A New Year and a Fresh Start!

As we stand on the last day of 2009 and peer ahead to 2010, there is hope and expectancy. What will 2010 bring? I want to wish you a very happy new year, and I also want to encourage to seize the year. Why not start this blank fresh start with a plan? A spending plan. Not a budget, that sounds like diet. But a plan for how you and your household are going to spend your money. You get to decide. Not planning means life happens to you and so much trickles through the cracks. What if you planned to save $100/month until you had $1000 in the bank for emergencies? Then when your tire blew, your hot water tank went, or you got an unexpected expense, you'd be OK. You wouldn't have to charge it and give the credit card companies all your hard earned cash. Spending planning, like menu planning, saves you money. What if 2010 was the year you purposed to get out of debt? I wonder what things would be like if we all were able to live within(or below)or means?? Would there be more peace?more love?more joy?

Car Rentals

What a beautiful picture! Thanks Kerry!

More on Saving on Car Rentals

Well, my car rental story isn't over. As I told you in the earlier post, I use a car rental search engine called www.carrentals.com . I signed up for their emails so I am emailed when they have a sale. Today, I received an email so once again I checked it out. Our car was less expensive again.

1.On the front page you can click a box that asks if you'd like to Compare in different window. Check that box. After a few seconds a second window will open to the Hotwire site comparing for the same reservation, but lower rates.

2.The catch with this site is that you have to book with a credit or debit card(whereas with the car rentals site you don't have to)and you don't know what company you are with(the companies they use are Alamo,Avis,Budget,Enterprise,Eurocar(International Only),Hertz,or National). Once you have made your reservation they tell you the company name.

3.If you have an entertainment book you can use your coupon by doing the following

A. Go to www.hotwire.com/rebate2010.jsp

B. Print this page(put your reservation info in on the right side)

C. Put in you reservation and print it off

D.Send your coupon these 2 pages(the first one needs to be signed)

Hotwire Mail-In Rebate

P.O.Box 2870

San Fransisco,CA 94126-2870

I have used Hotwire before, without problems.

Now our car rental story is over.(no cancellations with Hot wire). For 3 weeks we will pay $289 all taxes in(wow there's lots of taxes!) $9.95 a day! Hope you can save too!

This Week's Sales

Thanks again Heather for the fantastic pictures!! Wow! Isn't it nice during winter to have a warm spot to look at!

This week's sales are a little late...

Old Town Market Dec 16-24

Pineapples $1.99

Yams .49/lb

Green Onions 3/.99

Quality Greens 16-24

Yellow Onions .29/lb

Spinach .99/bunch

IGA 13-19

Onions 3lb .99

Purchase a $100 gift card and get a $10card free!

Cooper's Foods 13-19

Russet Potatoes 15lb $2.99

Yams .49/lb

Save On 13-19

Yams .98/lb

Extra Foods 12-18

Coupons for 15% off $100 Dec 14-16

12% off $50

10% off $25

Broccoli .96/lb(Superstore)

Plain Yogurt 1Kg $1.98(Superstore)

Fresh Ya Pears .68/lb(Superstore)

NN Oriental Soup 4/$1

Onions 3lb .96(Superstore)

Red or Green Cabbage .38/lb(Superstore)

Fresh Mushrooms $1.98/lb(Superstore)

Large Cantaloupe $1.96(Superstore)

Superstore 9lb Mandarin Oranges $4.98

Price Protection

Today, I had to buy a new battery for our truck. I called around and found the best battery at the best price(I never knew about cranking amps before!)at Costco. When I went to buy it, I went to the tire department as I didn't realize batteries are over by the bakery area, the man behind the till told me this battery would go on sale on Dec 21! He said,"You are probably buying this battery now because you need it now and can't wait until Dec 21, so keep your receipt and bring it in after Dec 21 and they will give you the difference! This is called PRICE PROTECTION!
I never knew that Costco protected you in case their prices go down! So, I have 2 things my friend bought the other day when we were together that she can get some money back! Just keep your receipts and if the item goes down within 30 days you can get some cash back!

Warm Places!

It is a cold time right now in Canada! When it's like this it's fun to think about warm places! It's even more fun to go there!(Thanks Heather for the beautiful picture!)
As I said in an earlier post we are headed to a warm place next year. We are going to the Hawaiian island, Oahu. How did we get to the point of going and totally prepaying it?
1. We planned it, 2 years ago
2.We broke it down into smaller monthly "payments" to our self
3.We tried to cut costs on the big things
A. Flights:We tracked that typically Hawaii flights go on sale in the fall. The website www.airfarewatchdog.com can be customized to send you alerts on your favorite destinations. We ended up getting our flights at $500 return all taxes in.
B.Accommodations:This is a biggy as we are staying for 3 weeks. We wanted to stay in a condo so as to help cut cost on eating out. We ended up renting through a referral from my brother (who goes regularly to Oahu). We were willing to stay outside of the main tourist area. Our condo, all taxes,cleaning, etc in is right around $100/night.
C. Car rentals:In a previous post I explained how we ended up getting our car, cheap.
D.Food:Food on the island can be pretty pricey. To combat this we will:
A) carefully menu plan, so to be able to sit down to an already made meal, when we get home from the beach!(and so we aren't tempted to eat fast food).
B)We will plan our meals out and use coupons from our Hawaii entertainment book(right now they are $19.99US no shipping).and the coupons from the free papers This Week Oahu(Hotel lobbies, ABC stores), The Best of Oahu, 101 things to do on Oahu,can all be found in The Midweek or Oahu Gold free newspapers.
C)We are told that convienence snack type foods are very pricey and as crazy as it may sound we are going to use some of our checked baggage (2 bags 50lbs each)to pack boxes of food stuffs.Things that we know will cost us lots there and since we can get them cheaply here, why not?(To see what you can and can't bring go to www.catsa-acsta.gc.ca/english/ )
D)I will prepackage some mixes that I know we will want to make.
E)Entertainment:We are planning on doing a few touristy attractions,they will be field trips for us(our learning program pays for it). Mostly we will explore the island as that is the kind of family we are. We have spent lots of time on google earth(which is amazing!)and we plan on having it on the laptop so we can see where we want to go next. Laying on the beach, thankfully, is FREE!!!(We plan on having a cooler in our trunk with all our lunches and snacks prepacked!)Again our Hawaii entertainment book will come in handy for eating out.
F)Gas:We are told that Costco is the best price for gas. We plan on bringing and using our gps to save us from being lost!and wasting gas!
G)Wireless:There are many WiFi free spots. www.wififreespot.com
Any comments, suggestions???

This Week's Sales

December typically means high prices for groceries. I try to "freezer eat" during this month as much as possible.

Cooper's Dec 6-12

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts $2.50lb(4Kg box for $22.50)This is absolutely the lowest it ever goes!!!!The freezer handbook I have says it will keep 4-6 months)

WF Frozen vegetables 2Kg $4

Save On 6-12

WF Flour 10Kg $5.99

Large Eggs $1.99 Limit 3

Kiwis 4/$1

Lemons 2/$1

Shoppers 5-18

Eggs Large $1.99 limit 2

Sun-Mon 7-8 only Life Mouthwash 1L $1.49

Superstore

No Tax Sale Dec 10-11

Lean Hamburger $1.68lb

Mandarin Oranges 9lb $4.98

Chocolate Wafers .46/100g

Eng Cuc .97

Russet Potatoes 20lb $3.99

Yams .68/lb

Midweek Sales

Thanks Rob for the great sunset picture!

Some midweek updates on sales.

Are you travelling this winter? Entertainment books are on sale for Canada and the US. Starting at $25USD plus free shipping. I checked out the coupons for the book I am thinking of getting. It could save us some dollars!

www.entertainment.com/discount/local_editions/shtml

Need veggies?

Quality Greens Dec2 -7

Avocados 3/.99 Is this a typo??? I am wondering if they are super teeny? I'll check it out! Homemade guacamole here I come!!!

Baby Mandarin Oranges 2lb .99

Okanagan Gala Apples 5lb bag 2/$5

Old Town Farm Market Dec 3-8

English cucumbers .99

Pineapples $2.50

Mangoes .79

Bananas .59

Onions 3lb .99

Cooper's

20lb Potatoes $3.99

This Week's Sales

Great picture dad!

This Week the stamps ARE on sale!!! Shopper's has 10% off a book of 10, limit 2.

Shopper's has the Sun, Mon sales again.

Royale TP 24 rolls is $4.99 limit 4

Kotex Pads 14-24 $1.99 limit 4

Superstore/Extra Foods

NN Cheese 907g $7.98

Sour Cream 1L $2.98

Parkay Marg 1.36Kg $2.99 limit 3

Extra Virgin Olive Oil 3L $14.49

Large Cantaloupe $1.96

Carrots 5lb $1.66

Marketplace IGA

Fresh Bread .99

Happy Shopping!

Seat Sale!

Here's the latest deal I pulled off of
http://www.travelzoo.ca


WestJet is selling-off flights to U.S., Canadian and sun destinations at up to 65% OFF their regular prices. Flights start from $8 (each way, plus tax) on travel through Dec. 20. This sale ends Nov. 26, we suggest you hurry up to book because fares like these sell-out quickly. Here are a few of the routes on sale (each way, plus tax): Toronto - Atlantic City ... $8 Edmonton - Palm Springs … $49 Quebec City - Toronto … $49 Toronto - Freeport ... $59 St-John’s - Halifax … $59 Winnipeg - Las Vegas … $79 Calgary - Nassau … $119 Victoria - Honolulu … $139 (Saturdays) Note: You may need to be flexible with your dates as offers like this sell-out quickly. The best fares tend to be available Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for travel to U.S. & Canadian destinations. Taxes range from approx. $50-$60 each way.

Air Canada is also having a sale.

Happy Travelling!

Free Stuff!

Here are a bunch of freebies I pulled from www.redflagdeals.com !!! Pass them on to someone who can use them!

FREE SKATING!
Hey Vancouver, lace up your skates, the ice rink at Robson Square is open again! It is now called the GE Plaza at Robson Square, to reflect the financial support from General Electric required to get the rink up and running for the first time in almost ten years. The expanded rink at GE Plaza will serve as a centerpiece for activities during the 2010 Winter Olympics, but until then you can take advantage of free skating every day from 9AM to 9PM. Between 9AM-12PM the rink may be host to special group bookings, so you might want to wait until noon to hit the ice if you need a lot of room to skate with your little ones or perfect your triple axle. There is a $3 charge to rent skates if you need them, but children under 12 can rent for free. In addition to the free ice skating, there will also be free concerts held at GE Plaza, so visit often and have fun!
FREE GLASSES!
Originally Posted November 11: ClearlyContacts.ca are giving away eyeglasses again! This time around lucky Victoria and Saanich, BC residents will have the opportunity to claim one of 500 pairs of free designer eyeglasses on November 24. In order to take advantage of this great freebie, all you have to do is enter your email address and name here. Then, on November 24, the first 500 people that responded will be sent an exclusive email with details on how to collect their free glasses. The free offer includes frame, standard 1.5 index lenses, A/R, UV, and scratch-resistant coating. Limit of one free pair per household. Shipping and handling charges are all you pay, so sign up now!
FREE PICTURES!
Costco.ca Members can get Four Free 8x10 Prints with coupon code CWFE1123. This freebie has excellent timing, as 8x10 prints make excellent gifts for grandparents and other doting family members! (If you don't have a Costco.ca Photo Centre account, now is a great time to sign up for one -- they're offering 25 Free Prints when you open a new account.) The offer expires December 6, 2009.
FREE PROGRAM!
Microsoft has opened up access to the beta of the latest version of Microsoft Office. Right now, you can download Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 in its entirety (beta version) for free. You'll have access to the whole Office suite:
Word
OneNote
InfoPath
PowerPoint
Acess
SharePoint Workspace
Outlook
Publisher
Communicator
Excel The download itself is a little bit under 700MB. We haven't seen a specific date for when this free beta license will expire, but Microsoft betas of this sort tend to last about a year.

This Week's Sales

I love this picture! Thanks again Kerry!

This week at Shoppers Drug Mart

The stamps don't seem to be on sale! They are giving away 20 with a $50 purchase on Seniors day Nov 26. Seniors get 20% off this day.

Saturday Nov 21 is 20X the points day at Shopper's. This is great if you find the things you need at the best price at Shoppers and you have $50 worth of stuff to buy. They have conveniently made it so that all the great deals are only good Sunday and Monday, so they don't apply! Argh! The only thing that I found that is a great deal all week is the Armstrong Cheese 340g for $2.99

Sunday and Monday only deals

Everyday Market Sugar 2kg 3/$4(this would cost $6.60for a 10Kg bag at this price!)limit 3

Life Brand Paper Towels 8rolls $1.99 limit 4

Life Brand Mouthwash 1L $1.88 limit 4

Windshield Washer Fluid(-35YIKES) 3.78L $1.49 limit 4

Dole Orange Juice 12 can case 2/$7

Superstore /Extra Foods

Frozen Young Utility Grade Turkeys .96/lb(I saw turkeys(grade A)at Safeway(in the online flyer)in Hawaii for .25/lb!!!! This never happens, not while I have been watching anyways!

Grapes $1.38/lb(I think we are finally at the stage where we could eat grapes again!)

Pomegranates 2/$.98

Eggplant of Zucchini .88/lb

Thurs and Fri Nov 26,27 is NO TAX day...might be a good day to get those presents??

Cooper's 22-28

WF Canned Beans or Kidney Beans 2/$1

Old Town Farm Market 18-23

Texas Grapefruit 5/$1.99

Mangoes .79

Mac Apples Okanagan .59/lb

Radishes or green onions 2/$.98

Quality Greens 18-23

English Cucumbers

2/$1

Want a free calendar or 2? One that might help you save money? Go to www.redflagdeals.com it is on the front page item 1312

Happy Shopping!

Saving on Vacation Expenses

We having been planning and saving(Dave Ramsey says don't let your vacation follow you home!) towards a warm winter getaway! For 2 years we have socked away our pennies and looked for ways to do a destination holiday inexpensively! I am excited to share some of what we have found! The first thing is car rentals. Part of the way we are saving on our accommodations is that we are not in the hub of things(which our family doesn't enjoy anyways)but which means we need a car. The bus system in Hawaii is supposedly quite good and reliable and inexpensive, so it is a good choice also. For us we are planning on exploring lots and because we are a fair size family, we feel a car would be good. So, on to the story. Back in September when I booked our flights(I will blog about this in another post) I started looking for car rentals. At that time it looked like $700 was cheap for our 3 week stay! I decided there was no panic in getting a reservation, so I checked the rental companies periodically. I stumbled upon a website called www.carrentals.com which is a search engine of all the major car rental companies. I signed up to get their email alerts about their sales. At the end of October I got an email from them saying there was a sale. I put in our dates and it came up with $506.62! I booked(the nice thing about this site is you DO NOT have to provide a credit card!)it. 2 weeks later I got another email about another sale, again I checked it and now it was $469.01! But, to top that off, I had entertainment coupons for this car company. There isn't a spot to enter coupons, so I called them and they applied it, bringing my total down to $400.95!!! But wait there's more! A week later they emailed another sale and with coupons applied(thanks again HJ!)my grand total is now $325.18!!!

What kind of time are we talking for this almost $200 savings?? I checked the site a total of 3 times and I called 2 times! Maybe 15minutes???Worth it? I think so!!

Now a note about insurance, the insurance the car rental company offers you is extremely expensive! There are several options: 1. Check with your car insurance(in BC we are covered if we have Road Star, thanks Heather for the tip!)2. Several credit cards offer rental insurance as a bonus, check your policy carefully.

Happy Travelling!

More Sales this week

Kerry your pictures are so fun!

VV Boutique(Value Village) is having their 50% off sale tomorrow, Nov 16th.

Springfield Bulk Foods Store has melting chocolate for .49/100g. I can't wait to get started making chocolates. They also have graham cracker crumbs for .35/100g. This sale runs from Nov 16-21.

London Drugs 17-22

Ajax 400g 2/$1

Cortina Extra Virgin Olive Oil 1L 2/$9.99(or 750ml Grape seed Oil) No rain checks so that probably means you need to get there Tuesday.

This Week's Sales

This Week's Sales

Cooper's Nov 15-21

Frozen Grade A Chicken $1/lb!!!!
Kiwi 4/$1
WF Flour 10Kg $6.99(lowest $5.98)

Superstore

Bagels 3/.99
Pineapples $1.97(Extra Foods also)
Chocolate Wafers .46(lowest .36)(EF also)
NN Graham Wafer Crumbs 1kg $3.48(EF)
Oil 3L $4.98
Parkay Marg 1.36kg $2.99(lowest $2.28)(EF)
20lbs russet potatoes $3.88(EF)
6lb Granny, Gala, Pears $3.98(EF)

Extra Foods Ham Picnic pork shoulder .97/lb(don't know if this is on at Superstore)

Walmart Nov 13-19

Onions and carrots 3lbs $1
Kraft Peanut Butter 2Kg $4.97
Fruitopia or Five Alive 1.89L 2/$3

As Christmas approaches grocery prices rise. Typically it's best to stock up on sale items and buy as little as possible come December!
Happy Shopping!!!!!

Fruit,vegetables and stamps

Fruits and Vegetables

In town we have access to some really great fruit and vegetable stores. Lots of our produce is bought locally. This week at The Old Town Market(Nov11-16)

Mangoes are.79

Yams .59/lb

Pineapples $2.99

Cucumbers (English).79

Sign up to have their weekly sales emailed to you www.oldtownfarmmarket.com See bottom of the page.

Quality Greens Nov 11-16

Spartan or Delicious Apples .49/lb

Tomatoes(Osoyoos).99/lb

Organic Gala Apples 3lb $1.99

10lbs Carrots $3.99

Sign up for their email at www.qualitygreens.com

A quick note for Christmas card writers. Stamps regularly go on sale(10% off) in November, usually the 3rd or 4th week, at Shoppers. I will post it as soon as I see it. If you can hold off mailing until then, it will save you a little.

Thanks again Kerry for another great picture!

Photos,chicken and flights

Great picture Kerry!

Do you need photos to put into your Christmas cards? Why not head over to www.walmart.ca and get 50 free photos. At the checkout enter code 50MOM . Also, on a separate order you can get a free 8X10 if you buy one. Enter code 8x10BOGO .

IGA has back attached, skin on Chicken breasts for $1.99/lb Tues,Wed,Thurs.

Also, www.westjet.com has $49 seats in Canada again. Must book by Nov 16 and travel by Dec 17th.

Plus at www.westjet.com book by today(Nov 10th) and fly by Dec 18th for flights as low as $29. One of the advertised deals is Winnipeg to Mazatlan for $49 one way! Thanks to Blaine for bringing this sale to my attention!

Christmas Light Recycle

Home Depot is encouraging you to recycle your old Christmas lights and get a 50% off coupon. This deal is good for Nov 7 and 8 only. I took in some ancient outdoor lights(a neighbor gave them to us years ago, thanks Mr.Mike!). I had 2 strands so they gave me 2 coupons good for 5 new strands at 50% off.

The 100 light strand is $23.99 - 50%.

The 35 light strand is $8.99 - 50% off. There also is a roll with 250 lights for $49.99-50%off. I checked the BC hydro rebate and could not find the US or Canadian patents they need for their $3 rebate. If anyone has clues for me....

Happy light shopping.

Ways to save on Christmas and This Week's Sales

WOW!!! Know anyone who lives in Ottawa who wants to go to Jamaica??? $49 one way ends tonight at midnight, fly by Dec 17th www.westjet.com

Christmas is fast approaching....49days???? As you start to look at your list, here's some ideas to help you save.

Coupons

Chapters has 25% off on one item for the month of November(see my blog entry for

Michael's has coupons in this week's flyers for 50%off one item Nov 7-11 and 40% off Nov 12-13

On Nov 8 50% off all yarn

Home Outfitters has a 20% off coupon this week in their flyer, it's good Nov 6-12th.

Walmart has buy one get one free 8X10 prints.

Save on your Christmas lights by visiting the BC hydro website to see which ones qualify you for a $3 rebate!

Shoppers Drug Mart Orchard Park Grand Opening Saturday Nov 7th

Dairyland Milk 4L $3.29!!!limit 2

Delissio Pizzas 840g-927g $4.99

Campbell's Chunky soups 434g-540g 2/$3

Everyday Market Cheese 540g $4.99

Canadian Tire

Purex 24 rolls $3.47!!! limit 4 no rain checks

Save On

WF Chicken Wings 908g $6.99

WF Chicken Fettuccine 255g .99

Kiwi 4/$1

Red Potatoes 10lb $2.99

WF canned mushrooms 284ml 2/$1

WF Yogurt 175g 3/$1

VP Frozen Dessert(Ice cream??)4L $4

Superstore

Coconut milk 398ml 2/$1.38

Fortune 8kg Rice $8.98 limit 4

Bok Choy .48/lb

Green Onions 3/$1

Sweet Chili Sauce 800g $1.98

Pomegranates 2/.98

Extra Foods has Frozen Pork half Loin for $1.68/lb

Shoppers Drug Mart

Dempsters Tortillas $1.99 for 10

Country Harvest Breads 2/$5

Make your own curtain rods

Curtain rods seem to be quite expensive, and not well made! My husband(he's a genius!)came up with this idea, when we needed curtains in our home. This works well with the curtains that have the tabs.

First, we bought 3 1/2" Hitch rings, you can buy them at Canadian Tire in the Hardware section.Please note that the actual ring itself is 2 1/2" diameter.

Next, we bought a dowel at Home Depot that was 1 1/4" in diameter. For our window we needed to buy 6 and 3/4 ft.Remember to allow a little overhang.

The hitch rings are screwed into a hole that was pre drilled in the window header. Then the dowel hangs in the hitch ring!

Total cost...Hitch rings $1.99 each Dowel $1.66/ft

(Curtains were bought at a Buy one get one free sale at Home Outfitters. The curtain backs were in the clearance section.)

Flight Sale and Save On Update...

West Jet is having a seat sale across Canada! There are $49 seats until Dec 17(must fly by date) book by Nov 6. www.westjet.com

I went in to Save On yesterday to get the $2/lb Roast...The butcher told me they sold out by Sunday evening! Our store will get more on Wed and Fri!

Also, I picked up the regular ground beef at Cooper's yesterday($1?lb)I made some meatballs last night and was surprised that there was next to zero fat!!! I am going to go ahead and make hamburgers with it!

This Week's Sales

Canadian Tire Oct 31 only

Scottie facial Tissues 136sheets .50

limit 6

Save On Nov 1-7

Lean ground Beef 5lb Tube $1.49/lb

Eye of Round Roast Super warehouse Pack $2/lb!!!!(I have never seen it go this low???$2.98/lb is the cheapest I have ever tracked)

Cooper's

Regular Ground Beef $1/lb(5lb tube)

So this brings up the question, which is cheaper lean or regular ground beef???

I found this calculation on www.stretcher.com

Canada has guidelines for the amount of fat allowed under each heading

Regular 30%

Medium 23%

Lean 17%

Extra Lean 10%

To see a great article on why regular ground beef could be better for you than the leaner varieties go to www.practiallyedible.com/edible.nsf/pages/groundbeef

The calculation is the cost of the meat X 100 then divide by the percentage of fat. So for our on sale regular ground beef it would be $1.00 X 100 =100/30=$3.3333

The lean would be $1.49X100=149/17 =$8.76

So as you can see the regular is cheaper.....All that being said, I still will buy lean or extra lean to make homemade hamburgers as the burn factor wastes money too!

Salmon Fillets WF 454g $3.99

Green Onions 2/$1

Kiwi 3/$.99

Romaine .99

Superstore

Large Cantaloupe $1.46

Asparagus $1.88/lb

Onions 10lb $3.28(you can cut them up and freeze them in Ziploc to use later

Fresh Grape Tomatoes 340g $1.98

3 count bag of Romaine $1.46

Ziggy's Extra Lean Turkey Breast .98/100g

Extra Foods has the coupons for Mon and Tues only. Save 15%off $100, 12% of $50, and 10% of $25 They have pretty much the same sale flyer

Shopper's

Sun and Mon only...Colgate Toothbrushes .88 each limit 4

Happy Shopping!!!

This Week's Sales

Roses from the 50% off flowers at Extra Foods!

This week at Cooper's they have chicken legs for $1/lb(last week when they had the whole chickens they limited them in the store, 4 per customer)

IGA (Tues,Wed,Thurs only)

Stewing beef $2.69/lb
Romaine lettuce is .69
Cabbage .39/lb

Superstore

NN batteries AA 40 for $10(.25/battery)
Large Pumpkins $1.97
MW Kraft Dressing 1.5L $3.98
NN Chub of Pepperoni, Salami or Summer Sausage 1Kg $3.98
Celery .77
Feta Cheese 1Kg $11.99(less.75 in store coupon)

Walmart

20 pack of socks $9.88


Nesters Market(wish I lived closer for their daily sales!!!)

Every Sunday 3lb bag of Spartan Apples .87!!!
Monday Black Forest Ham .97/100g
Tuesday Campfire Bacon $1.97
Thursday garlic bread .97
Saturday Chicken legs .87/lb!!!
Pumpkins free with purchase!
Happy Shopping!

Chapters

Again, thanks Kerry for the great photos!



25 % Off one item at Chapters! www.chapters.indigio.ca/Email-Promotion/EmailPromoLP-prs.html Just give them your email address(or addresses if you need more than one coupon)


Must provide email by Oct 31 Coupon is good Nov 1-30. Happy book buying!

This Week's Sales

Thanks Kerry for the wonderful pictures!! This was taken from the Mission Hill Winery over Thanksgiving.

IGA right now has BC potatoes 15lbs for $2.99!!!! Thanks Jo-Ellen for letting me know!

Superstore starting 17th of Oct

Lean Ground Beef $1.68/lb
Neilson's Yogurt 3/$1
NN Salad dressings 475ml $1.50
Secret Deodorant $1
Bagels .33
Celery .76
Romaine .78
Kiwi 1Kg $2.98
Dole salad kits and baby blends 142g-361g $1.99
Hot House Tomatoes .76/lb
Fresh Suey Choy .48/lb
Limes 3/$1
Radishes or Green Onions 3/$1
NN Soups(Tom,Chicken Noodle,Cream of Mush,Veg)3/$1!!!


Coopers starting Oct 18

Grade A Frozen Frying Chicken $1/lb!!!!

Save On starting Oct 18

WF Yogurt 3/.99
Stewing Beef $2.99/lb
Plantation Rice 8Kg $8.99

Costco online photo center has 25 free 4x6s for signing up for an online account.

Today Only Sales

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!!

A quick post to let you know there are some screaming deals today at Shoppers.
Life Brand TP 24 rolls $4.99 limit 4
Christie cookies and crackers $1.49 limit 4
Everyday Market Sugar 2kg $.99 limit 4 !!!!!
Maxwell House Coffee 925g $4.69 limit 4
Everyday Market Tuna 170g .49 limit 4
Large White Eggs $1.59 limit 2
Life Brand Mouthwash 1L $1.77 limit 4
Everyday Market Cheese 540g $4.99(all week sale)
Breyers Ice cream 1.66L-1.89L $3.99(all week sale)

Plus Saturday only at Shoppers, when you spend $50 you get 20X the points, which equals more free stuff later!!!

Flight Sale!!!

There is an amazing flight sale with WestJet right now. You must book by
Oct 8. $49 tickets to quite a few destinations.
Happy Flying!!

September 27th Free Admission day

For some reason I am unable to copy and paste things into blogger???


To see all the free places in Edmonton this week just follow this link www.redflagdeals.com/deals/main.php/alldeals/#e42896

This Week's Sales

This Week at Safeway

Bnls Sknls Chicken Breasts $2.99/lb Limit2

Pineapples $3.99

Purex TP 30 roll(or 15 doubles)$6.99 Limit 4

Sign up for Safeway's email and get 100 airmiles www.safeway.ca/emaildirect

This week the coupon they sent me was 4L of Lucerne Ice cream for $2.99!

This week at Superstore

Fortune Rice 8kg for $8.98

Seafood Medley $2.88

NN Perogies 1Kg $1.68

NN OJ Frozen .88

McIntosh apples .56/lb

NN Cheese 907g $7.23 limit 2

Roses $1 each

Deodorants $1.49

Cooper's

Pineapple $3.99

WF salmon fillets 454g $3.99

Pork Sirloin Chops $1.99/lb

Zellers

Ragu 700ml .99

Happy Shopping!

Harvest time!

This time of year means lots!! Lots of fruit in our neck of the woods! Since moving to the Okanaganthere was a lack of crab apples! In Alberta my neighbors had a tree and loved when we'd help them out by picking them. My aunt taught me to make wonderful, sugar free crab apple sauce! Well, it turns out my mother-in-law has these same beautiful red crab apples! I made sauce and then hubby said..what about fruit leather. So here's the finished product..isn't it pretty?! Good thing I took a picture as it's disappearing fast!

The cost? The dehydrator was bought used at a garage sale and the apples were free, so the electricity to cook the apples into sauce and the electricity to dry the sauce would be the total cost! Thanks mom and dad!

Free Flowers for Good Neighbor Day!

Here's a fun freebie I stumbled upon on http://www.redflagdeals.com/ . In Ontario and BC selected FTD florists are giving away free flowers! On Wednesday Sept 9th The Vernon Flower Shop will be giving away free flowers! To see all the locations participating go to www.redflagdeals.com/deals/main.php/#e42506 Happy Good Neighbor Day!

Order

Today we drove past a garage sale, must I even say we stopped?? Of course we did! I found this wonderful solid wood cupboard for $5!!!! Since moving to this house I have not found my cupboards to be ideal for my baking center.(Everything I need to bake is all together.)

I got the idea for a baking center when I read Confessions of an Organized Homemaker. In the drawers are measuring cups, salt, baking soda, baking powder, paper muffin cups, and measuring spoons.

Order is so motivating! With everything in it's place and handy I might just make the kids some cookies!

Today at the grocery store a lady told me she heard on the radio that sugar prices will rise drastically. Right now at Superstore the little 2Kg bag is $1.49(limit 1)My kids and I each bought one!

ING Children's Saving Account Bonus

Thanks Dayna for pointing me to this great deal for the kids!

Sign up for a Children's Savings Account before Sept 30,2009, with a minimum of $100 and receive $25!

Requirements are:

1.You must have a savings/investment account with ING(I opened a TFSA this afternoon with the telephone banker in 5 mins)

2.You'll need you kid's SIN and birth certificate.

No Fees No Service charges No Minimum Balance

www.ingdirect.ca My kids are happy!!!

This Week's Sales

Our grapes are almost ready!! Anyone have great grape recipes???

Cooper's Foods

Highliner Frozen Salmon 1lb $3.99!!

Superstore

NN Cheeses 907g $7.98
Bryer's Ice cream $2.97(limit 2)
Grapes .96/lb
NN Farmer's Sausage $2.99/lb(lowest price tracked $2.72/lb)
Dole Juices 1L .99
NN Vinegar 4L $2.28
Kiwi 1Kg bag $1.98
Broccoli Bunch .98
Romaine Lettuce .58 On the Vine Tomatoes .86

I was looking on www.redflagdeals.com and noticing there were lots of deals! Too many to mention here. Check out the restaurant coupons if you are planning a family outing.

Life Insurance Update

An update on the post I did about life insurance....
We received our approval today(we had to have a health exam before we were approved).
Hubby got preferred status and I got preferred plus!! Maybe because of my family background, I'm a woman and I recently released 19lbs???
Instead of the $593 he quoted us, the life insurance company lowered our rate to $508!!! We are now paying less than we paid for half the insurance!!!Now that's happy! Need a life insurance quote??Email me and I'll put you in touch with the guy we used.

Another 8X10 and a Quiznos Sub

A couple of Freebies for you!

If you like free things and photos (or any combination of the above) you'll love this free 8x10 Enlargement from Blacks Photo (PDF). They'll take your picture or digital file and turn it into an 8x10.... for free! Offer is valid for in-store pick-up only (but you can order the print online), now through August 16, and the coupon must be presented at time of purchase. Limit of one per customer.

Free Quiznos sub with purchase of a coke product http://p.p0.com/YesConnect/HtmlMessagePreview?a=IB4kvet3uRqAI37tqmkfpuD6&msgVersion=web

An update on my faucet part for WR. AMAZING!!! The part came today Priority Post! My sink is fixed! What a stand up company!

Free Replacement Parts!

Last year we bought a kitchen faucet from Costco. It's one of those with the long head that you can pull out to spray around the sink. Well, last week it started doing some sporadic spraying! Hubby took it apart and found out it was a check valve! I found the original manual(I know this seems like a miracle in itself, but years ago I was told to file them alphabetically and I actually did!)
I called the 1-866 number today and they said they would send out the part right away!! No payment was ever discussed! The company is WR and the phone number is 1-866-789-2273(care).They are in Montreal. I didn't need my receipt or anything! Just what part was broken for what model #!!!!That's happy!

Free 8X10s

This is a picture of the smoke from the Terrace mountain fires.

4 free 8X10s for costco members.

Go to http://www.costco.ca/ use promotional code CWRPA72A .

Valid until Aug 9,2009.

Flight Sale!!!

Flights sales today only! Major Canadian airlines offer sales between Saskatchewan AB and BC. Only good if booked July 14th.

This is Westjet

Edmonton-Vancouver $59

-Abbotsford $59

- Victoria $69

-Saskatoon $49

-Regina $59

Calgary -Vancouver $59

-Abbotsford $59

-Saskatoon $49

-Regina $59

Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal $9

Montreal-Toronto $9

Ottawa-Toronto $9

Happy Flying!!!

Life Insurance

This was the sky last night!! Isn't it incredible!!!

As you read in an earlier post, I had recently increased our term life insurance. We were not fully covered for what we thought was best and I knew we needed more. Well, I shopped around for the very best deal and ended up staying with the company I was already with. For a total of $200,000 coverage each we are paying $531.48/year.This was enough to pay our debts and nothing else, no recovery time for the left behind spouse. Anyways, long story short, we had someone in to give us a financial plan and one of the things he did was shop for life insurance. He found us 10year renewable convertible term life insurance for a total coverage of $800,00($300,000 on me and $500,00 on hubby)for $593/year!!!! Why the big savings?

Check your policy to see that you and your spouse are on the same policy(it costs more to write 2 policies, but the agent gets paid more).

Second, there are bands of insurance so that when you reach a certain higher amount it costs less????

It gives us lots of peace of mind to know we are covered properly in the event of something awful happening! We look forward to being totally debt free and our kids being self sufficient and then we will no longer carry this insurance.

Dave Ramsey says you'll never think twice about having life insurance after you've sat with someone who has lost their spouse and did not have any insurance.

Free Shampoo

Free Shampoo!

Just go to save.ca and order one free Herbal Essence Coupon. A few days later you'll receive your coupon in the mail! Happy Free Hair Washing!

This Week's Sales and Red Flag Deals

Some things I found on Red Flag Deals!

Free pedometer for first 10,000 registrants for Get Fit for Space.

Go to www.redflagdeals.com

Free National Post for 3 months with a sign up for Dale Carnegie e-newsletter

June 30 Canada T-shirts $1 at Old Navy

Free gift from Coach stores. Logo Pencils and gift case!

Just a few quick eye catchers for groceries....Superstore has bagels 3/.99 assorted Corn on the cob is 6/$2.28

Safeway has boneless skinless chicken breasts for $2.99/lb 4kg box limit 2

Happy Shopping

To Drive or not to Drive

I just read a very interesting book. It's called How to Live Well Without Owning a Car. The author, Chris Balish does a good job of covering all the pros and cons. The amazing thing to me was the real cost of owning a car(or in our society, should I say cars?). He figures on average a person spends $700-$800 a month to keep a car on the road. I decided to figure out our cost and was shocked. In 2008,our car insurance was $1129 ,our total spent on gas was $3049.71(I use gasbuddy so I could quickly look it up). Our car repairs were roughly $1200. Oil changes and the like $300. This is a total of $5668.71! It is less than his figure because we don't make payments, but it's still $472.39/month! The total for the year is a nice hot weather vacation!

Is it possible to live without a car?

I remember years ago when we went from 2 vehicles to one. It was really hard at first, but the savings were astronomical as we had high insurance at the time. I found I could easily walk and bike to most places and use the vehicle in the evening if need be. Two car homes are considered a necessity.....but are they? Is one car a necessity? Something to ponder....

Flight Sale!!!

Yes!! There is a flight sale right now at www.westjet.com . $39 and $49 tickets! I am not sure of all the destinations, but I know Edmonton and Kelowna have those deals. It seems to run until the end of June. Probably need to book quickly!! Happy Flying! Sue

Seat Sale????

I got this email from West Jet today.

Now here’s a reason to stay up late – or get up early – the WestJet Midnight Markdown.
Between midnight and 6 a.m. (MT) on June 2, 3, 4 and 5, 2009, make sure to check westjet.com because select routes will be marked down to blowout prices. We’re talking under $100 one-way folks, for travel until June 30, 2009, so if you were thinking of travelling this month this is the deal for you!
Visit westjet.com for more details.

I am going to check it out...but midnight is a little past my bedtime...set an alarm?? REMEMBER BC residents we only have to stay up until 11pm!(thanks Lynn!)

Happy Flying!! Sue

New Garbage,Recycle and Yard Waste Bins

If you live in Kelowna, you may have received, or are receiving or new waste disposal bins. We got ours Tuesday morning. Something I learned is you can request a larger recycle bin for free. To request yours go to http://www.kelowna.ca/ click on your right Recycling & Waste Pickup scroll down to Cart Change-out Request Form. Print and fill out that form and send it in. Happy recycling!!! Sue

This Week's Sales

The trees in bloom absolutely blow my mind!

This weekend at Shopper's Drug Mart

for May 16-18th only

Dempster's Hot dog and Hamburger Buns are $1.49 Limit 4

Dempster's bread $1.79 Limit 4

Del Monte Apple Juice(other drinks also)10x200ml $1.77 Limit 4

Dole Orange Juice( and other drinks)12 cans $3.50 limit 4

Sugar 2kg $1.49 Limit 4(good price not lowest)

All week at Shopper's

Life Brand Tuna 170g .59

Bio Life TP 12 double rolls $4.49 limit 4

Cooper's

Boneless, skinless, frozen chicken breasts $2.99/lb

Old Town Market

2/$5 Pineapples

Spartan Apples .69/lb

Zucchini .59/lb

Mushroom $1.99/lb

Quality Greens

Lemons 4/$1

Mushrooms $1.99/lb

Check on www.redflagdeals.com for freebies for moms of young children.

Happy Shopping!! Sue

This Week's Sales

This flower smells fantastic!!

This week at Shopper's for Sunday Monday only you can pick up Colgate toothbrushes for .88(limit 4)

Dove antiperspirant is $1.88(limit 4) for the 45g. Royale Toilet Paper a 24 roll is $4.97(limit 4). Select chocolate bars are 2/.99(limit 8) and Sun chips and ruffles are 3/$4(240-275g size)Limit 3

The rest of the week Shoppers has Ragu spaghetti sauce for .99 for the 796ml.

Zellers has Ital Pasta tomatoes(canned)796ml for 4/$3 must buy in multiples of 4.

Happy Shopping!

$49 Flight Sale

Today only!Westjet sale from Edmonton to Kelowna $49 travel on Mon-Wed and Sat. Must be booked today and must travel before June 30th.Check other destinations, it might also apply.

Happy Flying!Sue