New to the Site? Start Here!

Beginner's Guide Part 1 - Introduction

Beginner's Guide Part 2 - Maximize Savings Through Credit Cards

Beginner's Guide Part 3 - Savings Without Credit Cards

Beginner's Guide Part 4 - Manufactured Spend

Give $5 Starbucks Gift Card and Get $5 Starbucks Gift Card Free

Give $5 Starbucks Gift Card and Get $5 Starbucks Gift Card Free

You have to connect your Twitter account to your Starbucks Account.

Tweet-A-Coffee - Just follow the directions from "Get Started" on the link above and it will be obvious.

Twitter needed for this deal

The first 100,000 people to do it get a $5 gift card.

Update: I just got my email confirming my $5 gift card.  I only did it at 7pm so I assume it is still open, but I can't guarantee it.

Nikon D3200 24.2MP - $338

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site:  Amazon

This deal comes from digitalmonster.com which I am not personally familiar with so buy at your own risk.


NIkon D3200 24.2MP with 18-55mm Lens for $338



The same camera retails for $550 from Bestbuy



Don't forget to pick up a camera bag and SD Memory Card to go along with it. 

Unlimited Cashback! - Best Buy and Discover Card

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site:  Best Buy, Top Cashback, Raise, Discover it®

Update: This method no longer works.  Discover Deals no longer pays out for purchases at Best Buy made with gift cards.


This one is almost too good to be true.  In fact, it is too good to be true.  If people start doing it and corporate hears about it, this will be shut down.  Guaranteed.

What if you could get free merchandise from Best Buy and get paid for buying it?  Wouldn't that be nice?  Well, weirdly enough, you can.


Here is how it works:


1) Buy a gift card from Best Buy.  You can buy directly from Best Buy or from a company like Raise that sells discount gift cards.  If you buy from Raise make sure to start from Top Cashback  to get an extra 2% off the price.  Let's assume you are buying a $200 gift card.

• Either way, pay with your Discover it® card and get an extra 5% for every online purchase.

2) Use Shop Discover with your Discover Card to go to Best Buy and buy a new gift card for a slightly higher denomination.  In our example, let's pick a $200 gift card and a $5 gift card.

3) Pay for the new gift cards with your $200 gift card, which Best Buy allows.  This leaves you with a balance of $5 which you can pay for with your Discover Card.

4) You will get 5% from Shop Discover on the entire $205 purchase, not just the $5 portion you paid with your Discover Card.  In our scenario, you will get $10.25 into your Discover Account while you only spent $5.

5) Rinse and repeat with a slightly higher denomination.





Don't forget to sign up for Best Buy Rewards Zone to get an extra 2.5% on anything you buy at Best Buy towards a future purchase.

What to do with all your Best Buy Gift Cards?

1) Buy merchandise from Best Buy

2) Buy Kindle Gift Cards which can be used for any Amazon purchase

3) I haven't tried it yet for this, but it might work on Best Buy Visa Gift cards.  They are sold in $200 denominations with a $7 fee.

The higher the denomination you start with the quicker you accumulate more rewards.


I tried this with Top Cashback, Ebates and Ultimate Rewards from Chase and none of them worked when I tried.  Shop Discover worked twice.

$5 off an $80 Purchase at Raise.com

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site:  Top Cashback, Raise, 

Disclaimer - The Discover offers are no longer valid.

More Extreme Savings at Target

Raise.com sells discounted gift cards.  When you spend $80 or more and use Promo Code TREAT80, $5 will be knocked off the price.

Promo codes are one time use per account.


As you can see in the picture, I spent $75.65 for $83.85 worth of Target Gift cards.

I started my purchase at Top Cashback so I got another 2% of $75.65 back into my account.
I used my Discover it Credit Card because they offer 5% cashback for online purchases until the end of the year.
In addition, I will still be getting my 5% Target Red Card Discount when I use the gift cards, even though I won't be using my Target card.

Grand Total - I will end up paying $66.57 for $83.85 of Target money.  That's a discount of almost 21%!

I know I will spend money at Target so I wait for these promo codes and I always buy even though I don't need more Target money yet.  This way, I will always be getting a serious discount.

You can read more about Extreme Savings at Target at this post.

Starbucks Savings

For all those Starbucks lovers, there is one Starbucks gift card at a 10.5% discount.  It will cost $84.50 for a $100 gift card after the promo code for a discount of 15.5%.  Add 2% for Top Cashback and 5% for Discover and your price drops to $78.58 or a discount of almost 21.5%!  Grab it now before someone else does

Free Sample of Ovaltine - Facebook Needed

Free Sample of Ovaltine - Facebook Needed


This is when your fake facebook account comes in handy.


HT - Hey It's Free

Fresh Direct - $100 off $250 over 2 Orders

New Members only

$50 off your first 2 orders of $125.

Use Coupon Code DMAC49

Start your purchase from Top Cashback and get 12% cash back as well for new members to Fresh Direct!  

Don't have Top Cashback?  Sign up here for free. 

American Express and Staples - More Free Money!

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site:  Top Cashback

Go to your account online at AmericanExpress.com

Click on "Offers for you" at the bottom of the page

An offer of $25 off a $75 purchase from Staples will come up.

Once you click on the offer, it won't show up on your other American Express cards so you can only do it once.

You can buy a $100 visa gift card for $106.95 and the final price will be $81.95 after the $25 savings or $18 free!  You can then load this onto your Bluebird card at Walmart.

Keep in mind that this will not work on Staples eGift Cards since they are not sold directly from Staples.com

I bought my Visa Gift Card and immediately got an email confirming that I will get the credit.

Start your purchase from Top Cashback and get 3% cash back as well!  

Don't have Top Cashback?  Sign up here for free. 

United Mileage Plus and Sears.com - 16x Miles Per Dollar

United Mileage Plus members can get 12 miles per dollar spent at Sears.com until the end of Wednesday.  If you are a Mileage Plus cardholder you will get 16 miles per dollar spent.


Check out this post from Frequent Miler (I suggest reading his one daily post everyday) where he explains how best to maximize this deal.  He's got all the details there.

My Ideal Wallet - Quarter 4 2013

Related Links

Best Credit Cards

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

Disclaimer - The Discover offers are no longer valid.

These are the Credit and Debit cards that will either be in my wallet or never too far away from October 2013 through the end of the Year.

• 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 at Amazon.com and Select Department Stores like Sears and Macy's.  Walmart, Target and Membership Stores are excluded.
• $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 for any Online Purchase.   $75 maximum cash back per quarter.
• 5% cashback for Discover is actually more than 5%

• Citi Dividend - 5% cashback at Best Buy, Department Stores and Toy Stores
• Up to $6,000 of purchases a year instead of $1,500 a quarter (up to $300 cashback for the year).  Doesn't help me much since I've already used my entire $6,000 allotment
• $100 sign up bonus for spending $500 in 90 days.

• Chase Ink Classic (Business Card) - 5% cashback at Office Supply Stores, Cable, Phone (Landline or cell) and Internet bills.
• 20,000 Ultimate Rewards for spending $3,000 in 3 months.
• No annual Fee

• 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.
• 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.

• Bank of America Cash Rewards - 3.3% on Gas into a Bank of America Checking account - 4.5% if you have a Bank of America Privileges Card.

• 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

Sunday - Free Museums for Bank of America Card Holders

Bank of America Museums on Us program gives Bank of America credit card holders free access to select museums on the first Saturday and Sunday of the month.  October 5th and 6th are the dates for this month so that means tomorrow is a free day.

You need to have a credit card in the name of each person so you still have to pay for kids.

Sign up for email or text alerts to remind yourself of the dates here.


Here is a list of the museums in the New York/New Jersey area:

• NJ
• Liberty Science Center (Jersey City)
• Montclair Art Museum (Montclair)
• Morris Museum (Morristown)
• Newark Museum (Newark)
• NY
• Suffolk county Vanderbilt Museum (Centerport)
• Long Island Children's Museum (Garden City)
• Metropolitan Museum of Art (Manhattan)
• Staten Island Children's Museum (Staten Island)
• New York Historical Society (NYC)
• Whitney Museum of American Art (Manhattan)
• Brooklyn's Children Museum (Brooklyn)
• Queen's Museum of Art (Queens)
• Guggenheim Museum (Manhattan)
• Old Westbury Gardens (Old Westbury)
• Long Island Museum of American Art, History & Carraiges

No Annual Fee American Express Cards - Extra Promotions

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site:  Travelocity American Express, USAA Rewards American Express

American Express runs a lot of promotions throughout the year that apply to every American Express card you have and many times to Authorized users as well.

Authorized Users

As with every American Express promotion, if your card has a unique account number on the front of the card it is eligible for a separate promotion, even if it is an Authorized User on someone else's account.

Authorized users of American Express cards that are processed and issued by American Express will have unique account numbers.

Authorized users of American Express cards that are processed, but not issued by American Express will not have unique account numbers and you are therefore only eligible for one promotion per account.


An example using Visa is easier to understand.  Chase Freedom is issued by Chase and processed by Visa or Mastercard.  American Express can be either just the processor or also the issuer.  It would be the same as if you had a Visa Freedom card instead of a Chase Freedom.

No Annual Fee Cards

The best way to take advantage of promotions is to have many American Express cards and your best bet are cards without annual fees.

Here is a list of American Express cards that are both issued and processed by American Express and therefore are eligible for multiple bonuses per account.  For example, I am an authorized user on my wife's cards and she is an authorized user on my cards.

American Express Blue Everyday
Blue Sky
Hilton HHonors
American Express Blue
Old AMEX Blue


American Express limits you to 4 credit cards at a time so if you have no specific reason why you want a card with an annual fee you can limit yourself to these four.

Other Issuers Besides American Express

There is no limit to the number of cards you can have that are processed by American Express but issued by another bank.  However, you will only get one bonus per account.

These are all the examples I could find.  Please comment if you find any others.

The Travelocity® Rewards American Express® Card - The one exception - authorized users have separate account numbers so they will qualify for their own bonuses
Fidelity American Express x3 - There are 3 cards at that link.  Regular, 529 and Retirement
NBA American Express
USAA Rewards™ American Express®
Macy's American Express
Bank of America Accelerated Rewards American Express
Bloomingdales - must apply in store only
PenFed Travel
PenFed Defender
First National Bank of Omaha American Express Card

My next App-O-Rama will include many of these cards.  One day I hope to have the full set both in mine and my wife's name!

Dunkin' Donuts Gift Cards - 30% off - Raise.com

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site:  Top Cashback and Raise
Disclaimer - The Discover offers are no longer valid.

Related Post
Maximizing Spending at Target.com


For all those Dunkin' Donuts fans, here is a deal you don't want to miss.


Here are steps for maximizing your savings:

• Buy Gift Cards 
• I am consistently checking giftcardgranny.com for discounted target gift cards.  Right now you can find multiple Dunkin' Donuts gift cards for 16% off from Raise.com. This is the highest I've ever noticed for Dunkin' Donuts.

• Top Cashback - Get an extra 2% cashback by starting at Top Cashback.  16% is now up to 18%
• Promo Code - Use promo code RAISE60AF for an additional $10 off a $60 order.  The promo code is for new users only.

If you buy one $50 gift card and three $10 gift card, the price will be $67.15 after 16% discount.  $10 coupon code drops the order to $57.15.  2% cashback to Top Cashback brings the price to $56 for $80 worth of gift cards!  That's a savings of 30%!

Pay for the gift cards with your Discover Card and you will get 5% cashback since all online purchases qualify for 5% cashback this quarter with Discover.  That is an additional savings of $2.86.

These are eGift cards, but they can be used in store as well:  Here is a link from dunkindonunts.cashstar.com, the company sells eGift Cards.

Dunkin' Donuts eGift Cards are redeemable for food and merchandise at any participating Dunkin' Donuts location.


As of this post, there are 44 gift cards available at these prices.