Amazon Prime Day: Black Friday in July?

Have you taken advantage of Amazon Prime Day, or are you ignoring it completely?

If you were interested in buying a Kindle, an Echo speaker, a Fire Tablet or TV stick, a Blink security camera or any other tech that Amazon makes, this could be a good time to do it.

(You have until 2:59 a.m. Tuesday, July 16, to make up your mind.)

According to Cnet.com, some prices hit rock bottom during the sales promotion. That Fire TV stick was just $15, and the Echo Show 5 was priced at $50. In addition, while the Amazon Echo dropped down to $22 (from as high as $50), you could get an Echo for free if you bundled it with stuff like Ring Video Doorbell Pro or the AmazonBasics microwave.

Non-Alexa household, here. In fact, I have to admit that I spaced the date until Amazon Prime Day was more than half over. And I’m okay with that, because I agree with Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst with Bankrate.com: Any spike in sales is good news for Amazon shareholders, “but not necessarily for consumers as a whole.”

The hype surrounding Amazon Prime Day is not unlike that of Black Friday (or Gray Thursday, or Cyber Monday). We’re being set up for a major, collective case of FOMO (fear of missing out). What if we miss the best deals ever? What if everyone else gets the cool gear and we don’t?

Yeah, and what if the prices aren’t as good as they look?

 

Read more

Win a $500 Amazon gift card.

Want a $500 Amazon gift card? You probably do.

Last week I posted several ways to win gift cards to boost your holiday shopping. A few more giveaways have popped up since then – and if I can’t win them, then I hope one of my readers will.

The big enchilada is that $500 Amazon card, which is being given away by a new site called Considerable.com. Its goal is to provide money and lifestyle information for people aged 45 and over. Give it a look – there’s some great reading here.

 

Read more

The Dollar Dig $150 Amazon gift card giveaway.

thToday is Sept. 1. Thought about your holiday shopping yet?

Yes, it’s early – we’ve still got about 16 weeks to buy and wrap – but the smart money is on early planning.

A cash-back shopping site called Dollar Dig stands ready to help you out – both by saving you money on purchases and by sponsoring a giveaway of Amazon gift cards. Five winners will be chosen, for one $50 and four $25 cards.

Regular readers of my site know that I’m a diehard cash-back user. Not ordering through one of these sites is like begging to pay more than you must.

You’ll get a $5 bonus when you sign up at Dollar Dig. Once you’ve earned an additional $20 in rebates you can request a withdrawal.

How do you get those rebates? By buying stuff you were going to buy anyway – and by starting your shopping tour at DollarDig.com. Here’s why.

 

Read more

Summer, voting and a chance to win free stuff.

thI just got back from voting in the primary election, a civic duty made pleasant by the beauty of the weather: blue skies after many days of rain, big puffy clouds and a slight breeze that stirred the faint but unmistakable fragrance of decaying vegetation.

Yes, summer is on the wane. Wildflowers and gardens alike are dying back – hence the smell of plant life sinking gradually to earth. Birch leaves are falling like golden rain in my BFF’s back yard. Most of the fireweed has spawned out, although a few defiant pinky-lavender blossoms still show up here and there.

The sun’s angle and intensity have both changed noticeably. As I noted in the linked article, “August sun compared to June sun is like a social kiss: close enough to get its point across but far enough away to feel like display rather than true affection.”

 

Read more

Amazon cards and more at AGSL anniversary.

thI’d like to introduce you to an interesting website called A Gai Shan Life, run by the pseudonymous Revanche (love that name). She’s been producing AGSL for 10 years.

Ten. Years. An entire decade. Do you know how many bloggers quit after a year, or even sooner than that? (Hint: Lots of them.)

As she puts it, her site is “a senior in dog years, starts fifth grade in kid years, or could retire as a centenarian in blog years.”

The blog defies easy description. It’s a thoughtful mix of topics, including but not limited to lifestyle, personal finance, working world, chronic-illness and, more recently, parenthood.

Revanche has a serious health condition and has spent the past 10 years finishing her education, supporting her parents and brother, paying off her family’s debts, starting her own career, getting married and having a child. Somehow she has also managed to keep a blog afloat.

You should go read her. And just in case you need more incentive than my recommendation, how about this: Her 10th blogoversary giveaway features a chance to win some pretty swell prizes.

 

Read more

Giveaway: $20 Amazon card.

thHoly cow — a month has gone by without a giveaway! Work plus travel plus seasonal ennui can do a number on even the best of intentions.

Although I have a handful of books begging to be re-homed, I don’t have it in me today to do the careful write-ups they deserve. (Tomorrow’s not looking good, either.)

 

Thus I’m taking the path of least resistance and proffering an Amazon gift card. Easy for me to send. Easy for you to spend. I’d call that a win-win.

 

Read more

Two million and counting.

th-1When I started Surviving and Thriving back in 2010 my life was very, very different. I’d recently gotten a university degree (at age 52 – better late than really late) and was making a living as a full-time writer for MSN Money plus an every-other-week staff writer at Get Rich Slowly. I freelanced for other publications as well, and traveled a lot.

Now I live in Anchorage, Alaska with the love of my life and am back to freelancing full-time because MSN Money fired all its writers on the same day back in autumn 2013.

Earlier this year I started an online course called Write A Blog People Will Read* and also hung out my shingle as a writing coach.

Tired? You bet.

Grateful? Indescribably so.

 

Read more

Giveaway: $10 Amazon gift card.

thWhy am I giving away $10 in Amazon scrip? Because it’s easy, that’s why.

I’ve got too many irons in the fire right now to focus on coming up with a clever giveaway and an even more clever explanation of said giveaway.

Summer + deadlines = not quite enough time to do everything I need/want to do. Thus I’m cutting corners wherever I can.

Heck, last week I skipped the giveaway altogether. Sorry about that.

 

Read more

Win a $50 Amazon card from Savings.com.

PrimeS_300X250 To increase the already considerable buzz around Amazon Prime Day, the Savings.com deal site is giving away $1,000 worth of Amazon scrip.

The bad news: Prime Day is Wednesday, July 15, and gift-card winners won’t be drawn until Tuesday, July 21.

The good news: Amazon promises it will offer more deals this Wednesday than it will on Black Friday. (More on that below.)

Starting at 12:01 a.m. EDT Tuesday, July 14 you have the chance to win a $50 gift card. Twenty will be given away and I’d love it if one (or more!) of my readers were in the winners’ circle.

Here’s how to enter: 

 

Read more