Amazon Prime Day 2026: Early Deals, Free Trials, Shop w/ Points

Amazon Prime Days 2026 is now live will run June 23-26, 2026. Beyog the “early” deals, I always look out for reset points credits and extended free trials to try out again. As usual, I recommend checking for discounts on the things you already buy. Check your “Buy Again” past purchases here. I’ve listed a few of my favorite things below as well.

(Note: If you are reading this in an email/RSS reader, unfortunately I am not allowed to include any Amazon affiliate links in e-mails, so they have been removed. Please click here to view the links.)

As the name suggests, most deals require a Prime membership. New members can sign up for a 30-day free trial. Amazon Prime for Students (age 18-24) has a 7-day trial for 99 cents and $7.49/month after that (50% off regular). If you’ve already done the trial, you can simply buy a single month of Prime for $14.99 ($6.99 with SNAP, EBT or Medicaid card).

Deals and Offers

Amazon Free Trials

“Shop with Points” Promos (Check again if reset/targeted)

Random Favorite Things & Recent Discoveries (Not necessarily on sale right now)

  • Amazon Eero 6E mesh WiFi router system 3-pack (sale). If you have WiFi coverage issues and haven’t upgraded your router recently, I do recommend an upgrade. It just makes WiFi something you don’t worry about anymore. No more dead spots. This “6E” model supports speeds up to 2.5Gbps and up to 6,000 sf, while the cheaper “6” version supports up to 500 Mbps and 4,500 sf.
  • COSORI Air Fryer. We still use our air fryer nearly every day; heats things up like a microwave, except it keeps them crispy instead of soggy. Easy to clean in dishwasher.
  • Coway Airmega AP-1512HH True HEPA Air Purifier. I have two of these air purifiers, one in each of the kids’ rooms. I think they are over 5 years old now and still going fine. Simple design, reliable, and easy to change filters. I use these cheaper VEVA brand replacement filters that are still of good quality.
  • Bosch ICON windshield wipers. These are the most expensive, but they are also the best and longest-lasting in my experience. No longer mess with the rest.
  • Tiptree Passion Fruit Curd. Delicious on so many things, their lemon curd is excellent as well but the passionfruit (aka “lilikoi butter”) flavor is one of those things that I can only find easily on Amazon.

Plynk Brokerage App: Dividend Match (25% Bonus up to $250 per Year)

Plynk is a standalone brokerage app that is quietly a subsidiary of a subsidiary of Fidelity Investments. It seems to be a place where they can experiment with a younger target audience with tools like automatic recurring investments, simulated trading, educational tools, etc. They’ve also offered a few worthwhile bonuses in the app. Plynk just underwent another design reboot, and – surprise! – the interface now looks a lot more like Robinhood.

Plynk also just added a new promotion called Dividend Match (hat tip DoC), which pays you a bonus of 25% of the dividends your taxable brokerage account holdings earn each calendar month, up to $250 max per year. Important highlights:

  • Dividend match is available to both existing and new customers. No opt-in required.
  • Eligible shares. For common stock and non-daily accrual mutual funds and ETFs, you must hold for at least 30 calendar days prior to the ex-dividend date to receive the Bonus. For mutual funds and ETFs that accrue daily interest and generally pay a dividend at the end of each month, there is no required holding period.
  • Formula: Eligible_Shares × Dividend_Per_Share × 25% subject to the $250 annual cap on Bonus amount.
  • The annual cap resets on January 1 of each year.

An interesting bonus that would seem to incentivize customers to maintain their (dividend-paying) holdings at Plynk. The S&P 500 dividend yield is only around 1% now, but if you moved over around $100,000 and normally would get $1,000 in annual dividends, now you could get an extra $250 in dividends.

iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (SGOV) is a daily accrual ETF that holds short-term Treasury bills and can be a useful approximation of cash. Right now, SGOV has a 30-day SEC yield of 3.54%. If you got a 25% bonus on that yield, you would be getting 4.43%.

You could also do this with Vanguard 0-3 Month Treasury Bill ETF (VBIL) which has a slightly lower expense ratio and thus slightly higher SEC yields, but a tiny bit higher bid/ask spread at times (although it is pretty much one cent like SGOV).

You’d have to hold a little over $28,000 in SGOV/VBIL in order to reach the $1,000 in annual dividends to max out this promo.

I’m guessing the money would be reported as 1099-MISC, so the tax rate would also be higher than normal interest.

This would be nice if it was a permanent or guaranteed feature. I’m considering it especially as I already have an open account, but I’m afraid Plynk will end the promo quickly even though it is meant as an ongoing offer with no set expiration date.

Pizza Hut Camp BOOK IT! Summer Reading Program 2026

Open for Summer 2026. If you were a kid in the 80s and 90s, you may remember the Pizza Hut "Book It!" program that rewarded reading books with free pizza. Well, Camp Book It! is again open to free enrollment for the summer (now in iOS/Android app … [Read the rest]

YMCA Free Summer Memberships For Teens (Nationwide but Targeted)

Updated for Summer 2026. Parent of a teen? It can be tricky to find a place for your young teens in the summer time. Check your local YMCA chapter as many are offering free summer YMCA membership for teens. Some are for specific grades, like … [Read the rest]

Still Buying the Haystack and Sleeping Well Because I’ll Own The Needles (Winners)

In 2019, I wrote the post Buying The Haystack: Sleeping Well Because I'll Own The Winners (Needles). Recently, Hendrik Bessembinder updated his previous research with the paper One Hundred Years in the U.S. Stock Markets (SSRN/PDF), which tracked … [Read the rest]

BofA Rewards Subscription Credits: Eligible Select Streaming and News Services (As of May 2026)

Bank of America's "Preferred Rewards" program officially switched over to the "BofA Rewards" program as of May 27, 2026, although most existing members will be grandfathered into their current tier for up to 11 more months or so. One of the list of … [Read the rest]

Commencement Speech x Outdoor Boys: Survival Advice for the Real World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttQd5bEdfL0 Graduation season is here, and here is the 2026 Commencement Speech for George Mason Law School by Luke Nichols, who is a practicing attorney but probably best known as the owner of the popular YouTube … [Read the rest]

Hilton Honors American Express Cards: New Limited-Time Offers

Updated with new limited-time offers. Hilton Hotels and American Express have co-branded credit cards with special perks for Hilton customers. Each person can typically only get one welcome offer, per card in your entire lifetime, so it's best to … [Read the rest]

Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program 2026 (Free Book, Kids Grades 1-6)

Back for 2026. Barnes & Noble has brought back their Summer Reading Free Book Giveaway for kids in Grades 1-6. You child will need to read any eight books this summer and record them in this Summer Reading Journal [printable PDF]. This year has … [Read the rest]

Advantages of Owning Vanguard Total US and Total International Stocks ETFs Separately

One of the most popular ways to build out the stock portion of a simple index fund portfolio is to own the following two Vanguard ETFs: Vanguard Total US Stock Market ETF (VTI), which tracks the CRSP US Total Market Index representing ~100% of … [Read the rest]

CIT Bank Platinum Savings APY Boost Promo: 6-Months at 4.10% APY (New and Existing Customers)

(Update: The end date for this offer has been extended to 6/30/26.) CIT Bank has a new limited-time Platinum Savings APY Boost Promotion, offering a boosted interest rate of 4.10% APY for 6 months on their Platinum Saving account that is 0.35% APY … [Read the rest]

Best Interest Rates on “Cash”: Bank Accounts, Treasury Bills, Money Markets, ETFs – May 2026

Here's my monthly survey of the best interest rates on cash as of May 2026, roughly sorted from shortest to longest maturities. Banks and brokerages love taking advantage of idle cash, and you can often earn more interest while keeping the same … [Read the rest]