Bank of America Museums on Us - This Saturday and Sunday

Bank of America Museums on Us program gives Bank of America card holders free access to select museums on the first Saturday and Sunday of the month.  July 5th and 6th are the dates for this month so that means this Saturday and Sunday are the free days this month.


You need to have a credit or debit card in the name of each person so you still have to pay for kids, unless you get a credit card for you child, like I did.

Sign up for email or text alerts to remind yourself of the dates here.

Here is a list of the museums in the New York/New Jersey area:

• NJ
• Liberty Science Center (Jersey City)
• Montclair Art Museum (Montclair)
• Morris Museum (Morristown)
• Newark Museum (Newark)
• NY
• Suffolk county Vanderbilt Museum (Centerport)
• Long Island Children's Museum (Garden City)
• Metropolitan Museum of Art (Manhattan)
• Staten Island Children's Museum (Staten Island)
• New York Historical Society (NYC)
• Whitney Museum of American Art (Manhattan)
• Brooklyn's Children Museum (Brooklyn)
• Queen's Museum of Art (Queens)
• Guggenheim Museum (Manhattan)
• Old Westbury Gardens (Old Westbury)
• Long Island Museum of American Art, History & Carraiges

Time to Cancel Audible Account

Audible is an audio books site owned by Amazon.


Recently, they were running a promotion through Top Cashback where you would get $31 for signing up for an Audible account and staying on for 30 days.  After everything was said and done, you would come out with about $15 if you got out soon enough.

Well, I am proud to say that have successfully cancelled my account without "reading" one book, but I am $15 richer.  It was a good month until I decided to go on vacation.  $15 gets me about one cup of water on the airplane.

You can see the old post for instructions on canceling.

Promotion is Back!

On a separate note, Audible is rerunning the promotion for the next 5 days.  Sign up for a Audible account through Top Cashback and you will get $31 if you keep the account for more than 30 days.  There is a $7.50 fee plus applicable taxes per month.


You can sign up for a Top Cashback account here.

Activating Visa Gift Cards without Activation Code

Recently, I bought a $200 Visa gift card from Staples and I either threw out the activation code or I lost it and I didn't have my order number either.

I thought I had just lost out on $200.  Manufactured spending has really low margins so if you lose $200 it can take some time before you make that back.


Luckily, I saw that Travel with Grant gave some advice on how to active your gift card before the activation card comes.  I assumed it should work just as well for me.  I called Gift Card Mall and was able to activate the card by talking to a rep who only asked my name and address and the gift card number.  2 hours later my card was active.  Boom!  Thank you Travel with Grant

My Ideal Wallet - Q3 2014

Related Links

Best Credit Cards

Credit Card Sign Up Offers

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site: Credit Sesame, Chase Freedom

These are the Credit and Debit cards that will either be in my wallet (assuming my wallet was the size of George's) from July 1st until the end of September 2014


Make sure to sign up for Credit Sesame and/or Credit Karma to monitor any changes in your credit history for free (I have both).

• American Express Blue Preferred – 6% cash-back at groceries (up to 6k a year), 3% at gas and 1% everywhere else.  There is a $75 annual fee so it is only for those who spend a lot of money on groceries.
• $150 sign up bonus for spending $1,000 in the first 3 months
• You get 6% on a gift cards you buy at the grocery store as well.
• You also get one year free membership to Amazon prime if you have signed up for the card in the last 3 months

• Chase Freedom – 5% cash-back at Gas and Kohl's 
• $75 maximum cash back per quarter.  You need to activate the 5%.
• Chase Freedom 2014 5% categories
• $200 sign up bonus for spending $500 in 90 days
• Most 7-11 Stores are considered Gas Stations and sell $500 Vanilla One Visa Gift Cards.  They sell Vanilla Reloads too, but the register is hard coded to only allow cash purchases for that.

• Discover it™ - 5% cash-back at Gas Stations.  Same story as Chase Freedom
• 5% cashback for Discover is actually more than 5%
• Must activated for cashback bonus
• $150 Sign up Bonus for spending $750 in three months.

• Citi Dividend - 5% cashback on Hilton Hotels, Car rentals, Theme Parks and Movie Theaters
• Up to $6,000 of purchases a year instead of $1,500 a quarter (up to $300 cashback for the year).  I have no use for this card anymore this year since I already maxed out the rewards for the year in the first quarter.
• $100 sign up bonus for spending $500 in 90 days.

• Chase Ink Classic (Business Card) - 5% cashback at Office Supply Stores, Cable, Phone (Landline or cell) and Internet bills.
• 20,000 Ultimate Rewards for spending $3,000 in 3 months.
• No annual Fee

• Bank of America Better Balance Rewards - $25 back for every quarter that you pay your full bill or more than the minimum balance in every month.  Another $5 if you have a Bank of America Checking account.
• Best Usage - Set up a monthly bill on this card and auto pay the full balance. You never have to think about it and then every three months you will get $30.

• Bank of America Cash Rewards - 3.3% on Gas into a Bank of America Checking account - 4.5% if you have a Bank of America Privileges Card.
• Normally in my wallet for gas, but I will use Chase Freedom for 3 months.

• Fidelity American Express Investment Rewards – 2% cash-back everywhere else.
•  This card is always in my wallet

• Charles Schwab Check Card – Unlimited Free ATMs Withdrawals at every ATM in the world
• This card is always in my wallet

Sodastream $42.10 from Amazon after Rebate

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site:  Amazon

SodaStream Soda Maker Starter Kit - $42.10 from Amazon with free shipping.  I have been using my sodastream for years to make seltzer and I love it.  You save money and you don't have to lug seltzer bottles around from the store.

The actual price is $69.  There is a coupon from Amazon that will give you 10% off (Just click "clip this coupon" on the Amazon page) at checkout.  The price is now $62.10

$20 rebate available, just send in the UPC when it comes along with the form.    

Save another $5, by downloading the amazon Toolbar button 

Buy 2 Boxes of Diapers and get a $10 Target Gift Card

Buy 2 boxes of Pampers, Huggies Giant Pack or 2 Up&Up (Target brand) Bulk packs and you will get a $10 Target gift card.

I wouldn't buy Pampers or Huggies diapers from Target since they are overpriced there, but my family uses Up &Up diapers and this a good price for these diapers.

After all the discounts, it comes out to about $0.15 per diaper for size 3.  I usually get about another 7-9% off the purchase price - See Maximize Spending at Target - which gets the price down to about 13-14 cents per diaper.

Discounted Gift Cards On Sale at Raise - Extra 5% Off

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site:  Raise and Top Cashback


Raise.com sells gift cards to retailers at a discount.  They run almost weekly weekend sales where you can get an extra 5% off on top of the regular prices on select gift cards.  The sale ends today.

Keep in mind that the base price for the gift changes with inventory so I will list its current price, but it might not be the same if you try to buy it


Click this link for the current discount rates of all the gift cards on sale

Don't have a Raise account?  Sign up free


You can will an extra 5% off the following gift cards with coupon code TAKE5:

• H&M - 13% without the promo code 
• Dell Promotional e-Gift Cards - 8% without the promo code
• Michaels - 18% without the promo code
• NFL Shop - 10% without the promo code 
• Build-A-Bear - 3% without the promo code
• Northface 13% without the promo code 
• Advance Auto Parts - 11% without the promo code 

The next ones also get 5%, but they aren't as interesting to most people

• Nutrisystem - 29% without the promo code 
• Darden Restaurants - 3% without the promo code
• Lone Star Steakhouse - 10% without the promo code 
• Annie Sez - 40% without the promo code 
• Hallmark - 4% without the promo code 
• Bob's Stores - 26% without the promo code 
• Mandee - 35% without the promo code 
• J Jill - 28% without the promo code 
• Sally Beauty Supply - 5% without the promo code
• Olive Mountain Restaurant - 23% without the promo code 
• IHOP - 2% without the promo code 
• Asha Salon - 10% without the promo code 
• Farmhouse Restaurant - 15% without the promo code 
• Zachary Prell - 35% without the promo code 

Start your purchase from Top Cashback and get up and get an extra 2% cash back as well!  

Don't have Top Cashback?  Sign up here for free.

$5 Amazon Promotion for Installing Amazon 1Button App

Disclaimer: I receive a referral commission for the following link(s) and I greatly appreciate supporting the site:  Amazon


$5 Free at Amazon

All you need to do is install the Amazon 1Button App.  The whole process takes about 3 minutes.  You will get a code good for $5 off of your next $25 purchase from Amazon.


Thanks YP for the tip!