July 7-13: Six bonus stars on Lunch Items (Starbucks Rewards)

If you are part of the Starbucks Rewards program, check your emails or inboxes. You may be eligible for a new offer, running July 7-13 in 2015, that gets you six bonus stars on the purchase of Lunch Items. For the purposes of this promotion, lunch items are defined as you can see in the screenshot below:

starbucks_bonus_on_lunch_items

Note that you don’t have to buy these at “lunch time”, any time of the day works. The rewards are triggered by the eligible item, not the time of the day. You can use the offer as many times as you like during this promotion. You still earn the usual one star per transaction. Needless to say, this is a pretty good deal if you like their menu. Essentially you are getting half a reward item!

You don’t have to opt-in but make sure you are eligible for the promotion (email from Starbucks or Inbox in the various Starbucks apps).

July 6, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: ,

Kindle Samsung users, Free ebook selections for July 2015 are up

If you have a Samsung mobile device (smartphone, tablet), and you are willing to install the Samsung app store (the current name du jour is Galaxy Apps), and install the Samsung version of the Kindle app, then every month you can get a free e-book from a choice of four options. You login to the Kindle app with your regular Amazon account after you install it. The free choices are shown in the menu, under “Samsung Book Deals”. You can get your freebie at any time during each month, just don’t wait until 11:59pm on the last day of the month 🙂

The four choices for July 2015 are:

  • “The Shuddering” by Ania Ahlborn (373 reviews)
  • “The Laws of Gravity” by Liz Rosenberg (307 reviews)
  • “Flee” by JA Konrath and Ann Voss Patterson (226 reviews)
  • “Sleeping with Paris (Book #1) in Romance (258 reviews)

All four of these are in Kindle Unlimited, so if you find more than one of the above interesting, you can scoop them up via KU ($10/month Netflix-style subscription).

A trio of tips on how to make the most of this after the break…

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July 6, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: , ,

Back to School Penny Sales start July 5 at OfficeMax and Depot

Yes, the poor students barely got out of school, but that doesn’t stop the Office Supplies Industrial Complex. The Back to School Price Wars officially begin on Sunday July 5 at Office Max and Depot stores in the USA. Their front page of their Weekly Ad (July 5-11, 2015) is loaded with 1c items. You have to make a $5 minimum purchase, which shouldn’t be hard between the sales and the clearance items. If nothing else, pick up a gift card 🙂

The 1c items include sharpeners, erasers, and pencil pouches. The offers are limit three per item, so not bad. At the 25c price level, there’s glue, rulers, and broad tip markers. And at the $1 price point, there’s Sharpies five packs (yum yum!) and Papermate mechanical pencil sets and mini staplers.

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

Macally Nexus 4 case for $3.41 [add-on; limit 3]

If you are looking for a light case for your LG Nexus 4 smartphone and you like it when your fingers don’t bump in the edges of a case when you furiously touch-screen around, and if you are planning to place an Amazon order of $25 or more, you can get this baby blue (North Carolina blue?) Macally Nexus 4 case for $3.41 with a limit of three per customer. The are four more colors but they go for $7.50+. There are seven pictures of the case over there to get a good feel for it. I just received it, and I like it but I’ve only been using it for a few hours so far 🙂

July 2, 2015 Filed Under: smartphones Tagged With: , , ,

Free in HD: AMC’s new Humans Pilot episode

You may have heard the type, the collaboration between AMC and Britain’s Channel 4, the new sentient robot TV series “Humans” that has just began on AMC. And you can sample it without being bombarded with commercials. The pilot episode is now FREE in HD at Amazon Instant Video. This is a limited time offer, so if you are potentially (or even remotely) interested in it, grab it since it costs nothing. This has adult themes and content, probably not for the youngsters.

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

Kindle First options for July 2015 are up: pick one from four choices

July is here and this means a new round of Kindle First options have gone live. For the whole month of July 2015 (1st until the end of day on the 31st, but don’t wait until the last minute), if you are a Prime member, you can pick exactly one of those four pre-release e-books for FREE. If you are not a Prime member, you have to pay $2 for it. If you like more than one, you have to wait for their general release (August 1st) to purchase them at their regular $5 price, or pick them up from Kindle Unlimited or Prime Lending library if they are available through that.

So, without further delay, here are the four options for July 2015:

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

Prime Members with Citibank cards: $30 off first AmazonFresh order of $50+ (with $50+ in non-AmazonFresh items)

If you are an Amazon Prime member or planning to start a 30-day Free Trial (the $100 per year plan) and you have a Citibank credit or debit card, and you haven’t placed an Amazon Fresh order before, there’s a hot new offer that has now been activated because of a new addition to the regular Prime benefits.

However, there’s something tricky about the way it is works. It requires some trial and error (adding and removing items from your shopping cart until it activates). But I think I figured out how it works. Details below…

amazonfresh_citibank_offer

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June 30, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: , ,

99c HD Rental: Mockingjay Part #1 (Hunger Games)

Decidedly beating even Redbox prices (unless you have the Lucky Rewards promo codes) is a new limited time offer at Amazon Instant Video. You can rent the MockingJay Part #1 movie of the Hunger Games series for just 99c in HD! This is the third movie in the series and runs 123 minutes.

You have 30 days to start watching it after you pay. Once you start watching, you have 24 hours to finish watching it. You can watch and rewatch it as many time as you like during those 24 hours. Given the length of the movie, you can watch it 11 times in 24 hours, unless you skip the credits, then 12 times 🙂

June 30, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With:

99c MP3 album: “Born Free” by Kid Rock

For a limited time only, Google Play is offering Kid Rock’s 2010 album “Born Free” for just 99c total. This is an mp3 album with 13 tracks, headlined by the title track which is also the opening track which is also relevant given the Independence Day celebrations this week.

June 30, 2015 Filed Under: music Tagged With:

YMMV: $5 off promo code from Kohls

If you are part of the Kohls emailing list or Rewards program, check your emails! You may find a new promotion for Kohls. A coupon that gets you $5 off a purchase either in-store or online. This is unconditional $5 off. So you could use it on a $5.01 item or anything more expensive. The promo code appears individualized, so don’t give it to other people if you plan on using it. The promotion runs June 29 until the end of day on July 5 in 2015.

In parallel with that, they have a coupon that gets you 15% off and this coupon expires July 9 in 2015.

The terms and conditions are in that email but for your convenience, I am also including them after the break…

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June 29, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: ,

Starbucks: Two Frappucino Stirrers for $1

During the 4th of July weekend, Starbucks brick and mortar stores have a new promotion, a two for one on their $1 chocolate Frappucino stirs. These are long thick straws but made of edible wafer and chocolate. You can use them in a frapucino, or just eat them on their as snacks or desserts. They are about 90 calories each. No coupon needed, the offer happens automatically at the register during the holiday weekend. Just don’t blame me for the extra calories 🙂

June 29, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With:

eSecure Wireless USB 6-button mouse for $6

This mouse goes under many brands, wired or wireless, including a variation that sells under the Monoprice. In our case here, we have the eSecure branded version, it is a wireless (USB dongle) mouse with the all important two side-buttons (forward and back) in addition to the standard left and right and DPI adjustment and scroll wheel. Needless to say, don’t expect this to perform like a $100 Logitech flagship, it’s a bang for the buck play. I have the Monoprice wired version and it’s pretty good for what it is. It averages 4.3 out of 5 based on 73 customer reviews at Amazon.com. It is fulfilled by them, so get free 2-day shipping if a Prime member. Limit 30 per customer. This is powered by one AA battery and operates at 2.4 GHz.

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

YMMV: MGo $2 promotional credit

If you have an M-Go account (an entertainment industry funded digital movie and TV seller and renter), you may have received an email notifying you that they added a $2 store credit to your account. You have one month to use it on purchases or rentals (except where prohibited – some movies/studios place restrictions of this nature), so pay attention to the expiration date.

NOTE: earlier in the year M-Go abruptly played a switcharoo by changing their rewards system from earning points toward free points, to earning points that get you discounts on future purchases. A pretty nasty move from a consumer perspectiev but very few people use M-Go that much, so it didn’t get a lot of national attention. Not a classy move M-Go!

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

Free Gift for Google Play users: Night at the Museum in HD

IF you have a Google Play account, check your emails! There is a specially coded email there that gets you the movie “Night at the Museum” (the first one from 2006) for FREE in HD. All you have to do is click the link there, and it will take you to Google Play where you can add it to your library for free. You have to be logged on to your Google Play account that received the email offer. You have until July 5 (2015) to do this, but don’t wait until the last minute. Sometimes things like this may end earlier.

NOTE: this is not free if you try to buy it directly from Google Play. You have to use the Google Play promotional link.

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

99c HD Rentals: Halo:Nightfall and Halo:Dawn

M-Go has a limited time special, offering two different Halo movies as an HD rental for 99 cents each. This includes the brand new Nightfall and the previous Forward Unto Dawn.

You also earn 50 M-Go Rewards points, but M-Go changed their rewards program a few months ago, making it a lot worse. Before the change, you would use the points towards rentals, so if you had enough points, you would get free rentals or purchases. With the new program, you only get discounts on purchases, so it’s really a horrid rewards program.

June 23, 2015 Filed Under: shopping Tagged With: