Future Shop is starting the Canada Day sale craze with a free 256MB USB. This USB drive usually costs $34.99 so I’m guessing that once the sale starts they’ll have some sort of instant discount as well as a mail in rebate which will bring down the price to $0!

Future Shop will also have online discounts on almost all of its products:
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT 8.0MP Digital Camera, 2GB 80X Memory card & Bag Package: $999.99 (save $435).
Sharp 37” Widescreen LCD HDTV: $1999.99 (save $500).

What?
Future Shop’s online Canada Day Sale

Where?
Web only (but you can probably order online and pickup from store)

When?
June 30th 8pm EST until July 2nd 11am EST.

Here is more info about Future Shop’s online Canada Day sale.

Buy 1 Xbox video game from the real Canadian Superstore and get the second for free. A pretty good deal, but would have been even better if they had included XBOX 360 games into the deal.

Print out and redeem this coupon at the Canadian Superstore to get this deal.

This deal expires on June 30th, 2006. Sorry for the late notice.

Taster’s Choice is offering a free sample of its coffee.

Get you free sample of Taster’s choice here.

This is H&M’s first warehouse sale. Save 70% off everything at H&M (Men’s, Women’s & Kids’ clothes).
All lingerie is reduced to $2
Prices of everything else will range from $2 to $24

Where?
35 Hedgedale Road
Brampton, Ontario, L6T 5B3

When?
Thursday, July 6th till Sunday, July 9th, 2006
Hours:
Thursday & Friday: Noon – 9:00pm
Saturday: 10:00am – 6:00pm
Sunday 10:00am – 5:00pm

Sign up to become a Costco member and receive a $10 Costco Cash Card.

Although many of my relatives are Costco members I’m by no means a Costcoholic. I find that Costco’s annual fees combined its Costco’s bulky products and boring shopping experience drive me away. I prefer grocery stores like Loblaws. For cheap grocery shopping I usually choose No Frills or Food Basics depending on the one with better flyer deals. However, Costco is not a bad choice for larger families. Hopefully some of you will find this Costco membership coupon useful.

More details about the $10 Costco membership cash card here.

You can also find Costco’s flyer (saving coupons) here.

Lesley (LKB) has posted loads (and I really mean loads) of freebies on SmartCanuck’s forum! I’m speechless! Thank you Lesley

I’m looking forward to receiving all of this free stuff! I just hope my mail box doesn’t get jammed

Check out the forum freebies section here. Forum posters would really appreciate it if  you leave a message in the forum too giving your feedback and sharing.

Within the next few days I’ll work on blending the forum with the blog by changing the forum’s header so that it looks like the blog’s. Thanks Canadian Mark for suggesting this idea.

Thilipan posted an awesome article on the secret behind New York Fries’ delicious taste in SmartCanucks.ca’s Forum. Thanks a bunch Thilipan

Thilipan earns 7 candies for posting a blog-worthy topic on SmartCanucks’ forum.

I just recently started to work at South St. Burgers. This is a fast food joint, and it’s owned by New York Fries. The burgers here are so delicious. Check out their website www.southstburger.com. The store sells New York Fries, and I actually learned a couple of their secrets on how to make good fries. By the way, there are only two of these stores in the World. They are starting to expand their chain (it’s owned by NY Fries).

One secret that makes New York Fries taste so good, is because the potatoes they use have sugar in them. When the potatoes are harvested, and when they are being processed, they are soaked in Sugar. So basically there is some sugar in New York Fries. Also another thing is that, NY fries, cooks its Fries in three different stages. First they cut the fries, and then they scoop a basketful, and place it in low temperature oil, until the skin starts to wrinkle. Then, after that step, they put it in another oil which is slightly higher in temperature and they take the fries out when the fries start to turn a little yellow. And then they hang it. So when people come to buy the fries, they fry it in a third oil, which has an even higher temperature than the previous two oils. And finally when the fries turns golden yellow its ready to serve.

If you have more questions concerning New York Fries then please do ask me.

Also please go to one of the two South St. Burgers that have opened so far. One is around Finch Station and the other is around Eglinton and Laird (these are in Toronto).

Also check this website if you’re in Search of the Perfect French Fry.

You can ask Thilipan more questions regarding New York Fries by either leaving a comment below or posting in the forum. I’d really appreciate it if you can join our friendly forum community and post there.

Did you know?
… that New York Fries is a popular Canadian fast food restaurant?
New York Fries was founded in Brantford, Ontario by two brothers who got the idea from an ad in New York City and hence the name of the company. Maybe it should have been called Ontario fries

Fragnance Solodia is claiming to be a Canada-based company about to break into the fragrance/perfume industry. I have no idea if this is a legitimate company who is really giving out free samples. Solodia’s website looks very clean and professional so I decided to give it a try and hopefully they’ll send out free samples.

Get your free samples from Fragnance Solodia here.

Canadian Mark posted this wonderful article on his blog as well as SmartCanucks’ forum. Thanks Mark!

You can visit Canadian Mark’s blog here for many interesting articles

Mark also earns 7 candies for posting a blog-worthy topic on SmartCanucks’ forum.

If you’ve been into (mostly) any major Canadian fast food establishment - or even greasy spoons for that matter, you’ll have discovered that a meal size plate of nearly anything goes for between $7 and $12 after tax.

Comparatively, a home-cooked meal worth the same amount will often provide 4 or 5 portions. What I’m suggesting here, is a good old fashioned recipe swap of frugal Canuckian cuisine - tried and true recipes from those college days, when Mr. Noodles was the main component of 90% of your recipe repertoire. You can mix up anything with those noodles, I swear.

I’m going for interestingly creative and fun here, but nonetheless practical - and certainly not limited to Mr. Noodles. Quick, cheap, inexpensive, obscure, yet gourmet recipes.

And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is what this thread is all about. I hope.

I’ll even go first:

Andre’s End of the Month Spicy Fiesta

Ingredients:

2 packages of instant oriental beef noodles
2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 White onion
1 - 3 of the hottest peppers your local grocer happens to sell. Ask if you’re unsure - I’ve never met a produce manager that didn’t love talking about food.
1 Package of fast-fry steak (thin cut)

You should be paying less than 5 dollars at the checkout for this 2 plate meal.

Preparation:

Prepare noodles as directed, meanwhile, slice the steak, onions, and peppers into strips. Saute the onion and peppers in a heavy skillet (or preferably a wok) over medium heat (using the vegetable oil, of course). Once the vegetables become translucent, add the fast fry steak.

At about this time, and depending on the peppers you chose, eye protection might be necessary, due to the possibility of mustard-gas-like fumes.

Toss this mess about for close to two minutes, then add the prepared noodles. Now is a good time to see if there’s any soy sauce packages laying about from the last time you got Chinese take-out. It’s not necessary, but it does add a little something extra. Toss constantly for about a minute, remove from heat, and serve immediately. Although the spicy-heat remains constant, this dish tends to lose its temperature-heat rather quickly.

Serve with bread or crackers - You’re going to need it - and much cold beverage of your choice, let’s not forget about that.

Free book offer within Canada only: Understanding Prostate Cancer by Dr. Michael McCormack and Dr. Fred Saad.

Understanding Prostate Cancer is a comprehensive and compassionate guide written by Dr. Michael McCormack and Dr. Fred Saad of Centre hospitalier universitaire de Montréal (CHUM). The book introduces and explains the many issues surrounding risk factors and prevention of prostate cancer and provides answers to questions for those who have a diagnosis of prostate cancer, their families and loved ones

Get your free Understanding Prostate Cancer book here.

Future Shop is having its best Mp3 Deal ever. And its ONLY 1 DAY! The sale ENDS TODAY. The Mp3 Player  has 1GB space. SanDisk 1GB MP3 Player (E100) - Web Only. Unfortunately you have to buy this online. The regular price of this is $159.99  but today only it’s $69.99

	Â
Mfr. Part Number:	SDMX2-1024-A18
AM/FM Tuner	Yes
Battery Life	Up to 17 Hours
Battery Type	1 x “AAA”
Computer Interface	USB
Connection Transfer Rate	Up To 480 Mb/Sec
Cradle	No
Digital Audio Format Upgradeable	No
External Memory	Up To 2GB
External Memory Format	SD
ID3 Tag Display	Yes
Impact-Resistant Case	Yes
Included Headphone Type	Earbuds
Included In Box	See The Features Section
Internal Memory	1GB
Internal Memory Format	Flash
Media Compatibility	SD
Operating System Compatibility	Windows 2000, XP
Product Dimensions	5.4(W) x 7.6(H) x 1.5(D) cm
Product Warranty	1 Year Limited Parts and Labour
Product Weight	110 g
Remote Control	No
SDMI-Compliant	No
Signal to Noise Ratio (S/N Ratio)	>90 db
Software Supplied	Real Rhapsody/Audible Manager/AudioFeast
Station Presets	Yes
System Requirements	Windows 2000, XP
Total Memory	Up to 3GB
Track Search	Yes
Voice Recorder	No
Water-Resistant Case	No

Sale Ends: 6/23/2006

Get this SanDisk 1GB mp3 player from FutureShop here

After I posted about Dior’s free mini pouch and 3 make-up set I went to pick it up from Dior at The Bay (Kingston, Ontario) yesterday. I printed out the coupon which clearly stated “Bring in your coupon and receive a Mini Pouch with 3 make-up brushes” and it even had a photo of the set.

I went to Dior’s counter but there was no cosmetics representative there so I asked the Clarins rep. She said Dior’s rep is on vacation and that she (Clarins rep) is handling Dior until the Dior rep comes back in a few days. I inquired about Dior Fahrenheit and if they had any promos etc. and she was very friendly.

I then gave her the coupon and when she saw it she says “you have to enter the contest and then you might win the pouch and 3 makeup brushes” <– she is clearly lying

I reply very politely “I believe the contest is on a Dior Couture set which is worth $250 but the mini pouch is a gift as it clearly states on the coupon”

She then takes the coupon and reads it out:  “Bring in your coupon and receive a Mini Pouch with 3 make-up brushes” and then she suddenly changes her argument (which shows that she was lying in the first place); she says “Another customer brought in this coupon a couple of days ago before the Dior rep left and we discussed it and found out it is redeemable at large stores only.”

I reply “well it says Dior counters at The Bay which is where we are right now” (and this is the only The Bay in Kingston)

She replies very rudely “yes, but only in large cities like Toronto”

The argument was going no where and it was obvious that she wasn’t going to honour the coupon so I just left.

I feel very disappointed with the way this rep spoke and reacted. She was by all means rude and her words were deceitful and dishonest. I’m a huge fan of Dior products; I buy Dior Fahrenheit very frequently and always tryout any of their new fragrances. I’ve always had respect for their style and their line of products. What I don’t understand is why they launch a marketing campaign or why they offer a free set and then disappoint their customers! If Dior can’t honour the coupon why offer it in the first place? If this coupon hadn’t existed I wouldn’t have been pleased nor disappointed; but now 

For your info this happened at The Bay, Cataraqui Town Centre, Kingston, Ontario yesterday (Wednesday, June 21st, 2006)  at about 6:00pm.

If you’re going to visit any attractions in Ontario you can get loads of coupons from the Attractions Ontario magazine. This magazine is available at most Pizza Pizza branches. You can also access the magazine online and print out the coupons.

Attractions Ontario magazine has loads of coupons for Ontario attrations like the 1000 Islands Cruises, Casa Loma, Skylon Tower, Ontario Science Centre, Hockey Hall of Fame, Discovery Harbour, The Haunted Walk of Ottawa, etc.

Either get your Attractions Ontario magazine from Pizza Pizza or online here.

Just in case you forgot, IKEA’s moonlight sale is tomorrow at some IKEA stores. More details in my post here

FeatherSpring is sending out a free foot imprint kit. Hopefully they’ll send to Canada too.

Get your free foot imprint kit here.

It’s about time you clean your dirty, dusty computer screen! Get a free wipe (looks like high quality wipes) and do us all a favour

Get your free wipes here.

I love Christian Dior’s products and therefore this freebie is very interesting. Receive a mini pouch with 3 makeup brushes when you fill out and redeem a coupon at The Bay.

You’ll need to fill out this Dior form and then click on submit. You’ll get a new page with a “Coupon” button at the top left. Click on this button and the coupon with your name and more info will appear. Print it out and redeem at the Bay

I’ll let you know when I redeem my coupon. Keep us updated too.

This is not a pure freebie since you have to mail in the form along with 2 postage stamps.

To receive your free 3 gram sample packet of Intimé Personal Lubricant complete the form here and mail it back to them along with two postage stamps.

I don’t think it’s worth the hassle but I thought that I’d post it anyway just incase someone’s desperate to try out the lubricant.

Update: this only applies to members who registered before September 10th, 2006

If you registered after September 10th, 2006 Candies will only be for fun

I’m very excited to announce that SmartCanucks.ca forum is back with some interesting additions. I’m also giving away the iPod Nano I got from TD bank

I’ve been working on this idea for a couple of days and hopefully you’ll like it. Remember when I mentioned last month that I would share my ad revenue with my visitors? I’ve been thinking of a way of rewarding visitors who post more and help out and therefore I came up with an idea…

Whenever you post a new topic on SmartCanucks.ca’s forum you get 2 candies (not real candies, just points). When you reply to any topic you get quarter of a candy. When you have specific number of candies you can redeem them for actual gifts from me. Here is what you can redeem your Candies for:

500 candies: a small surprise gift chosen by me (Boo Radley) or one of my friends
900 candies: skincare cream (Vichy, RoC, etc.) or $15 gift card
1800 candies: an elegant bag or purse or $35 gift card
50000 candies: the iPod Nano I won from TD (first person only)

I’ll also have candy events every now and then where many candies can be won. You can see the amount of candies you have under your name in the forum:

Note that this is not a means of paying you for helping out… this is just a way of having fun on SmartCanucks.ca and making use of the little revenue I make. Hopefully I’ll get more sponsors soon and add more items to the above candy list

What is your opinion of this idea? Do you have any ideas or suggestions?
This will not affect my blog posts which I will continue as usual.
oh, one more thing…

I’d like to thank all of you who have been helping out, suggesting deals and providing feedback. Special thanks go to:

Thilipan and nolookingca for their contributions.
David Peralty for his constant support and advice.
Intelmic for constantly and frequently providing feedback and commenting on the deals I post. Thank you Intelmic… & btw do you play UT?
vangirl, Joel, Mithel, Bobo, dawn maher, Tammy, ceci and Christina for their regular feedback
Kelly, John and Sara for mentioning my blog on their blog. There might be other blogs that I don’t know of that mentioned my blog. If you did please let me know.
Canadian Mark and special k at work for their encouragement.

… and all of my visitors who pop in every now and then

This free sample and contest are from HBC… get a free sample of Napoleon Perdis Auto Pilot Skin Perfecting Primer and also enter the contest for a chance to win a Napoleon Perdis makeover in Sydney Australia.

I wouldn’t put too much hope in winning that contest but hopefully the free Napoleon sample arrives.

Get your free sample of Napoleon Perdis Auto Pilot Skin here.