Sharing Great Deals: A Moore’s Sale!

Just sharing a great “start the car!” deal we got during a recent shopping trip, highlighting Moore’s. Moore’s normally has some great deals when they’ve got a BOGO event on, usually alternating between suits and shirts and pants.

 

 

We were on the hunt for a pair of new dress pants for my hubby. My husband is a tall guy and pants can sometimes be a pain to find and more expensive when you find them, as they’re typically not in the normal stores like the Bay, Sears, etc. We checked those places first and ended up at a Moore’s near our house. They had a big sale going on, with little signs throughout the store. One of the sales was buy one get one on dress pants… Bonus! My smarty-pants husband started in the clearance section and found a pair of pants that fit him, marked down to an incredible $24.99 (and get this.. they didn’t feel like curtains!) We matched the numbers and found a second pair of pants in a different colour for the same $24.99 price. We asked at the counter and indeed clearance pants counted in the BOGO Free deal! 

 

While I was waiting for him to try on the pants I found a nice pair of dressy black shoes in his size, also on clearance. Shoes again are usually expensive as he’s a size 13. They were $50 which we thought was a great price and we were in the market for a new pair for him anyways. Then he had been coveting a pair of flip flops in other stores, and found one that had another clearance sticker on them here. They fit and got added to the pile. At the checkout we found out one of the other little signs said 30% off select clearance, which applied to these two pairs of shoes and took another $27 off!

We walked out of the store with two brand new dress pants that fit and didn’t need to be hemmed, one pair of dress shoes and one pair of leather flip flops, all for just under $100. I was happy and proud of my husband and I think he was happy to expand the wardrobe!

 

Get it while it lasts!

Just a quick little blog to take advantage of a good deal because you never know when it will end!

 

My hubby and I really enjoy Montanas, but it’s been classified as a treat as it’s expensive. Recently on a trip we discovered that the CAA discount for the restaurant was an amazing 2 can dine for $20.. Essentially making one meal free as any of our favourite choices are 16.99 and up! Their deal included any burgers, salads or sandwiches. Very awesome!

 

 

Well cue the whomp-whomp.. We went there yesterday and our Montanas have replaced this deal with a lousy 10% off instead. It’s better than nothing, but it doesn’t even cover the tip. In our case last night, it made the 2 for $5 desserts free. Montanas will now go back to being a once-in-a-while meal place, which is disappointing.

 

Case in point.. Same “get it while it lasts” mentality goes for great sales, a high value coupon for something you actually use, and totally free dollars to use like my current array of $5 off at Milestones, $5 off at Staples and a free cookie at Subway (which all have expiry dates, but no minimum purchase). If it’s worth your while, jump on them before you lose them!

Love that Scratch and Dent section!

I'm a big fan of the "clearance" and "scratch and dent" areas of stores. If you're just starting out in a home or if you're just conscious of your spending, then checking these little gems frequently can give great savings. 

Here are a few examples of some favourite scratch and dent finds I've done.. long post, kinda turned into a brag post haha:

I've spoken about Rosehill Liquidation before (here: http://couponwithsam.blogspot.ca/2015/09/sharing-great-sales-rosehill-liquidation.html), but this place basically furnished my whole house. They are a end of the line place for many name brands from places like Sears and The Bay. As soon as I knew my offer on a house was accepted, we started shopping and filling a trailer for move in day 

• Bought a beautiful huge and comfortable leather couch. It was "scratch and dent" because one of the back cushions wouldn't zipper totally on. Never in the three years of using this couch have we even noticed! I think it was normally priced $2500 in the store and we paid $475
• Matching colour to couch, huge ottoman, fake leather. Love this thing (and so does the dog) and it was here because the fabric on the underside was ripping off. Again, have never seen the problem. We got it for $125 
• Big beautiful rug. This huge thing was exactly what we wanted to bring colours together in the living room. While standing in the store I googled it and found it for over $2000. We got it for $135
• Washer and dryer set. HE, decent capacity for both (can do our comforter) and haven't needed major repairs yet (and we've abused these things). They were both here because of dents in the sides. Got the pair for $472
• Pedestals for the washer and dryer. These were here again because of dents but they were perfectly priced when we compared to buying new. Yes they don't match, but they serve the purpose! Pair for $105
  
• We bought a pretty cool little fridge that held a lot for $600. After only being home a little while the freezer broke and we suddenly had A LOT of meat we had to cook up and eat. We were still under warranty with Rosehill and took it back, and upgraded to a really stunning fridge for $200 more. This one has been chugging along perfectly since.   
  
• Moving out to my own place, I wanted a new bigger-than-single bed. I got a really great, brand new mattress normally $2300 for $560. They threw in a boxspring free and I bought the rails base for $58. My roommates at the time both also bought new mattresses, getting some "once used" mattresses for steals. I still tell anyone looking for a mattress to go to Rosehill 
• Headboard for my bed.. was a nice white wooden thing. The lamination on a top corner was starting to peel so the whole thing was cheap and came home with us for $100
• Small home appliances came from here too, with no complaints as everything still works fine, including a coffee maker and blender for $20 each 
• Decor items like beautiful dividing screens (that had some sort of paint blotches on the backside no one sees anyways), metal leaves for outside hanging, candle holders and a bunch of other little bits. 
  
• A big backyard porch umbrella that uncannily perfectly matched some really random colored cushions I just bought on sale somewhere else. Never in a million years would I have thought I would find a matching umbrella to them! I think the umbrella was $30, and was totally worth it!
• Our Christmas tree! Seriously love this little tree, multicolor lights, nice shape and decent height. We paid $23 for him  
  

On top of all the above deals, we added on their newsletter discount coupon which gave another 10-20% off each time we went. 

I also know that my grandma found a cow painting she absolutely needed to have for my cousin (her other granddaughter). In the normal store this thing was over $200. I found it by fluke at Rosehill and told her about it and she went and got it for something around $60

• Fish tanks can usually be found "open box" or missing pieces for a discount. Display models can also score a good deal. My first tank is absolutely beautiful, and I bought it as an open box missing the light piece. It was too pretty to pass up at the price they were offering so I took it home (with the understanding I could bring it back within a month) and called the company to see about a replacement light. They sent me one free of charge and I have the prettiest little 30 gallon tank.  
• Our big fish tank was a discount as it was the display model with again, no light. The stand was already assembled so we had to take the whole thing as is. Thanks to our roommate with the big car, we got it all home and I called the company to get replacement lights. Again these were free of charge and I think the tank looks awesome!   Read more: http://couponwithsam.blogspot.ca/2016/05/another-it-doesn-hurt-to-ask-missing.html

• I was coveting my parents new bed that they got for a small bedroom at their beach house. It was one where you could lift the whole bed up for tons of storage underneath. They bought theirs from Ikea and my roommate and I set off to get one. IKEA has a corner for scratch and dent, just before checkouts. I know this is supposed to be your last stop, but it's always my first. Much to my surprise, there was the bed!! All boxed and the labels saying there was nothing wrong with it. It was almost too good to be true. I talked to the guys there and they verified it was brand new, just here for some reason. It was the "wrong" colour as I wanted white but for more than half price it was perfect. It came home and seriously, everyone should have this bed haha. 
  

• Maybe it's not quite scratch and dent but I really like popping by The Beat Goes On store from time to time to look at their discount previously used DVDs. For less than $4 I can usually have a movie I've been wanting to watch, that is priced at HMV for over $15. They provide an exchange warranty if the disc won't play so you really can't go wrong. Just yesterday I picked up Disney's Frozen for $15.99, priced at HMV for $35

• While looking for stuff for my new bathroom after renovations, we found a scratch and dent vanity store. They had all kinds and I really liked this dark red wood set that had the vanity with white sink, over sink medicine cabinet and a little shelf with hooks thing. The vanity was $175 and the shelf and cabinet were $20 and $30
  
  
  
  Love to hear everyone's brag buys from the discount stores... Share if you have them! 

Save some money on dog grooming

Maybe it's a cost you have in your budget that could be a lot less... Monthly dog grooming costs? Below is how I save money by not going to the groomers for my big hairy furball. 

This is all dependent on the size of your dog (dachshund or Bernese mountain dog?), habits of your dog (are they a digger? Outside only dog? Love rolling in dead animals dog?) and type of coat they have (curly and non-shedding? Smooth and long with undercoat? No coat?), so this is just my own personal opinion and preference for my dog(s). Consult other blogs and breeder tips for your own specific breed. 

So I have a golden retriever. Until recently I also had a whippet (my whippy passed away). These are two very different coat types, and bathing them both took different tips at certain points. I'll write this with both in mind. My golden retriever has long hair and an undercoat, she has very sensitive skin and allergies, and she's a big goof (her nickname is Dizzy). The whippet was a white short haired dog who did not like to get wet or have her toes trimmed (her nickname was Diva). 

If you take your dog to the groomer there are probably a few things they do there, charging per item, like:

- nail clipping, either clip or grinding

- bathing

- drying

- teeth scaling (might be moving to a vet-only thing now?) and/or brushing 

- ear cleaning

- general trim and cut, plus full brush out

- de-matting and detangling 

- anal gland popping (..ew..)

Personally, I do all of these things myself, minus the last one. For the most part, if your dog has never had their anal glands popped, they will probably never need to have them done. If they have once, they will always need to have them popped. It's one of those things I've been told is a "groomers gold", as they can do it once and have a client for life. My dog(s) have never had theirs done (thankfully, as it's annoying and kinda painful for a dog when they get "full", and is usually characterized by the boot-scooting on the carpet). 

At-home grooming for most breeds I would say is easy and a must. And.. It doesn't have to be expensive. 

I went to Petsmart and asked what a simple nail cut cost would be, $11 plus tax essentially (or $14+ for nail grinding). Years ago I invested in a dremel to do my own at home nail grinding. It goes super quick, makes it easy for me to get the nails short, plus I don't risk cutting my girls' toes off and making them bleed like with a traditional nail trimmer. It will depend on the dog if they will let you grind their nails, but if you start with them young, they learn. Then buy a nice pair of very sharp and rounded tip scissors in order to cut away toe fur (so your dog doesn't look like and act like they're wearing slippers). Your thick kitchen scissors are probably not pointy enough to get between the toes and flat to the pad of the paw, so you should probably have a separate pair. 

I do all my ear cleaning and teeth scaling at home too. I buy a big bottle of dog ear cleaner at the pet store (watch for sales) and some of those dollar store circle pad packages (meant for nail polish/makeup removal). Douse a circle pad in the ear cleaner and scrub in your pets ear with the swab. Do it a few times with new pads until the pad comes away clean. For teeth, you can buy pet scalers which look like the pokey dentist tool you get on your yearly visit. The scaler is meant to chip away at any built up plaque. You can also buy doggie toothbrushes and toothpaste, as well as stuff for their water to help reduce plaque buildup. Or, antlers and hard bones work great too (plus that's more fun!)

Invest in a couple brushes too. I have a couple types as my girl gets the clumps of fur dropping twice-three times a year, so I have a long comb, a big flat brush and a "slicker", or wire brush. I also bought the dyson vaccum which has this awesome pin brush attachment that sucks up the fur as I brush her (and she loves it because it pulls cold air through her coat!). Depending on your dog, you might want a shaver too. A pet Wahl clipper is a simple way to clean up your dog's belly in the middle of summer when they are hot. I shave my girl's belly in order to let her cool off faster on my kitchen floor!

DO NOT completely shave a dog with an undercoat though. All these shaved goldens break my heart as it totally screws up their fur growth and removes their protective undercoat. 

Shampoos and conditioners are really up to your personal preference for the most part. Different scents and stuff are readily available. But there are also colour-specific ones, like the "whitener" one I would buy for my white whippet, or a red enhancer one you could buy for a golden. There are also formula-specific ones like the sensitive skin hypoallergenic ones I go for for my allergy-prone girl, or tea tree oil ones for bad skin. It'll depend on your dogs coat, and it'll usually take some trial and error. I don't use a conditioner on my golden (extra time bathing I don't feel is needed on her) but I would on the whippet to make her feel extra super soft. A tip for shampoo buying if you can afford the space in a cupboard is to buy it by the gallon (once you find one you like). You pay more, but you get a ton more product that is usually concentrated (so you mix it in another smaller bottle anyways). Buy one gallon, buy a pump top and you have up to 30 bottles (some I think are maybe 60, can't remember) for maybe the cost of 4 bottles. Ren's Pets Depot is good for gallon buying (and monthly grooming sales too!)

Then, for the actual bathing part, this is up to you! Personally, I like using other people's water and electricity, plus clogging their drains with my dog hair instead of my own bathtub. How you ask? With some brilliant self-serve dog wash stations at a couple stores near me! I used to go to Rens Pets Depot in Guelph, and they have a wealth of shampoo options, toe and hair tools, towels and more to give your dog a good thorough clean.

Recently though, I've moved over to Pet Valu's dog wash station as it is closer to me and cheaper too! For the $11 Petsmart would charge me just to clip toenails, I get a half hour of water, drains and dryer, towels and some shampoo/conditioner. I love that I leave the mess there (I do clean up a little though!) and end with a lovely smelling and dry dog! 

The dryer is the best part! Long hair dogs can easily get "hot spots" if a patch of hair and skin is left wet for too long. These are painful, so it's important to get your dog as dry as possible quickly. In the middle of winter, this can be tough since you can't let them outside to "bake" in the sun like you can in summer. Buying a good $99 dryer/blower fixes this, and eliminates the "wet dog smell" from the house a little faster too haha!

If you decide to do at-home bathing, I would suggest a grooming table as it makes the blow drying part so much easier as you're not crouched on the ground. It allows you to clip whiskers, even out the hair lines and pretty up the toes without bent-over stress on your back. If you have a "busy" dog in the bath, buying a suction cup with collar combo is a great doo-dad to help too. 

Lots of other ideas, but every couple months I spend $11 for a Pet Valu self-serve bath, and once a year I buy some shampoo and ear cleaner. After my initial investment, and a learning curve, I now save myself the cost of a groomers trip :)

The cheap CAN come out expensive

I love watching Judge Milan, and she always says "the cheap comes out expensive"... And every "coupon queen" has had experience buying some great deal that turned out to be not so great. It's a lesson in research before buying that astounding deal.. Because if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. 

- I bought an awful-horrible-no-good vaccum from XS Cargo, which was like a liquidation store. It was on for a great slashed price deal from like $120 to $40 so I thought I was so smart. I read the box, read all the marketing jargon they had printed, and talked it out with my roommate while walking the store.. It came home. This so-called pet vaccuum, wouldn't pick up anything, including stuff from the tile floor. It was a pain to disassemble to empty and all around a bad decision. When I tried to take it back to XS they just pointed to the signs that say no refunds after opening (EVEN if it's defective, which I then started saying that I would take an exchange for the same model to see if it was just the one I got). I didn't buy anything from them after that, and my calls and emails to the company who made the vaccuum went unanswered. A year and a half later after being shelved in my garage I saw that some mice decided to start eating through the hose, so the whole vaccum ended up on the curb (and some poor soul took it a couple hours later). 

- around Christmas a few years ago, my dad got off work and was tired. He went to pick up some groceries and on his way back to the car ran into some guy selling genuine leather coats. He gave a sob story about wanting to get enough money to buy his daughter something, and was saying that he was on his way back from a trade show and had a whole bunch of leather coat samples he could sell. He asked dad if he had $500 to buy some nice coats. My dad made the mistake of saying "I only have $200 sorry" and the crook quickly said he could have these 5 leather coats for that. My tired dad got swindled. While pretty and brand new coats with tags, they were not leather and not worth $40 each. 

- never skimp on the cost of a Home Inspector. I did. I didn't the first time, on the first house I made an offer on. The first (expensive) guys provided me a huge detailed binder with a million pictures. They documented everything, they walked my dad and I through the house and talked to us like we were kids explaining what this and that meant (a little condescending for us but would be good for those who have no knowledge at all about house terms and such). They were super thorough and it was probably because of this inspection why I didn't buy that house. When I finally found the house I did want to buy, we wanted to go a little cheaper because we thought we knew everything. We went with a friend of my grandmas who was about to retire. Long story short, he caught nothing. He saw nothing wrong with the house and said it would be a good investment (it needed little things he said, nothing too major). He walked around the house first and then sat down at our table to write out everything (not as he went). We got one piece of paper from this guy (versus the entire binder and books and photos from the last guys). You get what you pay for as I ended up with the "house from hell" with every item needing replacement. Plus, since I got a home inspection, it waived me from going after the previous home owners for lack of full disclosure, and since he was a "family friend" it wasn't appropriate to sue him for not catching everything. 

- From a very expensive mistake to a cheap mistake... We have a liquidation store near my home which has hit-and-miss good deals. On one visit they had a ton of shoes on for like $2 each. Yay! I found some sparkly black and grey zebra slip ons and thought I was in heaven. I tried one on and it fit, picked up the pair and bought them. Went to wear them the next day and discovered one foot was 2 sizes bigger than the other. Whomp whomp. I tried stuffing it with Kleenex but it was just too lopsided to work. Out they went. 

The moral of the story.. 

1. Do your research. Get details on the item (cell phones and Google now do everything) and read about warranty and store policies. 

2. Try it on, open it up, try it out, BEFORE you buy it. 

3. Ask questions. The shady coat guy might have got nervous and abandoned swindling my dad if he had started asking too many questions. 

4. Ask for a second opinion. "Would you buy this?", or getting two home inspections. 

5. Don't impulse buy. Sure, walk around the store with the item in your cart, but make sure you dig a little bit into the product and ask yourself why something is so cheap

Broke/Budget maxed out?

So you a stretched for cash, or used up all the money from your budget jars... But you still need to eat and have fun? Here are some thoughts and solutions I've done when my wallet was hurting:

- Dig deep in the freezer!  Wow, what a treasure trove!  Frozen veggies and some meat you got on sale one time are probably down in the abyss, under all the ice cream and frozen bananas. Easy, multi meals are just a defrost away. 

- dig around in the pantry. Cans of mixed veggies and beans can be a good start to a crock pot meal. Rice and pasta are usually stored in a corner and make large portions for cheap. If there's a craving for a dessert item, how about a box of cake mix and a can of pop (yes this works beautifully!), which saves the cost of cookies or doughnuts. 

- gift cards. I still have gift cards from like 2 Christmases ago. This might be cheating, but for my birthday and Christmas I just ask for gift cards. Mostly food, I can usually buy some large meal out to get a couple work lunches out of the deal too. Gift cards are great for entertainment too - use one for a good sale rack shopping trip in a store, or to buy a DVD for later. 

- parents or grandparents visit. Again, cheating probably, but maybe see if you can stop by for a visit to loved ones. I don't think I've ever made it out of their homes without a meal (either eaten there or sent with me in a doggie bag)! I've never had to do it, but if you needed a couple meals to tie you over for the month, your family is sure to help you out with either made or almost-made meals if you just ask. 

- discount sections of grocery stores. There are usually a couple racks of the "almost expired" food stuff that is great to cook up the same night. We usually buy our meat here and then freeze it. You can usually get bread, fruits, veggies, pies, buns, meats and others for nearly nothing. I've done this before with hot dogs (buns and weiners were on for half price) that we cooked up and had the same night. 

-coupon. Follow the Facebook groups and blogs in your area who post about the deals, and jump on a great deal if you can afford to. If you're in my area, I like the Savings Guru, who posts all sorts of deals. He does the work for you and you just go out and get the free butter, or the cheap eggs that are on that week. 

- use your points. You've been accumulating points on your various cards for years, spend them when you run out of cash! Gas, shoppers drug mart, PC groceries, air miles, etc. You can also sometimes buy gifts cards for other places with your points, just have a look through your wallet for all your points cards and see what is available.

- look up free event days. In my area, the local skating rink will have free skate hours, and sometimes museums will have a special free day. I haven't done a lot of research in this area but there are groups and blogs about this topic too I've seen, as parents are always looking for cheap things to do with the little ones.

- regrow table scraps. This could be for fun, or for continuous small bits of food. This one doesn't need a lot of explaining, and it actually works

- throw a party! This sounds a little backwards, but if you do it right it can both be entertainment and extra meals. Make it a BYO drinks, food and chairs, and advise you'll provide the bathroom, music/movies, plates and cutlery. Have a good time with friends, watch a movie marathon, and have a day of fun that doesn't cost people very much to participate it (just a bowl of chili and a case of pop each basically). 

- make crafts. There are so many great YouTube tutorials and Pinterest things about crafts you can make for nothing. Repurposing garbage items, making string from plastic bottles, using various items as stamps, origami of old chip bags, you imagine it and someone has made a craft around it. This is a good option for families with kids. Just pick an item and google it with the word craft. I did soda can crafts and holy cow, cooool!!

- sell stuff. You meet people, it can get you out of the house, and it'll get you a little extra cash quickly that you can go to that discount food section with. Try selling old clothes, an old kitchen item, shoes, books, kids toys, puzzles, etc. you could also try selling your newly made soda can crafts and who knows, maybe there's a business idea in here. 

- while on this topic, what about making a little mini business out of something easy? I recently found out that I am good at string art, and actually enjoy all the hammering (stress relief) and stringing (relaxing). It's a minimal investment (I have to buy $2 roll of string, a $2 box of nails and a few brackets to hold wood together at the back (about $1 each), plus find an old wooden pallet to break up). But.. I could sell it for upwards of $20 and offer custom options. (The ones below were for my mom for Christmas (which had a dog saying added to the blank area in sharpie) and the logo of a company that was visiting my work's head office)

There are tonnes of other ideas, but this post is long enough with all the pics. What other tips do you use? 

My last shopping trip - free is good!

My last shopping trip was pretty fun so just wanted to share it here. I went with my roommate and we both spent $50 each. It was kinda fun to see the differences!

Him:

Meat meat and meat

Pizza

Lettuce

Rice

.28 cent noodles

Canned Beans for a chili

Orange juice

Chips

And Shreddies which we price matched for $1.88

So, he got food. $50 doesn't go very far for food anymore it seems, so this was actually really good as it was a week if lunches basically. 

Mine:

3 bags of price matched smartfood ($2 each!)

2 bags price matched Tostitos 

Milk (we go through one of these bags a week)

Pop pop and cans of pop (altogether like $5)

New Nestea blackcurrent pop and coupon

Chocolate milk

.28 noodles and 2 cans of Italian wedding soup

Lemon liquid

2 bottles of laundry detergent which was price matched, couponed AND rebate app'd

2 bottles Vim which were price matched and couponed

1 bottle Palmolive which was price matched and couponed

2 vileda scrunge boxes plus a coupon

Restoralax bottle and coupon

Frank's Red Hot sauce and a full value rebate form filled out

2 Crunch bar sets and a coupon

2 bundles of organic bananas for $1 (clearance rack but they are perfectly fine!)

So from all this, I got free stuff!:

The Tide deal was probably the best as it was a money-maker. I price matched it for 3.99 each, then used a coupon that was $5 off when you buy 2. On top of this, Tide was also on one of the rebate phone apps for buy 2 and get $5. I have requested that cheque in the mail now!

The vileda scrunge and the Vim were coupons for buy one get one free. Great deals when the items go on sale. 

Restoralax coupon was for the full value of the item, after I wrote in to the company saying I liked their product  

The two Crunch bars were a coupon from Nestle when I wrote in complaining about some really funky Smarties I bought (and didn't eat). They sent me a $2 off coupon, which I used on 2 $1 Crunch bar packages. You can see below the coupons, plus a free sample and coupon I received in the mail the same day. 

The Frank's is a current promotion for a full value rebate of any of their bottles. We were out so it was great timing!

Then yesterday I dragged my roommate out after work to grab something else we are out of: bottled water. 

The store had a one day only deal coupon which I pulled from the web and printed. They have their case of 24 waters on sale for $1.97 (which in itself is a good deal), but the coupon gave a buy one get one free. We walked out of there with 4 cases of water for under $4. 

Something to note for the word "free" though..  Usually you still need to pay the tax. Unless the coupon states otherwise, tax is not included. For the restoralax and the 2 crunch bars which I did in one transaction, I still had to pay $1.53 I think it was. All for the tax man. 

Happy shopping!

Coupon Match-Ups - (Flipp app just got better!)

So I had a lot of excitement this morning when I updated my apps. One that got updated was my favourite must-have-while-shopping-app, Flipp, who have added coupons and coupon match-ups to their app. 

Whoooppeeeee!!

So what are coupon/flyer match ups? Basically, they're someone else doing the work of looking up what sales and coupons can be used together for the best bang for your buck! In one of my first blog posts I explained how I'll sit down and do the work of comparing apps to coupons to flyer prices to see where I can double or triple dip on deals.. But there are a lot of sites and people who will do this work for you to save you valuable time. 

Below are three examples. In all three cases, the coupon they mention is usually clickable and printable right from their list. I'm not saying this method should replace all of your flyer scouring though, as many times you will have a stash of coupons that you printed last month that are no longer active to print, so they might not show up in these kind of match-ups. 

Flipp app

Check out the deal for Clear Care that I will be buying two of tomorrow!

Do all of your flyer searching, coupon matching and now coupon printing in one spot. Their coupon match ups actually provide the coupons to download. Simply click on the coupons you want to print and email them to yourself to print. The best part? Coupons are the same ones that are on SmartSource.com but you do not need to be signed in to print them. This allows you to print the same coupons twice through both spots :)

MrsJanuary

This site is basically good for everything.

The team are pretty dedicated and pretty on top of things, so they are usually quick to put up match ups. A lot of the time the coupons are clickable as well, and will take you to where they can be printed from. I like this match up site as well because they also let you know of rebates on the cash back apps (like Zweet in this screenshot) that I've mentioned in another blog post. 

Canadian Free Stuff

Another site good for most things. Similar to Mrs January, coupons will be clickable from this site too. 

Anyways, three good places to start!

Sharing Great Sales: Rosehill Liquidation

Okay, so you are in the market for anything from this list:

• furniture like sofas, chairs, ottomans to bedroom sets, dining room sets, display cabinets

• bedroom items like mattresses, headboards, box springs, bed frames

• rugs or artwork

• appliances like fridges, washers, dryers, microwaves, stoves

• small appliances like blenders, toasters, vaccuumes, air conditioner

• exercise equipment and entertainment equipment like fooseball tables  

And you..

• want to save money on the big purchase

• have done a little bit of homework so you know pricing for brand new

• don't mind buying something slightly imperfect

Then you need to take a quick walk around one of the Rosehill Liquidation locations.

http://rosehilloutlets.ca/brantford/index.html

Branford is my favorite location and where I have seen the best deals, and bought nearly everything when I bought my new house. They also have a "temporary" warehouse in Burlington and a large place down Fort Erie way. 

Clips of items from their newsletters for exampl of what they have at any given time:

Basically they buy truckloads of product from name brand places like Sears, which include scratch and dent items, returned special order items, or returned items. They don't know what they're going to get until they unload the truck, and they get one or two trucks a week full of new product. 

When buying the items for my house, I knew what kind of sofa I was looking for, so we went back every week to see what they had. Since it's a first-come first-served kind of place, we kept checking back until my perfect sofa with a matching ottoman showed up. We bought the leather sofa (who's defect was that one top cushion didn't zipper on all the way) for $475. 

The matching look ottoman was $125. 

Other items I've bought:

• washer and dryer combo (dents in both, washer at the front and dryer at the back) for $472

• pedestals with drawers for the units (colour doesn't match the washer and dryer) for $105 total

• my pillow top mattress. Don't know what was wrong with it, it was completely brand new. Right in the store I googled it and found it was priced everywhere at $2300, bought it for $560, and they threw in the boxspring. 

• both roommates bought their mattresses - one got a beautiful double for $400 and the other got a queen for $600 I think. Free boxsprings again

• headboard for the bed (chip in top corner)

• fridge. We originally bought a normal white fridge and within the month the freezer crapped out. We took it back to rosehill and they offered me my choice from the floor as a replacement. I chose an even nicer stainless steel double door fridge and paid an extra $200. Total I paid $800 for the fridge. 

• beautiful rug that matched my new leather couch and the walls of my new living room. Again I googled this in the store for what it's price was elsewhere, and ended up paying $135

• various blender, coffee maker, knife block set and such.. Basically each for $20

• a Christmas tree one year. Pre-lit very tall artificial tree that we ended up paying like $22 for it after their newsletter discount

• beautiful room dividing screens. Googled them in the store and bought three of them the next second because of how cheap they were. Two matched my new decor and one had birds and twigs on it, perfect for my mom (pictured)

• rod iron trees that my parents ended up using to create a beautiful deck

Important that you note their appliance and electronics warranties.. Are very short. They test them in the store, but for the most part they don't know what happened in the appliance's past life. 

Furniture is a pretty safe bet if you check it over thoroughly and test the frames and such. 

It's not everyone's cup of tea, and I totally get that. My Grandma pointed out that although she is totally willing to save money, she also can't handle removing a mattress and bringing a new one in on her own, so she would pay extra in Sears for example to have them come do that. 

If you're not fussy though, I would take a drive and see what they have to offer. I've never gone there and not walked out with something. 

Oh, and don't forget to sign up for their newsletter so you can get a further discount on your purchase (basically 10% off everything and they change the secondary discount each month)!

Getting started - the coupon binder

So my god-send in couponing has been my binder. Yes, I might look like a total dork wandering the aisles with a big green binder, but after trial and error this has been my absolute best tool.

I start here, before even telling you where the physical coupons are, because this is for sure the thing that makes my couponing easy. I love using the line "oh, I have a coupon for that!", and knowing exactly where to go to get it. No more digging in the abyss of a purse or searching through an accordion mass of coupons while standing at the cashier. 

My binder is a holdover from school and from my Pokemon card collecting days. It's an inch thick, with as many pages as I could scrounge up of those 9-pocket hockey card plastic pages. Garage sales are great for these card sheets, but I've seen them on sale at places like Staples and Walmart too. Binders are cheap at a dollar store or again during school start up time in stores. 

I did buy and try an accordion binder, but found that I would need to file through every coupon in a section to find the one I wanted. I tried the envelope organizational method too, but it was the same idea. Try a couple yourself, but I personally love seeing all my coupons at a glance. 

Then, organize. I use a page (or 2) per section of the grocery store: food, snacks, dairy, cleaning, scents, pet etc. If you shop at one store the most, organize the coupons based on the aisles then. What this does is allow you to not plan as much, and if a great sale is on the shelf, you can quickly flip in your book to see if you have a coupon for it too (essentially doubling the deal). This makes it so my quick trip for milk ends up being an hour long "start the carrrrr!" success story because of a few great deals I found, haha!

Another thing to note with this binder.. Take it with you! Always. Leave it in the trunk of your car, as I'm always out and about and realizing I have a coupon for something somewhere I didn't plan on going to. It's heartbreaking to know there's a stack of fast food coupons sitting on your dining room table when you have that McDonalds craving at lunch! I understand if you don't have a car this might be a little impractical, but they do make mini binders with these same sheets too!  :P

I guess if you want to be technical, other tools you need are a pair of scissors, a smartphone or tablet (I have iPhone and iPad), and a computer with printer. This is the arsenal I have (along with a couple other bonuses I'll talk about) to save money easily.