TripRewards Fall Promotion - $25 Gift Card or 500 Bonus Miles

By MoneyBlueBook

It looks like I may be taking a few overnight road trips in the next few weeks. It's a pleasure to stay at an elegant hotel, but sometimes you just want to crash at a more basic place to save some money. The hotel and motel partners of TripRewards don't offer five star accommodation, but they do deliver a comfortable stay at a cheaper price. Their hotels include brands such as Days Inn, Ramada, and Super 8. You pretty much get what you pay for, but without breaking the bank. Through Trip Rewards, you can earn reward points for stays at participating hotels, redeemable for future stays or gift cards.

I'm not going out of my way to participate in the promotion. It's just something extra for something I was planning on doing anyway. :)

Earn Bonus Points, Enough For a $25 Gift Card

This fall, Trip Rewards is offering a bonus points promotion, for the redemption equivalent of a $25 gift card. Complete two separate stays at a participating hotel from now until December 27 and you'll earn enough points to redeem for a free $25 gift card. Remember, it's two separate stays so consecutive nights still count as one stay, regardless of check in and check out. You will still earn the usual 10 Trip Rewards points for every $1 spent at a participating hotel.

The terms and conditions indicate that the bonus points awarded will be equal to 5,500 less the number of regular Trip Rewards points you earn for your stays,

By MoneyBlueBook

I think this company has been around for a few months now but it wasn't until recently that I heard about them. If you have been searching for ways to earn more frequent flyer miles or have been trying to find ways to top off the accumulated miles of your frequent flyer plans, now you have another option through E-Miles. E-Miles is offering to give you mileage points but in return, you guessed it, you have to view video ads and then complete surveys pertaining to the products featured on the ads.

Once you register with them and complete a profile, you are paid mileage points for every ad you view. You can earn 10-20 miles for each 30 second video, and even more points for longer ads. The ads are provided to you based on your previously completed profile in which you indicated your interests. I recommend having as many interests as possible. I actually enjoy the process because it's relatively painless and fairly quick. Earned mileage points are automatically deposited every quarter into the participating frequent flyer program of your choice.

Earning and Using the Miles

In general, a free domestic flight through most frequent flyer programs will run about 25,000 miles. If you regularly view the ads, you could reasonably earn a free domestic flight within a year. However, I only plan on using the program to help me get over the free ticket hump for my various frequent flyer plans. I could try to accumulate from scratch but than it would

By MoneyBlueBook

PayPaland Equifaxhave an ongoing partnership where PayPal users can receive free credit monitoring alerts through Equifax. The interesting part is that you don't need to have a PayPal account to receive the free service. You just have to visit PayPal's website and click on theEquifax Credit Alertlink. You will then be automatically redirected to Equifax's website where you can register or sign in with your existing Equifax login ID. The offer is essentially open to everyone since there is no actual attempt to verify that you are indeed a PayPal customer. You just have to register through the PayPal link and the service is free.

I have not been a victim of credit fraud but I am learning to be more careful these days. I have given my confidential personal information numerous times to apply for various credit offers and contract job positions. It doesn't cost anything to exercise a healthy level of caution and take advantage of the service.

The free Equifax standard credit monitoring service provides notifications to your chosen e-mail address or telephone number when the following account changes appear on your Equifax credit report:

• Balance amount increase,
• Balance percent increase, or
• New Equifax credit inquiries.

The alerts can be changed and customized to your preference, and you can decide on what dollar amount or percentage change you would like to be alerted about.

The downside is that the service only provides alerts for Equifax credit changes and doesn't tell you which credit card triggered the alert. But

By MoneyBlueBook

Traffic and parking tickets are the absolute worst ways to have to spend your money. The only possible good that can come from it is that you save a few extra minutes by speeding or a few extra minutes by not having to find a less convenient parking space.

Pulled Over in New York and Paying Dearly

Earlier in the year, I was pulled over in upstate New York for greatly exceeding the 65 miles per hour speed limit. Needless to say I had no credible defense other than that I did so in an otherwise "safe manner" since there was no one else on the interstate highway. Obviously what I did was wrong and I paid heavily for it. I was fined $500 for the speeding violation and penalized an additional $450 for a New York state law called the Driver Responsibility Assessment, which imposes a stiffer penalty for greater violations. The total came to nearly $1000.

Virginia and the New $3,550 Speeding Ticket

Many states are enacting stiffer penalties for traffic violations. In Virginia, the government recently enacted a very controversial self proclaimed revenue-generating law that slapped many ordinary traffic offenses with an additional civil remedial fee. That means a motorist convicted of reckless driving (75 mph in a 55 zone would qualify) faces not only a fine of up to $2,500 and a year in jail, but a non-negotiable and non-waivable $350 a year tax for three years, bringing the total possible cost of a speeding ticket to a whopping $3550.

Costly, But I Learned My

By MoneyBlueBook

In an earlier entry, I discussed about this new get paid to surf company called AGLOCO that was developing an application that shows ads on the bottom of your computer screen. For the past few months, users have been downloading and using the application, with the expectation that the company would ultimately fine tune its business plan and release news about the payment structure.

Last week, AGLOCO announced on its blog that it had finally signed one of its major revenue partnerships and that a formal announcement would be forthcoming. On the face of it, it seems like good news for the people that have downloaded the application and are actively accruing usage hours. The informal announcement suggests that the company is trying to carefully move towards a viable and sustainable implementation of its payment plan. I noticed that the company wisely steered away from further discussing its previous assertions that payment might also be made in the form of shares - most likely to avoid complications from possible securities law issues.

I remain cautious but encouraged, however, I suggest that you should keep your expectations reasonable. The payment structure is still being developed and there is no clear indication of what the payout really will be. I suspect it may not be as lucrative as some may have hoped. But usage of the AGLOCO application is free and early adopters will likely benefit the most from referrals.

By MoneyBlueBook

This week, Apple released it's newest iPod Nano model and a new update to its popular iPhone. The company has increased each unit's storage space and the design makeover looks more tantalizing than ever. More the reason not to go out and buy one.

Those who must have the newest and fanciest gadgets will be shelling out a hefty premium to acquire them before anyone else. My advice is to stay away. You don't need it so soon. Give it a few months for the frenzy to level off before you make your purchase. When the initial craze is over, prices will surely drop.

My Hasty Purchase Experience

Back when I was in graduate school I came across this new silver ultra-thin Sanyo cell phone. I was immediately hooked and hastily paid $350 for it. It wasn't even a smartphone or a PDA. It was just a shiny new phone that looked amazing (this is back when thin phones were just being developed). Months later, the fascination of owning this new gadget wore off and I realized that I had made a costly mistake. Newer models had come out by then. If I had only waited a few months, I wouldn't have paid so much.

Here's another example. When the Xbox 360 and Sony Playstation 3 video game systems first came out, bidders on eBay furiously bidding the prices to nearly twice or triple what the retail value was. It was all hype, plain and simple. Do the sensible thing and avoid the irrational exuberance.

Another Reason To Wait