Hooked on Cheap Costco Gas

Has anyone noticed that Costco gas prices still seem to be lower then most everywhere else? Well maybe it is only in my area, but their gas prices are around $.15 less than the other big franchises and about $.07 less then Sam’s Club. I have now conditioned the wife that she is no longer allowed to buy gas anywhere else!

You say that a $.10 difference doesn’t mean anything? Well say your car takes 20 gallons. That is a $2.00 difference and carry that over 10 fillups, that is a $20 savings. Add in the 3% savings you get when using the Costco American Express Card ($25 Bonus when signing up) and you can really see the money you save add up.

It’s funny, we have had a Costco card for a few years now, and we really only shop there for things like paper towel and toilet paper since they are things we can buy in bulk that can last forever. The lion share of the Costco Amex Card use is for the gas.

I still get a lot of crap from people telling me that cheap gas at places like Costco can ruin your engine. Well let me say that if that was the case there wouldn’t be a line of 40 cars there everytime I go to fill up. Remeber that there are only a select number of refineries out there. All the gas comes from one of them and certain companies add things like additives and detergents which they say helps your engine, but also increases the price.

Right now gas purchases are one of our biggest expenses in my household so anything we can do to lower it is huge for us and right now Costco helps us with that!

20% Cashback on Pampers from Bing Cashback

I noticed another nice little cash back bonus for you parents out there. Is you use Bing cashback and purchase Pampers from Drugstore.com, you will get a 20% cashback bonus. For those of you that are unfamiliar with Bing cashback, it is a way to earn cashback on your online purchases using Microsoft’s Bing Search engine. There is nothing special to do other than sign up for free then start shopping. If you don’t already have an account of want more info, check out the Bing cashback site.

In addition to the 20% cashback, If you purchase $50 worth of Pampers your order will ship for free. This shipping credit is automatic once your shopping cart hits more than $50 before taxes. You don’t have to spend $50, but hey you know you are going to use those diapers anyway, so why not get them delivered for free!

Steps to get 20% cash back on Pampers Diapers:

• Go to www.bing.com
• type “pampers” (without quotes) into the search box and hit enter or click the search icom
• The first result should say “Buy Pampers Diapers & Get 20% Cashback” (If it isn’t try hitting the search button again until it appears)
• Click on the “Bing cashback” link. This will take you directly to Drugstore.com’s Pampers Diapers page. Add items to your cart and check out.

That is it. It’s that easy. Your 20% should be credited back to your Bing cashback account within 3 days.

For all of you wondering how great a deal this is, lets do an example. My child wears Pamper’s Cruisers Size 4. I purchased 2 boxes from Drugstore.com to get the free shipping. Here is the breakdown:

• Cruisers 4 Jumbo – 27 count
• Cruisers 4 Exonomy Plus – 140 count

The total: $54.98 – 20% cashback = $43.99 for 167 Diapers = $.26 per diaper (note this is the cost of the diapers only, no sales tax or shipping, since there insn’t any!)
Those same 2 boxes on Amazon.com would cost you $53.88 which works out to .32 per diaper (Amazon.com also has free shipping and no sales tax). So you can see that there is some savings here, now compare to your local supermarket or Walgreens and then count salex tax, and I guarantee this is the best deal on diapers around right now.

I am stocking up since I have no idea how long the 20% casback will be around.

$64.62 LendingClub Bonus

If you are looking to start getting into the P2P (person to person) lending game, LendingClub is offering a $64.62 bonus when you open a new account and start investing. They came up with that amount since they say that banks made $6.462 billion last quarter, so they are offering you a piece of that.

If you have read my previous posts I have been burned doing p2p loans through Prosper.com.

LendingClub has always prided themselves in having a stronger review process. I have a few loans with LendingClub and believe it or not they are all current with no charge offs. I am currently earning a 9.86% return from what they tell me, which if those loans stay current isn’t that bad considering how low interest rates are. I have been debating throwing a little more money into LendingClub but Prosper has left such a bad taste in my mouth I am still on the fence.

Regardless, just remember that if you start p2p lending you are doing so at your own risk. I imagine now that the economy is turing around a bit the chance of defaults is probably much lower than what I went through.

To qualify for the $64.62 you need to open a new account through this promotion link and link a bank account. Once that is complete the bonus will be deposited into your account. You must invest that bonus into lending club loans and cannot withdraw it.

Unfortunetly the link they gave me doesn’t talk about the bonus, but here is the small print I was sent:
** The special referral bonus program begins December 3, 2009. Referrals must use your special link between 12.03.09 and 12.31.09 at midnight in order to qualify for the $64.62 bonus. The referral must complete registration as a Lending Club investor and link a bank account in order to receive the bonus funds. Bonus funds may not be withdrawn and must be invested in Lending Club notes. Funds received may be taxable, please consult with your tax advisor. Recipient is responsible for all taxes, if any, due.

And here is a screenshot of the promo info when I log into my account. Click on it for a larger photo…

Bing Cashback 20% at Walmart.com

Bing Shopping is a cash back purchasing site like that of MrRebates.com or Ebates.com. Bing shopping is run by Microsoft which is an extension of their Bing.com search engine. Currently they are offering an unheard of 20% cash back on purchases made through Walmart.com! That is $100 on a $500 purchase. You can do all your electronics purchases here this year!!

To get the cash back you need to do the following:

Go to www.bing.com
Type “walmart” in the search box.
At the top of the search results you should see something like this:

Click on the “Bing cashback” link.

You will then be directed to a screen where you can either create a new bing cash back account or enter your email address if you already have an account. Then click the “shop and get cashback” button. You will then be taken to Walmart.com.

Any purchases you make will be earn you 20% back in your Bing.com cashback account. It does take up to 60 days to get the cash back posted to your account, but if you log into your account at Bing.com/casback you can see your “pending cash” amount. For example I made a $50 purchase at walmart.com. 20% of $50 will earn me a $10 rebate. This is what my account shows: (NOTE: It may take up to 30 minutes for your pending cash rebate to show, so don’t worry!)

Once your cashback bonus is posted, you can withdrawal it into your bank account using paypal or actually linking your checking account to them.

This is an awesome deal, as you won’t find 20% off of walmart’s already low prices ever!!! I used to use sites like MrRebates.com, but lately since Bing.com has such high cash back percentages, I have switched to them. Also since they are microsoft, you can pretty much bet you won’t have any issues getting your cash back. I never have. Happy shopping and earning cash back!!

$121 Bonus from ING Electric Orange Checking – Black Friday Only!

ING Direct is having a Black Friday Promtion where you can earn a $121 bonus when opening an Electric Orange Account today only.

Here is the promotional detail:

To qualify for the bonus you need to do the following….

• Open an Electric Orange checking with Reference Code EOSAVE.
• Use your Debit Card to make 3 signature transactions (you know, the ones you have to actually sign) within the first 45 days.
• On day 50, they will put $121 in your account. You have to open today to get the $121 bonus.

This is a great deal if you have not yet opened an electric orange checking account.

ING is also offering a 2% 12 Month CD which is also a great rate considering how low interest rates are currently

Free $10 Amazon.com Giftcard from Coinstar

Coinstar, the self service coin counting machines, always has let you exchange your coins for free when you selected a gift card rather than cash. Well now, through December 6th 2009 when you exchange at least $40 into an Amazon.com giftcard you will also get a bonus $10 Amazon.com giftcard. That is a 25% return on your money. Amazon.com sells so much stuff that this is a no brainer.

Once you exchange the $40 or more for a gift card, just send it the bottom portion of your receipt to get your bonus card. They say it should arrive in 6-8 weeks.

Details for this promo can be found here.

Coinstar machines can be found in most grocery stores and I am now starting to see them pop up in Walmarts. Check out their Machine Locator page to see if one is close to you.

Coinstar

Next Page »