Free e-book: “The Book of Tea” by Kakuzo Okakura

We are big fans of tea here, so it shouldn’t come to you as a surprise that we have a deal on a tea book. Well, it’s free at the moment! So you don’t even have to use a slot from your Kindle Unlimited library. It is The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura, 44 pages long. If you have Kindle Unlimited, you can listen to the narration for free. This is a public domain book.

Speaking of free e-books, the “The Pattern Ship” (The Pattern Universe Book 1) is currently free for a limited time, a 183 pager by Tobias Roote. There are four books in the series so far, and three of them are part of Kindle Unlimited program with free narration even.

UPDATE: here comes another promising e-book that is free for a limited time, the “Shelve Under C: A Tale of Used Books and Cats (Turning Pages Book 1)” by Jenny Kalahar (178 pages). The book averages 4.6/5 based on 49 customer reviews.

May 7, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: , , ,

Three Boxes of 18ct Numi Organic Moroccan Mint Tea for $12 total

Numi is one of the premium brands of bagged tea, so it is nice to find a good sale on it, especially now that iced tea season is approaching! At the moment, three boxes of 18 count Numi Organic Moroccan Mint tea bags are on sale for just under $12 at Amazon.com. Or save an extra 5% off if you want to start a Subscribe-and-Save. So you get 54 Numi tea bags for $12 total. That’s pretty good!

Speaking of Numi, if you want to try a lot of their teas without buying many different boxes, their Numi Collection box featured 18 different teas for $5.50. You only get one of each kind, so it may not be a bad idea to buy two or three of these. You can save 5% more by putting it in Subscribe-and-Save and work around the Add-On Program requirement at the same time.

May 5, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: ,

May 5-11: 3 Bonus stars with Breakfast Sandwich

Between May 5-11 in 2015, if you are a Starbucks Rewards member, you can earn 3 bonus stars (in addition to the one standard star) when you purchase any breakfast sandwich (eight different choices). You can use this promotion as many times as you like. No coupon code needed and no opt-in required. The usual terms and conditions apply for these type of promotions.

Assuming a 50c value per Reward star (assuming you redeem your Reward on a $6~ item). you are effectively getting $2 off per qualifying purchase.

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

AMEX Offers: Spend $20+ at Sam’s Club website, get $20 back

If you have an American Express card that is eligible for the “AMEX Offers”, check your account. They launched a new offer is pretty pretty good. You spend $20 or more at the Sam’s Club website, and you receive $20 back as a statement credit on your account. The offer is not good at Sam’s Club brick and mortar stores, only their website.

You have to manually opt-in to the offer from your AMEX account before you can use it. You can only use it once during this promotional period which ends 9/30/15. The item must ship before the deadline, so don’t use this offer on pre-orders of unpredictable shipment. There are restrictions which you can find under the “Term” section over there.

Screenshot of the offer below:

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

May 26: Thank You Rewards sale [for existing members]

If you are a member of the Citibank Thank You Rewards program, and have earned rewards ready to spend, they are having a one day Reward sale, on May 26 in 2015, from 9am ET to 11:59pm ET on that day. Select items in select product categories will be available to get with fewer rewards than usual. This offer is only for members. You do not pay for this with real money, you pay for them with your previously earned rewards.

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

Kindle First May 2015 e-book selections are now ready (pick one of four)

May is here and this means, among many other things, a new four-pack of pre-release e-books is available at Amazon’s Kindle First program. If you are a Prime member, you can get one of those e-books for FREE, and you can start reading it right away, before the general public. If you like more than one, you have to wait until June 1st to buy them like everybody else.

If you are not a Prime member, you can purchase one of the four for $1.99. The general public will have access to all four ebooks on June 1st, so this is a plus if you like to be among the first to read and discover new books.

The four selections for May 2015 are:

  • “(R)evolution (Phoenix Horizon Book 1)”, start of a new book series, by PJ Manney in SciFi Thrillers
  • “Crow Hollow” by Michael Wallace in Historical Fiction
  • “Sugar” by Deirdre Riordan Hall in Contemporary Fiction
  • “Queen of the Trailer Park (Rosie Maldonne’s World Book 1)”, start of another new book series, by Alice Quinn, Alexandra Maldwyn-Davies

You can find and pick from the May 2015 selections, between May 1st-31st, at the Kindle First page. Happy e-reading!

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

May 3-9: $10 off $50+ in Gap and other gift cards

For the shopping week of Sunday May 3 until the close of business on Saturday May 9 in 2015, at Staples brick and mortar stores, you automatically get a $10 off discount if you purchase $50 or more in gift cards from GAP, Sephora and Spafinder. The purchase must be made in one transaction with a $50+ total. No coupons, no rebates, an instant discount at the cash register.

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April 30, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With:

Buy $50 in select Gift Cards, Get $10 off next purchase at Smart and Final

Smart and Final stores are back with another gift card promotion running from April 29 until the close on May 12 in 2015. If you purchase $50 or more in gift cards from the following brands (JC Penney, Michaels, Macy’s, Yard House, Cold Stone Creamery, and Jiffy Lube) in a single transaction, they will give you a coupon for $10 off your next purchase at Smart and Final. The coupon will print on the register receipt. If you shop at one or more of those places, this is a pretty good deal!

April 28, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: ,

May 1-10: Half off Frappuccino Happy Hour at SBUX

Starbucks continues to roll out new offers to get people in the door. Between May 1-10 in 2015, they will have a happy hour that gets you half off the price of their Frappuccino blended beverages. The Happy Hour runs 3-5pm for everyone, but if you are a Staples Reward member, you get an extra hour, 3-6pm. Local times obviously. No coupon needed.

April 28, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With:

April 28 – May 4: Earn 8 Bonus Stars with purchase of three specific items

Starbucks continues rolling more rewards offers for people participating in their program. The latest covers the time period between April 28 until the end of day on May 4 in 2015. You will earn eight bonus stars if you purchase these three items (separately or together, it doesn’t matter):

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April 27, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: ,

Signing up for the Lucky Supermarket Rewards – what to expect

Interested in signing up for the Lucky’s rewards program but not sure what to expect? This post recounts my experience. I signed up using a computer and a web browser. They also have a mobile app (iTunes, Google Play).

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April 24, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: ,

Everyday Deal: 3lb Rotisserie Chicken for $6

Smart and Final has a great everyday price deal. You get a 3lb rotisserie chicken for $6 total. There’s only one flavor and it has some mild spices. This is a pretty good deal, because most grocery stores have rotisserie chickens under 2lbs (typically 30oz) that sell for $6 or more. So you are getting a 50%+ bigger chicken for less! There’s no coupon, no weekly ad to pay attention to, no rewards program to sign up for. Just roll in the store and buy it!

April 23, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With:

April 26 – May 2: 25% back in Staples Rewards

For the brick and mortar shopping week of Sunday April 26 open until the close of business on Saturday May 2nd in 2015, at Staples brick and mortar stores, you can get 25% back in Rewards on your purchases. Most items are eligible however, there are some exclusions (as is to be expected). The usual things are not eligible: Apple, Kindles, gift cards, phone cards, laptops/computers, tablets, Beats, Bose, Squaretrade, custom orders, and more. In other words, if you buy pens you are fine, but if you are buying big ticket low-margin items, they are probably not eligible. You must be a Staples Rewards member for this promotion.

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April 23, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: ,

Movie Rental: Unbroken (HD) for 99 cents

The critically-acclaimed movie “Unbroken” is now available for rental in HD for 99 cents at a number of high profile digital movie rental streamers including Amazon Instant Video and Vudu (in what they call “HDX”) and M-Go.

If you have any store credits or promotional bonuses at any of those places, you can watch it for free. For example, if you are a Prime member and you chose slower shipping (instead of 2-day), you get a $1 credit added to your account that can be used on Video or MP3s or e-books.

April 21, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With:

Free Medium Drink with Mug or Tumbler purchase

Save the planet and get a free medium drink at Peet’s Coffee stores between April 22-24 in 2015. No coupon needed. Given how expensive some of the drinks are (eg the new Javivas or hot espresso-based drinks), it’s not a bad deal. From what I recall, their diner-style coffee mugs are around $6 or $7. A medium fancy drink is close to $5. They also have a variety of other tumblers but those go for more.

April 21, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: ,