Here are 5 more things you should know.
01. College Score Card
You should know about the government website that rates colleges in the United States on degree, income, graduates, and defaulting called collegescorecard.ed.gov
You can select the school you’re interested in and see the important information listed. Picking a college is important when you;re including the cost so knowing if it has a high default rate, low average income in your particular degree, and low graduation tells the quality of school.
02. Credit card benefits very few people take advantage of
Most credit cards have a number of benefits that very few people take advantage of including extended manufacturer warranties, free insurance on rental cars, theft reimbursement, roadside assistance, and much more.
Obviously, all these benefits vary depending on card and issuer. Your card may not have all these benefits, so be sure to Google what your card offers.
Common benefits:
· Your phone broke just outside of warranty? Get it repaired and submit the proper paperwork and your credit card company will cut you a check.
· Renting a car? Decline the optional insurance. You are covered through your credit card.
· Car broke down but don’t have AAA? They have you covered (for a small fee).
· Your luggage lost or damaged by an airline? Get a check.
· Bought something and then found it later online for less? Get refunded the difference.
Benefit pages for some common credit cards:
· Barclaycard.
03. Some credit cards will price adjust to match Black Friday Deals
Now that the Black Friday ads are starting to filter out, this is a great trick to avoid the chaos that is Black Friday.
Some credit cards will price adjust previous purchases to Black Friday pricing. This trick exploits the 90 day price adjust feature that many cards have. This feature usually is limited to something like $500/claim and $2,500/year but can be very useful on certain types of purchases like technology goods.
Before we get started, not all cards allow it for door buster deals. That being said, Discover Card in particular is well known for ALLOWING this practice, even on door busters. Other cards, vary based on the card and issuing bank (contact your issuer for confirmation). It doesn’t work for all deals, namely ones where the thing on sale is a BF exclusive item, but in general the quality on those items is so low anyways the deal isn’t usually as good as you think. Anyways, it is a great way to get Black Friday deals without having to stand in line.
The practice is pretty straight forward:
· Find out what deals you are interested in, such as say a TV. Do this by checking your usual deal sites.
· Save the image from the ad or cut out the ad that lists the model and price.
· Purchase the item BEFORE Black Friday (within 90 days) and save your receipt. If you purchase it after BF, they WILL NOT adjust to an earlier price.
· Laugh at the people waiting in line wasting their holiday for the deal that you already got.
· Wait until it is time to file (can’t file BEFORE the date the sale price goes active, only after).
· File your claim and submit your evidence. For Discover Card: call Discover Card (1-800-638-8312 is the direct line to the Price Protection Department) to start your price match claim. They’ll will ask how you would like to process it. Select online option. You will then fill everything out here.
When to purchase can be important. I try to buy as close to BF as possible, because that allows me longer to monitor the price and then file my claim. Note, with many cards you can only file a claim once so it can be important to wait and file as near to the end of 90 days as possible. As many have learned, BF prices are not always the best prices anymore. For things like TVs, buying it later can be useful because it gives you time all the way through the Super Bowl which is when many TVs go on sale. The Super Bowl this year is Feb 5, so if you purchase Nov. 7th or later, you will be covered. For anything else, anytime from now until Black Friday is a good time to buy if you want the best price between now and just after Christmas.
04. Cheap Flu Shots
Even without insurance or membership, you can get a flu shot at Costco or Sam’s Club for $15. A trivalent flu shot costs $15 while the broader protection of the quadrivalent flu shot costs $30.
05. English Ivy is an invasive plant in North America
What looks like a lovely green accent plant can actually choke trees, accelerate rot, attract mosquitoes and cause mature trees to fall down during storms. English Ivy can strangle trees, and once it is in the tree canopy, it can block sunlight from the trees’ leaves. Dense ivy cover deprives the tree’s bark of normal contact with air and microorganisms and competes with the tree for nutrients and water. It is difficult to contain and out-competes native groundcovers. It should not be gardened outside of its native range.
The sale of it has been banned in some states and it is listed as a noxious weed through much of the U.S.
