Your Guide to Smart Spending – October 30

I usually avoid paying for things if I can help it – you’ve probably noticed. But there are some things I do pay for that end up paying for themselves.

Take the NeoTaste* app (active in 39 German cities): it gives you access to restaurant offers like 2-for-1 mains, €10 off a €25 spend, or even €1 dish deals – and the restaurants are genuinely good, not the kind you’d only visit for a discount. Since downloading it, I’ve used 13 deals both on takeaway and sit-down dinners and saved around €120. You can try it free for a month with this link*; after that, it’s €3.99/month (annual plan) or €6.99/month if you pay monthly. One dinner out usually covers the fee, so it’s an easy win.

Another is the Amex Gold card* – the only banking product I pay for. It costs €20/month, but the current 50,000 Membership Rewards welcome bonus (after €4,500 in spend in six months) is worth roughly €500–€1,000 in travel if you redeem them on airline miles, plus you get ongoing rewards for spending, so the card more than pays for itself. The 50,000-point welcome bonus offer is valid until November 10, and then the bonus will go down – sign up* fast if you’re interested. You can read more about this card in my full Amex Gold review.

And then there are Deutsche Bahn’s BahnCards* – especially the 3-month Probe versions. The Probe BahnCard 25 (€19.90) gives 25% off long-distance tickets and breaks even at about €80 of travel. The Probe BahnCard 50 (€76.90) gives 50% off flexible fares and 25% off saver fares, and pays off after roughly €150–€300 of tickets, depending on the type of fare you book. In short, one round trip and it’s already worth it – just don’t forget to cancel in due time if you don’t want to keep your subscription.

iGraal* is one of the biggest cashback platforms in Germany, and this week they’re running iGraal Days – a promotion with higher cashback rates at many online shops until October 30, 23:59. For instance, Galaxus is offering 8% instead of the usual 2%, AboutYou has 15% instead of 7.5%, and Zalando Lounge has 13% instead of 6%. If you were planning to buy a phone or a winter coat, it might be a good time to do so.

If you haven’t used cashback platforms before, they give you money back on things you’re buying online. You activate the cashback in the app or browser extension, make your purchase as usual, and a percentage of what you spend is credited to your account. It’s kind of like Payback, but with higher cashback rates and no math skills required to calculate points – you see exactly what percentage you’ll get back.

I think everyone should use cashback apps – savings on everyday spending quickly add up, and it makes an even bigger difference with larger purchases. For instance, I got about €50 cashback on my iPhone purchase earlier this year. Plus, you get a €5 welcome bonus when you register. Sign up here*.

Groupon*, a site for discounted vouchers and deals, is running a Halloween sale on October 30–31 with discounts of up to 25% using the code HALLOWEEN. Even though Groupon deals can be a bit of a mixed bag, there are some gems if you know where to look. My rule of thumb: read the reviews and conditions carefully, never go for medical or medical-adjacent cosmetic treatments (like laser or Botox), and beware of inflated ratings – I stick to deals with 4.6-star average rating and above. I also cross-check reviews on other platforms, if there are any available.

There are often good deals on massages or manicures/pedicures. I’ve found some great massage spots this way – newly opened places often use Groupon to build their client base. It’s also worth checking out restaurant vouchers and entertainment deals – concert and theatre tickets, circus shows, or cinemas. UCI and CineStar often appear on Groupon – for example, this CineStar deal* brings the ticket price down to €7–9. Shop Groupon deals here*.

I’ve always assumed that phone-plus-tariff bundles were more expensive than buying a phone outright and pairing it with a cheap phone plan. But lately I’ve been looking into them more closely, and I was surprised to find that some of these deals actually work out a lot cheaper – and this MediaMarkt offer* is one such example.

You get the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge (256GB) for €79, a Vodafone 20GB Allnet plan for €19.99 per month, and a free Galaxy Tab S10 FE tablet on top. Over 24 months, your total cost comes to €604.70: that includes the phone (€79), the plan (24 × €19.99 = €479.76), the one-time connection fee (€39.99), and shipping (€5.95).

If you bought the phone separately (it’s currently €574 at MediaMarkt* with the tablet also included for free) and added the cheapest available 20GB phone plan* for €4.99/month, your total would come to around €694 over two years. The Vodafone bundle costs €604 in total, so you’re saving ~€90 – and getting a proper Vodafone plan instead of a budget one. The plan includes 20GB of 5G/LTE data, unlimited calls, texts, and EU roaming. You can keep your current phone number when switching, as long as your existing contract isn’t already with Vodafone.

If you don’t want the plan, buying the phone alone for €574 is still a solid deal thanks to the free tablet. And if you don’t need the tablet, you could easily resell it on Kleinanzeigen for at least €200. To get the tablet, you need to buy the phone by November 1 and register it via the Samsung Members app by November 13. Whether you buy the bundle or only the phone, you can also trade in your old device to get up to €75 off your bill through MediaMarkt’s trade-in program*.

If you’re an Android user and have been meaning to upgrade your phone, this offer is worth considering. Check out the offer with the Vodafone plan here* or the phone-only deal here*.

Money-back promotions are one of the easiest ways to save in Germany, and I always add these to my shopping list when they pop up. You can find more promotions that are still active in the previous issues here. For more free grocery products, Rewe product tests are worth a look as well.