Archives for November 2015

Lucky Rewards members: FREE 2 Liter Dr. Pepper (expires 11/10/15)

Quite possibly the best benefit (and most unique) benefit of the Lucky’s Supermarkets rewards program is that every few weeks, they offer you a free item. An unconditional free item. No “buy this get that”, you just get it for FREE! A new promotion went out via email today, and this one gets you a free 2 Liter Dr. Pepper. As before, you have to manually add it to your Rewards card (one click from the email, and login if you are not already logged to your Lucky’s account).

drpepper_lucky

The free item is deducted automatically from your Lucky’s account when you make an eligible purchase. If you are using the self-checkout, it typically needs an employee to enter their numbers to verify the freebie, but they are typically hovering over self-checkout, so they are not hard to find.

This particular offer must be added to your account and redeemed by the end of day on 11/10/15 (Tuesday).

November 4, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: , ,

Microsoft Office Home and Business 2016 drops to $189

If you are not excited out getting an Office subscription and instead you prefer a regular software purchase, the PC download version of the Microsoft Office Home and Business 2016 software package is on sale for around $189 through Amazon.com. The purchase is through them, but the actual download of the software happens through the Microsoft website. Instructions will be given to your by Amazon after you make the purchase. The typical price for this is $200. This version is for one PC only, running Windows 7 or later.

Included are the big three Office packages (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) along with Outlook and Evernote-wannabe OneDrive. Not included in this is Access and Publisher.

November 3, 2015 Filed Under: tech Tagged With:

LG G Stylo (Boost Mobile) for $130

The new condition LG G Stylo, in the Boost Mobile configuration, is currently on sale for $130 with free shipping and no-contract at Amazon by Amazon actual. This is the CDMA version of the phone, that doesn’t have as good of a spec-sheet as the TMobile/MetroPCS version. The phone has a giant 5.7-inch IPS screen with Gorilla Glass 3. The processor is the Snapdragon 410, which ranks #797 at notebookcheck (this ranks all processors, not just smartphones).

However, it only has 1GB RAM and 8GB on-board storage and microSD (up to 32GB). It has a built-in stylus, but keep in mind, this is a basic stylus, it’s not at the level of the Samsung S-Pen. On the plus side, it has a 3000mah removable battery. It comes with Android 5.1 out of the box. It averages 4.2 out of 5 based on 120 customer reviews, and it has 90 questions answered by customers over there. This is a prepaid phone, no contract, you own it as long as the payment clears.

November 3, 2015 Filed Under: android Tagged With: , , , ,

Prime members with Prime Store Card: $50 off the Amazon Echo with coupon

This is a bit of a “deep cut” deal, since it has a double conditional. If you are an Amazon Prime member, and if you have the Amazon Prime Store card (not the Chase VISA, but a store credit card for Prime members), then you can use coupon code ECHODEAL to get a $50 off discount on the Amazon Echo. You can also take advantage of this promotion by applying on the spot and getting approved for the Prime Store Credit card. The Echo regular price is $180, minus coupon = $130.

NOTE: there are two Amazon Store cards. The regular store card is available to everyone who applies and gets approved. Prime members can get a special version of the Amazon Store card, the Prime Store card that has the additional benefit of 5% rewards on every Amazon purchase charged to it. The 5% back is unconditional. You can either select the 5% or select promotional financing (but not both).

November 3, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With:

Prime Members may qualify for a FREE 3-month Audible membership

Are you a Prime member? Do you have an inactive Audible membership? If so, you may qualify for a FREE 3-month Audible trial membership. Head on to the this promotional page, while logged on to your Amazon account, and the system will tell you whether you are eligible for this promotion.

It turns out I was eligible (Prime member, I used to have an Audible membership a couple of years ago), so now with one click, I’m in on a new 3-month free trial. After that ends, I will be charged $15/month until or unless I cancel it. This is the “Welcome page”.

audible1

Then I proceed onwards to my Audible account and this is how this free trial is shown:

audible2

So the benefits of this are two-fold. You get three free audiobooks (one per month), but you can also purchase any Audible title at a 30% off discount of the shown prices.

November 3, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With:

Nov 2-6 (Peets): Free 12oz Macchiato or Spiced Hot Tea Cider with Food purchase

After going private a few years ago, Peet’s Coffee has been more aggressive in their promotions and perhaps a bit less purist than some of their hardcore fans would like them to be. Regardless, there’s a new promotion! Good until Friday November 6, 2015, there’s an email coupon promotion that gets you a free 12oz (that’s a small size) Salted Caramel Macchiato or Spiced Hot Tea Cider IF you purchase it together with a food item. Food items that qualify for these type of promotions are anything but the prepackaged foods. What qualifies is any pastry, or oatmeal, or sandwich, or salad. What doesn’t qualify are potato chips, Kind bars, prepackaged cookies and such.

peets_free_with_purchase

You can use this promotion as many times as you like. You can print the email or simply bookmark the email on your phone or tablet and show it to the barista. Or simply mention the promotion to the barista. These promotions are very popular, so they know about them and enter them quickly.

November 3, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With:

Nov 4-10 (Starbucks Rewards): Three Bonus Stars with any Mobile Order

This is decidedly low-hanging fruit as far as Starbucks Rewards go. If you are part of their program, check your email or inbox to see if you have been offered this. It is really very simple. At some point between November 4-10 in 2015, place a Starbucks order using their mobile app and pay it using their app, and pick it up at your local store. You can even do this inside the store. It doesn’t matter. As long the order originates from the Starbucks app. You score 3 bonus starts, in addition to the one star. It’s fun!

sbux_mobile_order_bonus_stars

Limit one use per customer during this promotion. When you order, there’s a little printer at the register that prints out your order. If you want to get a better feel of the process, place your order when it’s quiet so you can see the wheels turning inside the store 🙂

November 3, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: ,

KindleFirst six choices for November 2015 are out

It is November 2015 already, time sure does fly, and among many other things, this means a new round of selections has gone live at Amazon’s Kindle First page. If you are a Prime member, you can get one of those six pre-release e-books for FREE and start reading it right now, before the rest of the general population. If you are not a Prime member, you can get one too but you have to pay $2 for it. The general population will be able to buy these starting December 1st.

Without further delay, the choices for November 2015 are:

  • “The Burned Bridges of Ward, Nebraska” by Eileen Curtright in Modern Fiction
  • “The Short Drop” by Matthew FitzSimmons in Thrillers
  • “Christmas in Good Hope (A Good Hope Novel Book 1)” by Cindy Kirk in (Seasonal) Romance
  • “Daughter of Sand and Stone” by Libbie Hawker in Historical Fiction
  • “Gateway to Fourline (The Fourline Trilogy Book 1)” by Pam Brondos in Fantasy
  • “Sleeping Embers of an Ordinary Mind” by Anne Charnock in Experimental Fiction

TIP: since these ebooks just got released to the world, they have only a small number of reviews each, ranging from 2 to 9 as of the time of writing. If you are not sure which one to get, you may want to wait for another week or two, more people will read them and review them, and hopefully by then, the reviews will help you pick something interesting. You can get them at any point during the month, from the 1st until the 30th, just don’t wait until 11:59pm on the last day of the month 🙂

November 2, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: , ,

[DEAD] Tuesday 5pm ET: Lighting Deal on 6-month Kindle Unlimited subscription

This limited time offer ended. If you missed it, hopefully it will return multiple times before the holidays are over…

In the meantime, if you are a Prime member and are considering Kindle Unlimited, keep this in mind:

TIP/PROBLEM if you have Kindle Unlimited and Prime
If you are a Prime member, signing up for Kindle Unlimited (KU), in practical terms, makes it impossible to get your monthly Kindle Lending Library ebook rental, since most of the Prime Lending Library choices are also part of Kindle Unlimited. Their system favors Kindle Unlimited over Prime Lending when a book is participating in both programs. So the various ebook pages show KU and bury the Prime option. Since you can only pick Lending Library ebooks from a Kindle device, it is a big pain to try to find books that are not part of Kindle Unlimited, but part of Prime. This is not a big deal, since you can check-in/check-out as many times as you like with KU, but still, it would have been nice if they made it easier for Prime users.

[Read more…]

November 2, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With:

[DEAD] Mon only: unlocked Motorola Moto X (2nd gen) for $200

As of 12:05am ET, all three of the colors sold-out, ahead of the 24-hour expiration window…

[Read more…]

November 2, 2015 Filed Under: android Tagged With: , , ,

Samsung Books Deals out for November 2015

If you have an eligible Samsung Galaxy device, you may qualify for a FREE e-book every month, IF you download the Amazon Kindle app from Samsung’s very own Galaxy app store – or whatever new name they gave it this week 🙂 You login to your Amazon account there, and then look for the “Samsung Book Deals” tab on the left-side of the menu.

If eligible, you will see that tab and the four book options, which will look like this:

samsung_ebooks_november_2015

The above are the choices for November 2015. You can pick one out of the four for FREE, as in $0.00. This is a digital-purchase, not a borrow/rental. Do not get them UNLESS the price is $0.00 Otherwise you will get charged.

The choices for this month are:

  • “Constantinopolis” by James D. Shipman
  • “Enslaved by the Ocean” by Bella Jewel
  • “Snared” by Ed James
  • “Dawn of Swords” by David Dalglish and Robert J. Duperre

All four of the above e-books have been around for a while, and have accumulated reviews. As usual, all of them are part of Kindle Unlimited, so if you have that, you can sample them via KU, and then “buy” the one you find more appealing.

November 1, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: ,

4oz Faeries Finest Darjeeling Tea for $2.92 [updated]

UPDATE (11/3/15): this sold-out: For a limited time only, at Amazon, you can get 4oz of the Faeries Finest Rose Tea loose leaf tea for $1.72. There are only seven left as of the time of writing and you can buy them all if you want. This is for explorers and experimenters since it has zero customer reviews. This brand has over 2900 products listed at Amazon. Per the description of this particular tea, it is a Formosa (Taiwan) oolong tea, infused with natural rose flavor.

If you feel like going in a tea exploration binge, this is not their only tea on sale. When you peruse their kitchen listings, you will find a 4oz Darjeeling loose-leaf tea for $2.92 (no flavorings, just tea leaves!), a 4oz Lemon Mint for $2.40 (contains flavors), 1oz of Wuyi Oolong for $2.30, and more. I can’t go through 200+ products, so that’s your homework 🙂

One catch however is that this is an Add-On Item, which means you have to place an order of $25 or more, otherwise their shopping cart will not let you check-out, even if you want to pay for shipping. This restriction includes everyone, Prime members too.

The other benefit of going through those listings is to check for reviews. Some of their products have reviews, others don’t, so you can get a broad feel for the company.

I personally haven’t tried any of the teas mentioned above, but I will be placing an order of probably the darjeeling and the rose-oolong because the price is right 🙂 I tried one of their teas before, the white tea with rose petals which was in a similar type of a random discount last year.

NOTE: discounts like these happen at Amazon but they don’t last long. They are unpredictable from our perspective, so they could last for hours or days or weeks.

UPDATE: here’s another one, 4oz Ceylon tea for $2.52. This is loose-leaf tea from Sri Lanka, no flavorings.

PS: if you are having a geography flashback, the reason the tea names have not changed to match the new country names (Formosa-Taiwan, Ceylon-Sri_Lanka) is because the teas have a long following and changing the names would potentially confuse buyers and hurt the brand. Especially since the world of tea is getting more competitive, with more regions and more countries jumping in the game. Including Oregon and South Carolina!

November 1, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: