Archive for the ‘coupons’ Category

February 15th, 2011 coupons, food & drink No Comments »

Got Milk?

Just $3 for this!

Just $3 for this!

More deals today, I could shop all week with the deals this week!

Sobeys have a great promo this week where if you buy two selected Pillsbury products (on sale for $2.50 each) you get a free 2l carton of Natrel milk worth $5.19 (well, worth less but thats how much they are charging this week).  I have a pile of Pillsbury coupons for $1 off pie crusts so 4 packages of 2 pie crusts each cost $6 with coupons and I earned 2 free 2l milk cartons.

They also had a pile of clearance since it appears they will be renovating, they are moving everything around and sections of the store are empty.  So I will be checking it regularly for clearance, they had quite a lot on clearance already but apart from cans of tomato sauce for $0.44 not much interesting.

Other great deals were Quaker Crispy Minis for $0.97, Aylmer Accents for $0.99 (with $0.50 off each using coupons so $0.49) and a pile of new coupons collected!

February 13th, 2011 coupons, food & drink No Comments »

More deals this week!

dealsAs I mentioned yesterday, there are lots of deals this week:

  • Nature Valley Granola Bars $1 – $0.99 coupon = $0.01 (reg 1.99 -$2.49)
  • Jane’s Chicken $5.99 – $1 coupon = $4.99 (reg $11.99)
  • Whiskas Cat Treats $1.25 – Buy One Get One coupon = $0.63 (reg $2.49)
  • Dr Oetker Added Touch $1 – $0.50 WUB2 = $0.75 (reg $1.99)
  • Dr Oetker Shakers $1.64 – $0.50 = $1.04 (reg $2.39)
  • Colgate 360 Toothbrushes $1.99 – SPC discount – $1.50 coupon = $0.29 (reg $3.99)
  • Crest Pro Health Night Toothpaste $3.09 – SPC discount – Try Me Free coupon from dentist = FREE (made $0.31 towards other purchases)
  • Box 18 Stouffers Bistro Sliders $10 – Get Me Free coupon from Stouffers Promo = FREE
    • February 12th, 2011 coupons, food & drink, freebies & competitions, Project Donate No Comments »

    A good weekend for deals

    DSCF7818The new Toonies for Tummies coupons came out this week so I popped into Longo’s last night to check and see which ones they had (and they had most of them woohoo) but even better were some of the deals.

    Cat Chow Weight Management, which admittedly I would not feed my own cats, was on sale for $2.94.  It is usually $6-7 per bag so this is a steal for the feral cats.  I dont think they need to be on a diet, especially in winter, but hey, its better than not eating.  I picked up 4 bags last night and another 6 today using $2 off coupons on each.  Cat food for under $1!

    Then, while browsing, I noticed Kraft Sizzling Salads were on clearance for $1.94, they are $3.99 everywhere so I haven’t really looked at them, there are better deals out there (although $2 per bottle for a cooking sauce and salad dressing is not bad).  But with the $2 coupons, they were free.  In fact Longo’s paid me $0.06 to take them.  Can’t say no to being paid to take items from a store.

    So:

    • Cat Chow $2.94 x 10 = $29.40 – $20.00 coupons = $9.40 ($13.20 including taxes)
    • Kraft Sizzling Salads $1.94 x 10 = $19.40 – $20.00 = $0.60 made (no taxes)
    • So 10 bags of cat food and 10 salad kits for $8.80 (12.60 inc taxes)
    February 8th, 2011 coupons, food & drink, freebies & competitions, Savings & Product Reviews, SmartCanucks, SwagBucks No Comments »

    January Savings

    reportI didn’t do any major stocking up in January, so this is mostly groceries.  I am getting back into the habit of tracking everything rather than just coupon shopping.  I notice a lot of people use the same tracker and have a coupon on every item but unless that is all junk they are eating, I don’t think it really shows savings.

    • Regular Prices: $1,283.16
    • Shelf Prices: $702.02
    • Coupons: $225.51
    • Discounts: $41.64 (SPC / $5 off WUS $x etc)
    • Paid $434.87

    I have also redeemed for

    • $35 Amazon gift certificates ($25 Amazon.ca and $10 Amazon.com) from Swagbucks
    • $15 Amazon.ca gift certificates from TNS

    After not being paid for December searches using the Airmiles toolbar, I have decided to uninstall it, there was no reply to my complaint about that either.

    February 2nd, 2011 coupons, food & drink No Comments »

    No soup for you!

    no_soup_for_youAfter donating all of our soup to the foodbank, I realised we actually didnt have much for ourselves and with the cold months still ahead of us, and with the Campbell’s coupon for $1 off when you buy two cans or cartons, I was hoping to find a good deal.  Last week’s flyer showed soup at Walmart for $0.50, perfect – free!  But, I guess the other couponers and wholesalers got there before me because there was no soup to be found.

    Then this week, $0.59 at Shoppers Drug Mart, still a great deal but when I got there, they had marked it down to $0.49 and would not let me use the coupon due to overage.  I felt like Elaine in Seinfeld, the soup nazi was against me, but I popped by the Mall on hearing they had OPI Nicole Nic’s Sticks for just $2 (reg $10-12) and found they had plenty at the advertised $0.59 so bought a case, and some cheap hairdye!

    January 4th, 2011 coupons, food & drink, freebies & competitions, Project Donate, Reward Programs No Comments »

    $1 a day can make a huge difference!

    soupI mean really, I spend more than that at Tim Hortons in a week (and if I go to Starbucks, I spend it in one visit!)

    $5.50 is all it took to buy all of this food for the food bank (plus I got HBC Rewards points)

    • 14 x Knorr Sidekicks @ $0.99 – 10% SPC discount – $1 WUB2 = $0.39 each ($5.46 total)
    • 24 x Campbells Soups @ $0.50 – 10% SPC discount – $1 WUB2 = $0.05 made on each one ($1.20 made total)
    • 4 x cans tuna on sale @ $0.35 – 10% SPC discount (no coupon) = $0.32 each ($1.26 total)

    With the money made on the soup, all this came to $5.52 (my third full case of free soup dropped off to different food banks and I bought 10 SideKicks before Xmas too)

    sidekicks-tuna

    January 1st, 2011 coupons, Reward Programs, Savings & Product Reviews No Comments »

    Made a saving resolution?

    With all the people who have made resolutions to save money, I thought it would be helpful to have an overview of starter points for them.

    1. Try never to pay full price

    • pick up coupons even if they don’t interest you, you can coupon swap with someone who does want them for ones you do want
    • use online coupon codes and rebate sites to save on online purchases
    • check for store coupons online before shopping, many have coupons for adding your email address to their mailing list or joining their facebook page etc

    2. Couponing

    • Do not be put off by the attitude of cashiers or people behind you in line – you are entitled to use coupons
    • As mentioned before, pick up coupons even for items you don’t buy and coupon swap them (or trade on SmartCanucks)
    • When an item is on sale cheap, use up your coupons and build a reasonable stockpile of items you use most so you don’t run out and pay full price
    • Mail in Rebates can make items free (or if you used a coupon to buy it, make you money back) and watch for offers like $10 giftcard when you buy certain items or the Stouffers Reward program where the codes on the item get yo gift cards and free food items!

    3. Use loyalty programs wisely

    • Shoppers Drug Mart Optimum: Smart Canuckers make fortunes from the Shoppers Drug Mart Optimum card but shop wisely, don’t shop just to get points as many of their items can be bought more cheaply elsewhere – make sure the points are worth the cost.  On a 20x points when you spend $50 I can often get my bill down to $20 and get 11,000 points+ by buying items with bonus points, using coupons and buying a gift card for base points before shopping.  That is $23 worth of points on a bonus redemption week so makes the $50 worth of items bought completely free.
    • SPC VIP (or regular SPC if you are a student): Make the most of the card, you get a 10% discount at Zellers – where else do you get a 10% discount on groceries and household items AND get to price match?  You can also get discounts at clothes stores and food places.  Make the most of it and make it pay you back for the LouLou subscription you bought to get the card. (I have easily saved $100 using mine)
    • Airmiles: While it may not seem worthwhile given the tiny amount of Airmiles offered by most stores ($20 for 1 Airmiles) there are so many bonus airmile offers, it is not hard to get yourself $120 in Metro or Rexall gift certificates every year without spending much.  You can use the Airmiles toolbar for searching and earn up to 30 Airmiles a month.  Currently, there is a 25 Airmiles when you spend $35 at Metro but it can be before coupons, so I use my free purchase coupons and regular coupons to bring down my total and still get airmiles (same when Rexall had 100 Airmiles for spending $50 before Christmas)
    • HBC Rewards: Zellers, the Bay and Home Outfitters often have bonus point coupons.  It has taken me just 3 months of shopping at Zellers 1-2 times a month to earn 130,00 points and 80k gets you $10 gift card.  Check Smart Canucks for threads on bonus offers (some on medications and bathroom supplies with another 15,000 points on any purchase (I spent $1.39 and got 20k points one month using a similar coupon)

    4. Earn money online

    • Swagbucks: I make $25 minimum from Swagbucks every month redeeming for Amazon giftcards.  I have bought ink for my printer, a new widescreen LCD monitor, an MP3 player, books etc using my swagbucks.  You are searching online anyway, why let the search engine keep the advertising dollars they earn when you search?
    • Survey companies: I make about $25 a month doing surveys.  Different companies work for different people.  Personally I prefer TNS MySurvey.ca and Canada Talk Now, but there are lots of people happy with Opinion Outpost, Toluna and others.  Surveys can  take anywhere from a couple of minutes to an hour or be ongoing surveys where you log in daily or weekly to track things you do (I have done monthly ones where you log in daily on my spending habits and my activity habits and they paid well).\

    I am sure there is lots more, but that is plenty for someone starting out!

    January 1st, 2011 coupons, Great Canadian Rebates, Real Life, Reward Programs, SmartCanucks, SwagBucks No Comments »

    New Year … New Goals

    As I mentioned in my earlier posts on my couponing resolutions (posts one & two), this year I wanted to be better organised to maximize savings

    1. Organize coupons better – CHECK! My binder system seems to be working well for me and I have my new huge accordian file for trading.  I went through both for expired coupons yesterday after shopping and since I only have a pitiful collection of coupons left, they are well organised :)

    2. Track spending and savings – As I mentioned, a member of SmartCanucks supplied great excel tracking sheets and I downloaded a yearly tracker where I can put the totals from each shop in a monthly chart and it updates a summary sheet with total savings over the year.

    3. Make better use of loyalty programs – There is actually 20x the points at Shoppers Drug Mart today but there is nothing we need enough to bother going out and spending money.  I think we may live off the stockpile for a while.  I did just redeem 160 Airmiles for a $20 Gift Card to Metro for groceries.

    4. Maximize savings by using Great Canadian Rebates etc – I have shopped online over the last few days but none of them were listed, but I did get a 5% discount on a new harddrive I bought from ebay for paying with paypal.

    5. Keep better track of surveys and rebates – check! I added a sheet to my excel chart to track these

    6. Track the above on here – well that is exactly what I am doing so check!

    7. Login to GSN every day and do the daily questions etc – I have been slacking on this a little but hey its a new year and my resolution starts today right?

    8. Use the Airmiles toolbar daily – I have slacked on this a little too but I did earn 20 Airmiles for using it for December.

    So to start January:

    Thanks to many new referrals on Swagbucks, I have enough to get five $5 gift cards to Amazon (it is two prizes per day so these will be bought over the next few days) = $25 and some left over to decide what to spend them on.  I am also trading $10 of Amazon.com GCs earned on it for Amazon.ca with another SmartCanucker who uses Amazon.com = $35

    Thanks to many bonus offers on Airmiles, I had enough to redeem for a $20 gift card to Metro to be used towards groceries = $20

    ThermoKittyFrom GSN I redeemed my oodles for a thermo-kitty bed for the cats.  When we first got Quincy he destroyed many of their beds and we didn’t replace them because he was still a tornado of destruction but he seems to have calmed down so they get the bed shown, worth $45-60 depending on where you buy it (plus shipping).  According to the description:  Super soft orthopedic foam base complete with a 4 watt heater enclosed so they should love it

    Not bad for the start of the year, $100 of free stuff on the way and some survey companies soon to credit also!

    December 30th, 2010 coupons, food & drink, freebies & competitions, Savings & Product Reviews No Comments »

    I have a secret…

    secretsa chocolately caramel secret

    Caramilk were giving away 5000 bags of their new ‘Caramilk Secrets’ on their facebook page and I was lucky enough to snag a bag before they were all gone.

    They arrived today and are yummy (as you would expect from Caramilk) and came with a coupon for $1 off if you buy two cadbury snack bags (buttons, raisins, peanuts or clusters included and I love buttons too!)

    No bills in the mail, just chocolate and coupons – what a great day!

    December 28th, 2010 coupons, food & drink, Savings & Product Reviews No Comments »

    24 cans of soup on the shelf…

    I stocked up on soup at WM today at 57c a can minus the $1 WUB2, I got
    48 cans, of which 24 went straight into the food share bin ($3.38 for 48 cans)
    2 loaves Dempsters bread @ $1.28 – 2 x $0.75 coupons
    Stocked up on Buddig lunch meats @ $0.87 using the $0.55 WUB2 coupons (I will miss that coupon, it costs a fortune to feed my BF lunch lol)
    2 Old Dutch @ $2.25 – 2 x $2 coupons (we have loads of Old Dutch but not Dill flavour seemingly)
    and one of those mini Smartie icecreams $1

    Teaopia
    I got this tea set on sale for $12.50 and a blueberry green tea and strawberry shortcake black tea at roughly $7 each

    and my final brag

    Today in Walmart, I noticed a woman counting the money she had and pricing the stuff in her cart. I was coupon fairying nearby and while I usually dont bother trying to give people coupons since the last few times ended in rude answers from the people, I pulled out coupons for the stuff in her cart (just over $15 in coupons) and went up and gave them to her. She was so grateful and told me her husband was laid off on Christmas Eve (Merry Christmas huh?) and they didnt expect it so they spent on Xmas thinking they had a paycheque coming next week so she was so grateful.

    She came around the rest of the store with me and I showed her the soup and gave her coupons for that and my precious $4 Quaker coupon so she could get cereal for her kids. She checked out ahead of me so I could help her with the cashier if they gave her a hard time and I felt so bad, she still ended up 2c over what she had on her but the cashier told her to go ahead and threw some pennies from beside the till in before I had a chance to dig through my purse for change. But at least she has some food even if it is just soup and stuff and not ‘real food’