Hey there!
Were you planning to watch the Winter Olympics this year? No? What if your next free train trip depended on it? Deutsche Bahn has a new promo where every German gold medal can turn into a day of free long-distance travel – so suddenly keeping an eye on the medal table can pay off in an unexpected way.
Also in this issue: my favorite way to use Kleinanzeigen, a new savings account I found that doesn’t cut the rate after a few months, new grocery and household freebies, and more.
Note: this article contains affiliate links, which are marked with *.
💡 Tip of the week: Getting more out of Kleinanzeigen
Good taste is apparently bad for your wallet, but buying second-hand is the ultimate unlock if you like obnoxiously expensive things but don’t like paying full price for them. I’m a long-time Kleinanzeigen user, and my favorite way to use the platform is saved searches.
If I want something but can’t find a listing I like right now, I’ll search for it, set a maximum price in the filters, and then tap “Suchauftrag speichern” above the results. If your push notifications are turned on, the app will ping you every time a new listing matches your search. If you don't have the app, you can get these notifications via email instead. A little platform quirk: if you have the app installed, you can’t switch to notifications to email – they will always come as push notifications, so make sure you enabled them not to miss out on the alerts (it took me a while to figure out why I wasn't getting any).
With this feature you don’t have to search for the same thing ever again – just wait for a good listing at a good price to land in your notifications. Bonus: you’ll be able to message the seller quickly because you'll be one of the first ones to see the listing. I’ve found some really nice things for very fair prices this way, and it’s my favorite way to use the platform. You can save up to 100 searches, and you can bet I’m uncomfortably close to that limit with a wishlist that mostly consists of premium beauty items, which is what I mostly buy on Kleinanzeigen – for a fraction of the retail price.
🔥 Hot Deals
🚆 Free train rides with Deutsche Bahn’s Olympic BahnCard Gold
This one is kind of bizarre (in a good way): Deutsche Bahn is selling a special Olympic 3-month trial BahnCard Gold*, which comes with a bonus: every time Team Germany wins a gold medal at the Winter Games in Milan–Cortina (February 6–22), you can travel for free on DB long-distance trains across Germany the next day (00:00–24:00). So if Germany wins gold on, say, February 10, your free travel day is February 11 (seat reservations are still on you).
Even if Germany doesn’t bring home much gold, the card still works like a normal trial BahnCard for three months: up to 50% off Flexpreis and 25% off saver fares. Prices start at €19.90 (2nd class) or €39.90 (1st class) for the trial BahnCard 25 Gold, and there’s also a trial BahnCard 50 Gold option (€76.90 / €152). It’s on sale until February 5, and it rolls into a regular subscription unless you cancel in time (at least 4 weeks before the end of the 3 months).
Will it pay off? One forecast has Germany winning 22 golds in Milan–Cortina. For reference, Germany won 12 gold medals at the 2022 Winter Olympics – so even if the 2026 prediction ends up being too optimistic, you will likely still have quite a few free-travel days.
This is a very generous promo that allows you to travel practically for free this February. Get the trial BahnCard Gold here*.
Deutsche Bahn gives you a very real financial reason to root for Germany in the Winter Olympics.
💰 2.65% interest on savings for 12 months with Rediem
I went down a rabbit hole of comparing savings accounts recently, and it seems like all the best interest rates in Germany are limited to new customer promotions and are reduced after 3–4 months. On top of that, interest rates in general keep drifting down. If you’d like to get a good rate for a full year, my preferred option right now would be the fixed-term savings account from Rediem Capital*.
They offer 2.65% interest per year, with deposits starting from €5,000 and no monthly fees. Rediem is based in Sweden, so your money is covered by the Swedish deposit guarantee scheme, which protects deposits up to roughly €100,000 per person.
Keep in mind that this is a Festgeld account – once you deposit the money, you can’t access it for 12 months. If you know you won’t need that portion of your savings for the next year and want more than the usual 3–4-month teaser offers, this is a good way to lock in a higher rate for a full year. Check out Rediem savings account here*.
🍔 Eating out for (much) less with NeoTaste
NeoTaste* is a restaurant deals app, and I’ve been using it a lot in the past few months. Since downloading it, I’ve already used 24 deals, which saved me ~€215. First, I had a bit of a prejudice that discounted restaurants wouldn’t be the best ones, but NeoTaste has plenty of good places – the kind I’d happily go to even without an offer.
The deals are usually 2-for-1 (often on the main dish or the thing a place is known for), €10 off when you spend €25+, and occasional €1 offers that tend to sell out quickly. I got 2-for-1 on poke bowls, pasta, dumplings and arepas, €1 burgers and fried chicken, €10 off in a tapas restaurant, and more. NeoTaste is currently in 39 cities in Germany, with the biggest presence in Berlin, Munich, Cologne and Hamburg.
If you haven’t used NeoTaste before, you can get a free month via the link below – enough time to get some good use out of it. After the trial, it’s a paid subscription (€6.99/month or €5.99/month with a yearly subscription), and you can cancel before the trial ends to avoid getting charged. Get your free month here*.
💰 More Deals
50% off on o2 unlimited data plan: This is possibly the cheapest unlimited mobile data plan I’ve ever seen: the o2 Mobile Unlimited Max Flex tariff gives you unlimited 5G data (up to 300 MBit/s) for €29.99 instead of €59.99 per month. You can cancel monthly – a welcome change from the usual two-year contracts in Germany. The activation fee is also reduced from €39.99 to €9.99. Offer valid until Jan 28. Sign up here*.
8x Payback points in MediaMarkt stores: Normally you can only earn Payback points at MediaMarkt when you shop online, but until Jan 31 there’s a promo that also works in store. Activate the coupon in your Payback app* and scan your Payback card at checkout to get 8x points (~4% cashback) on your purchase. If you’re not sure how the math works out with points and multiplier coupons, read my guide to Payback points in Germany.
Up to 78% off ExpressVPN: ExpressVPN is a solid VPN if you want more privacy online or if you occasionally download things via torrents (don’t worry, I won't tell anyone), and they are having a sale now. The best value is the 2-year plan (€2.39/month for the first 28 months), but there’s also a shorter option (€3.59/month for the first 15 months). It comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Sign up here*.
€12 off your first Lieferando order: New customers get €12 off their first food delivery when ordering via the Lieferando app. Enter code LIEFERANDO12 (advertisement) at checkout; the offer is valid until 31 March. Order here*.
Not pictured: your torrent queue.
🎁 Freebies
Glade® plug-ins & mini spray holders: Buy a participating Glade® touch & fresh® mini spray holder or Glade® Electric Scented Oil plug-in holder (e.g. Fresh Lemon, Ocean Adventure, Relaxing Zen), then upload a photo of your receipt and the product to get your purchase price refunded. The promotion runs until 31 March (may end early once the quota is reached).
AOK Bayern running socks: Free sports socks (sizes 35–50) from AOK Bayern, delivered to your home – but only if you live in Bavaria. Just confirm eligibility, choose your size, and complete SMS verification in the form you’ll find here. Customers 15 or older are eligible; offer valid while stocks last.
No Coffee Premium Decaf drip bags: You can get a 3-pack of “No Coffee Premium Decaf” drip bags for free here and only pay €3.90 shipping. I ordered one myself recently, and it's definitely the best decaf I've ever tried.
Popp “Fit Spreads” High Protein: Buy one Popp High Protein spread at Edeka or Rewe and get it refunded via the Marktguru cashback app. You’ll need to download the app and create an account, take a photo of your receipt and upload it in the Marktguru app to get a refund, which is then added to your balance. The cashback is only paid out once you’ve reached €5 from this and other promotions. The offer mechanics are a bit more involved than usual money-back promos, but if you get supermarket freebies regularly, the Marktguru app is worth downloading anyway.
Money-back grocery and household product promos are one of the easiest ways to cut everyday costs. A lot of promotions from previous issues are still active – you can find them all here if you’d like to try more. For more free grocery products, Rewe product tests are worth a look as well.
This kid is arguably more enthusiastic than anyone has ever been about air fresheners.
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