Free Stuff: American Express Social Media Sync Promotion

American Express has been giving free money by "syncing" your AMEX card to twitter, facebook, and foursquare. You register for the deal and then spend at the business using your AMEX card. You get a credit on your statement 3-5 days (or less!) after you meet the spending requirement. There are some great deals. Here are a few:

• Spend $5 and get $5 credit at McDonalds
• Spend $10 get $10 credit at Best Buy (I got a $10 gift card)
• Spend $5 get $5 at a few of my favorite bars/restaurants
• Spend $5 get $10(!!) in Austin, Texas (dead deal)

As you can see this is free money. You have to register your AMEX card (took me less than a minute) and spend as usual. I have gotten around $100 in "free money" from various offers from this. I'll take it!

Making the most out of gift cards

I seem to get quite a few gift cards each year from friends and family. This year was no exception and I got a pretty big stack this time around. I also got some cash which is still believe is the best gift for me. I'd much rather top up my savings than have to go shopping somewhere.

This year I got:

• $25 Amazon.com gift card
• 2x $25 Longhorn/Darden gift cards
• $50 Lowes gift card
• $25 iTunes gift card
• 2x $15 iTunes gift cards

I have already used the Amazon card to get a few things I needed around the house. All small items but saves me $25 in the end. I spent one of the Longhorn cards for lunch with the girlfriend last weekend. iTunes I used for a couple of games/apps and will save the rest for shows or movies in the future. Great now that I have an iPad!

I am hanging on the the Lowes card for now in case I need something to do some work around the house. It will be the least useful one at this point but worst case I can use it to buy household supplies or maybe even for work expenses on the road for which I will get reimbursed in cash. I could also pick up some tools if I need them.

Overall I will make good use of these gift cards. I have already turned my iPad into an on-demand second monitor for my macbook and we watch a couple shows on it too. I am ready to travel with it to see what else I can do! The other cards will get absorbed eventually. I keep their presence in the back of my head will get the value out of them soon!

Affiliate Program: uPromise.com

I have been a member of uPromise.com for a number of years. The idea of the site is to reward your spending on certain products and services in the form of rebates to your uPromise account. You can then use it to fund your or someone else's college (either check or a 529 plan), pay your student loans (Sallie Mae only), or you can take cash (by way of mailed check).

You can do this for 1 or more people and decide what % of the funds go to each. You can register your grocery and drug store cards to track spending and earn there. You can also register your credit and debit cards for their dining program (similar to Skymiles Dining). They also have an online shopping section where you can earn money by using links form their website and also a self-branded mastercard from Citibank.

My personal experience from this program has been good. I have not gone out of my way to be sure I use their specific products or services to get the rebates. So far I have taken out $41.00 by check a couple years ago and now have about $12.69 in the account. Most of my money has come from their grocery program by registering my and my relatives shoppers cards.

One thing to note is that it is not immediately obvious that you can request a check for the money in your account. To do so you have to write them a letter and checks are issue quarterly. If you want more than $200 it will require the letter to be notorized. They offer a form letter in their help section to get this going. I have done this before and it works great!

Start earning today!