion on the big Airline alliances and how that affects how to collect points and miles.  Stay Tuned


In Part 4, I discuss finding frequent flyer flights

Last Week to Sign up for Chase Freedom, Citi Dividend and Discover It 5% Quarter 1 Categories

Disclaimer - The Discover offers are no longer valid.

You have until March 14th to sign up for Chase Freedom and Discover It quarter 1 categories


Chase Freedom Q1 Categories - Gas Stations, Drug Stores and Starbucks

Check whether you have already signed up here

You will still get 5% for purchases you made before you sign up, as long you sign up by March 14th 

Don't have a Chase Freedom? Sign up here 

Discover It Q1 Categories - Restaurants and Movies

You will not get 5% for purchases before you sign up

 Don't have a Discover it™? Sign up here 

Citi Dividend Q1 Categories - Drug Stores, Zappos, Fitness Clubs

You will not get 5% for purchases before you sign up

Don't have a Citi Dividend? Sign up here 

You have until the end of March to finish your 5% category spending.  Even if you haven't done your spending, you can still maximize your spending with Vanilla reloads at CVs for the Citi Dividend and Chase Freedom

$20 for $10 Office Depot Gift Card

Office Depot Groupon - $20 Credit for $10 at Office Depot

Don't have groupon?  Sign up here for free


Start your purchase from Top Cashback and get up to 15% back as well!  

Don't have Top Cashback?  Sign up here for free.   They usually have the best cashback percentages (even better than Ebates) although it take a little longer to get your money.

Kiva Loans - Credit Card Points for Free and Still Feel Good About Yourself?

Kiva Loans - Credit Card Points or Cashback for Free and Still Feel Good About Yourself?

Disclaimer - The Discover offers are no longer valid.

Update 5/6/13 - You can try Kiva with $25 free which can be used to make a loan.  Once it is paid back, the money should be yours to keep.  I have been using Kiva for about 4 months with a 0% default rate.  I always pick my loans based on loans that others from Mile Point have already invested in.


Kiva is a company that provides microfinancing around the world.  The basic idea is that many people provide loans in $25 increments that will provide one person with a loan of a few hundred or a few thousand dollars.  Group funding for people in poorer countries.

Kiva does not provide the lender with any interest on this loan so you will be paid back only your $25 (or $50, etc.) so it kind of makes you feel good that you are helping people start their own business.

Here's the selfish part:

Kiva loans can be funded via paypal, which means that the loans can be funded via credit card.

Most loans are paid back monthly and once you have been paid back $25, you are able to start the cycle again by relending that money.  Instead, you can also withdraw the money to paypal and from paypal to your checking account and fund your new loans via a credit card again.


The Fidelity American Express gives 2% cashback everywhere so you can potentially get 2% back on all of your loans and you also get your initial investment back as your loans are paid back.

I used my  Discover it™ this month because I get 5% back on all online transactions until the end of the year.

For example, if I am willing to lend $12,000 total, I can lend $1,000 every month and by the end of the year I will be getting $1,000 a month in repayments while lending a new $1,000 via credit card.  That's 1,000 points for free every month!

You can also use Kiva to make sure you hit your spending thresholds for bonuses when signing up for new credit cards.

What's the catch?

There is most definitely a catch here.  Borrowers can default on their loans and you could lose your investment.  That being said, the current default rate is 1% on average, which means you still should be making some money.  The more you lend to more sources, the more likely you are to be around the average.

Even more selfish part

When you invite someone to Kiva, you will get $25 towards a new loan or $25 free, so I would certainly appreciate you signing up through my link ;)

If you sign up, invite others and you will get the $25 bonus too.

Pesach Kitchen - A Cheap Alternative

Updated for 2013

Depending on who you ask, a Pesach kitchen is either the epitome of Jewish American excess or a luxury that is almost impossible to live without.  Usually, it depends on whether you have one.

A Pesach kitchen can be a great way to take a lot of stress out of Pesach preparations.  You no longer have to get the house ready and only then begin cooking, all in a very short time.

My wife was talking to a friend and she mentioned that she has a Pesach kitchen in her basement, which she put together for not so much money.  All you need is some freezer space, a folding table, a sink and a few kitchen products.

Thank you NT for the great tip!

Here is a way to have most of a Pesach kitchen for under $150

You can buy a convection toaster oven that fits a 9x13 pan and do a lot of your cooking and baking.  I have been told to avoid buying one that can fit 2 pans because the bottom pan often burns.

Here is the one we bought, for $80-

  Oster Digital Large Capacity Toaster Oven


- You can buy a double burner for about $70 and cook lots of meatballs and soup to freeze.

BroilKing PR-D1 Professional Double Burner Range 

This comes to a grand total of $150, including shipping.


If you order them now you will be able to get them in time to plan ahead for Pesach.

If you know my wife, you would know that we already have these products because Pesach isn't a time period of the year, it's a mindset.  Just don't tell her I told you that.

Lenovo Wireless Mouse $10

Disclaimer - The Discover offers are no longer valid.

Lenovo Wireless Mouse (Red) $10 after coupon code USP1MA416673



Start you purchase from the ShopDiscover Portal from the Discover It Credit Card™ and you will get another 5% cashback

.
Don't have a Discover It?  Sign up here or Start your purchase from Top Cashback and get 3% back as well!

Don't have Top Cashback?  Sign up here for free.   They usually have the best cashback percentages (even better than Ebates ) although it take a little longer to get your money.

Earning and Using Frequent Flyer Miles - Part 1

Since I started my blog I have rarely talked about miles even though I have been learning more and more about them.  I don't talk about it because I don't consider myself terribly knowledgeable on the subject.  Despite this, I have been reading a lot about them for the past year and I have learned some basic things that can be very helpful so I hope to have a series of posts about earning and collecting frequent flyer miles.

I am personally not a huge fan of miles.  I believe that cash is king for a number of reasons.  The most important is that I can get better value with cash and use the cash to buy airline tickets or anything else and if I have miles I can only use the miles for specific items like hotels and airlines.  Also, there are no blackout dates when you pay with cash.

That being said, I understand the feeling of "getting a vacation for free" when you book it with miles.  Also, there are times where you can get even greater value by using miles than by using cash, especially in business/first class and last minute tickets.

Earning and Using Frequent Flyer Miles - Part 1 - The Basics

Earning and using frequent flyer miles needs a litte preparation.  Here are a few items that are important to think about before you get into the game.

• Know where you plan on going most frequently.  For myself, this means Israel as I plan to move there and I am sure I will have to come back and forth a lot for occasions and to see family, but it can be whatever destination you want

• Find out which airlines fly there and how many miles it costs to get there.  Milez.biz is a great website to help you figure this all out.  Just put in your staring airport and destination and they will tell you all the airlines that fly there.

• Figure out the best way to earn miles for your airline of choice.  For instance, if you think that United miles are the best way to get to where you are going, getting certain Chase credit cards are very important, even more important than the United credit card.  If you think that British Airways miles is what you want then a card that earn Avios miles (British Airways currency) is the way to go.

Hopefully over the next few months, I will add a lot more information, starting from the most basic and slightly more advanced as we go.


Check out Part 2 which discusses which websites will help you find in more information

Also, check out Part 3, which discusses the various Airline alliances

In Part 4, I discuss finding frequent flyer flights

Lowe's $10 off a $50 Purchase

Lowe's $10 off a $50 in store purchase.