It’s almost that time of year again when the kids get to take a week off school to enjoy the winter and pack in some exciting activities. A lot of people take this opportunity to go down South for the week, but if you’re like me you need some ideas closer to home that wont break the bank.

That being said there are a lot of activities going on in most communities that can get your family active and out of the house. Here are some of the activities I found:

1. YMCA March Break Day Camps-check your local YMCA because most of them offer day camps throughout the march break that have fun activities for kids. It’s getting them active and it’s a chance to meet new people.

2. Local Libraries offer a ton of activities for kids all year round and even more activities during the March Break. A lot of the activities provided by your local library are free and are worth checking out!

3. Check your local Community Center for events during the break. Most offer more public swimming, skating or drop in times for team sports. It’s a great way to stay active this March break.

4. Volunteer in your community. It’s a rewarding experience to help someone out and there are tons of places you can volunteer your time with your family this March Break.

For more great things to do with your family this March Break check your city’s local website.
If you have any additional ideas please  share them so everyone can take advantage of their March Break.

*Bumped to the top because its March break

This article was written by Woofy in our new Personal Finance Canada Section. Woofy has a blog as well which you can check out here. Thanks Woofy for the awesome article

I was reading through the ways to save money thread, and thought about how we missed out credit scores and credit reports! 

Credit scores and reports are such a big part of our lives, and I strongly believe that learning about it, and knowing how to manage your credit score is going to help us save a tonne of money in our lifetime!

So, I am starting this thread to talk about credit scores. 

First, what is a credit score? 

A credit score is mathematically calculated by all the information found in your credit report, and translated into a 3-digit number between 300 to 900, and lenders use this number to gauge your credit history. 

An average credit score is around 650, and a score of 520 is generally required to qualify for a mortgage. 

Why is credit score important?

Think of the credit score as a report card on how you are doing financially in your life. J

All lenders based their decision on whether to extend credit to you on your credit score. All lenders, from your bank, to your car dealership, to your department stores credit application to your landlord, they all rely on credit scores to help them access whether you as a credit applicant will be reliable in making your payments, and if it is worthwhile for them to take on the risk of lending you money. 

And most importantly, the higher your credit score, the better chance of you negotiating for the best rates you can get from a lender. I think this is where you will find that you will get the most savings over the course of your lifetime financial activities.

Consider this simple example:

For a $100,000 mortgage at 5% interest rate, paid over 25 years, you will be paying $75,377.01 in total interest to the lender over a span of 25 years.

For a $100,000 mortgage at 3.25% interest rate, paid over 25 years, you will be paying $46,194.87 in total interest to the lender over a span of 25 years.

That’s a savings of $29,182.14 over 25 years, which translates to $1,167 a year! 

I’m not sure if you think that is much, but for me, I’d much prefer to have that $1,167 in my own pocket, than in the pockets of my lenders! 

So, hopefully, I have managed to convince you that your credit score and report is a very important financial tool that you should learn to manage. J 

I will write about ways to improve our financial report card in a future post.

• Click here for a discussion of this topic
• Click here for other Personal Finance discussions

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner I thought I’d offer some suggestions for a fantastic day with out breaking the bank. After all Valentine’s Day is about Love and not expensive gifts!

If you haven’t already gotten your special someone a gift you don’t have to break your budget in order to say “I love you” because there are plenty of options out there… Continue reading ‘Saving Money This Valentine’s Day…’

Well… I just called Canada Post ( 1-800-267-1177 )to confirm the bad news.   Sorry to say but it is time to stock up on stamps, because Canada Post is increasing the prices of postage stamps from $0.54 to $0.57  in the new year.  Good thing I have lots but for those of you who use or trade stamps better add them to you shopping list!!  The price increase will be being on January 11,2010.
Click here to go to the Discussion Thread.
Click here to go to Canada Posts Website.

Thanks to MiltonFreecycle for the heads up!!

(Stamp circa 1958)

Thanks sha for emailing me about 1-800-GOOG411 Canada

Not sure if this is a repost but I got this email from a friend today and have actually tried it out.  The best thing is that it actually worked.

Hi,

I have verified this and used this service….no sales person should be without this number.

Here’s a number worth putting in your speed dials.

1-800-goog411. (a.k.a. 1-800-466-4411)

This is an awesome service from Google, and it’s free — great when you are on the road.

Don’t waste your money on information calls and don’t waste your time manually dialing the number.

• I am driving along in my car and I need to call the golf course but I don’t know the number.
• I hit the speed dial that I have programmed in (800-goog411),  for information.
• The voice at the other end says, “City & Province.”
• I say, ”   Calgary ,   Alberta “
• He says, “Business, Name or Type of Service.”
• I say, “Firewheel Golf Course.”
• He says, “Connecting” and Firewheel answers the phone.
• How great is that?  This is nationwide and Google provides the service absolutely free!

No “Information” charge, and no long distance charge.

Click here for more details on 1-800-GOOG411 Canada

Thank you jadedragoninbc for writing this article and emailing it to me. This article was originally published by her at eHow.

If you look carefully and arrange your life the correct way you can actually turn a profit from shopping using the AIR MILES Reward Program in Canada. AIR MILES are redeemable for many travel, merchandise and gift certificate rewards. Depending on how you use the rewards points they are worth between 10 cents and 15 cents each for gift certificates, more or less on items that are harder to price like flights and merchandise.

Sure, follow the advice to always carry your AIR MILES card and shop at AIR MILES sponsors, but if you want to take it to the next level, here is exactly how.

Your goal is to earn a combination of AIR MILES Reward Miles and Tax Deductible Donation Receipts that together have a value above what you spent.

Air Miles - Step 1

Identify which grocery stores in your area are part of the AIR MILES program. The AIR MILES program offers exclusivity to each sponsor in each region so this part is easy. In Western Canada the grocery sponsor is Safeway Canada and this article will use Safeway as the example. Same principles apply at other stores in other regions of Canada.

Air Miles - Step 2

In order to get the best sale prices at Safeway you will need a Safeway Client Card, available free from Safeway customer service. Once you have the card issued you can just quote your phone number to get the discounts.

Air Miles - Step 3

Collect AIR MILES coupons and watch for promotions for bonus miles. These can be found online, in the paper, on the shelf tags and in the in-store fliers. You should also sign up for e-flyers from the Safeway website.

These promotions come in three main categories:

1. Dollar Amount Spent for Bonus Air Miles Deals - Safeway regularly runs coupons for 100 or 250 bonus AIR MILES with a $100 or $200 purchase.
2. Bonus AIR MILES coupons for specific products.
3. Buy X get Y Bonus AIR MILES type promotions found in flyers and on the shelf tags. (hint read the fine print on the shelf tags because not all eligible products get the shelf tag.

Air Miles - Step 4

When the store is running one of the Dollar Amount Spent for Bonus AIR MILES deals, go to the store with your coupons and look carefully at all products offering bonus AIR MILES. Especially look at products that generally have some or all of these characteristics

1. low priced/low ticket items
2. ON SALE and
3. Offering Bonus AIR MILES
4. Maybe something you can find a coupon for online or in print

Bonus AIR MILES are just like all other AIR MILES, you just earn them in addition to or as a bonus to the regular AIR MILES awarded for shopping

Air Miles - Step 5

Calculate how many Regular and Bonus AIR MILES you would earn by buying each product meeting the Step 4 criteria. For ease of calculation you might want to calculate based on buying 10 or 100 of the item.

Here is the Math for a 10 units of a can of soup sale priced at $2.00 each:

1. Cost of product 10 units X $2.00 = $20. There are no taxes.
2. # of bonus AIR MILES from buying the product (say 20 miles X 10 units = 200 miles)
3. # of AIR MILES from Safeway regular program = 1 per $20 spent, so 1 mile.
4. # of AIR MILES from your participating BMO MasterCard or AMEX Card = 1 per $20 spent so 1 mile.
5. Spend $200 and get 250 Bonus miles promotion = 1.25 miles per $1 X $20 = 25 miles.

Total AIR MILES = 227 Miles
Times 12 cents each Mile = $27.24 of value in miles on a $20 purchase.

You just found that select product that is worth more in AIR MILES than it costs you.

Air Miles - Step 6

Purchase a large quantity of the product or products you have identified. You may be able to get the manager to order in more of an item (maybe a pallet full!).

Use your AIR MILES credit card, you grocery store loyalty card, and your AIR MILES collector card plus the appropriate coupons.

If you are using a spend $100 get a 100 miles coupon you will want to maximize your bonuses, so run the purchases through in separate transactions of $100 each, making sure that each purchase includes an appropriate multiple of items to get the full bonus on the item.

You do not have to worry about the credit card and base miles from the store as they accumulate across multiple transactions anyway.

Keep the receipts for the next step or buy one product at the regular price to establish fair market value. (edited for clarity)

Air Miles - Step 7

Call an appropriate local charity, set an appointment and pay them a visit. The Salvation Army or local food bank are your best bets for food donations. The animal shelter will love your pet food donations.

Ask the charity for an “in kind” charitable gift receipt or receipts (if they have dollar limits on individual in kind donation receipts). You will need to establish the fair market value of the product you are donating, which is where having a receipt showing the fair market retail value comes in handy.

Air Miles - Step 8

Reap the Rewards of your Efforts:

-Enjoy the thought you just helped feed hundreds of people or animals

-File your donation receipts with your income taxes for a approximately 40% credit on your income taxes (exact value varies by Province)

-Enjoy a nice trip (where my honeymoon came from), give great gifts from your miles, or use the miles to get that riding lawn mower you always wanted (seriously this is exactly where the writer’s John Deere mower came from).

Thanks to Andit for coming up with this awesome idea! Andit created a contact card for us

Inspired by her idea, I created a whole bunch of shopping related templates such as a Shopping List, Price book, member card and many more! I hope you like them!

Maroon Version

• Member Card (to give out to friends, family, cashiers, etc.)
• Shopping List - 4 Columns
• Shopping List - 3 Columns
• Freezer Inventory
• Pricebook
• Letterhead (empty)
• Letterhead (you can type you address at bottom before printing it)

Less Ink-intense Version

• Member Card (to give out to friends, family, cashiers, etc.)
• Shopping List - 4 Columns
• Shopping List - 3 Columns
• Freezer Inventory
• Pricebook
• Letterhead (empty)
• Letterhead (you can type you address at bottom before printing it)

If you’d like me to design other templates please let me know what template you’d like and I’ll work on it 

Note: These templates may only be printed and distributed for personal use and cannot be used to represent SmartCanucks.ca in an official way.

*Please note that what you are about to read is purely the speculation of the writer and not to be taken as official advice endorsed by SmartCanucks.ca

Ever since Sony released the PS3 with the hefty price tag of $599.00 a lot of people have been waiting for a price drop, myself included, and finally it’s here! You have probably seen at least one post or advertisement this week about the great new price of $299.00 and you may be thinking ‘now’s the time’ (and your husband might be jumping up and down b/c he can no longer contain his excitement). But is now the time?? Here’s some info to consider; Sony has officially announced the release of the PS3 Slim for Sept.1, 2009 for the same price of $299.00. So now you may be thinking ‘ok so I can get a new slicker model for the same price, but I really want it now!’  So, consider this, the new model is going to be 120 gb while the old model is only 80 gb. A reasonable assumption at this point is that the new Slim PS3 is going to be a better value (and right now it is), so I pose this question - What will happen to the 80 gb when the 120 gb Slim is officially released for the same price? If one is clearly a higher value than we, as savvy shoppers, know that it will be a hard sell trying to convince people to pay the same price for them! So, in theory, a possible price drop in the 80 gb in the very near future??? *shrugs. I don’t know, but I’m going to wait just in case the real question ends up being; does size matter?

The New Look - PS3 120 GB Slim

Did you ever see the commercial where the lovely young lady is walking down the street just enjoying her summer when a leaf falls from the tree above her? She points, starts screaming, turns, and runs very frantically away, arms waving everywhere. I don’t even remember what the commercial was for but it about covers the sentiment in my house in regards to the countdown to September. It’s school supply time!!!!  For eight years now I have tried to figure out a creative way to fill the school supply list but usually at the last minute go running, arms a waving, to the biggest box store I can find and buy everything brand new and for full price. Well, at least it looks pretty, for all of about a day!

So, I’m looking for creative solutions here. How do you get your school supplies? Do your kids love it or hate it? Do you get them or early or late? Is there actually supposed to be a list for grade 9 and, like every newsletter from grade 8 it is at the bottom of some recycling bin, or am I truly on my own this year (yikes!)?

Let the wonderful ideas that will save me (I mean us) all kinds of money flow!

Looks like the LCBO strike is inevitable. LCBOs all across Ontario have been VERY crowded today. If you haven’t already stocked up now’s the time to do so before today’s midnight deadline! That’s if you’re lucky enough to find anything left.

Toronto LCBO outlets are a sea of empty shelves, as consumers brave long lineups to stock up ahead of the midnight strike deadline tonight.

‘‘I have never seen a lineup like this,’’ said David Ritter, as he walked around the LCBO at Lawrence Avenue and Don Mills Road, three lonely bottles of Robert’s Rock in his cart, this afternoon. ‘‘It’s amazing. It’s just incredible.’’

Scott Davison had five bottles of Smirnoff and a certain amount of skepticism an actual strike is coming. But the lone lineups and prospect of a summer without alcohol convinced him a government-owned liquor monopoly isn’t a good idea.

‘‘Just goes to show you that maybe they should sell liquor in private stores, maybe they wouldn’t have this,’’ he said.

Continue reading about LCBO Strike here

Here’s a website to scare the living Bejesus out of you, especially if you applied too much makeup today or washed your hair with any of the hundreds of well known Shampoo products out there.

The Skin Deep safety guide to cosmetics and personal care products pairs ingredients in more than 41,000 products against 50 definitive toxicity and regulatory databases, making it the largest integrated data resource of its kind. It then provides a hazard rating for each product. Skin Deep is managed by researchers at the Environmental Working Group and is a non-profit website.

You’ll be shocked by the number of reputable products that have a high hazard rating. Although Skin Deep is a US website, many products mentioned are also available in Canada and I wouldn’t be surprised if Health Canada is as bad as the US FDA in terms of taking any action towards reducing the amounts of carcinogenic chemicals in products.

Click here to visit Skin Deep

Well actually it wasn’t me but attheendoftherainbow who posted this in our Canadian Bragging Section. I stole her thread title

Here’s what she had to say:

Okay I am so happy this worked. I have been reading all the posts about this deal at Shoppers Drug Mart and decided to try it out.

First I started with a price adjustment at Old Navy. Men’s cargo shorts. Got $13.38 back into my pocket!

So, in actuality it only cost me $6.62 to earn my 53260 Optimum points .

1. Bought a $55 SDM GIft Card (GC). Got the 100 coupon book. (550)
2. Used the GC to buy a Vanilla Master Card (VMC) and used the 10,000 wus 50 coupon. (5000 + 10000+ 540)
3. Used the $50 VMC plus $5 to purchase a new VMC and used the 5000 wus 30 coupon. (540+5000+5000)

This gives me a total of $10 spent and 26630 points!!!! Rinse and repeat one more time at a different Shoppers location

Viola 53260 points!

And…my cousin is gifting me her 10,000 coupon for tomorrow so I can spend one of my VMC plus 5 more dollars to get another 5000 + 10000 + 540 = 15540 points! I am so stoked cause that will bring me to over 75,000!!!!!!!

YYYAAAAYYYYY!

Ever wonder which grocery store has the lowest prices? Is it No Frills, Food Basics, Sobeys,  Price Chopper or Metro?

Well now No Frills has an interesting new website lowpricereport.ca that compares the prices of items across these five grocery stores. Of course since No Frills is owned by Loblaws, they were too coward to put Loblaws and Superstore grocery stores into their comparison.

I love the idea of the grocery price comparison but I wish the website was not so biased towards No Frills and Loblaws grocery stores. I also wish that weekly flyer prices and coupons were also taken into consideration.

Which store do you like the most? No Frills, Food Basics or Price Chopper?

Click here to visit Low Price Report

I saw someone yesterday using a tiny hanger/hook to hang her purse above the ground while having dinner at a restaurant. I had never seen anything like this before and it’s one of the neatest ideas I’ve come across in a while.  It’s a simple and practical way of keeping your purse off the floor and preventing it from getting dirty. I did some research and found that Amazon.com (not Amazon.ca) sells these cute tiny purse hangers for only $9.95.

I’m not sure where they’re sold in Canada but I’m sure you could find them at stores. Maybe Ardene? Accessorize? Nonetheless I love the idea. Now if men could only carry purses

Thanks freeplease for posting this extremely useful Zellers discount information in the Canadian Deals & Flyers

I was reading someone’s comment about asking for discounts at stores etc.

So I just wanted to let everyone know… because I used to work at Zellers, They have what is called the 30 30 rule.

Which means any store employee is entitled to give a 30% discount to anyone on any item without having to go to a supervisor or manager. They will say ” I’ll give you 10 % off ” because they are supposed to give you the lowest possible. Just say No I’ll take the 30%. Just remind them of their rule!

Click here for more details & discussion of Zellers 30 30 Discount Rule

Coach Canada is having a 25% off sale from May 1st - 10th, 2009 at all Coach boutiques in Canada to celebrate Mothers Day. However to get the discount you need an invitation card which was only sent to select customers who had previously spent over a certain amount at Coach stores.

I thought I’d start this post to allow you guys to exchange invitations. Say you have a Coach invitation that you don’t need, you can offer to give it away in exchange for say a $10 or $15 Shoppers Drug Mart gift card or whatever value you choose. If you’re looking for an invitation you can find an offer you like and accept it. Use the comments system to communicate.

To make sure the trades go smoothly I can act as the middle man. The invitation and whatever the other party agreed to send in return can both be sent to Smart Canucks mailing address. Once I have both items, I’d then mail them out. I’m just trying to help and this is the best idea I could come up with.

If 2 people agree on a trade you can have Smart Canucks act as the middle man by mailing to:

Smart Canucks
PO Box 291
Kingston, Ontario
K7L 4V8

Here’s a little secret about Shoppers Drug Mart that you probably never knew! We’ve been discussing this on the Canadian Shopping Forum. You can very easily and legally double all the Shoppers Optimum Points you get at Shoppers Drug Mart

Here’s the trick in 2 simple steps:

1. Buy a Shoppers Drug Mart Gift Card and get points on buying the gift card
2. Use the Shoppers Drug Mart Gift Card to buy anything at Shoppers and get points on your purchases AGAIN.

So here’s how this would work. You go and buy say a $100 (or $25 or whatever value)  gift card. You hand the cashier your optimum card, she swipes it, you get 10 optimum points per $1 as usual so that’s 1000 optimum points. You then use your gift card as a cash card to pay for your future Shoppers Drug Mart purchases and you get another 1000 points from these purchases! So you’d be getting double the points all the time!

The nice thing about Shoppers Drug Mart’s Gift Card is that it’s like a Cash Card which means that you can use it on multiple purchases over many days and months so it’s not something you have to use at once or on one purchase.

Note that this strategy does not work on x10, x15, x20 or bonus optimum point days.

I came across this video on Youtube and thought it was pretty cool! Julie explains how you can get Lady Gaga Poker Face inspired nails using

• Sephora by OPI: Base Coat
• Maybelline- Black nail polish
• MAC Nail Polish: Vestral White
• L.A. Colors- Red Glitter

Click here to watch the “Lady Gaga Poker Face Inspired Nails” video

Lipstick Powder N Paint have an article about the new Joe Fresh Beauty Cosmetics Canada collection which aims at providing stylish cosmetics at reasonable prices:

Today, we want to share our excitement for Joe Fresh Beauty - a new collection of stylish and well priced cosmetics from fashion and design guru, and Creative Director for Joe Fresh Style, Joe Mimran. When we say well priced we really mean it. Every product is priced at $8 or less. It’s crazy!

The comprehensive range of face, lip and eye products were created to be comparable to prestige lines that are frequently used by makeup artists. Each item, from cheek tint to fine tip liquid eyeliner, is designed to have lasting coverage.

We love all the products, but if you asked us to pick our favourites we would have to say the Cheek Tint, Duo Concealer and the Brow Powder. The cheek colour blends so easily, and comes in six gorgeous shades. The concealer is like a magic wand, with a creamy stick at one end, and a liquid formula at the other. The eyebrow powder - available in four duo shades - creates beautiful natural brows for $6.

Now that is beauty for less.

Click here to visit Joe Fresh Beauty Cosmetics Canada’s website
Click here for Joe Fresh Beauty Cosmetics Canada store locations

The “Pay What You Want Restaurant” trend has finally hit Canada! Oscar’s restaurant in Barrie Ontario allows you to pay whatever you think the meal is worth.

Pay what you want Barrie!
Oscar’s Restaurant would like too offer you a very special offer in the month of March! Come in and enjoy our Lunch or Dinner prix Fixe Menu and… Pay what you feel it’s worth!

There’s also a simillar restaurant in Montreal, Quebec according to the Toronto

Crescent St. tavern hard hit by drop in business tries something new

Already stung by a slide in American tourists and a deepening financial mess that’s keeping business customers away, the Taverne Crescent, situated on one of Montreal’s historic party streets, decided to implement a new policy: Pay what you can.

So yesterday, lunch-hour customers were given the choice of an appetizer, plus either tagliatelle bolognese, salmon or braised beef, and coffee or tea, for whatever they wanted to pay. For a dollar even. Or nothing.

“Some people might pay nothing,” said owner George Pappas, “but maybe when they have more money in three or six months, they’ll come back and pay more.”

Looks like this whole Pay What You Want Restaurant concept will be taking Canada by storm very soon. I would personally never go to these restaurants because I know I would feel extreme guilt and overpay for my food. Actually, that’s sort of the idea. But I still think it’s a very neat concept. It’ll allow hard working restaurants with good service and high quality food to succeed while restaurants with poor service to run out of business.

You can find more about Oscar’s Pay What You Want Restaurant in Barrie Ontario Canada here
Read the Toronto Star article here