Whether you manufacture spending or collect points as they come through routine spend, one thing most of us can probably agree on is that the Chase Freedom rotating 5x categories are some of the easiest points to bank.  For the first quarter of 2015, 5x categories were supermarkets, movie theaters and Starbucks stores, and we’re down to the last week to earn those points. Chase Freedom pays 5x points that become transferable Ultimate Rewards points when combined into a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Ink account.  Each quarter, Chase offers these bonus categories on the first $1500 of spend. In this quarter, groceries are an easy category to quickly hit that $1500, especially if you’re shopping for a family.  In the event that you haven’t, don’t forget to check out [...]

I logged into my American Express account today and saw a new offer on my Platinum card.  The offer is for 2X Membership Rewards points on HomeDepot.com purchases through March 31, 2015.  This offer is targeted, but like most, I’d assume it’s targeted to a fairly broad group.  Log in to your American Express account and see if there is a HomeDepot.com deal for you. The deal is only for online orders on HomeDepot.com, not in-store or phone, but your mileage may vary (heh) ordering gift cards online to spend in-store.  Quite honestly, I’d much prefer to earn via 5X Ultimate Rewards on Home Depot gift cards at an office supply store, but if you’re looking to earn Membership Rewards points this isn’t a bad deal.  Other avenues would include [...]

Today is the last day to register for the Chase Freedom 4th quarter cash back category, which includes Amazon, Zappos and select department stores.  While the 4th quarter bonuses have been effective since October, you actually had until December 14 to register.  Today is that day.  I am in the middle of Christmas shopping and was just about to head out to Staples for Amazon gift cards, figuring I should at least get an easily attainable 5 points per dollar on the gifts I’d be buying anyway.  On my way to the door, I realized I had a Chase Freedom card and had not yet registered for this quarter’s cash back promotion.  Luckily, I was able to register, but tomorrow would have been a different story. None of the links [...]

It’s not 1998, but $50 off $200 at Staples is alive and well until October 31 (2014).  From now until then, use Visa Checkout to get $50 off $200 at Staples.  If you happen to have a Chase Ink Visa card, take another 1% with the Visa Savings Edge enrollment, plus 5x Ultimate Rewards.  Enjoy!   Exclusions do apply: Valid through 10/31, while supplies last. Valid online at staples.com® when you pay with Visa Checkout. Not valid in store. Excludes Daily Deals. Limit one coupon per customer, nontransferable. Minimum purchase requirement of $200 must be met with purchases to which no other coupon or instant savings offer applies. May not be combined with any other coupon. No cash/credit back. Not valid on eReaders including Amazon Kindle®, Apple® products, Bose® products, [...]

I received an email this morning to notify me of some changes coming to the Amazon Mom program.  Messages with the subject line, “Changes to Your […]” never seem to contain anything positive, and this is no different.  Amazon Mom will be cutting back on some of the core discounts that made this program great. Update, November 17, 2014:  My $30 credit arrived in my inbox.  Check your email! For those unfamiliar with Amazon Mom, it is an opt-in program for Amazon Prime subscribers with small children – the core benefits include discounted diapers and wipes, plus some other periodic discounts to help out with those things that we need a lot of over the first couple of years.  Despite the name, dads or anyone else buying the supplies are [...]

American Express has announced that Small Business Saturday is back for 2014.  The date will be November 29.  This year’s terms [Warning:  Link to PDF] involve a maximum of three $10 credits per eligible American Express card.  Prepaid American Express products are not generally eligible, but Bluebird and Serve are! Registration will open on November 16, so you’ll want to make sure that your cards are ready to go. You can register a number of ways – The “Offers” tab from your account screen on AmericanExpress.com From ShopSmall.com Using the Amex App Facebook Twitter, using #AmexShopSmall To find qualifying merchants, visit the Shop Small Map. You must have a transaction of ten dollars or more to qualify for the $10 credit, and remember that it is per transaction. Even if [...]

It’s infrequent that we see a 2% cash back card with no annual fee offering a sign up bonus at all, but the Fidelity Investment Rewards American Express is my favorite all-purpose card and right now there is a $50 bonus for spending $500 within the first 60 days of opening the card account. To get started, you will need a Fidelity account of some kind, as the only real stipulation is that the cash back must be redeemed into a Fidelity account.  If you just need a basic account, the Fidelity Cash Management Account is pretty hard to beat.  There are no minimums to open the account and very few fees – you get free checks, ACH transfers in/out, a Visa debit card, refunds on ATM fees imposed by [...]

JetBlue is currently running a promotion for 20% off base fares, which is a nice deal if your travel plans align with the various restrictions.  From a family travel standpoint, I’m having trouble getting too excited about it since the promotion starts after Labor Day, but the fall is a nice time to take a long weekend and this sale certainly helps with that.  We’re considering a weekend in New York, but if we do, we may need to stay out of restaurants. Blackout periods include Columbus Day and anything near Thanksgiving – unless you’re willing to head out for two weeks and travel back on Tuesday, December 2.  Then you may have a deal.  I would act fast on the December 2 flight if you are looking to book that. [...]

Filed under jokes for car people:  Your kid can have the Recaro seat that I never had!  For a limited time, Amazon is offering 20% off the Recaro ProRIDE convertible car seat.  The final price works out to $175.99 using coupon code RECARO20.  I do believe the item must be sold and shipped by Amazon and not a third party seller.  As if you didn’t already have enough to carry through the airport.  Amazon isn’t telling us when this deal expires, but it’s a solid price on a category of products that doesn’t go on sale nearly often enough. While I am not generally writing about car seats, I am a satisfied owner of this product – or rather, my daughter is.  I’m not an engineer, but I’ve always subscribed to the [...]