Archives for July 2016

Adult Coloring Emergency? 97c Crayola 12pk Color Pencils or 10pk Markers at Staples

The continuing popularity of Adult Coloring Books (I finally gave in last week and joined this peer-pressure activity) has had a side-effect, the prices of color pencils, especially the above dollar-store level has been higher than usual, even with the start of the back to school season.

However, hope is not lost, if you ever have an adult coloring emergency during the next few weeks, the Staples brick and mortar come to the rescue thanks to the “Less List”.

adult_coloring_emergency_crayola_staples

The last 3-4 years they instituted the “Less List”. A set number of items is sold at the same sale price throughout the back to school season. These are not penny doorbuster prices, but they are definitely better than the typical price you’d find at a store.

Of adult coloring interest, they have a trio of Crayola products for 97c each. A 12pk of color pencils, and 10pks of two different tip size markers. You can see them in the screenshot above. You don’t need a coupon, you don’t need a membership/card, you just buy them. And they have a generous limit, up to 30 of each item per customer per visit.

So if you run into an adult coloring emergency during the Back School Season (typically ends in September or so), run to your nearest Staples store 🙂

July 21, 2016 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: ,

PrimePantry is currently the best place to buy RxBars

The RxBars have managed to build their own momentum with their no nonsense styling and down to earth ingredients (the most “offensive” thing in them of the “natural flavors” kind). And as such, their prices are holding up to where it’s hard to buy them for less than $2 per bar, even with Subscribe and Save discounts.

So if you want to stock up on those, at the moment, the best place to get them is Prime Pantry. The 12pk of Blueberry goes for $20.71, while the tastier 12pk of Chocolate Sea Salt goes for $20.57. This is a straight up price, you don’t have to commit to Subscribe and Save or have to worry about adjusting subscription quantities based on future prices.

However the issue with Prime Pantry is that you have to pay a $6 flat shipping fee for the order. If you have any available $6 slow-shipping Pantry Prime credits, you can use them to offset the shipping fee. If not, you either have to pay the fee or buy 5+ of the items that are participating in the July Free Shipping promotion (use coupon code PANTRYJUL).

According to the pages over there, one 12-pack is approximately 4% of a PrimePantry box, but that’s not the limiting factor. As of posting time, there is a limit of two per Pantry box in the Chocolate flavor and three in the Blueberry flavor.

This is a developing situation, so far PrimePantry only has three of the flavors which is more than they had a few weeks ago.

NOTE: the prices and quantities mentioned in this post are as of July 20, 2016.

July 20, 2016 Filed Under: foods Tagged With: ,

16oz Whole Foods Almond Butter for $7 (B&M)

Shocking, I know, but for a limited time, Whole Foods is actually beating Trader Joe for pretty much the same item! For a few days only (probably part of their weekly ad or weekly specials), Whole Foods stores are offering the 16oz unsalted and unsweetened Almond Bar in a jar for $7 each. It is available in either Creamy or Crunchy. This is almond butter and no other ingredients! The regular price there and at Trader Joe is $8. These are not glass jars. Considering the price of almonds, that’s not a bad price unless you are buying industrial strength quantities 🙂

PS: I buy both the WF and TJ almond butters but I haven’t done a side-by-side taste test yet 🙂

July 19, 2016 Filed Under: foods Tagged With: ,

Another Chromedroid option now: Acer R11 Chromebook

If you want to test Google Play apps on a Chromebook RIGHT NOW, and you can’t wait for new models coming in the fall, and you are cool with playing with the development channel builds, a second existing Chromebook has joined the ASUS Flip. It is the 11.6-inch Acer R11, also a convertible with a touchscreen, but unlike the 10-inch ASUS, this one has a larger screen.

The prices are close enough at the moment, the Acer R11 is on sale for $259 with free shipping, with a limit of three units per customer at Amazon.com.

Unfortunately this is only available with 2GB RAM, so that’s something to consider depending on how much you multi-task and what type of websites you visit (or if you use Chrome extensions that kill off most of the CPU waste (Flash, Annoying Ads, pointless widgets, etc)).

Other than that, it is powered by the Celeron N3150 (ranks in the 1200s at cpubenchmark.net), unlike the Rockchip of the ASUS. However, the ASUS has 4GB RAM. Other specs include a couple of USB ports (one is 3.0), HDMI, SD card, Bluetooth, etc. The screen is an IPS 1366 x 768 touchscreen. Touchscreen being the critical part since most Android apps are optimized for the touch user interface.

Having said all that, if you are not in a hurry to try ChromeDroid apps right NOW, you are better off waiting to see what the Fall Laptop Season brings. Then you can either get newer/better models or you can find bigger discounts on the existing models.

July 18, 2016 Filed Under: 11-inch laptops Tagged With: ,

Pokemon takes over T-Mobile Tuesday for 7/19/16

The Pokemon craze killed these T-Mobile Tuesday freebies for July 19 in 2016, and instead replaced them with a Pokemon-centered promotion that has these four set of freebies, screenshot below:

tmobile_tuesday_july19

The headliner of this deal is 1 year of free data when playing Pokemon Go. More specifically, the data won’t count against your data plan until August 2017. You still have to do the claim the prize song and dance using the app or the T-Mo Tuesdays website.

Two of the other offers got adjusted to compliment this. A 50% off sale on portable power chargers; the thought being that playing Pokemon like a raving lunatic eats up your battery, so you need more backups 🙂 And a $15 Lyft credit so you can travel to Pokemon adventures 🙂

The only constant between the two is the return of the Wendy’s Frostie, the only freebie that has been offered every week since this whole thing began.

This week also marks the end of the Vudu $5.50 store credit. I do not know if that’s it or it will return at some point in the future.

July 18, 2016 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: ,

These T-Mobile Tuesday Deals got killed by Pokemon

We have another victim of the Pokemon 2.0 Craze. A set of very nice T-Mobile Tuesday deals that got preempted for a Pokemon bundle. These were supposed to go live on Tuesday July 19, 2016, but they got pulled and replaced by a Pokemon-themed set.

The reason I am mentioning them here is that there’s a reasonable possibility that they may appear next week or a few weeks later. And they were a nice set of deals, screenshot below:

tmobile_tuesday_july19_cancelled

The most interesting of the group? A T-Mobile t-shirt ~ it would have been a fun thing to get. They also include a 1-year digital subscription to your choice of GQ or Allure magazines, along with a $15 Gift store credit, and the returning champion, the Wendy’s frostie.

July 18, 2016 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: ,

Free Digital HD movie (limited time): The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)

If you like free Digital HD movies, we have good news for you! FandangoNow (formerly MGo, which is the service that picked up the remnants of Samsung’s pre-Milk video service) is offering for free in digital HD the 2007 “The Bourne Ultimatum”. Simply add it to cart with your FandangoNow account and it will show as $0.00. Here’s a screenshot of the shopping cart:

bourne_ultimatum_free_fandango

This is digital ownership, not a rental. You can watch it as long as the FandangoNow service is alive or Ultraviolet is alive, so there’s some extra protection there 🙂 Offer ends 7/17/16 at 11:59pm pacific.

PS: you can find and link your Ultraviolet to FandangoNow by going to the LIBRARY menu and clicking on Ultraviolet. As usual with anything that the entertainment industry is involved, it is slightly convoluted as to which one of your shows and movies show up in which Ultraviolet compatible services. Because why keep it simple when you can have it be all complicated? 🙂

July 15, 2016 Filed Under: media Tagged With: ,

July 17-23 at Staples B&M: Buy $300+ Mastercard Gift Cards, Get $15 via Easy Rebate

If you are a fan of the Staples Gift Card offers, good news for you! Per the teaser of their Weekly Ad for the week of Sunday July 17 until the close of business on Saturday 23, 2016, at their brick and mortar stores, it is the return of the Mastercard Prepaid Gift Card offer. It’s similar style, buy $300+ in prepaid Mastercard gift cards, and receive a $15 Staples Gift Card via Easy Rebate. Easy Rebate means you can submit the offer online, you don’t have to mail or photocopy anything, you just need the numbers from your receipt.

staples_mastercard_gift_cards

The usual strategy applies here, if you can get to $300 with two or one gift card, then this is a money maker deal worth doing. The activation fee of a $200 gift card is $7, while a $100 has a $6 activation fee. So with this combination, you make a $2 profit on a $300 investment. Not as sexy as back when the Easy Rebate was $20.

Now if you can find a single $300+ gift card, then that would be awesome, but those are about as rare as unicorns 🙁

July 14, 2016 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: , , ,

YMMV: 10% back on Gas Purchases with AMEX

This is a YMMV promotion that may be available as part of the AMEX Offers. Of the two AMEX credit cards I have, only the AMEX Blue showed this promotion in my account, but there’s no guarantee that every Blue cardmember will be offered this promotion. So there’s a big YMMV. The easiest way to find out if you are eligible is to logon to your AMEX account and check the Offers section below the summary. If you are eligible, you should see something like this (screenshot below):

amex_10percent_back_gas_stations

Once you add the offer to your account, you have until the end of September 2016 to use it. You get 10% back every time you make a gas purchase until then. The maximum statement credit you’ll get from this promotion is $25, in other words $250 in gas purchases. This offer is stackable with the Plenti rewards program, so you’ll earn some points there too. I’m assuming it’s also stackable with the 2X Gas Earnings that’s a default feature of the AMEX Blue.

Once you add to your card, you also receive a nice confirmation email from AMEX (screenshot below):

amex_10percent_back_gas_stations2

July 14, 2016 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: , ,

Heads up: Free shipping at Peet’s website July 15-17 in 2016

Great news if you want to get something from the Peet’s website, and you don’t like to pay shipping fees or place huge orders (that would otherwise qualify you for free shipping). Running this weekend, Friday until the close of business on Sunday 7/17/16, you can get free domestic shipping on all items at Peets.com.

This promotion is mentioned at the bottom of the email announcing the coconut promotion. Here’s a screenshot of the fineprint of the free shipping offer:

peets_weekend_free_shipping

July 13, 2016 Filed Under: foods Tagged With: , , ,

50% off Peet’s Coconut Beverages until Sunday night (7/17/19)

Peet’s Coffee gambled on coconut as their tentpole summer drinks and it paid off as they managed to create something fun and unusual, while Starbucks’s summer drinks are just more sugar added on sugary frozen drinks 🙂 Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but good until the close of business on Sunday July 17 in 2016, at local Peet’s stores, you can get half off their coconut beverages, iced or hot.

peets_half_off_coconut

The promotion is mentioned in an email sent to customers in their mailing list. You can either show them the promotion on your phone, or print it (*GASP*) or just mention it. These are typically very popular, so most of the time all you have to do is mention the promotion. From a customer perspective, there’s no coupon to mention or memorize. The magic happens at the register.

The usual terms apply, limit one per customer per visit, and excluded are licensed locations and supermarkets and airports and such.

July 13, 2016 Filed Under: foods Tagged With: ,

New Amazon Sample Box: Buy $5 Crest box, Get $5 Credit

If you are fond of the Amazon Sample boxes, we have good news for you! A brand new offer got launched at Amazon. It works similarly to their previous sample boxes. You pay $4.99 out of your own pocket for Crest Sample Box and one week after this ships, you receive a $4.99 credit in your Amazon account to spend on a variety of Crest, Oral-B and Glide products including toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, and related items.

Of the previously mentioned sample boxes, the only one that continues is the Amoretti Syrup. The more versatile stuff like the protein bars and snacks are sold out. You can find out what’s available and which ones you already purchases, and also the remaining credit you have with each offer at the Sample Boxes page.

PS: I will post more details if I decide to jump on the Crest box.

July 12, 2016 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: ,

Prime Pantry Tea Deal: 3.53oz Twinings Earl Gray for $3.85

This is a pretty good deal if you like Earl Gray loose leaf tea, it’s only $1 per ounce. It is under Prime Pantry, so you have to place one of those orders to get it, but you can buy as many as you like so if this is your favorite tea, you can stock up (and give them to your friends and family as impromptu gifts). It is the 3.53oz loose leaf Twinings Earl Grey going for $3.85.

This is a fairly small, it only fills 1% of your Pantry container. The Pantry Pox has a $6 flat delivery fee, but you can either use the $6 Prime slow-shipping credits to counter it, or buy some of the promotional items that get you free shipping for the rest of your order. The latter is hit or miss, since you have to like the participating products, and if you are trying to eat healthy and avoid Colas and such, it’s harder to find a combination to get you free shipping.

July 12, 2016 Filed Under: foods Tagged With: ,

Freebies for T-Mobile Tuesday July 12 teased

Tuesday July 12 in 2016 is going to be crazy for online shoppers because it’s going to be Prime Day, but if you are a T-Mobile customer, don’t forget that on that day, a new round of freebies will go live from the T-Magenta! The teasers for next Tuesday reveal the offers, three returning offers and one new. Here’s the screenshot followed by the list in text format:

tmobile_tuesday_july12

  • $5.50 Vudu Credit (purchase or rent TV or Movies)
  • one small Wendy’s Frostie (must be redeemed in-store, no redemption code)
  • Lyft ride up to $15
  • looks like a $10 credit at The Clymb (this is the NEW offer)

Remember, the offers are available per line, so if you have two lines in your account, each line gets its own set of freebies. However, some have restrictions, for example, Vudu allows only one $5.50 credit per week per Vudu account.

July 9, 2016 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: ,

Season 1 of 20+ Scifi TV Shows for $10 each in HD

If you like to watch movies online or through your favorite streaming box or mobile device, and you like to digitally-own the TV Seasons, and you like scifi and fantasy, we have good news for you! For a limited time only, Vudu is offering the first season of 21 TV Shows for $10 per season.

This is in full HD. It is a mix of current and classic TV shows, all of them season 1, including Syfy’s “12 Monkeys” and “Killjoys” and MTV’s Shannanara, and Season 1A of Starz’s Outlander, along with classics like the rebooted Doctor Who (Christopher Eccleston), Fringe, Babylon 5, Farscape, and more.

But wait, there’s more! You can combine this promotion with two different offers:

  • If you are a T-Mobile customer, you get a $5.50 Vudu credit every Tuesday as part of the T-Mobile Tuesdays
  • If you have Discover Cashback, you can use $20 in Cashback to get a $25 Vudu electronic gift certificate

PS: I do not know when this offer expires.

July 8, 2016 Filed Under: media Tagged With: ,