Tag Archives: Amazon

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Original Peloton Bike Monitor Screen Attachment Allows Adjustment / Rotation of 360 Degrees (No Bike+ Needed)

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Good afternoon everyone.  Last December, Laura and I got a Peloton Bike.  I know, we are late to the Peloton Party, but I really enjoy the energetic and enthusiastic classes and have been using it a few times per week since then.  As a refresher, Peloton sells the Bike for $1,445 or the Bike+ for $2,495.  You also need to pay $44 / month for the All-Access Membership.  The main difference between the Bike and Bike+ (in my opinion) is the ability to rotate the screen 360 degrees so you can easily see the screen when you are doing other workouts (cardio, strength, yoga, stretching, etc).  The monitor is a little bigger and a little nicer, the audio quality is a little better, and there is an auto-resistance option too.  The differences do not seem worth the $1,000+ price difference, but there is an easy way to turn your Bike into a Bike+ with a simple monitor screen attachment.

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How to Use Amazon Shop with Points Redemption for Orphaned US Bank Rewards (Get 1 CPP Value)

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  A few weeks ago, I was approved for the US Bank Business Altitude Connect Credit Card that offered 60,000 points (worth $600 cash back) after spending $6,000 in 6 months.  I completed the minimum spending requirement and received the sign up bonus this morning.  After redeeming the majority of the sign up bonus as a statement credit, I had 1,772 orphaned (aka leftover) points.  In this post, I will show you how to use the Amazon Shop with Points feature to use up any orphaned US Bank Rewards (either points or cash back).

To get started, sign into your US Bank account, go to your credit card account, click the Rewards and Benefits tab, and then click the Redeem or View My Rewards button.  As you can see, I have 1,772 points left in my account.  To see the redemption options, click the 3 lines in the upper left corner.

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TWG 10 Year Anniversary Amazon Gift Card Winners + 2 Bonus Winners

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Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday, and happy Cinco De Mayo!  I am very touched by all the compliments and nice words that you all shared in my 10 year anniversary post (Travel with Grant Turns 10 Years Old + 10 x $10 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway). I had such a hard time selecting just 10 winners, so I decided to add 2 bonus winners to the list.  Here are the 12 winners sorted by posting time.  By the time you read this post, you should have received your $10 Amazon Gift Card via email.

Thanks again to everyone who left a comment and for all the love and support over the last 10 years.  Here’s to many more years to come!

Name Time Comment
Rick 2023/05/02 at 3:47 pm Your posts on Carlson/Radison were extremely useful. I’m spending the last of these points now for a free week in London!
Adam H. 2023/05/02 at 3:52 pm I started reading your stuff about 9 years ago and got into the CC points game pretty hard then. You helped me and my wife make many trips thanks to the old gift card to bluebird checking account routine. In the course of time as things changed, all those CC’s helped me have really good credit! So a big thank you for all the content over the years.
Danny 2023/05/02 at 3:58 pm Congratulations Grant on 10 years. That’s a great accomplishment. I really appreciated your blog post about the Citi Access More card and the info about doing a Product Change for it since it wasn’t publicly available any more. I’ve had that card for many years and I’m grateful for you passing that knowledge on.
Kalboz 2023/05/02 at 4:06 pm Congratulations and wishing many more productive years in the blogosphere helping the traveling community. As of late, your buy points/miles articles are informative and great reminder of ongoing good offers. Thank you!
Meg 2023/05/02 at 4:56 pm Congrats! I have been reading for a while and look forward to your credit card app-o-rama. It inspires me! I also learn quickly which credit cards to apply to, and most importantly WHY. I also like reading about your weekends away – nothing too glamorous or aspirational but doable.
ipod 2023/05/02 at 5:16 pm Really appreciate your yearly annual fee articles. I like that you thoroughly explain your rationales for which cards you think are worth keeping and which you downgrade or cancel.
Mike L. 2023/05/02 at 5:23 pm Your best post is your last post, because, like all your posts, it consistently demonstrates that you just want to spread your experiences and thoughts, rather than being a salesman for Chase.
Bill 2023/05/02 at 5:29 pm Thanks Grant & congrats!!! Ive been following you for a long while & have really appreciated the articles on using various point sources for using fewer points for flying. You’ve really helped make our points go farther! Looking forward to more of the same
Brian 2023/05/02 at 8:34 pm Congratulations! Thank you for so many useful and detailed articles you’ve written over the past decade. I’ve particularly enjoyed the coverage of using miles and points for stays in places with more space – Vacasa via Wyndham and HICV properties with IHG, for example.
Todd S. 2023/05/03 at 8:54 am You turned me on to the InKind App deal. Much appreciated!!
Mike S. 2023/05/03 at 11:23 am I really enjoyed your blog on the Vacasa and Wyndham bookings. I haven’t yet done it but I always like when bloggers go out of the ordinary topics. I have been following your blog for many years and it was great meeting you in person at the Seattle FTU seminar many years ago.
Gregory A J. 2023/05/03 at 12:54 pm I really enjoyed your article on reallocating credit limits with Bank Of America after your recent app-o-rama. Good advice to readers to reallocate credit limits. I have done this with Chase Business Unlimited card recently to meet a 6000.00 spend requirement! Worked like a charm!! Happy 10th anniversary!
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How to Purchase & Print USPS Shipping Labels Online (AMEX Business Platinum Card $20 Monthly Benefit)

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Updated 10:20am PT on 5/14: Purchasing shipping labels through PayPal does not trigger the $20 credit (according to Doctor of Credit)

Updated 12:00pm PT on 5/2: Unfortunately, it looks like USPS First Class Mail is not available for packages under 1 pound (16 ounces).  Only USPS Priority Mail and USPS Priority Mail Express are available on the USPS website.  If you need to print USPS First Class Mail or USPS Media Mail, you can do that through the PayPal shipping center (read this post).

Good afternoon everyone, what a busy May 1 is.  American Express announced today that several of their credit and charge cards will have limited time benefits to offset the travel benefits that are not being used due to the coronavirus pandemic.  Doctor of Credit has a great summary of all the new card benefits, but for this post, I’m going to focus on the $20 monthly statement credit for shipping purchases (USPS, UPS and FedEx) on the American Express Business Platinum Charge Card (valid from May 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020).

As luck would have it, I sold an item on Amazon earlier today and needed to print a shipping label for the package.  Normally, I would print the shipping label through the Amazon Seller Central platform, but I decided to purchase the shipping label from the USPS website to show you the steps (and so I could test out the $20 monthly statement credit for shipping).  The steps are exactly the same whether you are using the AMEX Business Platinum Card or any other payment method.  To get started, go to the USPS website.

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Work from Home Diary 9: My Judgmental Exercise Bike

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Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  I started sharing my thoughts regarding working from home in a series of Work from Home Diary posts.  Feel free to share your work from home feelings in the comments section below.  For today’s update, I wanted to talk about my judgemental exercise bike.

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about the strange things I recently purchased on Amazon.  Since we knew we would be staying at home more during the next few weeks, we decided to purchase an exercise bike.  My wife was interested in a Peloton exercise bike, but I talked her down from $2,000 to $200.  After doing some research, we decided to purchase a Stamina Wonder Exercise Bike from Amazon (the price has actually dropped from $200 down to $180).  The Stamina exercise bike did not have all the bells and whistles of top of the line Peloton bikes, but it had pretty good reviews, could be folded and moved easily, and the price was right.  We also purchased a floor mat from Amazon to protect the floor underneath the exercise bike.

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