Flight Sales!!!

This picture was taken on the road from Radium. My husband was fascinated with it on the way to Radium and made sure we stopped on the way back to take this picture! Turns out we have almost the exact painting!!!

This week I was researching for a hot weather destination trip we hope to take in the future. In the past we have rented Rick Steve's DVDs from the library. They are great and very informative. I was wondering if he had anything about Hawaii and stumbled upon his podcast!(It's free on itunes, just search Rick Steve's in the store)Well, if you are an itunes user you know that it will give you suggestions for other podcasts you might like. On there I found Frommer's travel guide(also free) podcast. I searched through the episode guide and found one on air flight deals!! There's this fantastic website called http://www.airfarewatchdog.com/ where they will email you the best deals to destinations you wish to travel. I entered 3, but you can probably enter more. On their site they feature the top 50 deals, which they have researched, as well as the deal of the day! Some are almost free! (Mostly USA)I am looking forward to following this! I am curious to see if I will get a WestJet birthday sale email on Saturday from them. Another website to try is www.travelzoo.com they will send you a weekly top 20 if you sign up. For vacation packages go to www.selloffvacations.com www.canadatravels.com www.traveltst.ca www.escapes.ca www.travelocity.ca Do you have special ways you search for savings on travel? Leave a comment. Happy Flying!!

Life Insurance/ WestJet's Birthday

Recently the subject of life insurance came up and so I thought I'd blog about it. Why have life insurance? Ideally life insurance is to cover the debts you owe so that when you die your loved ones aren't left with a pile of bills to pay. Opinions vary on how much you should carry and for how long. We carry term, as it is the best value for the money. We have enough to pay out our property and pay for a funeral and a small amount of living expenses. We do not carry mortgage insurance as it is very costly compared to term insurance. Prices vary GREATLY! I was surprised to learn this several years ago. To give you an idea in Canada, go to this website and plug in your postal code. http://www.kanetix.ca/term-life-insurance they will compare insurance rates for different companies.For me there was a difference of over $100 from the lowest to the highest prices! I am reminded that we will have to shop around again this year when our policy comes up for renewal! It seems every 5 years, or when you reach a new age bracket, it is best to shop around!

On another note WestJet is celebrating it's birthday on Sat, Feb 28th. Historically they have had a great sale, up to 80% off! A website/blog that specializes in travel and flights is http://www.flyforless.ca/ .

A deal I spotted at Costco!

This Week's Sales

I thought these were fun! The birds have been going nuts! It's almost like they are celebrating....It's spring!

Superstore has the boxes of boneless skinless chicken breasts for $2.88/lb. This is the lowest price for them and they cycle 5X a year. Safeway also has them on sale for $2.99/lb. I like having these on hand for lots of different recipes. One is buttered chicken which I learned to make watching the short instructional video on a site called http://www.videojug.com/tag/food-and-drink The videos are all easy, short and done by someone with a wonderful accent! I want to watch how to make China town stir fry!

Grapes are also on sale for .97/lb. NN Cheese is 907g for $7.98 Flour is 10 Kg for $5.98 limit 1. NN Sour cream is $2.98. Oranges are .56/lb Grapefruit is 5lbs for $2.68 Asparagus is $1.88/lb and radishes are 2/.98

I know some of you are from the east and so I thought I'd give you a heads up that Today is Free Pancake Day @ the Ontario IHOP Restaurant! see www.redflagdeals.com as well if you are from Toronto check out this deal Toronto Public Library Offers Free Admissions to AGO, Casa Loma & Many More Museums again go to RedFlagDeals.

To Cable or Not to Cable???

Yesterday I received an email from Shaw. They are offering basic cable for new subscribers for $9.95/month for 6 months. We do not have cable. The reasons are 1)We just can't justify the extra payment of $32.95 - $50.00/ month. Our monthly entertainment budget is $50/month. 2)We don't watch that much TV and don't really want to. But, having said that, when we were in AB we could get 3-4 channels on what we lovingly called "peasant vision"(rabbit ears). These were the channels that most shows aired on anyway. When we moved to BC, almost 2 years ago, we found this wasn't possible. Shaw offered this same deal as a moving in deal. So, for the first time in years we had cable. We didn't find that we watched that much as we were busy fixing our new home and yard. After 6 months we shut it down. Since then we have followed our favorite shows on the Internet. This can be trying and requires patience, but it's really only American Idol that we follow as a family. (The library is an excellent source for all sorts of entertainment.) So, we talked as a family, to cable or not to cable? We know it would be for 6 months only and that money would come out of our entertainment budget. Don't get me wrong, I don't think there is a problem with someone allotting monies for cable if it part of their family's plan. The thing to remember is that it's not a necessity and so we must think it through before going forward. Is it the best value for our entertainment dollar? Is there something else we'd rather do? Will we stick with our commitment to shut it down after 6 months? Maybe it seems silly to spend all this time deliberating about a total of $60, but the small stuff can end up making or breaking the spending plan. We can nickel and dime ourselves out of our goals.

This Week's Sales

Last night as Terry came home from work he saw this sunset!!!

Safeway has a few good deals this Wednesday through Saturday.

Best Buy Cheese is $7.49 for the 720-750g size.Limit 2(Be sure to play the cheese game. Find the largest weight you can. I got a 836g and a 860g, that means $7.49/860=8.70/kg!)

Lucerne Ice cream is 4L 2/$7 limit 2. Lucerne Butter is 2/$5 for the 454g. limit 4

Quality Greens has potatoes 10lbs 2/$3(product of BC)

Old Town Market has Red peppers at .99/lb, but you need to really pick through them as they aren't at their best! Large kiwis are 4/$1. English Cucumbers are .99

MTF has Ragu .99

Big White has a Pro-D Day deal this Friday. In Wednesdays Capital News there is a coupon for $10 off, page A4.

Pictures at Costco

We went to Radium this past week. Here's one of the many shots of the mountains. I attempted to get the blue waterfalls, but it's difficult while travelling in a moving vehicle!

This week at Costco Kraft Light and Regular peanut butter is on sale! Peanut butter has been very high so I stocked up. Our expiring date in our store was Aug for regular and Sept for light. 2kg for $4.49.

Also at Costco get your pictures developed inexpensively. These are the ads from redflagdeals.

Here's a nice freebie for Costco members: get 5 Free 5x7 Prints from the Costco.ca Photo Centre when you use promotional code CWMS1223.
Costco members only, deal expires February 28.

Costco: Up to100 4" x 6" prints in-store or online for 10 cents each. If you order online, you'll need to use promotion code CWWSA216 during the check out process to access the savings. You can choose from glossy or matte finish,and this offer is valid between February 16 and March 1, 2009.

Gas Savings

I had to really hurry to get this sunset picture last night!
This week in the Superstore flyer, there is the gas coupon. Just go to www.superstore.ca to print off your coupon. The coupon is for a discount on gas according to how much groceries you buy. So, first you buy your groceries and keep your receipt. Groceries must be purchased between Feb 7 and 13th. Then you have until Feb 18th to buy gas.
If you spend $100 you get 10 cents per liter off. $150, 15 cents and $200, 20 cents.

This makes me think of another way to save gas money. Just go to www.gasbuddy.com and you can find the best prices for gas in your province or state. I use their fuel logbook to track my gas mileage. All it takes is to keep your receipt when getting gas and writing your odometer on the top of it. When I get home I enter it into the logbook and I print it off at the end of the year to help me better budget. There is a great trip calculator available too. Just plug in where you are going from and to and it gives you a map as well as where to fill up with gas cheap!
Looking right now I can see that gas in Edmonton ranges from 78.4 to 85.9/L! Were you to buy 100 liters you could save $7.50 by going to a different station and an extra $10.00,$15 or $20 if you use the Superstore coupon, a potential savings of $17.50 -$27.50! In Calgary the range is 78.9 to 87.9 that's a 9cent difference and therefore $9 savings plus the coupon is another $10,$15,or $20 a potential $19 -$29!These small things help...a lot! Happy gas savings!!!

Skiing $5

This is a picture taken from the gondola up at Big White ski hill.

Skiing is an expensive sport, but there are ways to do even this inexpensively! At Big White they have $5 Friday nights. Here's the ad from their web site.

Big White: Join us for the best deal on the slopes. Purchase an evening ski pass for just five bucks! Plus, you can rent your equipment for just $10 bucks on Friday Nights! $5 Friday Night starts at 5pm and ends 8pm, and runs on the Plaza Chair, Bullet Express and TELUS Park Chair (weather permitting).

We took the kids for their first time! They really enjoyed it, and so did we.

Things I've Learned This Week

There were several things I learned this week. One was that when I bought my son's shoes, I thought buying them at Zellers meant they would be replaced if he wore them out before he grew out of them. Note to self: Read the fine print! I went back in with the holey ,worn out shoes and found the exact ones to replace them. I had carefully saved my original receipt, writing Rob's shoes on the top. At customer service I was informed that the guarantee only applied to the Durable brand....sigh.
Second, I thought a sale at one Walmart would be a sale at another, but I learned this wasn't true. This weekend we ventured over to the Westside to buy a used blind that we have been needing. My husband found it on www.castanet.net for $5!! The West side had opened a Super Walmart quite awhile ago, but we don't usually go to the Westside, so I had never been there. We decided to stop in. Long story short they had kid's boots on for $5! Nice ones! Ones for next year! I bought a pair and wound up being in Kelowna's Walmart a few days later. Turns out the same boots are on sale for $9 on this side of the bridge!!!
I also learned that Spa tabs(Spa Chem brand) are way!!! cheaper at Mara Lumber! There price is 800g for $13.49, while the exact same brand and size is $49.95!!! Now there's a savings!
Finally, I learned there are still some good deals out there. MTF had plain yogurt(which I use in buttered chicken)750g for $1.28. Old Town Market has tomatoes .59/lb and red peppers were .99/lb.

Free Glasses for Calgary!

This was on RedFlag deals today!


ClearlyContacts.ca: Free Glasses for Calgary—First 500 Orders Only Forum poster Yimma has pointed out that glasses at ClearlyContacts.ca are free today for people in Calgary! It looks like this includes all glasses, including brand names like Hugo Boss, Calvin Klein, Gucci, Fendi, Armani and dozens of others. Use coupon code CALGARY during the checkout process and you will only have to pay shipping on your order. The number of coupon redemptions is limited, so you'll need to be quick to get in on this crazy deal! This offer is for Calgary, and perhaps outlying areas only!