Entries Tagged 'General' ↓

With it being Christmas Eve and all, your faithful servant will be taking the rest of the week off to spend time with friends and family. Thank you to all who have come here to look for the best daily money hacks and I appreciate your visits very much. Have a wonderful, happy, warm and safe holiday and I’ll see you all back on Monday!

This isn’t exactly a money hack but I thought this 5 minute clip was worth sharing anyway.

American Express is running a promotion with Walmart where you can get a $20 statement credit when you spend over $40 twice at Wal-Mart from November 18 through December 18, 2008. That leaves you with $20 after $80 in spending, or 25% off.

To get set up, first enroll at American Express, then spend at a Walmart near you.

Daily Money Hack will be taking a vacation this week, please have a safe Thanksgiving night and long weekend, and please come back on December 1st for the latest and greatest in money hacks!

Coinstar had a holiday promotion last year and brings it back again for this holiday season. Same offer, new dates. Take your coins to a Coinstar Center, convert them into a gift certificate (Amazon is my favorite), and you’ll get a free $10 gift certificate in the mail as long as you convert at least $40. A receipt will be printed with the form you’ll need to send in. Just do it by December 7th, 2008 and you’re all set!

I took advantage of this promotion last year and had no problems. More details here.

Quicken Online recently joined the online money management tool revolution by offering it’s flagship tool to users absolutely free. What was once $2.99/month is now $0/month and it lets you aggregate data from all of your financial accounts, from banks to investments to credit cards. It pulls your data from your accounts automatically using 128-bit encryption, which should alleviate some security concerns, but lets you review them all in a handy fashion. Over 5000 institutions can be linked in.

It’s not a bad system if you want to check it out.

Did you know that Panera Bread offers free Wi-Fi? Or that McDonald’s does as well? They’re just two of many potential places you can get free Wi-Fi if you’re hankering to get your news or stock tickers and your phone is on the fritz. Free Wi-Fi is becoming more and more popular as stores and restaurants try to differentiate themselves. Locally, the Hard Times Cafe, a chili joint, offers free Wi-Fi to patrons as well.

Other options? Starbucks offers you 2 hours but you have to have a registered gift card that you use at least once a month.

Every year, Taco Bell does their Steal a Base, Steal a Taco Promotion where they give away a free taco if someone steals a base in the WOrld Series. This year, the Tampa Bay Rays face the Philadelphia Phillies in what probably will result in at least a base being stolen.

Terms & Conditions:

If an eligible base was stolen during the Games, Taco Bell will make an announcement through selected media channels, including a press release and its Web site (www.tacobell.com), that eligible consumers can obtain their free Crunchy Seasoned Beef Taco on Tuesday, October 28, 2008 (if base is stolen in Games 1-4 on October 22, 23, 25 or 26), OR Monday, November 3, 2008 (if base is stolen in Games 5-7, October 27, 29 or 30), (“Redemption Date”) only. To obtain the Free Taco, consumers must visit any participating Taco Bell® restaurant in one of the fifty (50) United States or the District of Columbia between 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. (local time) on the Redemption Date only and request a Free Crunchy Seasoned Beef Taco. Free Tacos will not be offered on any other date or time, regardless of circumstance. Limit one (1) Free Crunchy Seasoned Beef Taco per person.

First game is tonight!

Are you getting confused which airlines are now charging you for your first checked bag? I know I am, that’s why I try to fly Southwest whenever I can because they don’t charge any of this mumbo jumbo. If you’re not sure who will charge you for the benefit of checking the first bag, check out this chart at FareCompare. It includes how much it costs to buy a reservation by phone, your first and second bags, seat selections, beverage/snack packet costs, meals, alcohol, oversized bags, overweight bags, pe travel, unaccompanied minors fees, curbside check-in, and .

As of October 15th, the only airlines that won’t charge you for the 1st Checked Bag are Delta, AirTran, Alaska Airlines, JetBlue, Southwest, Midwest, ExpressJet, Virgin America, and Sun Country. Southwest an ExpressJet are the only airlines listed that won’t charge you for a second bag.

If you’re a college kid and just starting out in the first phase of the real world, here are 40 money tips for college students that will give you a head start versus your peers. While you won’t have a lot of money, it’s always important to lay down a solid foundation.

Remember this, the most important of all the tips:

Money Tip To Rule All Other Tips
Graduate college with as little debt as you can. If you follow this one tip and ignore all others, you will find yourself ahead of the pack by far. For many, myself included, this means graduating with some student loan debt (I had and still have over $20k in student loans) but that’s OK. Avoid credit card debt at all costs.

Consider this, if you owe $1,000 to your credit card at 18.90% interest, you will pay $211 in interest over the course of 25 months if you make only the minimum payment of $50 (typical minimum payments are 5% of the balance). It may not seem like a lot right now but it’s a significant drag on your finances. You don’t want to be paying for a six pack of beer for the next two years.