Frequent Stamp Cards are Awesome!

Remember to use those stamp and points cards!

Everywhere has the opportunity to get something free.. whether it's paying with a credit card for air miles or cash back, or using frequent buyer cards. A lot of places have these things.. free coffee, free ice cream, free water bottle jugs, etc. It can never hurt to ask the store you're in if they have any frequent buyer program. 

 

And also.. it can't hurt to get a card even if you think you wouldn't buy enough to get anything free. I'm always surprised at people who wave off points card or frequent stamp cards, yet have the same item (lately it's been a McDonald's coffee) every morning. I'm resisting the urge to say "told ya so.." !  I have a bunch of single or double stamped cards on the go, but if it's a place I'll ever go again I'm getting a card for the just in case. 

What also doesn't hurt to ask, is if you can get a stamp even when you're "not supposed to" like when using coupons. I seriously love our ice cream store because we can pay with coupons and get a great deal already, and she'll still give us "just one! This one time!" stamp when we ask. 

All the free stuff adds up and I don't think it's an effort at all to pull out my "rewards wallet" to get another stamp or some points when paying somewhere! 

Trade in and Save

Watch for trade in and save events on stuff you would actually use

 

We just recently did this to get a free new fish tank filter. The event was held at one of our favourite fish stores (Big Al’s) and it was simply bring in any old filter and get a new one when you buy the 3 or 6 pack replacement sponges. I had kept the original filter that came with my first tank I bought 3 years ago (the “just in case” filter), but it was just gathering dust. When we buy a new tank filter, we always buy replacement filters at the same time anyways, so this was a perfect way to upgrade for a future fish tank. It was limited time event on a weekend day, so we made sure to make time to go.

 

 

We got a beautiful new filter (that could support a tank bigger than the old one) with a lifetime warranty, honoured in store at Big Al’s, and no need to register the warranty online or anything. The sponge cartridges were well priced too so we walked out of there paying $18 for a new filter and 3 cartridges. Plus, we got a peelie coupon for our upcoming water chemical purchase. 

 

 

Other deals: 

-          A few years ago I also did a trade in and get a great coupon/free set  when you brought in old Christmas lights through Canadian Tire. It was a great deal, and I don’t think it lasted all that long because everyone jumped on it. I’ve been watching and waiting for that deal to come around again, but no such luck yet.

-          Trade in and save on electronics, like Iphones and ipads. Small credit, but you likely won’t be using that old iphone once you get the new fancy one, even though you tell yourself you will. (I literally have 3 iphones I won’t use because I only use my current one, despite telling myself I’ll use them for ipods.)

-          Henry’s has a deal for trading-up for new cameras/camera gear.   Or some computer shops offer deals on computers/laptops if you buy a certain brand and bring in a different brand.

-          Trade in and save on old printers/office equipment at Office supply stores. Usually run by a branded company like HP or Xerox, it can give a great discount on a new item.

-          Electronic Games are a great one, stuff like Playstation, Xbox, Wii games. If it’s just gathering dust (or you got it at a thrift store), you can oftentimes take it in for a small credit towards a game you actually want.

-          Same deal for DVDs/CDs/LPs and such at somewhere like The Beat Goes On. While already a good place to buy your next DVD, take in some old stuff and get a credit towards what you actually want.

 

-          There’s also always the trade in for a credit when buying a new car. Even an old clunker could get you $500-$1000 trade in credit. You almost always could get more for the car if you went through the effort of private sale, but if you can’t be bothered it’s a little extra off this big ticket purchase 

Sharing good deals: East Side Marios

Just sharing our love for East Side Marios as a cheap meal out if done "right". Here's my tips:

• My first East Side Marios tip is to order a meal that comes with the unlimited soup/salad and homeloaf. Even this alone, without a special, can yield a meal to take home if you just eat the free stuff. I will order a decent large meal that I often split into two meals when I get home, and fill up as my meal on free warm loaves, a bowl of cesar salad and then either a second bowl or a couple bowls of the Italian wedding soup (it will depend on your server if they will let you "switch" from salad to soup, but usually they will)
• Watch for their specials.. ESM has recently done a few specials that seem to rotate, besides their normal weekly specials. One special is that Tuesday's are unlimited pasta for something like $11.99. Then there was the "eat one and take one home" where you got your meal and then they prepackaged one for you to take home into the fridge. Then there's the one we did today that is their "12 for $12" which are a selection of 12 meals (one is build your own pasta which is another 300 combinations hah) that still includes unlimited freebies 

• Sneaky trick.. when you are just about full and ready to pop, ask for another bowl of salad. Eat some of it, then ask for a takeout container and take it home (best for eating the same day). You can often do the same thing with a loaf of their bread
• Coffee and pops are free refills, like usual. This is always a good spend of the small price tag 
• Remember to use coupons if you have them. Any discount is good, especially if there's no special going on. Groupon will sometimes offer a "gift card" type deal, which is worth it if it's your nearby store!

• Sign up for their emails and get a freebie appetizer. Save it and whip it out when you have some friends to help eat them

• Pay with a credit card and get the extra points/cash back/air miles, whatever your card gives back. A meal for two will often crest $20 which is usually the minimum for 1 air mile or points 
• Don't forget to show your Scene card and get some points towards free movies 
• Finally, get those awesome lollipops if your server forgets to give them.. these things are delightful 

My meal tonight was build your own pasta which came home in its entirety, 1 bowl of salad, and 2 bowls of soup. I think we polished off 3 loaves of bread too. Hubby had bruschetta pizza and 2 salad bowls. Our total came to $33

 

Sometimes you do win free stuff!

I often enter contests online or do those "give us your feedback for a chance to win!"  It takes a couple minutes and I'm convinced that some day I'll win something! 

Meanwhile in the real world, there's opportunities like this (at our local restaurant) to win:

 

So for .25 at the very least I'll get a gumball.. that's a risk I'm willing to take! Much to our surprise and happiness it was yellow = free cake! 

We ordered out meals and got the cake to go.. this thing was massive! 

 

Then just to round out the trip the waitress forgot to ring in our drinks so we got what I think was a great deal on breakfast platters, plus I took half my meal home for another day - and brought home on all the jams, syrups and butters they gave us o our plates and we didn't use. 

 

Save the Tax days at Zehrs

My hubby and I went to do our grocery shop because I had a few good coupons to match up with sales. When we got our cart and into the store, we immediately turned around and left as we saw the signs for a couponers dream: Save the Tax, one day only (which was the next day). 

 

Seriously, this is worth shopping in the crowds and waiting a day. Imagine paying exactly what the sticker on the shelf says! You save something like 13% (depending on your province) and your coupons go that little bit further. 

For example, say toothpaste was on sale for .99 and you had $1 off coupon. On a normal shopping trip, you still need to pay the tax on the .99 price so your "free" toothpaste actually costs you a few cents. On "we pay the tax" day, it is actually free! 

If you have a tight budget, look for and plan some big shops around this day and put the effort into coupon searching for that shop. Usually our coupons with $ off only cover the tax on the item, but on these sale days that money actually goes into your pocket. 

Using some coupons, we got everything in this picture for the same price as the regular price of the cereal (just over $5 for everything there). And "free" product coupons (which I had for 5 of the items) actually meant free, no silly tax!

 

I can't comment on how often stores do save the tax. It seems like it is usually around a holiday, but you can bet they are the best time to do some of your main shopping. 

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!

Esso Extra: Extra Privileges Card

If you’re a basic couponer, “Load to card” offers aren’t new. These are seen most through the PC Plus (Zehrs) grocery card and the Optimum (Shoppers Drug Mart) cards which either give you special pricing/coupons or bonus points for buying a certain item. A few other cards I’ve seen lately have added this feature too… Including Esso!

 

If you buy gas, chances are you have a points card to go along with it, as I think nearly all of them have some sort of incentive for you to keep filling up with them. Since we’ve moved a few years ago, I switch between Canadian Tire Gas bar and Esso which are right across the street from one another, depending on whether there is a 10x Canadian Tire Money coupon available. Esso is my normal go-to as they sell Slurpees! So, I have an Esso Extra card with them, which gets me points on gas and convenience purchases that I can then turn around and use to buy said gas or purchases, or redeem online for some other fun things. Esso also allows me to switch from time to time to my Aeroplan card in order to keep those points active.

 

 

At Christmas, they offered a deal of buy a gift card and get a free Price Privileges card.. which gives you cents off for a certain amount of litres. These aren’t new to me as I’ve had a few before to save around .50 a fill up. But when I called to talk to someone at Esso because my card wasn’t working at first, a whole new world of load to card offers was opened! She told me that I could get cents off each gas purchase for 100L, but then I could “top up” that litre allowance by completing offers like.. Buying gas and convenience store items.

 

Basically, you activate the card and sync it to your existing Esso card. Then hop online and log into your Price Privileges page to see available offers. Offers load for one month, and you click on the button to load an offer you think you would use in that month. Even if you’re not sure.. I would load it! After a month of use, you’ll have a few different headers show up.. Like “Available offers” that you haven’t loaded yet, “Added Offers” which show you the % of completion and “Achieved Offers” where you can see how many litres allowance you successfully topped up.

 

 

 

Now, this month Esso has the deal on of buy a gift card and get a card with double the cents off I’m currently getting (I have 2.5 cents off and its 5 cents). There is a button on the header that says replace your card, so once I use up my last 35L on my existing card I’ll replace it with this new one and continue loading the same offers to the card to get a little bit more money off per fill up (maybe a whole dollar!).

 

You can also buy high value Price Privileges cards like 10c and 25c off with your Esso points if you’ve got them to burn, but I’m a long ways off affording one of them!

 

 

It’s a few minutes a month to log in and load offers but I think it’s worth it for saving a little bit of pocket money.