Monday, March 28, 2016

4 Small ways to support the PDXDealsGuy blog (work in progress)

I'd really appreciate it if you'd take a glance at this page and see if there's any small/easy way you might be willing to help out the PDXDealsGuy blog ...

I've created this page to list a number of ways (mostly very easy and painless) in which you can support this blog. PLEASE, if you (like I do) get more help and/or specific advice from other great bloggers out there, be sure to help them in similar ways via links from their websites. In particular, I have to give a big shout-out to my friends Shawn and Mark over at Miles to Memories, who have been great to me over the years (and for whom I contribute content occasionally).

So, with all that said, and without further ado, here's 4 ways you can help:

1) Amazon Link!! If you shop at Amazon (who doesn't?!) please use my link to go to Amazon to begin your shopping trip(s)! Unlike other merchant websites (see "SHOPPING PORTALS" below), Amazon tends to not pay out much to buyers (like you!) when you shop. They do occasionally (so feel free to check out CashBackMonitor as described below), but usually only for very specific product categories. So you might see that Amazon is paying back 6% (!!!) ... but if you read the fine print on a shopping portal, you'll find out that they pay NOTHING for most product categories. So using the Amazon Link from your favorite blog is a great way to support those blogs (hopefully you choose me!).

Please consider bookmarking www.pdxdealsguy.com ... and every time you want to shop at Amazon, first go to PDXDealsGuy and then click on "Shop at AMAZON and support PDXDG!!" in the upper-left-hand-corner of the page to beginning your Amazon shopping trip. To increase the chance that it will work, please consider right-clicking on the link and choosing "open link in incognito window" (if you are using Google Chrome).

Thanks!!!


2a) SHOPPING PORTALS:
As I mentioned above, I always suggest using CashBackMonitor to find out which shopping portal is paying out the best** for whatever online retailer you're using. **Notes: a) BE SURE to start your shopping trip from the portal (I recommend using a new private/incognito browser session - and make sure your shopping cart is EMPTY at that retailer's website!) to make sure you get the bonus, and b) while shopping via the portal with the highest percentage (or points/miles) might seems like the best thing to do, you might want to consider limiting how many portals you use (so that you don't get too spread out - and some of the portals have a minimum amount at which they will actually payout).

Here are my referral links for some of the best shopping portals (I usually get something small for you signing up and shopping - but even if you're not shopping today, you can still sign up):

Rakuten (formerly known as Ebates)

MrRebates

TopCashBack

Swagbucks

BeFrugal


2b) SIMILAR TO A SHOPPING PORTAL (but really easy!!) - DOSH
Here's a LINK (preferably use it from your cell phone or other mobile device) to a service called Dosh. Following the link will take you to the app store to download the Dosh app. Then you will sign up for a free account. After that, you input any/all of your credit cards that you use. Then, when you use those cards at various retailers (there's a list in the app, but you do NOT even need to think about it or pre-plan) you will earn cash back ... without any effort! Just shop like you normally do, and you'll be surprised how often you shop someplace (physical stores and websites) where you earn extra cashback with Dosh. Full disclosure, I earn $10 after you make your first purchase that credits to Dosh. But they you can invite your friends and family too!


3) OTHER SING-UP LINKS
Here's a random smattering of other things you might be interested in, and if you sign up using my referral links (below), I usually get some sort of small benefit.

YouTubeTV - great online live-TV streaming service. They all have pros and cons, but this is my favorite. I think I get $20 if you sign up, and you get some discount ($30 as of the time I last checked) the first month. Thanks!

UberEATS - if you don't already have an account, use this link and then IMPORTANTLY use my code " eats-pvvq8 " (without the quotes) at checkout of your first order. You should get $20 off $25 (at least that's the current deal as I post this).

T-Mobile - in case you want to switch cell phone providers. ANOTHER THING TO CONSIDER is that T-Mobile now offers wireless home broadband service for $55 per month. I have heard from friends that it is really great, if you can get it at your house (and most people can). You can use my link for signing up for either cell phone service or home internet.



4) CREDIT CARD SIGN-UP LINKS
I have little or no reservations about the first 3 items (above). This one (credit card sign-ups), however, comes with a WARNING. While all the cards listed below are cards that I have and like (for various reasons I will try to expand upon later), PLEASE do your research to determine if getting any of these cards makes good sense for you.

Discover Card - This is the current best deal (at the time I'm posting this - things can always change), whereby you get $100* for signing (and I do too!). As I have written about previously on the blog, this card can be great for its shopping portal that is only available to its own cardholders. The Discover Deals portal tends to have very good payouts, although the portal itself can be a bit frustrating (doesn't allow you to keep very good track of your shopping visits). Sadly Discover killed its shopping portal. But the Discover card is still a great no-annual-fee card. Every quarter, they have a different category (or categories) that earn 5% cashback, instead of the usual 1% (up to $1500 in spending in that category per quarter). Even better, in the first year you have the card, they double all of your cashback earnings (at the end of the year), so you're actually earning 10% cashback in those quarterly special categories during the first year.

Chase Freedom Flex or Chase Freedom Unlimited cards - These are great entry-level Chase cards. They are marketed as "cash back" cards. They can be used that way, or if you also get/have a "premium" Chase card (like a Sapphire or Ink branded credit card with annual fee) you can generate Chase Ultimate Reward points, instead of just cash back. But the Freedom card earns 1% (or 1x UR points) at most places, or 5% at rotating quarterly categories (like some quarters grocery, and other quarters gas or restaurants). The Freedom Unlimited card just simply earns 1.5% (or 1.5x UR points) all the time. While I'd recommend that you always earn at least 2% cashback on a card (like the Citi Double Cash card), if you can earn 1.5x or 5x UR points, often times you can get far more than 2% value towards travel!

Chase Hyatt (Hotels) credit card - This is also a great card if you like to stay in hotels ranging from really nice Park Hyatt and Grand Hyatt properties, to more budget-minded Hyatt Place locations. For signing up and meeting a minimum spending requirement, the current offer (as of 7/23/20) is that you get 50k Hyatt points. That is enough for 2 nights at almost any really high-end Hyatt Property, or up to 6 to 10 nights at some lower end Hyatt locations.

* These are the most recent offer deals. They can change at any time, so please verify when you sign up. And also check the best publicly available offers on the bank's websites to make sure you're getting the best offer.


THANKS so much for your support of the PDXDealsGuy blog!

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