Again, it doesn't hurt to ask!

Below are two simple examples of "it doesn't hurt to ask".  

_______________________________________

This year, I did a lot of my Christmas shopping online. I think I got a bunch of unique gifts, which I hadn't seen in stores. 

I did the whole smart couponing thing and used "sign up to save" discounts on every site I could, googled "promo code for x" for every other site, and took advantage of sales or clearances they had running on the sites. Other than a deal I bought on Groupon which was a huge disappointment in my opinion, I was pretty proud of what I had bought and what I had saved. 

Then; Black Friday. 

I had bought a couple things on the Red Thursday from some online US retailers. I thought I was doing pretty good with coupon codes and free site wide shipping. Then Black Friday weekend came and both sites announced better deals than I had bought my items for. Of. Course. 

This is a lesson in, not beating yourself up for missing an even better sale, but instead being willing to ask. I always say it doesn't hurt to ask. 

So I emailed both companies. Said that I either needed to do a) cancel the order immediately to attempt to re-buy the items over the weekend, or b) have them simply credit me the difference instead of potentially losing the sale. I explained the date I had bought the items and the discount I expected to be applied to my credit card (on one site it was $10 and on the other site it was $12). I fully expected the response to be "tough shit" or "snooze ya lose", but I went by my own advice and sent the emails, plus a follow up email to both on Sunday. 

In the end, Both companies did refund me the amount I had asked on the Monday. $10 might not be a lot of money, but $10 US can buy a couple more gifts up here, and I'd rather it in my pocket. I profusely thanked both companies and told them they would have repeat business from me. 

So, shameless plug to some of the greatest sweatpants ever Crotchgear and to a necklace for every person in your life, The Needed Necklace. 

__________________________________________

Another example was for this magazine subscription we get, which recently got taken over. We had issues at the takeover, as suddenly a couple of the magazines my grandma loves to read dropped off their subscription list and she no longer got them. 

We called in and emailed and complained, needing an explanation, citing how unhappy we were with what we felt like was an almost bait-and-switch as we didn't get an email notification saying any magazines were going to disappear, in advance of the next monthly payment (which I explained I would have cancelled the subscription for had we been notified). 

Apologies and fluff later, they offered me 3 months at half price. That took me into this month, December, paying something like $7 for 112+ magazines. 

At work, we had a company come in to pitch something to us, and brought us "gifts" (bribes?) which included a free 3 month subscription to this company. 

Well I started scheming how I would cancel my subscription, then re-buy it (under a different email) at the current holiday promotional discount of 60 days free, then would cancel that and buy it again (under a new email again) with the bribe gift of 3 months free. In my brain it was all working but I was exhausted thinking about having to remember all these dates. 

But, I decided to call their customer service again to see what could be done. Could they just credit me these months instead of me jumping it around? Could they just apply this three month discount to my existing account?

The answer to both was yes, in part. They offered me a 50% discount for the next three months, and advised that my three month promotional coupon could be applied directly to my account when I wanted it to be. Saves me the hassle and sounds good to me to save some more money! 

Rewards cards/sites

So how long could this list be?! If you ask, there is probably some reward system in every place you shop. And even if they don't have a reward system in a store, your bank/credit card could have offerings that let you get points/air miles for every dollar spent. 

I've just kinda tried to think of some I use regularly. I have lots, and a bunch that I'll probably never use again, but everything can add up. 

Almost universal - Aeroplan/ Air miles. I have both an air miles card and a credit card that gives miles per $20 spent. In stores that accept air miles, I can essentially double dip! Air miles can be used for everything from gift cards and blenders, to flights and car rentals. It takes a long time to build miles (in my opinion) but it's money you'd be spending anyways, so getting free reward on top is great. Aeroplan works much the same way, but I haven't found it offered is as many places. 

Online - MyPoints. 

This is a new one for me, but there are a lot of places that will reward you for doing stuff you already do (like browsing the web). A lot of them ask you to watch videos or do surveys for points, which is easy to do in the background while doing other stuff. Usually points can be used toward gift cards. I've recently found MyPoiints because they give you points for printing coupons, and they have a TON of coupons (like currently 300 or something). 

Gas, like PetroPoints/ EssoRewards

Again, you're getting gas and spending the money anyways, why not get some freebies on top? Gas reward points can be used toward discounts on gas or free items like car washes or candy. 

Walmart credit card

So this is a new one, but a great one if you shop at one store all the time. A lot of places will have their own credit card that will either give you a discount or some sort of rewards points. Walmart's card gives you points everywhere you use it, but more points if you use it at Walmart, plus no annual fee. Walmart has been a great place to price match and use coupons, so it might be a worthwhile thing to get to get even more rewards.  

Movies - Scene

Maybe you don't go to the movies that much, but when you do go you go with a group. How many of your friends have this card (in my group, like no one). You have the chance to use your scene card for everyone in your party, which might be the equivalent to free popcorn and such. They also have a Scene card in a credit card too I believe, which would give you points towards movies on everything you would be buying anyways. 

Airport parking - Park n fly

This was a recent find that gives you points per stay, towards free parking later. If you have a CAA card you can also get great discounts on your stay in these parking lots. 

Hotels - Marriot, Delta, etc

This is probably a very large category, but a lot of hotels (almost every one I've looked into) have some sort of rewards program. The ones that are kinda fun work at chains of hotels, wherever you go in the world. 

Grocery - PC Plus/ Sobeys

Another broad category but lots of grocery stores give you points for shopping there. Doesn't hurt to ask a t the cash register if they have anything like this you could sign up for. 

Brand/Food - Lumchmate club

Sorry mom, but I do still eat Lunchables. I'm not sure how many products have similar points for buying their product, but I know these guys do (I think Crayola might?). In saying this, it's taken me almost a year to get the points I have now.. Which is almost enough for a free lunchable. That's a lot of $3 Lunchables to get one free, but hey, I was buying the product anyways! 

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!

Have your say and get rewarded - Sample Review Sites

So there are a bunch of sites like this, and just to try, I've signed up for three. In the short time I've been on these sites I've received an offer from two of them. 

Basically the premise is that you get either free samples or points for reviewing products. Easy right? 

Influenster 

This one is all over the Internet, the most popular one I've read about. So far though, not a great fit for me, as I am not on every single social media system there is. I am on 4 of the 7 they ask you for, and my "reach" is only medium. The idea here is that the more you are a social media influencer, the more "campaigns" available to you. This site seems to work off points and badges, points for completing questions and posting reviews, and badges for milestones. I'm not sure I understand it all, but I'm still poking around. They have just come out with an app, maybe I'll give that a try. From the sounds of it by others, there's a lot of initial work to build up your numbers before they offer you a bunch of samples. 

ChickAdvisor

They want your product reviews, and that's the simple description. They will have various offers that you can apply for and they will choose a set number from the applicants. Sometimes it's trade show passes, sometimes it's product.. Their breadth of offers has been kind of random so far. 

SocialNature

This is a group that offer natural, holistic, human/environment-friendly products. Basically you go through their current list of products and select the ones you "want" and that puts you in a pool of applicants that they then choose to offer samples to. You receive the sample and review it, and that's it. I would be open to more sites like this as it is easy and simple to understand!

A quick search on the web has given a bunch of similar programs to both Influenster and SocialNature. For a more detailed understanding of Influenster and 2 other sites to give a try (the Smiley360 is for Americans only it looks like, but the other two are next on my list to sign up for and see if Canadians can get them) check out http://brokegirlrich.com/?p=721 

Need to know: Scanning Code of Practice

Won't be a long post from me, but it will reference others who have described this in more detail. 

Basically, if you have ever said "that's not what the price on the shelf said" then you need know of this SCOP!

The sticker you see above (that I took at Sobeys) will be posted at the registers or near the front doors of participating stores (which will be most retailers everywhere!).

Here is a great summary of all you need to know (basically) from a fellow couponer's blog:

http://canadianbudgetbinder.com/2012/09/26/scanning-code-of-practice-scop-in-canada/

Or you can read the sent out pamphlet: http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/vwapj/ct02380e.pdf/$file/ct02380e.pdf

Know it and use it!

Free Sample Review: Happy Water

So I am on a bunch of "advisor" websites that will reward your reviews with free samples and free product coupons. 

I'll do a different blog post on the panels I'm on, but this one was through "Social Nature". So they sent me an offer via email asking if I would be willing to try and review this product, and I clicked on the I Want It button. 

After saying yes, they sent me these items in the mail, including the free product coupon. 

Now, I don't like water. The only way I can drink it is if it's ice cold or has mixed powder/squirt flavouring in it. BUT, I like free, and my roommate drinks a lot of water, so I figured it would be used one way or another. 

On the back of the coupon it lists the stores that carry this product, in Ontario and BC only right now it looks like. The only one near me was Sobeys, so that's where we headed. 

So walking into a store and asking the team if they had heard of "Happy Water" gave a few chuckles and raised eyebrows, but it was there in the water bottle section, as expected. However, they were sold out of the 5L cases. Long story short, and after waiting a long time a customer service, they let me use the max value on the coupon towards the purchase of a 10L case.  

Basically it's a big bag of water in a box. The spout design pops out from it easily, and doesn't drip. It's like a mini water cooler in a box. The taste is very smooth and I was surprised that I actually liked it. I've tried mixing it with cordials and drink mixes and they all mix well, with a clean taste. My review I posted is below:

Anyways, sharing here because it was part coupon/great deal and part good product. 

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)!