Let’s take a walk around the the personal finance blogosphere. Here are a few blog posts that I found interesting and worth reading during the last few weeks. Feel free to check them out:
It’s been a month since my last freebie post, so it’s time for another weekend round of free online offers. As always, I try to focus on online giveaway deals that don’t require you to buy anything extra or mandate the use of printable coupons. Truly genuine freebies are great because they are low risk and involve no purchase commitment. My only gripe is with delivery, as sometimes the free product can take weeks if not months to be shipped. I’ve had some freebies take more than 2-3 months to arrive.
As always, the items listed below are available as of the date of this posting, but keep in mind that some may not last too long once people get a wind of them. Here they are:
Remember to check out past Freebies if you haven’t already done so. Let’s hope the other offers haven’t expired yet.
Well a year has passed since I started earning and accumulating Citi Thank You Reward Points using my squadron of Citibank credit cards, and now it’s time to redeem them for some well deserved purchase rewards. I own three of them myself, but here are 5 of the top Citibank cards when it comes to earning ThankYou reward points:
ThankYou Citi Credit Cards Offering At Least 5% Back For Purchases – With Current Thank You Promotions
Pros and Benefits Of Using Citi Thank You Reward Point Credit Cards
While I like cash back credit card offers as much as the next guy, these days, the highest rebate offers are provided by reward cards, not cash back cards. Card reward programs like Citibank’s Thank You Network tend to offer much higher purchase rebate potential than regular cash back cards. Ever since Citibank ended the good ole days of the former 5% cash back Citi Dividend Card, most card companies have followed suit and scaled back their cash rebate offers in favor of reward point cards.
In terms of reward programs, Citi’s Thank You Network is one of the better ones since they offer a pretty wide selection of redeemable rewards. The program offers everything from your standard cash reward to electronic merchandise. Other popular rewards include statement credit, student loan money, gift cards, home appliances, and free airline rewards.
Cons and Drawbacks Of Earning and Redeeming Citi Thank You Points
The biggest downside of earning reward points through programs like Citibank’s ThankYou Network is that they tend to require a more hands on approach to keep tabs on accumulated points. Unlike cash back cards, the points that reward cards earn usually have an expiration date. When it comes to ThankYou points, the expiration date varies and depends on the specific terms of each card. Despite the extra tracking hassle, I don’t really mind the extra management steps needed to earn the higher money back potential.
The other downside of using a card that only provides reward points is the redemption ratio. You have to really pay attention to the conversion ratio when you are redeeming your reward points to make sure you are getting the best deal (this may get a little bit tricky). Let me explain: Firstly, I have to presume the standard base card rebate rate is 1% back, although most Citi ThankYou credit cards do offer 5% back which will allow you to earn points even quicker for certain category of purchases. But with the standard rate, this means for every $100 you spend in real purchases, you should earn the rebate redemption equivalent of $1 in rewards (1% back). Thus you would need to spend at least $1,000 to earn enough to redeem a $10 gift card with a perfect 100% redemption rate of ($100 purchases = 100 ThankYou Points = $1 reward redemption value equivalent).
In general, the more versatile the reward (like cash and statement credit) the worse the redemption ratio. For cash rewards, the current best ThankYou redemption rate is only 16,000 points for a $100 gift card. This comes out to a redemption rate of only 62.5% of what you should potentially get – which is terrible.
For statement credit, the current best ThankYou redemption rate is only 35,000 points for $250 in statement credit. This comes out to a redemption rate of 71.43% – better than the ratio for cash, but still not a perfect 100%, which is what we would strive for if we wanted the perfect 1:1 redemption ratio offered by cash back cards.
How To Get The Most Bang For Your Buck When It Comes To Redeeming Citi ThankYou Points
If you want to get the highest rebate potential, reward point cards that offer Citi ThankYou points is the way to go. But if you want to maximize your reward redemption potential, you must make sure you redeem your points for rewards that offer you the highest 100% redemption rate. You’ll need to actively browse around your ThankYou member account to see which rewards offer the best redemption. Avoid the lower value gift cards as they don’t offer a good exchange.
Just A Few Examples Of ThankYou Rewards That Offer the Top Redemption Rate:
Avoid These Rewards Because They Offer Poor Redemption Ratios:
I would like to wish my readers and my lovely girl a Happy Valentine’s Day! For those of you who don’t have a clue where to take your Valentine’s date, I recommend The Melting Pot, a classy fondue restaurant. Fondue is basically a communal type of dinner meal shared around an earthenware pot cooked over a small burner at your table. The light fondue cheese mix inside the pot is usually cooked with traces of wine and kept warm while diners use specially pronged forks to dip bread and other bits of food into it. Although it’s deliciously fun, the dining experience can be rather expensive.
Love May Be Cheap, But Fondue Isn’t
The Melting Pot is definitely not a place for patrons who are financially squeamish about opening up their wallets wide for a rare romantic dinner. On special occasions like Valentine’s Day, expect reservations to be in demand and planned dinner courses for two to cost upwards of $130.00. On other days, the price doesn’t fare all that much better – at around $85 per couple. It’s amazing how high prices soar for love-related events and merchandise during special holiday occasions like Valentine’s Day (just look at the price of online Valentine’s day flowers in my last post).
I’m not really a high end restaurant connoisseur (usually preferring to save my money by going elsewhere), but I’ve been there a few times and enjoyed the food and ambiance. Don’t get me wrong – a dinner at the Melting Pot is incredibly expensive, but for that special someone or for that special annual occasion, I think the experience is worth the financial cost. It’s not a place I could afford to visit every weekend, but I’d much rather spend money on such experiences than on material trinkets that depreciate over time. Just be sure to snap some photos while you’re there to immortalize the memories!
Fondue Restaurants Are a Place For Diners Who Like To Play With Their Food In The Dark
As the restaurant’s website proclaims, fondue is a fun and interactive dining experience. If you’re clumsy at planning romantic outings (like me), a restaurant like the Melting Pot pretty much does it for you. They keep the place very cozy and the lighting very dim to promote and encourage warm fuzzy feelings. The interactive part is where it gets fun. They pour the fondue broth in front of you and provide you with color tabbed skewers that you use to cook the fresh mushroom, garlic chicken, white shrimp, fillet mignon, ravioli, citrus pork tenderloin, and lobster. Sounds tasty doesn’t it?
The reason why I’m reviewing this restaurant chain is because it is where I took my girlfriend to for our very first Valentine’s Day dinner. I had a good time and I think she did too. That’s the stuffed monkey I gave her.
