Free Moolah from Standard Chartered Dash!

Save! Earn! - $10

The long and the short of it:

Download Standard Chartered Dash App and get the connected Savings account

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It's raining money!

Quick on the heels of the DBS mobile banking giveaway, here's Standard Chartered's offer - Dash

Presenting the Dash App!

Links here for:
iTunes
Android Google Play

It's a much more complex offering than DBS and it's giving more too!

It's giving $10 btw and none of that first-come-first-serve thing either! I like...

Now to save up that $10, you'll need to do a little bit more work. Namely you will have to open up their mobile savings account. Then wait a little bit for the account to be setup. Then transfer it to your bank as per normal.

Do note the $10 will only remain in the app for 30 days. So transfer the cash out as soon as you get your mobile savings account setup. :)

P.S. Their travel insurance offer via the app is actually pretty attractive too! Damn cheap and with ACE insurance which is reputable but aye not tested ah.

Waste not any chicken

Save!  -Depends.

The long and the short of it:

Remember those Cold storage / Jasons half priced roasted chickens? Save the bones to make some damn delicious soup!

Additional or local tips!

No need for any salt or seasoning when cooking. Cos the birds are already seasoned for you! Use bones from 2 birds for a solid soup.

Use a pressure cooker to speed things up!

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Who doesn't love a good chicken soup?

Photo from Simple Bites

Being a person who abhors waste, I will save the bones from previously roasted chickens to make into soup! I've like 4 chicken carcasses in my freezer now waiting to be cooked. Hmmm yum yum.

Basically just follow any typical chicken soup recipe (here's one recipe that I reference). My chicken soup is also a lot simpler. I just add some thyme and bay leaves, potatoes and onions plus some chicken pea to have that option into making it a full meal.

There you go. Good healthy non-canned chicken soup that's rich and full bodies with a nice roasted edge. And yes, the soup will look brown because it's made from flavourful roasted chicken bones!

But do you save anything?
If you cook with chicken stock cubes then you probably save nothing.
If you cook your own chicken soups then this will probably save you $5-6 per soup since you still have to buy chicken bones or a whole chicken to make the soup base.

Half priced chicken!!!!!

Save!  - $6 per bird!

The long and the short of it:

Cold storage / Jasons has half priced roasted meats just before closing time! Usually at 9.30pm.

Additional or local tips!
Sometimes they will put up the sign at 9.30pm sometimes they will sneakily not put up anything! And sometimes they won't have it at all. So it's a game of chance and chicken.

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I swear Cold Storage does one of the best roast chickens in town for its price and convenience. Their other roast meats aren't too bad either. Their smoked duck steak is another to die for.

Now these roasted items are normally ok priced. They aren't expensive. I mean one whole uncooked bird already cost $4-6 and you still have to use electricity to cook it with herbs and spices and what nots. So $14 for a whole family sized roasted bird is pretty decently priced.

Smoke duck breast. TO DIE for.

Meat overload. Can get a bit jerlat

It looks ugly but tastes damn delicious. Smaller birds yield much a more tender meat while the larger birds have tougher breast meats.

So then, what makes this a frugallivingsg article you say?

Wait for it... (literally)... at 9.30pm, sometimes... sometimes... something magical happens.
The roast meat counter will have a fire sale and everything cooked for that day will be going for 50% off!!!!    *Goes wild!*

A whole roasted chicken is so versatile that I can make 14 meals out of that one single 50% off bird! Frozen and consumed over 2 weeks. And they were all delish. My saliva is flowing just thinking about those 14 plates of pasta.

My 14 meals of pasta from one bird!

Groceries on fire sale that are not for the faint of heart - Expired foods

Save!  - Depends on how much you spend on groceries and how often you get a chance to pick up quick sale items from the supermarket

The long and the short of it:

Expired foods are ok. If they aren't turning green or white with mould and other weird fungi, it's fine to eat them.
Additional or local tips!
Check out the supermarket about 30min before closing time to pick up Quick Sale items which needs to be sold by the end of the day otherwise they will get chucked. These items will normally be at 50% off.

Alternatively, come in early in the morning. These should be the two timings when items get labelled for Quick Sale.

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Now I'm a big proponent of this.

Expired or expiring foods are OK. 
If they aren't turning green or white with mould and other weird fungi, it's fine to eat them.

One big big example is... sliced bread. My parents always makes sure there is a loaf of clean white Gardenia sliced bread lying in the kitchen. It's the daily breakfast food, a versatile staple. They go through a loaf about once every 4 days but if not... they toss out the remaining slices, sometimes even whole loaves even if it is perfectly edible.

Why? Because of this...

They throw out perfectly edible food. And YET they lecture me on starving children in Africa when I was younger!

Hell, they've even gone one step further and toss out the bread on the day of expiration! It's not even about expired food anymore, they are tossing out expiring food because they can.
It's just too wasteful! It's like Singaporeans are too rich or something...


So what's a kid gotta do to convince the parents? Hahaha I started horrifying them by buying close to expired groceries before proceeding to cook and eat them. I've survived for about 3 yrs now having eaten some food items that are long past their expiry dates so there, it's fine.

Now there are obviously certain things that you should not eat in this manner. Namely, eggs, diary products, oils and canned foods which are bloated or have turned black when they should not. But honestly, even if these items have not gone past their expiration date, I wouldn't eat them if they have obviously turned bad. So just use your common sense. But in case you need some help to start off. Below are some examples:

• White bread that's white. No wispy fungal spores or mould is safe to eat.
• Vacuum packed preserved meats such as sausages, smoked meats and bacon. Best if frozen. Frozen goods last indefinitely.
• Canned foods such as beans. No tomatoes cos the acidity might eat through can. I've had that happen to me so don't chance it.
• Dried goods. Beans. herbs, mushrooms... Dried goods if kept properly dried will last indefinitely.

If you need more convincing, here's an article from TIME magazine that supports this. It's aptly named - Only Suckers Abide by Food Expiration Dates.

Oh and on top of saving food, you'll save money cos near expired items in the supermarkets have to be cleared asap and will often be sold at deep discounts.

Getting more money from your salary with DBS!

Save! Earn! - $60! 

The long and the short of it:

Get your HR payroll to deposit your salary into a DBS / POSB account and that's it! Insta extra $60!
Sadly this applies only to new salary credit arrangements. So basically if you are already sending money to a DBS / POSB account then no fish.

Additional or local tips!
No hafz.
But you can take revenge by assigning another your salary to be credited into another bank. Not only will you get the sweet taste of moving future funds away, you might get a higher interest rate from the other bank. BUT, scarly that other bank starts a similar promo like DBS...

So no revenge transfers better ya.

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The title is misleading. Max is $60... But better than nothing!

Easy peasy one. Just get your HR payrolls officer to credit your salary to a DBS / POSB account. DBS will then give you a 5% cash reward based on your monthly salary up to a maximum of $60 awarded. So basically anyone earning up to $1,200 should just do this.

The sad news is... If you're already sending your pay-checks to DBS, then well tough luck. They won't give you the cash reward.

Register here and you talk to your HR. 
Fine print here but I think it should apply to most salaried minions like you and me.

Offer ends on 31 May 2014 so do it quick!!!

*This post is all thanks to a tip off from Misty who gave me the heads up! Thanks Misty! 
For all the rest out there, I would love to hear from you too if this blog has helped and to share other money saving tips :)

Earn even more money from Maybank

Save! Earn! - Depends. Between $10-100

The long and the short of it:

Use Maybank's Giro bill payments to get up to $100 rebate.

Additional or local tips!

Since you've to open a Maybank account you might as well chain the combo with their online credit card bill payment offer

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In a previous post, I wrote about pre-paying bills with your credit card. 

What about those that you can't pay with a credit card? 

Giro them!

For e.g. Giro your tax payments. Or home loan payments.

Maybank is giving out more serious money! Here's the offer

Maybank lately has been like a mini-god of fortune. Keeps on giving!

*This post is all thanks to a tip off from Misty who gave me the heads up! Thanks Misty! 
For all the rest out there, I would love to hear from you too if this blog has helped and to share other money saving tips :)

Pre-pay your bills to get the maximum rebates

Save! - Depends. You could save between $20-100

The long and the short of it:

Pre-pay your mobile phone bills and utilities to hit the minimum spending per month for higher rebates for credit cards such as UOB One card or Standard Chartered Manhattan card or BOC Shop card or Frank card.

Additional or local tips!

Shop around for the best card that fits your budget and usage! I'm alternating between Standard Chartered Manhattan card for bigger ticket items and UOB One card for recurring smaller bills. Haven't tried out BOC Shop card or Frank card yet though.

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We all have to pay our mobile phone / internet / cable TV bills and our utilities bills. So why not channel those payments towards your monthly credit card spending? You'll need to spend that money anyway, so why not get some rebates from them?

What if the amount is too little to reach the minimum spending to get better rebates? Well just pre-pay your bills. I have pre-paid my Singtel bills up to 6 months in advance before and likewise for SP Power bills. 

You can pay for Singtel bills via mybill site here.
You can pay for Starhub bills via here.

You can pay for SP Power bills at their customer service counters at Woodlands, Toa Payoh and Somerset. Branch info here.

Note:
- SP Power lets you pre-pay up to 2 months in advance based on your existing bill. So plan accordingly.

Going to the market with NTUC Vouchers

Save! - About $130/yr if you spend about $50/week at NTUC.

The long and the short of it:

Buy NTUC vouchers at a discount and use said vouchers to shop at NTUC. Remember to use your card to get LinkPoints.

Only applicable if you are not spending over $500/month using the OCBC NTUC Visa Plus! card which is only available to NTUC Union members. Cos that combo gets you can even better rate.

Local tips!

Check out Gumtree, Carousell, HWZ and the usual forums for people trying to cash in their vouchers. Just be careful of deals that sound too good to be true. Don't get scammed.

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Now that you've whet your appetite doing some frugal groceries shopping, here's a more advance level challenge. Using vouchers at NTUC.

Not many people know this yet or don't bother with it, but you can still receive NTUC LinkPoints when you shop using NTUC vouchers. (I've checked with them on email and have tested this out so it works as of 4 April 2014)

So where's the extra savings? Well, there are usually people on forums such as Gumtree, HWZ and Carousell looking to cash in their vouchers. NTUC vouchers should go for at least a 5% discount on those forums. Sometimes, the vouchers may even go for 10% off. Just make sure collection is not out of the way otherwise your 5% savings will end up enriching SMRT or SBS!

A word of caution - Don't get scammed!

If the offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

An example would be a super good voucher offered at 40% discount but requires you to do payment via internet banking or Western Union and they will mail the vouchers over afterwards. There is a risk that the seller will run off with your money.

Cash On Delivery (COD) is the safest or paypal (Should be able to claw back payments).

If it's Yellow let it Mellow, if it's Brown Flush it Down

Save! $20 per year on flushes

The long and the short of it

If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down.

Local tips!

Use outside toilets also can.

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The common adage - If it's Yellow let it Mellow, if it's Brown Flush it Down... Just how much can you save?


This is a bit unhygienic but if you do practice it, it can save you about 2-3 flushes a day but with today's water saving toilet bowls, you'll only end up saving about $20 a year. It's not a lot and honestly doesn't seem to be worth it considering that you run the risk of stinking up the home.

So here's a better way. Save your waste water to do manual rinses and flushes. Where to get the waste water you say?

1. From brushing your teeth and washing your face each morning. (I can fill close to half a bucket just with this.) Though you might think eeeewwwww water from my mouth?! Remember where that water is going... into the toilet bowl... Not exactly a clean place either.
2. From the washing machine (might be a little stinky with the soap smell but ok once it's been diluted with water from other sources)
3. From washing vegetables (not meat hor. The oil is not good for your toilet plumbing.)
4. From mopping the floor

And if I could, I would also save my shower waste water but alas, I think my family will freakout if I stopper the drains to pump out water after each shower!

I've been doing this for a few months now and there is little to no smell, the bowl water will look a bit cloudy but I can live with that.



What can I say, I hate waste and it's just sinful to use good drinkable water to wash down our crap. It's a sin I say!

This is quite advanced so do it only if you can stand it!

Cooking saving hack Part 1 - Planning to eliminate waste

Save! Maybe about $0.50 on heating and water per cook, depending on how frequent you cook and the proportions. If you cook often, this adds up.

The long and the short of it

Plan your meals so you only need to cook once in awhile and have little to no waste. It's also more environmentally  friendly!

If you cook pasta, cook it with a stew to use the starch water.

Save any fat rendered out from crisping bacon or roasting chicken.

Local tips!

Use sturdy reusable plastic food containers to freeze your stews and meals for another day.

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I hate food wastage and I try my best to use up all and I mean all that I put in the pans. I just hate throwing out anything in the kitchen. The best way for processed food bits is to the compost heap (which I don't have and don't know how to start... yet) or into the stomach.

Fat Drippings
Starting off, I save all fat drippings and freeze them to use in mashed potatoes, bruschetta, salads or for simple stir-fries. Chicken fat, bacon fat whatever fat that's rendered off, I pour off and save. These drippings are flavor bombs and can and should be reused! There are entire forums dedicated to this (e.g. Chowhound, SeriousEats, CookingJunkies)
You might say the fat is unhealthy etc but you should just listen to common sense, which is to have everything in moderation.

As long as you're not drinking it by the gallon, you'll be fine...

Image taken from Butterbeliever, like many a home chef converted, also thinks like I do!

Pasta Water
For awhile now, I have been thinking of how to save my pasta water as I hate to pour them into the sink since:
1) it's a waste of about 2-3 litres of good clean food grade water (the horrors of waste!)
2) starch being starch, it might clog the drain

So I thought, since I love to do up big batches of stews and need water and starch from potatoes to thicken them, I might as well cook these two meal items together. Cooked pasta water becomes the water base for stews and the pasta starch will also help to thicken the stew! 
2-in-1 ah!
Just moderate the salt level accordingly i.e. use less salt in the pasta water.

So now, I try my best to plan pasta with a stew. Then I'll partition the stew into plastic food containers (reusable ones mind you) and freeze them for later consumption.

Frozen foods can last indefinitely but the tasty stews normally don't last more than 2 weeks. Just remember to thaw the stew first before you pop it in the microwave. No point wasting good energy heating up frozen food. Let Singapore's sunny weather do that for you.

So this is a simple cooking hack. Save energy, save your pockets and save the Earth.


What are some of your cooking hacks to save on gas and food waste?
Share them with me in the comments section!

Eat less save more

Save! Potentially a lot. Maybe about half of your food spend

The long and the short of it

Cut down on your meal portions because we are all eating too much....

Local tips!

Order less side dishes. Don't order "value" meals.

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This is more philosophy and method than a good deal kind of post. 

We all eat way too much now in this modern, affluent society. That's why diabetes and gout are on the rise. Both are "rich man" diseases. Rich in the sense that we can fill our bellies and not have to go hungry. A very low bar.

So to combat health problems from eating too much and save our bellies and our wallets, we should all try to cut down on consumption. 

For e.g.

• When ordering Cai Fan 菜饭, aim for just 2 side dishes instead of the usual 3. 
• Always avoid taking the meal options in fast food outlets and just buy 1-2 individual items. 

These actions may just save you a few cents but you're treating your body and wallet so much better.

Try it. Start slow.
Do frugal Fridays!
Where you subtract one item off your lunch since you've the weekend to look forward to so a bit of "misery" in smaller food portions shouldn't hurt that much!

Work your way to a slimmer self and a fatter wallet!
Better for your heart and mind too :D

Nets @ FlashPay for taxi rides

Save! Potentially $0.2-1 per taxi ride. If taxi like a tai-tai but with corporate slave-minion pay, spending $200 a month on taxi, then you save $10 a month. That's $120 a year. 

The long and the short of it

If you take taxi often (read, spend more than $30 a month), use Nets @ FlashPay for trips costing more than $6 (haha where got taxi rides so cheap nowadays! Sobz)

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Was on TODAY newspaper ok! So should be legit

If you take taxi often or will occasionally kena a very chor (expensive) taxi fare, this will help you to save a little bit of your money.


Basically, Nets @ FlashPay will give you a 5% rebate when you pay using their card. However, there is a $0.30 fee. So if your taxi fare runs above $6, the 5% rebate earned will be greater than the $0.30 fee. 

Now why go through all the trouble to get another card? Cos this card always acts as an ezlink card and can be topped up just the same.
Basically to me, this is another ezlink card. Quacks like a duck, it is a duck lor.

Got bee one.

How to use:

• Offer runs till 31 Dec 2014 (always important to note the end date)
• Need to hit $30 a month on taxi rides. With taxi fares being so expensive now, $30 is damn easy to hit. It just takes 3 x $10 rides. 
• Rebates are capped at $10 a month (That's if you spend $200 a month on taxi... Which is a lot.
• Rebates can be redeemed only 2 months after they are issued. E.g. you pay for the taxi fare in April, you get to redeem in June.
• Once rebates can be redeemed, you got 3 months. So in the earlier example, you got till Sept to redeem
• Redeem at the Add Value Machines at bus interchanges and MRT stations.

Add Value Machine

Downside - If you don't have a card yet, each card costs $12. Has $7 value and $5 non-refundable card deposit. :( 

BUT this is standard. Same as ezlink card. What to do? LL

And if you don't know already, the Nets @ FlashPay got other benefits. 

My other posts here - sweet 1-for-1 Cathay movie tickets deal

Milk the NS IPPT for what its worth

Save! Potentially Earn $200 extra on top of your incentive for a complete extra 20 RT cycle. 

The long and the short of it

This is obviously only for born and bred Singaporean males with jobs that allow them to leave work early. And are also fit enough to Pass or get Silver or Gold in the first place.

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Face it. If you're a born and bred Singaporean male (or 2nd generation PR), you gotta do NS and that &*%#(@$% shit sucks bricks. So why not milk the system for what its worth.

This here only works for the fit fit kind.

If you Pass your IPPT or get any of the Silver or Gold incentives, you can squeeze out even more just by failing your IPPT first and going for a full 20 session RT before passing on your last session of RT IPPT session.

Why do this? Cos you'll get off work earlier on certain days to go exercise and MINDEF will pay you to exercise. MINDEF actually pays you ~ $16 for each RT or IPT session you attend. It's actually to offset your travel expenses so the savings won't be that much, maybe $10 per session instead?
  
That's still a stinking good deal. And also a damn stinking chao way to earn extra money.
And there's quite a number of people doing it already. I'm talking about those obviously damn fit people who run 10min under at RT sessions. Damn obvious can!

BYO Popcorn

Save! Potentially $8 per movie trip. That's a savings of $96 a year assuming 1 movie a month for an average moviegoer.

The long and the short of it

BYO popcorn!

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Popcorn prices are just ridiculous. It's mark up is probably... oh... about 1000000%. 

Seriously! Have you ever checked out how much one packet of dry unpopped corn kernels cost? Even the super bloody atas brand kind in atas supermarket cost only $5.80 for a box of 4 servings!

If you pop the corn yourself from scratch then the mark up just becomes ridiculous.

So if you have a microwave, learn how to pop your own corn and BYO. You have a bag right? Use it. Be a ninja!!!!!

 

Recipes:

- http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/perfect_popcorn/

- http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/perfect-popcorn-recipe.html

(I love Alton Brown!)

- http://www.recipegirl.com/2011/10/13/how-to-pop-popcorn-on-the-stove/

(You don't even need a freaking microwave to pop corn but ok lah not as convenient.)

Uber App new launch and their amazing offer

Save! Potentially $20-40, depending on how many friends you can get. Basically you're offsetting your taxi ride using Uber's promotional launch sign-up deal. 

The long and the short of it

Sign up for Uber App with a referral code and also start referring friends! No referral code, no $20 hor.

So use my referral code! 
ya3yu
You can sign up using this link here.

(Disclaimer: I will get $20 when you use Uber to hail a ride, only when you actually use it. But hey! $20 is not bad ok for both you and me.)

Note: Uber rides are more expensive than normal cab rides. Duh. So plan your ride so you get it free rather than spend a bomb instead. (Hence this post is under Advance)

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So whenever a new launch takes place, there are usually some deals tottered out to attract sign-ups, first customers etc. 

The big thing now would be Uber, which is basically a customized private driver service. It's a tech start up that's trying to shake up taxi services here. They have already been established in the States and are making a foray into Southeast Asia. I'm not too sure how that would work here. But hey, not my main concern here. They are offering a service and giving me something to use their service. How? Read on!

 

Since they are new in Singapore, they need users and are now doling out moolah to get people to use their app. In fact, they are giving out $20 to every new sign up who uses an existing referral. (My referral code is ya3yu. Link here - https://www.uber.com/invite/ya3yu)

 

iPhone App download - here 

Android App download - here

 

Signing up for the App nets you $20 of Uber moolah. You can then start referring friends, family, strangers... Each referral will potentially net you $20. POTENTIALLY. Cos the $20 will only be credited when that other person uses the Uber service.

 

My cheapo senses are tingling! Here's how to use this to maximise your dollars. 

There are 2 types of Uber fares:

1) UberX - no frills and cheaper

2) Uber Black (or just Uber on the app) - more prestigious and more expensive

 

Since you have $20 now, you can just use that for short rides to hard to reach areas or when you just want to have a little bit of luxury. Short distances using Uber Black (or just Uber on the app) should not exceed $20. (Use their fare calculator hor.)

I know UberX is cheaper but the quick scans that I did show very little cabs so my guess is, fewer cab drivers are willing to take up Uber's offer. So even if its cheaper, you get no cabs. No point right...

 

Here's their website and more importantly, their fare types and some inking of their fare structures.

DO NOTE:

• They will farm for your credit card and address cos you need to input those details to open an account and for Uber to charge to your card for the services. They're giving $20 so this to me, is a fair exchange.
• Base fare is $7. Min fare $12. Per km above 18km/hr is $2.25 while under 18km/hr is $0.85 so the driver has a major incentive to avoid gridlock type jams.
• Flat rate from CBD to Airport $50
• Flat rate from Airport to CBD $55
• No ERP or peak hour surcharges

If you're a techie or still curious about Uber, you can read more about them here - Tech in Asia UberX Beta

Free $20 Starbucks card for select Citibank credit card holders

Earn! $20 for using a credit card to purchase your usual stuff

The long and the short of it

Use select Citibank credit card to pay for regular stuff. Do this 5 times via the MasterCard PayPass contactless thingy and get your $20 Starbucks card.

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Short and simple one here.

I'm seeing a lot of banks doling out MasterCard PayPass offers and my guess is, they are just starting to roll this out and are giving out goodies to get people onboard.

So this frugal tip is to use the following select Citibank credit cards:

• Citibank Rewards World MasterCard

• Citibank Paragon World MasterCard

• Citibank DIVIDEND World MasterCard

Make PayPass purchases for 5 times.

Then you will get a $20 Starbucks card.

If you already have a Starbucks card, you can probably hawk this via a forum for $18. Still a good sum to get.
Use this only if you are already holding onto those cards, otherwise... wait for a better offer to sign up for their credit cards.

Valid till 30 April 2014 and limited to the first 5000 redemption.
Details here - Citibank Tap and Pay $20 Starbucks card

Really free money from Maybank

Save! Earn! $180 if you preserve all the way till the end of the year.

The long and the short of it

Sign up for a Maybank saving account, maintain at least a $500 average daily balance* and use that account to pay for your other credit card accounts. 

Local tips!

Combine this with savings from other credit card offers. Duh!
And for a super chao (smelly) combo, use your family members. Get your ah ma, ah gong, mother, father, sister, brother to sign up an account and use their account to pay off credit cards.

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This is one damn hosay good deal now. It's like one of those mother-of-all good deals kind. This is really free money. Not some bullshit sign up for loans to get rebates crap or spend to save rubbish.

Basically, Maybank is offering a cash rebate of $0.10 whenever you pay for credit card bills via internet banking. It's to any, I repeat, ANY credit card from ANY bank.
So this is a gold mine. You don't even need to use Maybank's credit cards. So basically this is a combo that stacks. Plus there's some lucky draw thing too!

Ok so what's the catch? Well, surprisingly there is no catch, except you need to spend time doing a boring repetitive task to earn that money.

So to make things easier to digest, the key points of this offer are listed below:

•  Cap of $20 issued out per Maybank account each month. It's max $10 for payments to Visa and another $10 for payments to Mastercard. So that makes $20 maximum each month per account.
•  Each payment has to be minimum $5. 
•  To hit that $10, you need to submit 100 payments. No sweat, break down your  transactions to 100  x $5 for each card type and you earn $20 a month. FOC. 

(Well technically not FOC, you will spend ~1hr to do the 100 transactions so you're earning $10/hr wages. Still... it's a chance to earn some moolah. Kinda easy money too.)

So what do you need to do?
1) Sign up for a Maybank saving account. You have to head down to a branch. They can settle that for you on the spot and takes about 1hr to be safe. Internet banking will be available within 2 weeks. 
2) Start using it to pay your credit card bills. 
3) Magic money comes in at the end of the month :D

Read more about it here - Other Banks' Credit Card Payment Cash Back Feature and Lucky Draw

Offer runs till Dec 2014. So you have till the end of the year to enjoy this gravy train.

Note that the offer is for credit cards only. Debit cardholders can weep.

Added note on 16 April 2014
Another way to look at this is at a bank interest rate angle. Say you deposit $12k into the account for paying your credit card bills, maxing out the $20 rebate for Mastercard and Visa ($500 x 2 card companies x 12 mths), that's $240 a yr.
That's 2% returns for that $12k. Better interest rate than any other bank without all that hassle of salary deposits, cannot draw down etc.