Bargain Bastards

If you don’t already have at least 1 credit card that is gaining you cash back rewards then go to the bank right now and sign up for one. You are literally throwing away free money if you’re not using your credit cards for every purchase you make, no matter how small it is.

There is a catch to this though, you still need to only spend what you can afford. This is the biggest mistake people make when they get their first credit card, they run up huge bills thinking they can just pay close to the minimum amount and they end up paying way more for their purchases than they would have had they paid cash. Now considering most credit card interest rates are between 9-15% on average (yours may differ), you are going to do yourself no favors by carrying a balance over from month to month and it will totally negate the benefit of getting cash back on that card.

Most credit cards offer somewhere between 1-3% (some may go as high as 5%) cash back on purchases made using said card, so why not take advantage of that. Go about your normal monthly spending routine whether it’s bills, gas, food or even your mortgage if you can, but pay for all of it using your credit card. Every dollar you spend will gain you free money and in the long run it can really add up. Hell, even a hundred bucks a year is still $100 more than you had last year and you did absolutely no work to get it, you were just smart with your money which you should be anyways if you’re reading this site.

One of the best ways I’ve found to rack up the cash back bonuses is if you go out to dinner with a group of friends and you don’t split the bill and everyone else has cash, even if you have enough cash to cover it, don’t. Take all of your friends’ cash and put the entire bill on your credit card so you get the cash back on the entire bill. The only problem with this is that you have to remember that the money you’re getting from your friends needs to be applied to that credit card statement so don’t go and blow it all. Before I started doing this I had a friend that did it at another friend’s birthday dinner. We went to a Brazilian steak house with probably 15 people so after drinks and food the bill was around $1000, he put the entire thing on his card and we all gave him cash. Even with spending $1000 it’s not a huge cash back at 1% (or even 3%), but his bill cost him a little less than everyone else just for the fact that he signed that piece of paper in the end.

So if you think about it, over the course of an entire year if you put all of your purchases on your credit card you should be able to make at least a couple hundred dollars back in rewards which is better than nothing. And like I said, if you’re smart with your money and don’t think of the credit card as an extra source of funds to your bank account, but merely an extension of it, then you should be able to pay off your balance every month and not incur interest which would totally negate any rewards you may have earned. So give this a shot for a few months and see if you can discipline yourself enough to make it work for you and not against you. If you find that you just spend too much money when using your credit cards each month, then this method isn’t for you and I would suggest going back to paying for everything with your actual money. Live within your means and don’t fall into debt that you can’t handle.

I know this is sort of a contradiction from what I posted a few days ago regarding buying new video games, but this is actually a pretty sweet deal. I was always planning on buying Call of Duty: Black Ops on launch day as I know I’ll get tons of playing time with the multiplayer, but Halo: Reach was going to be a used purchase for the single player only. However, I’ve changed my mind due to the current deal running at Best Buy.

If you’re not a Reward Zone Member take a minute to sign up and then make sure to Opt-in to the Gamers Club so that you receive better deals on video games. The Gamers Club also makes it easier to get gift certificates back when you purchase games. For example, normally for the reward zone you need to spend $250 in order to receive a $5 gift certificate, but with the Gamers Club you only need to spend $150 on video games to get a $10 gift certificate. So this deal would also net you $120 towards that $150 you need for another $10 credit, so you’re next gaming purchase will get you a $10 gift certificate. So if you already have at least $30 worth of video games purchased since your last $10 gift certificate you could get both games for $65. Now let’s look at how it will all go down.

Now that you’re a reward zone gamer club member you have access to special deals, but what we’re interested in right now is the 500 bonus points you get for preordering Halo: Reach and Call of Duty: Black Ops (both offer 500 points each, so 1000 points). So each game will net you a $10 gift certificate for preordering them, so there’s $20 right there. Bestbuy.com is currently running a promotion where if you buy (or pre-order) any game or accessory over $39.99 they will mail you a $25 gift card (make sure to add the gift card to your cart, I don’t think it just automatically appears). So essentially you’ll have to buy the games up front for $120, but you’ll get back $45 in gift cards and if you’re anything like me and buy Movies/Video Games at Best Buy all the time, the gift cards will get used eventually so it’s just like having $45 bucks in your pocket.

Now as I mentioned before, if you already have at least $30 worth of games on your gamers club account, this purchase will net you another $10 gift certificate giving you a grand total of $55 in savings, basically buy 1 get 1 free for 2 of the hottest releases this fall! And that’s not all, if you find you don’t like one of the games and can’t see yourself playing it that often, sell it on eBay or Glyde the 1st or 2nd week it’s released and you’re sure to make at least $50 back, so you’ll almost get 1 game for free. This is what I will be doing with Halo: Reach. I’ll play through it and then sell it on eBay, thus allowing me to get Black Ops for next to nothing.

Also, if you don’t want to wait for bestbuy.com to ship the games (since they don’t guarantee release date delivery) make sure to do in-store pickup. I don’t see any stipulation regarding using that option instead of shipping as far as the $25 gift card goes.

Just an FYI, make sure you add the $25 gift card to your cart, see the image below. Click that link on either games product page and add the gift card to your cart. After you add 2 qualifying games the gift card will drop it’s price to $0.

If you haven’t heard of ShopKick yet, don’t worry it just launched today, but I have a feeling you’ll be hearing about it a lot more in the coming months. Basically what it is is a location based reward program where you get points for going to certain places and doing certain things (mostly scanning items). If it sounds a lot like Foursquare, that’s because it is, but with one huge difference, you don’t check in at places. The participating locations have a device installed near the doors that emits a sound that we can’t hear, but the iPhone can, so when you enter the store with the app open it will automatically “check you in” and award you the points for visiting the store. Once inside the store there are other ways to gain points, like scanning different products. I’m not sure what their plan is for other ways to gain points, but at the moment it looked like scanning was the only way (at least at Best Buy). And the point of all this is that once you gain enough points you can redeem them for different rewards, whether it’s credits on facebook or gift cards to different stores. There are a handful of options right now and I’m sure that will grow in the future. So that’s the gist of the service itself now let’s talk about my experience with it today.

Chicago happens to be one of the markets were the devices have been placed in Best Buy stores around the area. Today was the first day that the service has been activated along with the app becoming available in the App Store this morning. It just so happens that we venture out to Best Buy every Tuesday during lunch to check out the new releases and kill some time away from the office, so it was a perfect chance to test out ShopKick and see what it’s all about.

The app itself is very pretty, the graphics look nice and it works as you would expect it to. It finds your location and finds different stores in the area that you can either check in to the normal way and gain “non-reward” points that basically just level you up in the game (kind of like MyTown), as well as stores that are participating that you can go to and get points for walking in the door and scanning stuff. With app in hand we made our way over to Best Buy to try it out.

As we approached the front doors I launched the app as I wasn’t sure if the app needed to be running in the foreground (I’m pretty sure it does) to pick up the sound that the in-store device is emitting. The phone didn’t register the sound at the exact moment we walked in, but it picked it up while we were still close to the front of the store. My co-worker also signed up as we were in the store and the first time he launched it after verifying his account, it picked up that we were in the store and automatically awarded him the 75 points. So it seems like you don’t have to remember as you walk into the store as long as you launch the app at some point during your visit, and if you’re going to be scanning stuff you’ll have it open anyways.

Now let’s talk about the scanning of products to get bonus points. For Best Buy there were 5 featured items that you could find in the store and scan for bonus points. I only went through and found 2 of them because I didn’t really feel like rummaging through the store with my phone out looking like a jackass… And actually that’s kind of what I felt like as I was grabbing a Blu-Ray of The Bank Job and scanning the UPC with my phone. Ok, actually the Blu-Ray wasn’t terrible, but I did feel awkward as I grabbed a box for a set of computer speakers and flipped it around to scan the UPC. So while I found the scanning to be a little weird, it definitely makes you walk around the store and look at stuff you wouldn’t normally look at.

So the App itself works very well for everything that it is supposed to and I managed to rack up almost 200 points in one visit to Best Buy today. I’m still a little foggy on how many points I’m going to have to get in order to redeem them for a decent size gift card. The app says the Best Buy Gift Card is 500+ points and denominations start at $2, so that would lead me to believe that it’s 500 points for $2… so while it’s not the greatest reward I’m not spending money on anything so it’s basically money for free. So we’ll see how it goes over the next few weeks after it’s been out for a bit and if there are any changes I’ll let you know, but as of right now I’ll continue using the service to see how many points I can build up and see if it’s actually worth the time.

shopkick.com

If you haven’t heard of Zappos.com then this must be your first time on the internet. First off let me congratulate you on catching up with the rest of the world, but don’t let the massive amounts of porn fool you, there is much more to the internet and zappos.com is one of the sites you will want to know. Zappos started of selling shoes and based their business on the idea that customer service is key, if you keep the customers happy the sales will come. They have since branched out and started selling things other than shoes, but shoes are still their main priority. They were recently purchased by Amazon.com, but they have still retained the amazing level of customer service and care that they have always had.

With that being said, since this site is meant to help people save money or find good deals, I suggest you click THIS link and sign up for a FREE VIP Membership at Zappos. It costs absolutely nothing and it will get you free overnight shipping on all orders for life. I’ve been a member for awhile now and I can’t tell you how amazing this is. I’ve placed an order at 10PM CST and had the package on my doorstep by noon the next day, for free. Now you won’t find that the prices are that much better than other places and you may be a little skeptical about purchasing shoes online, but you can rest easy  knowing that you have a full 365 days to return the shoes (as long as they aren’t worn outside) if you don’t like them. So I guess if you really wanted to be a cheap bastard you could buy a nice pair of dress shoes every time you had a wedding or a funeral and then just return the shoes later in the year, granted they have to look brand new so if you spend a lot of time tearing up the dance floor at weddings you may want to just keep the shoes.

Bargain: Free Zappos VIP Membership