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