Tag Archives: Free Stuff

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Work from Home Diary 11: My Thoughts on TWG Turning 7 Years Old Today

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Good morning everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  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 let you know that Travel with Grant (the blog) turned 7 years old today!  Wow, I can’t believe it’s been 7 years since I started blogging in May 2013.  Back then, I talked about Award Wallet, ITA Matrix, Credit Karma / Credit Sesame, using BA Avios to fly to Hawaii, converting Hawaiian Airlines miles to Hilton points, $500 Visa Gift Cards at Office Depot, and much more.

I thought about sharing my 7 favorite blog posts or top 7 most read blog posts, but thought I would share my thoughts on blogging and my continued goals as a blogger.  Back when I started my blog, I was a ferocious reader of Frequent Miler (still am), Million Miles Secrets, The Points Guy, Frugal Travel Guy, Mile Value, and Travel Blogger Buzz (love you George).  These were blogs that I looked up to and admired for their content and entertainment.  I’m not a full time blogger (and never have been), but the dream of working on a secluded beach with a laptop on my lap and big floppy hat on my head always made me smile. Continue reading →

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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 10: Jigsaw Puzzles Make Me Happy

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Updated at 4:40pm PT on 5/3: I finished the last puzzle (1,000 piece Bird Village) and posted the photo at the bottom of the post.

Good afternoon everyone, long time no blog.  I hope you had a great weekend and your week is off to a great start.  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 share my obsession with jigsaw puzzles.  When you spend most of the day / week / month inside, there is only so much TV you can watch.

Laura and I received 4 puzzles as Easter gifts so I decided to spend a few hours over the last 2 weeks working on the puzzles.  The first 2 puzzles had 300 pieces and took about 2 hours to finish.  The third puzzle had 500 pieces and took about 3 hours to finish.  I just started the last puzzle which has 1,000 pieces and it should take me 7-10 hours to finish.  I started with the easy 300 piece puzzles and liked the flowers, birds, and butterflies in this puzzle.

a puzzle with a garden scene

Ravensburger Puzzle Spring Awakening 300 Pieces – https://www.ravensburger.us/products/jigsaw-puzzles/adult-puzzles/spring-awakening-13584/index.html

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Save 20% on Trim Cable / TV / Internet / Phone Bill Negotiations (Use Code trimsave20 – Promo Expires April 25)

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Good afternoon everyone, happy Friday.  I just received an email from Trim regarding a promo that they are running through April 25 where you can get 20% off your next bill negotiation.  If you are not familiar with Trim, Trim will reach out to your cable / TV / internet / phone company on your behalf and negotiate a lower monthly cost or get you a 1 time courtesy credit (like the $15 credit I received from Xfinity in February).  In exchange for negotiating a lower rate, Trim takes a cut of the savings.  For more info, please check out this post from 2 months ago: Trim Saved Me Another $15 on my Comcast Xfinity Cable Bill.  Every few months, Trim will contact Comcast Xfinity on my behalf and negotiate a lower monthly bill or find a promo I am eligible for.  I do not have to do anything other than sit back and wait for the savings.

In this post, I will show you how to create a new bill for Trim to track and how to apply the promo code.

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Work from Home Diary 8: My First Quarantine Haircut

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Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a great Easter weekend.  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 share my experience getting a (quarantine) haircut at home.  I included many photos below.

This is the start of week 6 of working from home for me and week 5 for Laura.  We have converted our dining room table into a (sometimes messy) coworking space and I am proudly drinking from my favorite mug.  If you can’t see what it says, it say “I don’t need Google, my wife knows everything.”  I haven’t decided if it is ironic or accurate, but it is a great mug (and was on sale).  When we are not working from home, we like to go on a short walk around the neighborhood to stretch our legs, get some fresh air, and maybe see a few birds by the lake.

If you want to see my before and after haircut pics, please keep reading.

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