Of course it is not completely free, there is a trick. Starbucks kicks off eight weeks of exploration with a different bold coffee each week. If your coffee shop participates in this promotion you have a chance of pocketing 1 lb whole bean coffee at the end of the 8 weeks. Here are the rules:

• Ask for a Coffee Journey Passport card to track your weekly bold coffee experience. Cards are available the first week, through 3/14/10.
• Sample a tall 12-oz bold coffee each week ($1.50) and get a sticker.
• Customers who collect 8 stickers (one per week) through May 3 will receive a free 1-lb. whole bean bold coffee of their choice.

Go to starbucks.com/bold for more details.

Source: Starbucks Invites Customers on a Bold Coffee Journey (via Buxr)

This is January 2010 revision of the Popular Coupon sites list. You can find the previous revision of the list here.

The change in rating shows the difference compared to December results. This list currently has 34 sites - two more than in December. One of the sites (deallocker.com) was mistakenly excluded last month since Alexa didn’t properly return the rank. On average the coupon sites have gained (3.86%) in January.

The best performer is flamingoworld.com (25.65%), which also goes up by 2 positions, and the worst result comes from couponwinner.com (-16.92%) which also goes down by 6 positions. Enjoy the complete list below!

#	Web Site	Alexa Rank		Page Rank		Online Since
1	retailmenot.com (info)	826	(3.28%)	6		27-Oct-2006
2	coupons.com	1917	(-0.68%)	6	(-1)	07-Sep-1994
3	eversave.com	2163	(-0.23%)	4		08-Apr-1999
4	coolsavings.com	3945	(-9.01%)	6		03-Jun-1996
5	couponcabin.com	5692	(6.3%)	6		27-Feb-2003
6	couponmountain.com	6887	(-12.2%)	6		05-May-2001
7 (1)	tjoos.com	7998	(11.58%)	4		16-Jun-2007
8 (1)	savings.com	8128	(-0.64%)	6		20-Apr-1995
9	mycoupons.com	13609	(5.75%)	6		16-Feb-1999
10 (1)	couponcodes4u.com	14000	(13.17%)	5		01-Aug-2007
11 (1)	coupons.smartsource.com	14795	(2.5%)	6		27-Apr-1995
12 (2)	couponmom.com	21233	(12.13%)	6		25-Jun-2002
13	8coupons.com	22313	(1.47%)	5		11-Jun-2006
14 (2)	hotcouponworld.com	22545	(-3.79%)	4		15-Jun-2006
15	ultimatecoupons.com	24525	(3.13%)	4		02-Jul-2001
16	offers.com	29648	(-0.84%)	6		24-Feb-1996
17	deallocker.com	32573	(n/a)	4		24-Mar-2007
18 (1)	wow-coupons.com	33527	(3.83%)	4		26-Nov-2003
19 (1)	webbyplanet.com	33857	(2.7%)	4		09-Feb-2006
20	valpak.com	35811	(3.35%)	6		22-Jun-1994
21	couponcode.com	37222	(-0.05%)	5		24-Feb-2002
22	fabuloussavings.com	37378	(0.93%)	5		27-Jan-1999
23 (6)	couponwinner.com	39432	(-16.92%)	5		30-Jan-2006
24 (1)	couponchief.com	40013	(-0.98%)	5		15-Jan-2005
25 (1)	couponseven.com	48430	(0.33%)	3		23-May-2006
26 (1)	thegrocerygame.com	54299	(2.74%)	5		28-Aug-2001
27 (2)	flamingoworld.com	60428	(25.65%)	4		19-May-1999
28 (2)	couponshare.com	74701	(-6.71%)	3		21-Jan-2002
29 (2)	shopping-bargains.com	77691	(-6.19%)	4		20-Feb-1999
30 (2)	currentcodes.com	79487	(-6.74%)	6		27-Dec-2000
31 (1)	gogoshopper.com	87191	(-5.76%)	5		16-Dec-1999
32 (1)	couponheaven.com	88399	(-3.26%)	3		28-Sep-2003
33 (1)	cellfire.com	95745	(1.78%)	5		23-Jun-2004
34	couponsurfer.com	97157	(5.43%)	5		11-Feb-1998

Source: $100 Bonus with a new Checking account at Bank of America (at Buxr)

Pick the type that fits your needs (Basic, Deluxe, Premier, or Home & Business), compare the prices below, and use the link to go to the promotion page. Bookmark it and make sure to use the same link every time you go back to continue your taxes.

It looks like I will go with Fidelity or USAA again this year. I need Home and Business (both federal and state) and these companies offer the best discount combination. Please tell me which software you use. Also comment if you know any other on-going TurboTax promotion and I will update this blog post.

Open to everyone

Single and no mortgage? Turbotax Free Edition should be just fine for you. Also check the Turbotax Freedom Project page to see if you meet income and military status requirements. For the rest of us, here is the roundup.

1. Regular prices

2. Promotion by Fidelity
Go to this page and click on “Visitor Entry”.

3. Promotion by USAA
Use this link to get to the promotion page

4. Promotion by Chase
Go to this page and click on “Save Now on TurboTax”.

5. Promotion by T. Rowe Price
Use this link to get to the promotion page

6. Promotion by Bank of America
Use this link to get to the promotion page

Open to company clients

1. Vanguard Flagship
Open to Vanguard Flagship Services and Asset Management Services clients. Go here for more info.

2. Vanguard Other
Open to other Vanguard investors. Go here for more info.

3. State Farm
If you have a bank or a credit card with State Farm you get free TurboTax Deluxe. Just login to your account. Non customers get the same discount (25% off) as offered by Fidelity and USAA this year.

American Express Holiday Wishlist was a big thing back in 2007 and in 2006 when I last time participated. Last year was a disappointment as I couldn’t get on any of the deals - the quantities were so limited and the offers would sell out in seconds. Let’s see if this time is going to be different.

It is worth to note that American Express has now turned the Wishlist into a year around enterprise but the variety and quantities increase as the holidays approach and so in theory the chances of getting anything should improve (unless the demand increases proportionally). Below is the schedule for the current week. In addition to these, there is a few secondary smaller offers plus some not so great promotions that you can take part in at any time (‘Shop Anytime’ section):

Tuesday, Nov 24

• $100 American Express Gift Card for $50.00 (Total Qty: 75)
• $250 Back When You Spend $500 or More at TigerDirect.com (Total Qty: 100)

Wednesday, Nov 25

• $100 Charity Certificate to GivingExpress for $50.00 (Total Qty: 30)

Friday Nov 27

• $100 Back When You Spend $200 Or More at Walmart (Total Qty: 500)
• $75 Off When You Spend $150 or More PUMA Online Shop (Total Qty: 200)
• Nintendo Wii Gaming Console CompUSA.com for $119.00 (Total Qty: 150)

Monday Nov 30

• 2010 BMW 328i for $16,838.00 (Total Qty: 3)
• $100 Back When You Spend $200 or More at Amazon.com (Total Qty: 200)
• Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 Netbook for $199.00 (Total Qty: 100)

Tuesday Dec 01

• Samsung 46” LED 1080p HDTV for $999.00 (Total Qty: 100)
• LG Home Theatre System LHB953 for $239.00 (Total Qty: 150)
• 50% off FedEx (Total Qty: 700)

Wednesday Dec 02

• Spend $200 Or More at Target and Get $100 Back (Total Qty: 500)
• Dell Studio XPS 8000 Desktop w/ Monitor for $1099 (Total Qty: 100)
• $200 Back When You Spend $500 or More at Best Buy (Total Qty: 125)

To be eligible for the offer, you must register your American Express Card at americanexpress.com/bpcashback and complete all qualifying transactions by December 31, 2009. You may register more than one Card for this offer, but only those Cards you register individually for the offer will be eligible to earn statement credits. Certain American Express Cards, including prepaid, OPEN(R), and Corporate Cards, as well as additional Cards with a different Card account number, are not eligible. Statement credits will generally be issued within 5 days after each qualifying purchase, but may take up to 2 billing cycles to post to your account. Additional terms apply. See registration website for details.

You will need to enter your name and CC number upon registration. There is no fee for signing up and the CC number is needed to verify eligibility (according to the message that pops up).

Sure enough my American Express from Costco qualified for the promotion which is terrific news since any additional discount is good in the touch financial times like these

This card overall is pretty good for frequent travelers since it offers 3X points on airfare in addition to 2X points on gas and groceries and 1X points on everything else.

If you spend $30,000 per calendar year you will earns additional 15,000 bonus points (yes, another $150 gift card!) however by the time you get these points you will be hit by the $175 annual fee (which is waved in the first year) so the value of this additional reward is questionable.

How would I personally use this card? I would apply for it if I knew I had some major vacation coming in the next several months. For example, we are planning a trip to Ukraine next summer to visit our family and friends. This by itself is over $5000 in airfare or over 15,000 in rewards points. If I signed up and bought the tickets now I would both satisfy the $1000 in purchases requirement to get the bonus points and also would get the 3X rewards points on the airfare to Ukraine, a total of over 30,000 points or $300 in gift cards!