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Wednesday, December 18, 2013

A Year of Shoppers

Shoppers has a redeem your points and get points back today(yesterday also). If you have at least 50000 points you can redeem. There are two levels 50000 and 95000 that are eligible. If you cash in 50000 points for $85 worth of free stuff you get 15000 points returned to you on Dec 25. If you cash in 95000 points for $170 worth of stuff you get 30000 points returned to you. This is the best possible time to cash in it used to be they had mega redemptions where you could get $250 worth of stuff for 95000 points, but not anymore. The best level is $210 for 95000, which they usually do first week of December or end of November. Getting $210 worth of stuff for 95000 points makes your points worth $2.21/ point. Cashing in 95000 for $170 and getting 30000 back means that 65000 points equals $170 and that makes your points worth $2.61/point!
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They had the spend 95000 get 30000 points back on July 31 of this year. This was my redemption. You have to pay taxes so the total here was $179.85-$170-$3(CH51)=$6.85 for all of this!
I earned 270 points on this shop plus the 30000 that was added later.
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This photo and the one below are the redemptions I did November 30th. It was the spend 95000 get $210 promo.
My total was $218.48-$210-$3 CH51=$15.48 for all of this!
I earned 110 points.
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This shop I spent $210.34-$207.08(I screwed up and didn't calculate in the tax!)-$5 CH51=I made $1.74 to buy all of this!
I earned 150 points.
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Final redemption of the year was yesterday. I used my last 95000 points for $170 worth of groceries. My grand total was $183.20-$170-$2 CH51=$11.20 I paid to buy all of this! I earned 3040 points and will get 30000 back Christmas day.
The total points I cashed in this year
95000X4=380000
I got back 63,570 doing those shops, so I spent a total of 316,430 points and got $799.71 worth of groceries which I paid out of pocket $31.79(12 % tax)!
How much did I spend at Shoppers to get these points? A grand total for the year of $454.53!(this includes the taxes on the redemptions)
How did I get so many points you ask? Here's some things to do.
1. Buy Shoppers gift cards to pay for your items. You get points to buy Shoppers gift cards.(10 points for every dollar)
2. Even better buy your Shoppers gift cards with the Shoppers Optimum Mastercard, you get even more points.(15000 for signing up, 15 points for every dollar spent in Shoppers)
3. Even better buy your gift cards in November when they offer 8000 points for every $150 worth of gift cards.
4. Buy only on extra points days 20X points etc.
5. Use Mail in Rebates
6. Use coupons
7. Use Checkout 51, Snap Save and Cart Smart
8. Use the Shoppers coupons they email you.
9. Watch the till. Several times I got free items because of  SCOP.(scanning code of practice)
Right now this is one of the best points programs out there. It will be interesting to see what happens now that they have been bought out! Do you use Shoppers points?

Monday, December 16, 2013

Starbucks Deal $25 Card Used by Dec 31 gets you $10

Are you planning on buying gifts or stocking stuffers at Starbucks this month? If so, you may be interested in this deal. Right now at Zulily if you buy a $25 Starbucks card and then use it all up by Dec 31 you will get a $10 eGift card that you can use for Starbucks purchases in the new year. If you were planning on buying gifts there already this is a nice bonus. Here's the link to the site. (You can earn $15 referrals from others when you invite them after you sign up.)

Here's the fine print:
Treat yourself or someone special with the Starbucks Holiday Pass. It's a limited edition Starbucks Card eGift just for zulily members, and it's sweetened with a little bonus: when you spend the full $25 amount by 12/31/2013, you'll get a $10 Starbucks Card eGift in January. It's instant joy now, and an irresistible way to start the new year.

So indulge in a breakfast pastry (or two!), buy last-minute stocking stuffers or bring home some delicious seasonal coffees. Whatever your holiday plans, the Starbucks Holiday Pass from zulily is sure to make them extra merry.

Qualifying customers will receive their bonus $10 egift via email by 1/10/2014.To qualify, you must use the Starbucks Holiday Pass to purchase at least $25 worth of merchandise, beverages or food at participating Starbucks stores by 12/31/2013. Restrictions include:

Transfer of cash balance  to other Starbucks Cards or eGifts
Purchase of Starbucks Cards or eGifts
Returning  or redeeming for cash

Returning merchandise purchased using the Holiday Pass

Offer not valid in Quebec.
Qualifying customers will receive their bonus $10 eGift via email by 1/10/2014. 
To qualify, you must use the Starbucks Holiday Pass to purchase at least $25 worth of merchandise, beverages or food at participating CDN Starbucks stores or starbucksstore.ca by 11:59 p.m PST on 12/31/2013.
Restrictions include:  (1) transfer of cash balance  to other Starbucks Cards or eGifts prior to 1/1/2014, (2) purchase of Starbucks Cards or eGifts prior to 1/1/2014, (3) returning  or redeeming for cash prior to 1/1/2014, or (4) returning merchandise purchased using the Holiday Pass
There is no limit to the number of promotional eGifts that can be purchased.

Does not qualify for special coupon offers

Friday, December 13, 2013

This Week's Sales

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Safeway has some good email direct coupons this week!
The Black Diamond Cheese 500g for $3.99!!!! Limit 2 coupon code 54521
(If you have the Snap Save App you could be eligible for another $2 if that's one of your offers!)
Organic yams are .59/lb
Celery is .99 a bunch
Fresh Express Garden Salad .68 limit 3 coupon 54265
Mandarin Oranges are 5lbs for $3.66 this weekend only!Pomegranates are .89 limit 4 coupo code 54263
Cases of Kraft Dinner are $5.99 limit 2 coupon code 54475

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Costco has 3 packs of cream cheese for $4.99! 3 boxes of 250g each!
                  This week it's turkey buying time!
Save On and Cooper's both have 3-9 kg Grade A frozen turkeys for .99/lb limit 1. Safeway has Grade A frozen turkeys for .99/lb, but you must spend $50 to get this price.


Superstore
Lean Ground Beef is $1.98/lb limit 4
Spiral Hams $1.98/lb
Pineapples $1.96 each
6 lbs pears $4.88(.81/lb)
Broccoli bunches $1.26 each
Pomegranates are .96(there are .50 coupons)
Dates and Figs are $1 when you buy 3
PC Crackers 225 g $1.47(200 points which is .20)$1.27

ING Direct Get $50-$100 to Open a Bank Account!

Ing Direct Banking is offering you $50-$100 to open a bank account, but it's only on until Dec 31. I have had an ING account for awhile now, but they have recently improved access greatly by offering the ability to just take a picture of your cheque with your smart phone or tablet! It's so fast with the new app! Oh, and to send someone money via email is free
My friend signed up on Wednesday and we each got the $50 on Friday!
Here's the fine print:
1. To get the $50, just open an account with ING direct. If you use my numbers below I get $50 also. Thanks in advance! Once you are signed up you get your own orange referral number so you can start referring and getting the bonuses!
2. To get the $100 add your pay as a direct deposit.



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These 3 pictures are a snap shot of what you have to fill out to open a chequing account with ING.
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After filling this out, you write yourself a cheque for $100. Download the ING free app for your smartphone or tablet. Take a picture of your cheque. You are done!(Don't have a smartphone? You can mail in your cheque, it takes a bit longer, but it works)
Want to get $100 instead of $50? Add your pay as a direct deposit and you get $100!

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Sale Whale

I recently heard about this web site, Sale Whale. It's awesome! What it does is search the flyers for you! All you do is enter your location and how far you are willing to travel to get the item you want(don't forget to just price match if possible and save some gas). In the find a product area type in what you are looking for, and  viola, you can see which store it's on sale at. You can even see Safeway's email direct coupon items! I like this feature! Why use this site? To save you time and money before you shop! You can combine it with the Checkout 51, Snap Save or Cart Smart cash back offers buy using it to search the very best prices for the items available for cash back. You can even customize it to alert you when your favorite items are on sale! I can see this being a very helpful website. What about you?
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A search for potatoes.

Friday, November 15, 2013

PC PLUS

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So, I went to Superstore this morning to try out the new points system. I already had the PC points app on my Ipad so off I went. In case you are wondering what I do with all that produce I buy for a food buying group. The grand tally for everything was $177.87. I got at total of 65286 points! I had $2.50 in Checkout 51 cash back deals and one MIR for  $6.69. I used $8.75 in coupons.Which means all this actually cost $94.64!
Let's break it all down.
As you know if you spend $20 on produce you get 5000 points. I did that twice. 10000 points.
I bought 4 Buitoni pizzas, I had 4 $1 coupons for them. They cost $20.92-$4=$16.92 and I got 20000 points for them which means I made $3.08 to buy them!
The Hellman's mayonnaise was $3.99 each. I bought 2 and had $1.75 in coupons, plus I got 4000 points making them $1.11 each!
The Finish was $5.97, I bought 2, I had a $1 off coupon and I am doing the MIR for the B1G1 free. So, $11.94 -$1-$6.69=$4.25 plus I got 10000 points so I made $5.75 to buy them!
The Palmolive were $2.47 each or $4.94 for 2. I got 5000 points, so I got paid .06 to buy them!
The Lever bars were $1 each, I bought 2 and had 2 $1 off coupons and there were 200 points on them so I made .20 to buy them.
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I price matched the lettuce for .98 each.(Lakeview Market)
 The grapefruit for 3/$1(Quality Greens)
The peppers for $2(Walmart)
The ham for $1.29/lb(Save On)
The Lean Cuisine Selections for $2(Save On)plus I got $1 back from Check out 51
I screwed up on the Lean Cuisine as I thought I was get 2000 points per box, however it's the Lean Cuisine Fresh Inspirations not the Selections!
The other Check out 51 I did was the Christie crackers and cookies. They were $1.77 and $1.97. Checkout 51 paid $1.50 and there were 500 points on the cookies making it $1.74 for both.
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I think if you click on the picture you can make the receipt larger. You can see that they did not give me the 5000 points on the second Finish. I called them once I noticed it. 1-855-6PC-PLUS. They told me you can only buy one. I explained that it didn't say that anywhere and that the cashier explained the program as you can do point items as many times as you want, but only on one shop. In the end he said they would credit my account. I know others who got the points no problem. How about you?
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The frozen vegetables were $3.68 each and had 500 points each making them $3.18 a package.
The Cheerios were $4.49 a box and had 2000 points each making them $2.29 a box.
The Colgate toothpaste was $1 per box and had 100 points on each, making it .90 each.
The non points things I bought were the pasta .75 a bag, and the large eggs $1.99.
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It says my account will be credited in 24 hours. Did you shop?

Thursday, November 14, 2013

PC PLUS POINTS PROGRAM now in the West!

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The Amazing Sky!


Well, exciting news! PC Points Plus program has finally come to our neck of the woods! I am so glad! I have been watching this program for months now as it was first released out east. What it is is a free points program at Superstore. Just go into Superstore and get your free card, you don't need to have a PC bank card or PC Mastercard to participate. You can also download the app on your tablet or smart phone. You get offers sent to your app or email each week. All you do is show your card at checkout at the start of cashing out and your points are added. If I understand correctly you can only do one of each offer per PC card, so you can get the produce 5000 points and the pizza 5000 points and any of the other offers, but only one time. I was in the store today and learned this was incorrect. You can do the offers as many times as you want, but all in one shop, or receipt. Maybe you can have more than one card per household?

This week's flyers have some good ones! I like that that their point to money ratio is easy to figure out(unlike Shoppers!) 1000 PC points = $1
Superstore this week starting Nov 15
Spend $20 on produce get 5000 points($5) that's a 25% savings!
Tomatoes .96/lb
Potatoes 20lbs $4.88
Mushrooms 454g $1.98
NN Frozen Vegetables $3.68(limit 4) 500 points(.50)
NN Pasta 500g .75
Cod, Sole, Basa frozen 1.36kg $10
Lean Cuisine 2000 points price match Save On where they are $2 this coming week and use the Checkout 51 app to get another $1! You make a $1 to buy it!
Cheerios 525-725g $4.97 2000 points($2)
Hellman's Mayo 750-800ml 2000 points($2) There's a $1 off printable here

Buitoni Pizza 5000 points ($5) there's a $1 off coupon from a recent insert and save.ca

Sat Nov 16 is NO TAX Day!
Wait to buy these items if you can and you need them

Sorry for some reason my Rebee flyer for my area said it was tax free day! When I got the actual flyer it wasn't!
Palmolive 1.1 L $2.47 2500 points($2.50!)limit 2
Finish 20-25 $5.97(limit 2) 5000 points($5) there's a $1 off coupon from the free sample sent out and there are others from smart source. Combine this with the MIR and you could get 2 free!
Dove Bar $1 limit 8 100 points(.10)
Dove Body Wash 1500 points($1.50)

Colgate toothpaste 130 ml $1 limit 8 100 points(.10)
Will you try this new card out?

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Shopping Smart Course This Saturday!

I invite you to come on out this Saturday to the Shopping Smart Course. In this course we tackle the grocery bill and ways to creatively lower it! We will cover things like menu planning, bulk buying, cooking from scratch, and we will even get you started on your very own Price Book! Everyone is welcome. 

Shopping Smart Course
When: Saturday Nov 16 10-1
Where: Ridgeview Church on the corner of Springfield and Hollywood in Kelowna
Cost : $10(there is a hot lunch provided)
Please email me if you are coming as soon as possible at savingyoumoneysue@gmail.com

 

Fruttare Money Maker at Walmart

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Fruttare Bars
Are you going to be near a Walmart in the next few days? Do you have Checkout 51? If so, you can print this hidden $4 coupon here. Then go to your Checkout 51 app this week and next and get $1.50 cash  back!Walmart has them on for $4.97 this week. We bought a package of the strawberry ones(I called they are gluten free, Unilever says their products will state the allergens in them on the package)we really liked them. They are a bit pricey without the coupon though, there's only 4 in a box! 

Monday, November 11, 2013

5 Meals, 1 Box of Chicken Breasts, 1 Hour

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I get to go away someplace warm! Soon! I am so excited! In preparation I decide to make some freezer meals, for my family. I spent some time on Pinterest and found some ideas. The Chicken Dijon and Chicken with Corn and Beans are from this website.The rest I made up from recipes we enjoy. I used one box of frozen, boneless,skinless chicken breasts(you could use bone in pieces too)which I bought at Safeway on 10% off day. So, $26.36-$2.64=$23.74 divide that by 5 and it's about $4.75 worth of meat per meal. From start to finish it took one hour to prepare!
All need to be thawed in the fridge over night(or you can put them in frozen if you want, just increase the cooking time). All have instructions to cook for 8 hours, but you can adjust that according to your crock pot's cooking time.
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Sweet and Sour Veggie Chicken
3 Chicken Breasts
1/2 Bag Frozen Zen Garden Vegetable
Homemade Sweet and Sour Sauce
1 cup cold water
1/2 cup Ketchup
1/2 cup Vinegar
2/3 cup Brown sugar
2 Tbsp corn starch
Mix all ingredients in a bowl with a whisk. Pour over chicken breasts and add veggies. Squish bag around to mix and coat the chicken. 

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The night before you want to eat this, take it out of the freezer and put it in the fridge. The next morning pour the contents into your crock pot. Cook on low for 8 hours.
Serve over white or brown rice.
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These are the ingredients for the sweet and sour sauce from above.
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In this sweet and sour sauce I added half of a pineapple chopped into bite size pieces.
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Pour over the chicken breasts to coat. Same cooking directions for all of these recipes. Serve over rice sticks.
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 Chicken with Corn and Beans
1 can of black beans rinsed
1 cup of frozen corn
1/2 onion chopped
juice from 1 lime
garlic
parsley or cilantro
salt and pepper to taste
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Mix all ingredients together.
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Pour over chicken breasts.
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 Maple Dijon Glazed Chicken
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
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Mix all ingredients together.
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Pour over chicken breasts.
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The ingredients for the Chicken Tacos are just the seasoning mix from the taco kit and 2 of the sauce packs(I always have them left over from the kits as we don't use them).
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Mix the 3 packages together.
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Pour over the chicken breasts. When using this you'll need to shred or dice the chicken once it's done cooking. It can be served with corn tacos or soft tortilla ,cheese and tomatoes and salsa.
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Thought you might want to see the white crock pot  It's my only crock pot that actually cooks like a slow cooker! I got it at a garage sale this summer and it's been so fabulous! $5 well spent!
Here are some sides to serve the chicken dishes with. There's white and brown rice, brown rice and quinoa, rice sticks or gluten free pasta.

Friday, November 8, 2013

This Week's Sales in Pictures

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It's snowy up in the mountains now.
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Rexall has some good deals to combine with coupons and Checkout 51 this week. Why not price match at Target and say 5% more?
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Dawn dish washing detergent is $1.88 there is a coupon for the 709 ml size buy 2 save $1. Making it $1.38 for 709 ml. (London Drugs has it for $1.67 if you buy 3)
Stamps are 10% off. Now's a good time to stock up as Christmas is coming!
Stayfree, Carefree and OB are 2/$5 there is a coupon for buy 2 save $5, making them free!
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Revlon nail polishes are $2.99. There was a smartsource $2 off coupon and Ch51 is giving $2 cash back making it a money maker! Good stocking idea?
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3 Day Sale at Safeway
Lucerene 2L of milk 2/$4 limit 4
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3 Day only Sale
6 Roses $5
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Safeway has Tostios $3 each. Price Match at Target and use the $1 off coupon from the Walmart magazine.(Oct?)
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2 Day Only Nov 8-9
PC Cheese 500g $4.77
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2 Days only Deals Nov 8-9
Tortillas are 2/$3
Romaine pk of 3 is $1.76
Fake crab(if you are making sushi)$1.98
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Superstore
Robin Hood Oats $2-$1 coupon from Walmart magazine in Oct?
I am going to see if Target carries this brand and price match it there to get an extra 5% off with my Red debit card.
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Save On and Coopers
Boneless Pork Loin $1.99/lb
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Costco till Nov 10
2.27kg for $19.99

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Old  Town Market Nov 6-11
Bananas .59/lb
Zucchini .49/lb
Pears .79/lb
Mushrooms $1.99/lb