How to Get Discounts at Ebags.com

Just a little hint for those of you are in the market for a new bag or backpack. Here's a way to save some money if you have the patience and willingness to do some surveys.

Back in February I blogged about a survey site called E-Rewards that I've been using where you earn points that can be exchanged for discounts. The first discount I used was to trade points in for $15 off at Borders and I got Ben Mezrich's "Rigged" for sixty cents (here). Well apparently that particular exchange is only allowed once a year, so I've moved on to my next goal - Ebags.com

I've purchased some luggage from them on a couple of occasions and have found them to be a pretty reliable etailer. Whenever I buy something, I prefer to buy it online nowadays because I can read all the customer reviews prior to purchasing.

E-rewards has different levels of discounts that you can earn at Ebags. $25 off a $75 purchase ; $50 off $125; or $100 off $275. Technically in terms of percent off, $50 off $125 is the best discount.

I recently saved up $50 points on e-rewards, which my gf is going to use for a purse that she saw at Nordstroms (but will be a much better deal at Ebags since she can get $50 off using the discount) and will use the next $50 that I save up to get myself a new laptop bag.

Be aware though, it takes a long, long time to save up points on E-rewards. But if you have the time and you're not in a hurry, it's worth the discount.

I just added Ebags.com as an affiliate advertiser to this site and so they're offering a special discount where you can get $20 Off When You Spend Over $100 at eBags.com


Only one discount at a time though, so unfortunately you won't be able to do the E-rewards thing in addition to the discount above. I just tested the link above to doublecheck and your discount should show up in your shopping cart when you check out. Happy Shopping!

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New Legal Seafood Promo Code - 10% Off

As I promised, I would continually search for new coupon codes for the Legal Seafood Mail Order site so that you guys could get a better deal. I just found one and checked to see if it was still good and here's what the website said:

This coupon entitles you to receive a discount of 10% good towards your purchase. Please remember to enter this coupon on the cart page or during checkout to receive your discount.
Expiration Date : 28-Feb-09

I've posted the promo code with the original post (here) for the sake of keeping everything together. Just scroll to the update at the bottom. You can also get there by clicking "Legal Seafoods Mail Order" under my Affiliate Advertising section on the left.

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Comcast Promotional Offer

Welcome to the newest affiliate on the Beantown Bloggery - Comcast. I know what you're thinking, cable companies are the devil. But what I'm hoping to do is help ease the pain with a special promotional deal that you can get through my link below. Why pay full price if you don't have to?

Here's some of the stuff that you can get:

Comcast High Speed Internet for $19.99/month for 6 months
Free Cable Modem and Wireless Router
Up to $300 in Cash Back and Bill Credits
Free HD Service for 12 Months

I've got RCN right now (because my building doesn't have Comcast). And I have to admit, I miss Comcast's High-Def On Demand. Now I hafta tivo all my shows like Entourage and what not if I want to see it in HD cause otherwise if I watch On Demand it's in standard definition.

Click (here) if you're unable to see/click the banner ad above.

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Site Wide Disclosure Policy

Dear Readers,

I've started to do a little bit more advertising (to pay for blog expenses) via a company called PayPerPost (check them out here). I will only choose topics that I feel are at least somewhat relevant. I will not start writing about denture cream because someone is willing to pay me to do so. Lastly, the ads will be fairly infrequent because my primary goal is to be an informational site for you guys, not to pepper you with ads. Below is my newly generated Site Wide Disclosure Policy for your reading pleasure.

This policy is valid from 21 November 2007

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.

The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content.

The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.

To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org

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November is Alzheimer's Awareness Month

I recently found out that one of the members of my extended family has Alzheimer's. I didn't hear too many of the details, but it's really quite sad to think about what he must be going through: not being able to recognize family members, and even having trouble putting sentences together as words have begun to fail him.

With November being Alzheimer's Awareness month, I'm sure you'll all see inklings of it in the news. Don't ignore it. If someone you know is showing symptoms, it's important to encourage them to go for a memory screening test so that at least you'll know early.

November 13th is National Memory Screening Day, you can click (here) to find a facility that carries out screening tests. And also get some memory and successful aging tips from the Alzheimer's Foundation.

The important thing to recognize is that Alzheimer's Disease is NOT a normal part of aging. People always joke about senility being just a part of getting old. Just because you're getting old this doesn't mean you should be forgetting things.

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive, degenerative disorder that attacks the brain's nerve cells, or neurons, resulting in loss of memory, thinking and language skills, and behavioral changes.

For more details about it, you can click (here) to get a more scientific explanation as to what exactly happens in the brain when one develops Alzheimer's Disease. For the most recent scientific discoveries click (here) about an article on biomarkers that scientists believe can help to identify Alzheimer's Disease. This is important because if this is accurate, any new drugs developed that can decrease the presence of these biomarkers is a good sign that we can combat Alzheimer's.

You've got about two months to affect your 2007 taxes =), so if you're looking for a charitable donation to make a holiday gift to, perhaps the Alzheimer's Foundation could be the one you choose. Until the day that we CAN cure Alzheimer's, we need to do our best to support groups like the Alzheimer's Foundation and the outreach that they do.

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TJX Security Breach - Part II

I'm had just been updating the original post, but now that it looks like a settlement is going to be reached, I think that warrants another post.

Click (here) for my original post on the TJX security breach and my recommendation to use FreeCreditReport.com (at least for the 30 day free trial) to monitor your credit report.

Originally TJX had proposed giving $30 TJX vouchers to the customers that had been affected by the hack. The judge in charge (mad props to him for standing up for the little guy) told them that it wasn't enough and now TJX has come back with a proposal for $30 vouchers along with $15 checks.

Click (here) to read yesterday's article about how the judge is now leaning towards approving this new proposal.

And just to reiterate, the gravity of the situation. I'm mentioning again the real world situation that happened recently:

I just read another article last week about stolen credit card numbers and it said that in cases like this, the numbers are never used right away. The thieves wait 6 months to a year until you're not checking anymore and THEN that's when they start using the CC numbers and bushwhack you. Case in point, my girlfriend just started having mysterious charges on one of her debit cards that she never uses anymore (I hate you TJX). Luckily she had a service turned on that monitors suspicious activity and they notified her right away in addition to suspending her account so no more charges could be made.

More than ever, I'd recommend to folks out there to look into some sort of service like FreeCreditReport.com to watch out for you. I'm pretty OCD and I only check my online credit card statements a few times a month. Having a service like this enables them to notify you IMMEDIATELY when something shady happens.

Click (here) if you'd like to sign up for FreeCreditReport.com and their 30 day free trial.

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Stubhub.com Saves the Day

There is nothing more aggravating to me than logging onto my computer at 9:55am the day that tickets for an event go on sale, pressing F5 like a madman until 10am hits and tickets go on sale and then not being able to get tickets.

I can't count the number of times this has happened to me in the last six months: The Killers, The Smashing Pumpkings, Wicked, the list goes on. Remember that Celtics presale I blogged about (here). It was supposed to be "early access" and I still couldn't manage to get any tickets. Apparently there are people that have "earlier than early access." On a related not, I don't even try anymore for Red Sox or Patriots tickets.

So where do I turn when there's an event that I medically NEED to go to? Probably the same as you, Stubhub.com. I've had pretty good experience with them so, I'm proud to welcome them as the newest affiliate advertiser on the Beantown Bloggery.

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Forbes & The Wall Street Journal

I think I've gone through the list before of what I try to read on a daily/weekly basis to stay informed on what's going on in the world and also Boston specifically. There's the Boston Globe, the Wall Street Journal, The Metro, Boston NOW, The Phoenix, The Weekly Dig, Stuff@Night, Improper Bostonian, and even Barstool Sports (The one with the scantily clad women on the cover). Other than the Globe and WSJ, the rest of the publications are free.

In terms of magazines, I just started getting subscriptions to Boston Magazine, Forbes, and US News & World Report. Forbes because we're all interested in finance (or at least we should be) and US News & World Report because sometimes you need a more national perspective on things to see what Boston-related issues are making national headlines. That's also what cnn.com is for - seeing how our little world impacts those across the country.

Anyways, I am happy to announce newly established advertising partnerships with the Wall Street Journal and Forbes. If you're interested in subscribing to either of these publications, please use one of my links below. For all of you MBA students at Harvard and Sloan - school just started, better get a move on and get those subscriptions going.

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PayPerPost.com

There were two reasons that I got into blogging three months ago. The first reason was that I didn't feel like I was fully experiencing Boston and all it had to offer. As a result, I started subscribing to the Globe and reading all the other free papers out there (The Metro, The Weekly Dig, BostonNOW, The Phoenix, Stuff@Night, Improper Bostonian). It's a lot of reading, that's why I started the blog. I figured I'd do the reading so that you wouldn't have to.

The second reason was to jump onto the blog advertising bandwagon and see if I could get a piece of the pie. Articles like the one (here) from CNN were my inspiration. There are websites that I read on a daily basis: Engadget.com, Fark.com, Perezhilton.com. Imagine my surprise when I found out these folks were making millions of dollars in advertising.

Enter, PayPerPost.com - from the research that I've done, PPP is one of the better advertising venues out there to help bloggers drive traffic. After you register, you can sign up for different advertising opportunities. Write a blog entry, get it approved, and watch your bank account grow. At least that's what I'm hoping.

If you have a blog and have questions, I'd be happy to share what I have learned so far. Just shoot me an email.

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FreeCreditReport.com & TJX

If you've been reading the newspapers this week, you've probably read about how they arrested a Ukrainian man in Turkey who is suspected of selling some of the credit/debit card numbers stolen from TJX earlier this year.

Remember when TJX (parent company of TJMaxx & Marshalls) announced in January that they had been hacked and they had lost 45 million credit/debit card numbers? If you're like me, you instantly freaked out and started staring at your cc statements for months on end to make sure no fraudulent charges were being made. Lots of my friends called their banks and got new cards issued.

This is where, FreeCreditReport.com comes in. This service is run by Experian, one of the three big credit reporting agencies and provides you with a free credit report. It also enrolls you in a 30 day free trial membership in Triple Advantage^SM Credit Monitoring. After the trial membership, the service costs $12.95 a month. You can also cancel your membership within the 30 days and pay nothing. It's nice to have that sense of security that someone is watching my credit score for me. Sso when it comes time to apply for a mortgage or car loan, I'll be in good shape.

10/11/07 Update: Click (here) for the latest developments on the TJX case.

10/4/07 Update: Click (here) for the latest on the TJX proposed settlement where they want to give consumers a $30 voucher. $30 voucher?? Are you serious? Keep trying, you owe us all a lot more than that. I just read another article last week about stolen credit card numbers and it said that in cases like this, the numbers are never used right away. The thieves wait 6 months to a year until you're not checking anymore and THEN that's when they start using the CC numbers and bushwhack you. Case in point, my girlfriend just started having mysterious charges on one of her debit cards that she never uses anymore. Luckily she had a service turned on that monitors suspicious activity and they notified her right away in addition to suspending her account so no more charges could be made.

Click below to get your free credit report and trial membership for Triple Advantage.

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Welcome Legal Seafoods Mail Order

The Beantown Bloggery is proud to welcome Legal Seafoods as an advertiser to the website. For those of you in MA that are a little further out and can't make the trek to any of the area restaurants, Legal Seafoods Mail Order Service is the answer for you. It's also great for parties you might be catering/hosting. We've only got 3 weeks left before September hits and the kids head back to school - time to plan that summer clambake you were thinking about.

Admittedly, there are other seafood places in Boston that have a bit more character - B&G Oysters is at the top of my list. But, I always end up going back to Legals every once in a while because their food is consistently great. Whenever my friends (or parents) visit from out of town, we make at least one trip to Legal's for the clam chowder. I'm also a huge fan of their double stuffed baked shrimp.

9/6/07 Update:
Now that August is over, the 5% off coupon CJAF527 has expired. I will keep my eyes open for other coupon codes that become available and will make update on this page when I find one. Thanks everyone who used my link below to place their orders. I very much appreciate it.

2/27/08 UPDATE:
Like I promised, I've been continually scouring the net for new coupon codes. Here's one that appears to be active now: AFL1W27. This is for 10% off.

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