Best Websites To Use To Find Additional Black Friday Savings

The countdown is on to Black Friday! Do you have your list ready? You may not need to wait til Friday to nab the best deals. In the last post, we talked about the 5 best products to buy this week. Now let's talk about the best websites to use to layer additional savings.



1. Check out ebates.com to see a lot of the Black Friday ads early so you can plan your shopping. Some of the stores offering deals on the products you want may surprise you. Remember when you shop online, sign into your ebates.com account first and then click to the store you want. Ebates.com will offer you a percentage in cash back. The percentage will be range from 2% to 15%. 

2. Groupon.com  - Over the years, I have liked and disliked Groupon.com. Right now, I put them in the like column again. They offer spectacular savings on products and services. Plus they are listed on Ebates.com so you can spend less and get cash back. Wow! 




3. Airline Shopping Portals - Most airlines offer a shopping portal. Check the earn miles section of the frequent fliers club website for that specific airline. This week in honor of Black Friday, they are offering extra miles for your purchases. 

4. Travel deals - The airlines don't want to be left out of Black Friday so our friends at Skyscanner.com will be posting all the deals so you can nab some great affordable travel. Again, check ebates.com to see if that airline is listed for additional savings. 


Happy shopping and let us know about the great deals you find. That's how we do it at almost FREE family travel. 

How You Can Nab A $99 Fare To Europe

Discount airline WOW Air is starting its Black Friday sale early this year with $99 fares to select cities in Europe. The $99 fares are from cities on the East Coast like Boston, Pittsburgh, Chicago and Miami. WOW Air is offering $129 fares from cities on the West Coast like Los Angeles and San Francisco.
European cities include London, Brussels, Dublin and Amsterdam. Travel can be for anytime Dec. 2017 through May 15 2018 with limited offers from Miami.
I did a quick search for fares from Los Angeles to Dublin and came up with just a couple of dates in April with the low fares. Most of the fares were $219 unless you signed up for a WOW pass. However, I could not find any information about how much the Wow pass costs.
WOW air allows stopovers on your return flight in Iceland so that's a bonus.
Watch out for extra fees for baggage and seat reservations. Plus remember there is no in flight entertainment or food/drink included though they will sell it onboard.
Bottom line, if you can nab a $99 fare, it may be worth it. But remember this is a discount airline, so pack light and lower your expectations.

5 Best Products To Buy Pre Black Friday

You don't have to wait til the day after Thanksgiving to get the best deals. The pre Black Friday sales are sometimes actually better than the ones offered on Black Friday and you don't have to fight the crowds. Only 53% of consumers think Black Friday deals are good. 

So here are the top 5 products to keep your eye out for: 

1. Electronics - every year, it's the best deal and this one is no different. Check around to see who is offering the lowest price. 

2. Computers and laptops 

3. Appliances 

4. Books, movies and music 

5. Video Games

Check out this graphic from our friends at Wallethub.com  

Next post, I'll talk about some great websites that offer additional deals and how to layer them to get even more savings. 

Top 5 Portals To Use For Your Holiday Shopping

One of the best ways to earn airline miles or cash back is with shopping portals. And now as we head into the holiday season, the portals are offering bonus miles so it's easy to earn free plane tickets and hotel rooms. 

Here are my top 5 shopping portals:

1. American Airlines shopping portal - right now, you can earn up to 4,000 bonus miles if you spend $1200 by November 19th. 

2. United Airlines shopping portal - right now you can earn up to 5,000 bonus miles if you spend $1500 by November 19th. 

3. Southwest Airlines shopping portal - right now, you can earn up to 3,000 bonus miles if you spend $1,000 by November 20th. 

4. Dining reward programs where you link your credit card to the dining program offered by an airline like United or Southwest. Any time you dine at a particular restaurant that is in the program, you earn bonus points. 

5. Ebates.com for cash back on purchases. When we went returned home from Europe, ebates.com sent me a check for $54. Nice. 

Remember, always set your credit cards on autopay and pay them off each and every month in full. That's how we do almost FREE family travel. 

Starbucks: Load $20, Get 300 FREE Stars

Through our friends at Doctor of Credit,  we discovered Starbucks is offering 300 FREE stars if you load $20 onto your card through the Starbucks app and pay with Chase Pay.
Chase Pay is similar to Visa Checkout and other type services. You will need to link a credit card to use it.

Offer is valid November 15-21.

Here's the fine print:

Promotional Offer Terms: Offer valid 11/15/17 – 11/21/17. Starbucks Rewards™ Members load your Starbucks Card/App using Chase Pay® and collect three hundred (300) Bonus Stars. Bonus Stars will be automatically loaded to this Starbucks Rewards™ account within 24 hours. These Bonus Stars cannot be combined with other offers, promotions or discounts. Bonus Stars do not apply towards Star Dashes. This offer is exclusively for Starbucks Rewards™ Members. Limit one per person. Offer good in the U.S. only.

Promotion Period: The Promotion Period runs from 12:01 AM PST on 11/15/17 and ends at 11:59 PM PST on 11/21/17.

Eligibility: This offer is open to residents of the 50 United States and D.C. who have a valid Chase Pay® account.

This offer is not from Chase. Chase is not responsible for the provision of or failure to provide the stated benefits and services.

*Bonus stars will be loaded onto your account within 24 hours of purchase

Buy An Easy 1,000 United Miles For $1

Buy an easy 1,000 United miles for just $1 and get a digital subscription to the Wall Street Journal. Offer ends November 16th. And be sure to make the cancellation by date on your calendar so you don't get charged $36.99 per month for the subscription after the trial ends.
This is a good way to top off an account or to reset an expiration date. You can only get this offer once in a lifetime.
That's how we do almost FREE family travel.

Why You Might Want To Shop At Walmart This Holiday Season

One of top reasons to have a Chase Freedom credit card are the rotating bonus categories each quarter. This Q4 2017, the bonus categories include 5% cash back at Walmart.com. So if you are doing some holiday shopping at Walmart.com, you should put those purchases on your Chase Freedom card. The bonus caps at $1500 cash back. 

There are two Chase Freedom cards to pick from: Chase Freedom and Chase Freedom Unlimited. Both have bonus categories. Both have no annual fees. Both come with a 15,000 point bonus for making a minimum of $500 spend in the first 3 months. The Unlimited earns an additional 1.5% cash back on purchases. 

The drawback to this card is that you cannot transfer points to airlines or hotels. It is strictly a cash back card. If you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Ink card, then you can transfer points to travel partners.