Who wants to save $800 without changing their spending habits?

We love saving money and assume you do too. So we invited credit card experts from Card Hub to provide some tips. $800?? That’s almost a whole grand. Shoot. Read on to get the details on how to save that much…

What if I were to tell you that a credit card company would give you $800 just for opening one of its cards and making a single purchase? Is that something you might be interested in? References to HBO’s Entourage (which debuts this week) aside, it’s true. Credit card companies are fighting tooth and nail for consumers who made it through the Great Recession with excellent credit and are offering a variety of very attractive initial rewards bonuses in trying to woo them. So, how can you get your hands on one? Let’s find out.

Amex + Facebook = What you love?

Amex is now partnering with Facebook to offer deals through a Facebook app called “Link, Like, Love.” Alliteration is always catchy, and this brings to mind Coldstone’s “Like It, Love It, GOTTA HAVE IT,” especially since the tagline on the app is “Now, American Express takes what you ‘like’ AND GIVES YOU WHAT YOU LOVE.” Unrelated, but not a bad connotation if you like ice cream.

So how does it work? You link an American Express card to your Facebook account, select an offer to load it on your card and then pay using your Amex. If you meet the offer criteria, you get the discount as a statement credit. The app says “No coupons. No hassles. Just a credit on your statement, and savings in your pocket.” How bout that? It’s very similar to our service.

Touche, Google Offers. Touche.

Unless you’re living under a rock, you likely heard that Google has jumped on the daily deal bandwagon, launching Google Offers beta in New York and the Bay Area.

To their credit, it wasn’t a first choice–Google likely would have purchased Groupon rather than launching a copy cat service had they not been unceremoniously snubbed.

D’oh deals: Not such a smooth move

Our product manager, Jarrod, got an offer for a Brazilian wax. Jarrod doesn’t know and doesn’t want to find out what a Brazilian wax entails.

 

Because you’re better than Carrie Bradshaw

“For one full week, I spent money on only Groupon deals. Groupon was, effectively, my sole currency…”

Intrepid journalist Noreen Malone decided to live off Groupon deals for a whole week. Here’s how it went:

D’oh deals: Got kids?

A few other childless folks in the San Jose area may have also received this deal today. One of our members sent this to us. He’s a 22-year-old recent college grad…not exactly looking to start a family any time soon.

 

D’oh deals: Living Social’s proprietary offer-matching algorithm at work…

Our visual designer Omair Ali is a young father of two. He often buys diapers, groceries, and electronics. He recently received this offer for pole dancing classes from Living Social.

 

Offermatic 2.0

Yes, it’s here! Offermatic’s new website has officially launched.

The new site includes:

Daily deals down in the dumps

Are daily deals really that bad?

TechCrunch blogger Rakesh (Rocky) Agrawal seems to have a bitter vendetta against them:

We’ve moved!

Check out our sweet new place!