Use the code
85008OFF
at checkout to make the total $11.88 with free Prime shipping or free shipping on a $35 purchase. Has pretty good reviews, and looks like a fun gadget if you like that kind of thing.
Around here we love gadgets...
Friday, August 14, 2015
Lands End monogrammed backpack for less than the price of the ones I saw last week at Target...
Lands End is offering 50% off their backpacks with:
free monogramming
free shipping
lifetime guarantee
They start at $14.50 and go up to $25 for the biggest ones.
Use the code GMA at checkout and the pin number 2015.
Lands End Backpacks
free monogramming
free shipping
lifetime guarantee
They start at $14.50 and go up to $25 for the biggest ones.
Use the code GMA at checkout and the pin number 2015.
Lands End Backpacks
Airline Miles Credit cards - With link to apply for the latest one
So airline miles credit cards are my favorite kind of credit cards. Especially the kind that offer member perks, free checked bags, etc.
As I have stated before, my credit is not amazing. It is a high 690 or low 700 on a good day. And I have a bankruptcy on top of that! Why am I sharing this? Because I want people to know that it doesn't take perfect credit to get credit cards that can earn amazing perks.
I started with the US Airways credit card. I applied for it last summer and I declined. I applied for it last October. Declined again. In March after I used my tax return to pay off the emergency trip for my dad's brain surgery that was lingering on my cars, a friend sent me a text message telling me they were offering 50,000 bonus miles and I should apply. I laughed thinking it would never happen, but I tried again anyway. A hard pull is not so bad and the worst they can say is no.
I got an instant approval.
No one was more shocked than I was!!!
That card has now been replaced by an American Airlines card because of the US Airways/American Airlines merger, and that just got upgraded to a better card today when I logged in. I think it is now the American Airlines Silver or platinum maybe, but I don't know and I won't have the card for at least another week. The new card has higher annual fee, but offers no foreign transaction fees (handy if you are in a foreign country) and it reimburses your application for Global Entry so you don't have to wait in line at customs. A nice handy feature if you ask me because I hate customs.
Anyway, I just got approved for another card this week. Not as good, but still worth having and a good way to get your foot into the airline miles door if you want to get started. This card is the Starwood Preferred points card. These points can be transferred over to airline miles on a 1:1 transfer. It does take a bout 3 weeks from my understanding, so plan ahead if you plan to go that route. It requires a $3000 in 3 month spend, and then rewards you with 30,000 points.
But I don't have $3000 to spend on a credit card you say... well, that is where techniques come in. I pay my rent and my car payment and my utility bill and my cell phone bill and my internet bill with my credit cards, and then I send all of my money that I would use for those bills to my credit card companies. I then get airline miles or points This is AMEX, so it is a little more of a challenge to use, but it comes with other perks, like AMEX offers, a free Shoprunner membership, preferred and discounted concert ticket and other venue purchasing, etc. You can also use it for free after rebate items like the Staples deal today, and that helps because you get the money back in the form of a rebate check and can then pay the card back with the check. You can also use a service such as Plastique which allows you to pay any bill with any card for a 2.5% transaction fee. When you consider the price of air travel versus using miles, the transaction fee can be worth it. Here is the link to apply if you are interested, and I will post more as I find them:
The Starwood Preferred American Express Card
As I have stated before, my credit is not amazing. It is a high 690 or low 700 on a good day. And I have a bankruptcy on top of that! Why am I sharing this? Because I want people to know that it doesn't take perfect credit to get credit cards that can earn amazing perks.
I started with the US Airways credit card. I applied for it last summer and I declined. I applied for it last October. Declined again. In March after I used my tax return to pay off the emergency trip for my dad's brain surgery that was lingering on my cars, a friend sent me a text message telling me they were offering 50,000 bonus miles and I should apply. I laughed thinking it would never happen, but I tried again anyway. A hard pull is not so bad and the worst they can say is no.
I got an instant approval.
No one was more shocked than I was!!!
That card has now been replaced by an American Airlines card because of the US Airways/American Airlines merger, and that just got upgraded to a better card today when I logged in. I think it is now the American Airlines Silver or platinum maybe, but I don't know and I won't have the card for at least another week. The new card has higher annual fee, but offers no foreign transaction fees (handy if you are in a foreign country) and it reimburses your application for Global Entry so you don't have to wait in line at customs. A nice handy feature if you ask me because I hate customs.
Anyway, I just got approved for another card this week. Not as good, but still worth having and a good way to get your foot into the airline miles door if you want to get started. This card is the Starwood Preferred points card. These points can be transferred over to airline miles on a 1:1 transfer. It does take a bout 3 weeks from my understanding, so plan ahead if you plan to go that route. It requires a $3000 in 3 month spend, and then rewards you with 30,000 points.
But I don't have $3000 to spend on a credit card you say... well, that is where techniques come in. I pay my rent and my car payment and my utility bill and my cell phone bill and my internet bill with my credit cards, and then I send all of my money that I would use for those bills to my credit card companies. I then get airline miles or points This is AMEX, so it is a little more of a challenge to use, but it comes with other perks, like AMEX offers, a free Shoprunner membership, preferred and discounted concert ticket and other venue purchasing, etc. You can also use it for free after rebate items like the Staples deal today, and that helps because you get the money back in the form of a rebate check and can then pay the card back with the check. You can also use a service such as Plastique which allows you to pay any bill with any card for a 2.5% transaction fee. When you consider the price of air travel versus using miles, the transaction fee can be worth it. Here is the link to apply if you are interested, and I will post more as I find them:
The Starwood Preferred American Express Card
Introduction to the Price Book
I got this adorable notebook at Staples today using the Moleskine $5 off coupon that printed with my receipt from buying the FAR reams of paper.
This is going to be my new price book.
I haven't done a price book in a long time, and I realize it is high time to do so..
So, what is a price book?
This book is one of my favorite books of all time... (the image is clickable and will take you to Amazon if you want your own copy, and it is my affiliate link so it pays me something and costs you nothing extra) The Complete Tightwad Gazette. This lady was frugal way before it was ever fashionable. I have read her entire book from cover to cover and I loved all of it. I still use her Tightwad Gazette pizza dough recipe in fact, because it is the best.
This book is where we learn about the Price Book.
She made a list of every product she ever buys, broke it down by weight, and shopped at every store in her area to find the lowest price by weight for each item she uses. The last time I did this Sam's Club was the clear and overall winner, so I just abandoned the Price Book and started shopping there. I haven't done a comparison in my area, and I no longer shop at Sam's Club because I am not a fan of Wal-Mart and their policies, so I refuse to allow my money to support them in any way unless I have to (refer to the book Your Money or Your Life for more about that philosophy).
So, that is my plan with this notebook. I will be making a list of all the stuff we use regularly and figuring out where to buy it for the best possible price. It is the little things like this that save the most money long term. Simple things, like knowing which store offers the best deal for your hard-earned money.
Staples 4 reams of paper FAR + Moleskine $5 off coupon + Gap $25 off $50 in-store
Staples has a great deal on paper right now, whether you need it for yourself, or wish to buy it and donate it to a school.
The rebate limit is 4 reams of paper, and the price after rebate is .01 per ream.
My total price out of pocket was $30.45 and I will get back $28.17 via rebate because of taxes. If you have Staples rewards or a coupon, this deal is even better and becomes a money maker. If you have not done Staple rebates before, you can do them online, so nothing to mail, and super easy.
After I paid I got a printed coupon for the Gap deal that I wrote about last night (so if you wanted the Gap coupon to use in-store this would do it).
I also got a $10 off $30 for my next purchase at Staples, and a $5 off Moleskine coupon. I used the Moleskine coupon to buy a small black hard cover notebook tht I have a use for coming up in a future post, so keep your eyes open!
I don't kow if I will use the $10 off $30 yet, but I will be looking for a deal.
Even better? I used my airline miles credit card, so I will get 30 airline miles on American Airlines for doing this deal. Wanna get in on the airline miles action? I have a post coming up about that too.
Income Streams
So, income streams are a topic I like to think about often.
I do not like to be solely and completely reliant on any one source of income. It makes us slaves to the jobs we hold, and it creates an identity that is job-based instead of person-based. We are way moe than just the title we hold.
So, how do we expand our income streams when most of us work full time and have little time for anything else?
Here are my top suggestions:
1. Have more than one job.
But how??? I currently have three jobs. I balance these carefully. Two of my jobs are security guard jobs. I got my guard card and applied. One of them is a part time seasonal weekend kind of job. One of them only requires one shift in 6 months to stay employed, but will happily schedule me as often as I want to work. The third is full time 8 hours a day but flexible enough to accommodate my other jobs as needed. If one is lost, I can expand the others as necessary until I find a new job.
If you need help finding a job, I recommend the Indeed.com app. You can fill out your information, add your resume, and then apply to almost any job listed from your phone in ten seconds. You can do it anywhere, at anytime, and this way you never miss amazing job opportunities.
2. Invest in Dividend paying stocks.
Stocks that pay me money quarterly? Yes please. I reinvest my dividends, and I don't think about them, but they are there. .69 a share four times a year... not much at first, but keep buying with $25 here and $25 there and reinvesting that money, and pretty soon you have more than you thought you would.
3. Sell stuff on E-Bay or Etsy.
Many members of family have done this at some point or another. My sister buys and sells electronic gadgets, my dad used to do the same. I buy and sell purses and perfume, and dishes... scarves, Christmas ornaments, stuff that I know and love. It doesn't matter what you buy and sell, it just matters that you buy for a lot less than you sell for. I buy a lot of stuff at Savers and Goodwill. They have sales and if you know what you are doing it is easy to find some money just waiting to be made.
4. Write a book. Write an e-book.
I have not done this one yet. I want to!
5. Rebate.
Buy something, mail in the rebate, and wait for the check. I deposit my rebate checks and move that money to my investment account. When I have enough, I buy a share or two. I will include rebates here on my blog as I find them. It has been a while since I have done that, so bear with me!
6. Make Money Online
My friend Rachelle is the queen of this, and this is a link to her site:
Make Money Online Guide
I do not like to be solely and completely reliant on any one source of income. It makes us slaves to the jobs we hold, and it creates an identity that is job-based instead of person-based. We are way moe than just the title we hold.
So, how do we expand our income streams when most of us work full time and have little time for anything else?
Here are my top suggestions:
1. Have more than one job.
But how??? I currently have three jobs. I balance these carefully. Two of my jobs are security guard jobs. I got my guard card and applied. One of them is a part time seasonal weekend kind of job. One of them only requires one shift in 6 months to stay employed, but will happily schedule me as often as I want to work. The third is full time 8 hours a day but flexible enough to accommodate my other jobs as needed. If one is lost, I can expand the others as necessary until I find a new job.
If you need help finding a job, I recommend the Indeed.com app. You can fill out your information, add your resume, and then apply to almost any job listed from your phone in ten seconds. You can do it anywhere, at anytime, and this way you never miss amazing job opportunities.
2. Invest in Dividend paying stocks.
Stocks that pay me money quarterly? Yes please. I reinvest my dividends, and I don't think about them, but they are there. .69 a share four times a year... not much at first, but keep buying with $25 here and $25 there and reinvesting that money, and pretty soon you have more than you thought you would.
3. Sell stuff on E-Bay or Etsy.
Many members of family have done this at some point or another. My sister buys and sells electronic gadgets, my dad used to do the same. I buy and sell purses and perfume, and dishes... scarves, Christmas ornaments, stuff that I know and love. It doesn't matter what you buy and sell, it just matters that you buy for a lot less than you sell for. I buy a lot of stuff at Savers and Goodwill. They have sales and if you know what you are doing it is easy to find some money just waiting to be made.
4. Write a book. Write an e-book.
I have not done this one yet. I want to!
5. Rebate.
Buy something, mail in the rebate, and wait for the check. I deposit my rebate checks and move that money to my investment account. When I have enough, I buy a share or two. I will include rebates here on my blog as I find them. It has been a while since I have done that, so bear with me!
6. Make Money Online
My friend Rachelle is the queen of this, and this is a link to her site:
Make Money Online Guide
My Latest Stock Pick
I am a long term investor. I research a stock very thoroughly before I buy. I will not post stock picks very often. I don't buy very often. I never sell either.
My buy right now is ARLP.
ARLP is currently priced at $24.71 a share.
I bought some yesterday at $24.44 a share.
I like this stock. This is a coal sector stock that has taken the same market beating that allof the other coal stocks are taking right now. All this talk about green energy, natural gas, power companies switching over, government fines for coal burning power generators... they have all taken an immense toll.
This stock is different. Their contracts are all very long term. They have a very stable economic basis, they are not very far in debt, they own their assets.
They also have historically paid $10 a year in dividends. The dividends haven't stopped just because the stock price is taking a beating.
Even better... the insiders in this company are spending a lot of money buying their own stock. they believe in their own company so much that they think it is worth buying stock in, and for me, that is a great indicator that they aren't planning to go under anytime soon.
So combine a low buy in with a stable long term dividend paying stock, and yeah, I bought some shares.
My buy right now is ARLP.
ARLP is currently priced at $24.71 a share.
I bought some yesterday at $24.44 a share.
I like this stock. This is a coal sector stock that has taken the same market beating that allof the other coal stocks are taking right now. All this talk about green energy, natural gas, power companies switching over, government fines for coal burning power generators... they have all taken an immense toll.
This stock is different. Their contracts are all very long term. They have a very stable economic basis, they are not very far in debt, they own their assets.
They also have historically paid $10 a year in dividends. The dividends haven't stopped just because the stock price is taking a beating.
Even better... the insiders in this company are spending a lot of money buying their own stock. they believe in their own company so much that they think it is worth buying stock in, and for me, that is a great indicator that they aren't planning to go under anytime soon.
So combine a low buy in with a stable long term dividend paying stock, and yeah, I bought some shares.
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