Live Cheap, Save Big

This is a guest post by foXnoMad, who writes on a wide variety of travel-related topics and looks to save you time and money when doing so:

All credit card based purchases made with your checking account ING card (select credit instead of debit) will get you 1% back, placed in your account each month.

If you don’t have ING, get referred by someone who does and have $25 placed in your account. Select credit on all purchases and get 1% on all online purchases made - up to $500. That equals $5.

If you’ll be spending money anyway, get some cash back. Plus you’ll earn 4.25% annual interest on your checking account and savings. Transferring between ING accounts is instant and you can move money from your existing bank account back and forth for no extra charge.

foXnoMad is having a holiday contest with the following prizes - a $75 Apple Gift Card, a $50 Amazon.com Gift Card, 2 Amazon.com $25 Gift Cards, and 2 Amazon.com $15 Gift Cards. Maybe you can win some gift cards to help you out with your holiday shopping.

All you have to do are the following 3 things by December 8, 2007 - gift cards will be emailed on December 10, 2008:

• Submit a 200 word post on a country not in our blog locations - It’s not an essay, just your experiences, personal recommendations, and other advice you have based on your travel to the country. Email your submissions via the contact page.
  • If you simply haven’t been to a country we’ve not written about, contact me and I’ll figure out an alternative.
• Drop At Least 3 Insightful Comments On Past Or Upcoming Posts By The Deadline - One of those comments should go under this post, about anything travel related. Please be creative
• Subscribe To The RSS Feed or Email Subscriptions - Look on the top right corner of each page. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

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The rules are pretty straightforward and don’t ask you to jump through hoops to enter. Plus your chances of winning are pretty darn good if you put a little thought into your writing. Why not spend a few minutes and try to win some holiday gift money? Or maybe you just want to blow it all on yourself!

PNC Bank is offering a promotion where they will give you $101 free when you open a personal checking account with direct-deposit.  The direct-deposit has to be a minimum of $500 and the $101 will be deposited to your account within 7 days of the first one.  Giving away free money sounds like a great way to drum up some new business.  The nice thing about PNC is that they don’t charge ATM fees regardless of where you withdraw cash.  If the other bank charges a fee, PNC also refunds you the money.  If you decide you don’t like PNC bank, you can close your account before the 180-day probation period and only face a $25 penalty.  That’s still a free $76 in your pocket! After the 180 days the money is yours regardless of what you do.  Slickdeals.net offers a list of other free money deals being offered by banks and credit card companies.  So if you’re in the market for a new checking account, check out some of the promotions being offered by PNC and others and get yourself some free money in the process.

Via foXnoMad:

*Chicago - Although O’Hare is a United Airline hub, travel to and from this city is inexpensive. TravelZoo is loaded with holiday airfares you can take advantage of - and if you go in the winter you’ll find discount on hotel prices as well. Visit the Sears Tower, the (free) City Art Gallery, or go ice skating in Millennium Park.
*New Orleans - The city is still recovering from Hurricane Katrina and tourism dollars are welcome here. Aside from Mardis Gras, there are plenty of music and theater festivals to attend during the mild winters. Keep in mind that some of the places you used to be able to visit are still inaccessible due to Katrina, check out the city’s Web page before you plan you trip.

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Via foXnoMad:

* Morocco - One dollar will get you 8 times the number of Morocan dihrams. The north coast of this tourist friendly nation is warm year round, and a cheap (~$100) short flight from Spain’s Costal del Sol. The best time to experience the soul of Morocco is during the off-peak October-April months.
o If you are still scared to visit read these traveler testimonials.

* Thailand - A trip to Thailand can include nightlife hotspots Patpong and Nana and the southern islands including Phuket and the Phi Phi Islands. Enjoy elephant rides, shark swims, and traditional massage and still have some money leftover.
o Be sure to read this list of dos and don’ts (shoes, smoking, and hand shaking) before you leave.

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Next time you run to the grocery store, try a new restaurant, or go to buy a dvd, try looking for an internet coupon if they have a website. Almost every business has a website these days, and many of these websites offer coupons which you can print out. You can find coupons for $5 off an oil change, 2-for-1 dinners, buy-one-get-one and a whole lot more. This works out great for the retailer because they don’t have to print and mail out coupons, which saves them money, and they’re generating more business. Many retailers offer internet coupons year-round since they know websites generate a lot of business. So take the extra minute before you go out, look up the website of wherever you’re going and see if you can get yourself a good deal.

This is one of the best deals that grocery and convenience stores offer.  What surprises me is that people often don’t take advantage of these deals. They say that they only need 1 of the item right now.  Why not buy a 2nd instead of making another trip to the store later. This offer is better than any sale price you’d get on a single item.  Stores will offer these special ‘buy one, get one’ sales when they are overstocked on an item or it didn’t sell as well as they expected.  Convenience stores offer these deals a lot, especially on personal hygiene items such as deodorant, mouthwash and toothpaste.  I always take advantage of these offers when I see them.  I get double the items for the same price and have one less trip to make to the store next time.

An easy trick to keep juicy eBay deals to yourself is to search for common typing mistakes, Kiplinger’s reports [via Consumerist].

Try misspelling the search term. While everyone else bids on the Duncan Phyfe table, you could have the “Duncan Fife” table — same antique, wrong spelling — all to yourself.

A pretty free, sweet, and effective trick for the next time you are shopping online. With the number of misspellings on Craig’s List I’m sure if you search for the correct spelling you’ll be all alone