Some news for thrift shoppers, especially those in the Toronto area, 16 Goodwill stores, plus 10 donation centres and 2 offices have closed due to a cash flow crisis.  This impacts stores in the GTA, Barrie, Orillia and Brockville.

Workers showed up to work on Sunday to find that the stores had not been opened with no notice and donations are piling up outside donation centres.

Goodwill receives an annual subsidy from the federal and provincial governments totalling $4 million and since most items sold are donated, overhead should be employee costs and store costs.  Goodwill says that they are exploring a variety of options to continue its decades-long mission but in the mean time, you may want to head to Value Village or other thrift stores.

Creativity is always in session at Michaels, sign up for a class on January 9, and save 50% off! This is perfect for those who aren’t really sure if these classes are for them, or just want to try something new. Michaels has select classes which are more than 50% off when you sign up on January 9.

Sign up for one of these following classes for extra savings:

• $20 Wilton Courses 1-3: Building Buttercream Skills, Flowers and Cake Design, Fondant and Gum Paste (regular $45 each class)
• Free Paper Crafting  Class
• Free Jewellery Class
• Free Painting Class
• Free Drawing Class
• Free Floral Class
• Free Yarn Class

Supplies not included in price, and classes may not be available in all stores.

Sign up your kids up for the very hairy and scary cupcakes class. Kids will have a crazy good time learning how to decorate this group of wild and hairy monsters! Using buttercream icing and a variety of fun techniques, kids will create fun monster faces perfect for any party. Sign up for this class on January 9, and this class which would usually cost $15 per child will only be $7.50 per child!

Save on supplies with this coupon from Michaels Canada.

Click here to get Michaels’ Canada coupon.

Click here to find the Michaels Canada store near you. 

Click here to view Michaels Canada flyers. 

Good morning! Happy Friday 🙂 Here’s a new hot offer for you and for your family! Sears Portrait Studio has a FREE Portrait Package (entire package value at $114.95)! You can use this great promotion to get a FREE family picture for Christmas! Just print and present this printable coupon at Sears Portrait Studio Canada to receive this offer! No session fee ($14.99 value) is needed for this offer at Sears Portrait Studio! All Portrait must be in same pose.

This Sears promotion is valid at all Sears Portrait Studio’s in Canada from today, Friday, December 18, 2015 until Sunday, January 31, 2016! The Sears offer is valid every week from Monday through Friday! Limit of one FREE package per family. May not be combined with other offers.

The FREE Portrait Package at Sears Canada includes:

• 11×14 Wall Portrait
• 1- 8×10
• 2- 5×7s
• 4- 3 1/2×5s

Click here to print your coupon at Sears Portrait Studio Canada.

Click here to shop Holiday deals online at Sears Canada. 

Good morning 🙂 Have a lovely Saturday! Today, Saturday, December 12, 2015 is the last day for the awesome promotion ‘Family Favourite’ from Cineplex Canada and includes:

• Today, you can watch the film, Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas at 11 am and tickets on sale now for just $2.99 per person!

As you know, Cineplex Canada has their Family Favourites movies on Saturday mornings at 11 am, where you can watch a film for only $2.99 per ticket, regularly kids cost $7 and adults cost upwards of $10 depending on your location. Another great aspect of this Cineplex Canada promotion is that portion of the proceeds goes towards supporting Free The Children. It’s a fun and affordable way to enjoy the weekend with your family! Tickets on sale now!

Click here to view the Cineplex Canada Family Favourites detailes.

Click here to view a list of participating Cineplex theatres locations.

Do you want to see Star Wars, the ultimate in sci-fi and fantasy, up close and persona? Star Wars: The Force Awakens – The Toronto Exhibit  at 277 Queen Street West, is going on until December 21st and is not to be missed and comes just in time to tide you over before the new Star Wars film is released in theatres on December 18th, 2015.

The exhibit includes life sized replicas of Episode VII characters like Kylo Ren, Captain Phasma, and even a life sized Storm Trooper! These props were made by The Prop Shop, London,UK. These company that built props that were used in the movie itself so, yeah, it’s legit.

Special guests, themed days and giveaways are scheduled throughout the exhibition, so keep your eyes and ears open for daily updates and announcements on Walt Disney Studios Canada’s Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for  events.

Star Wars has been a favourite across generations now, and this FREE Star Wars: The Force Awakens – The Toronto Exhibit at  277 Queen Street West is certainly going to be fun for the whole family.

Many of us bought canned beans and vegetables for multiple PC offers over the past few months, and there is a recent recall that may impact cans of chickpeas in your cupboards.

Presidents Choice has recalled cans of PC Organics Chickpeas with best before dates of 2018 AL 23 / 2018 AL 18 and a UPC of 060383708696.

They say that there is no health concern, but the quality of the product may have been compromised.   Customers can dispose of the product or return it to the place of purchase and the customer service desk will provide a full refund, with or without a receipt.

Since no receipt is needed, most Loblaws banner stores will carry this and it could be returned to a store closer to you.  Full details on this recall here.

Other recent PC recalls include

• President’s Choice brand Butter Chicken Lasagna recalled due to fragments of bone
• PC brand Triangoli Pumpkin Filled Egg Pasta recalled due to undeclared cashew
• President’s Choice brand Ginger Cookie Chips recalled due to undeclared peanut

Safeway Canada has an awesome deal every Monday that will help you save on preparing the dinner for the entire family! Today, get Dr Oetker Ristorante, Panebello or Casa Di Mana Pizza, select varieties for just $2.99 at Safeway Canada stores!

Safeway Canada deal of the day includes:

• Dr Oetker Ristorante, Panebello or Casa Di Mana Pizza, select varieties 325 to 425 G.
• One San Pellengrino or, Perrier water 750ml to 1 L or, Lucerne milk 1L.

This Safeway Canada Monday’s offer is valid in-stores today, Monday, December 7, 2015 only. While supplies last. There’s a limit of one per customer.

Click here to view deals in this week’s Safeway flyers.

The IKEA Canada Kitchen Event from today, Monday, December 7th thru Friday, December 11th, 2015 is giving away gift cards of up to 20% of your purchase of entire kitchens. It’s a great time to remodel and the 20% back gift card gives you some extra IKEA money to come back and buy utensils or decorations with. The deal is good in store and online.

IKEA is known for its sleek and clean design, and easy to assemble and install products. IKEA kitchens are known to have adequate storage and a very contemporary look and feel.You’ll receive 10% back in IKEA gift cards on a purchase of a kitchen, 15% back in IKEA gift cards on a purchase of  kitchen with 1 or 2 appliances, and 20% back in IKEA gift cards on a purchase of a kitchen with 3 or more appliances. Minimum purchase of $1000 before taxes.

Click here to view these offers at IKEA Canada

West Jet Canada has also decided to offer a massive seat sale this weekend, and they too are only offering it on flights within Canada. In this offer, when you use the promo code, WFL40, and the specific coupon code they provide for you when you go to this link, you will be able to save 30% off on your flight.

When I tested out the promo code on West Jet, I thought I’d use the same flight route that I had tested out on the Air Canada seat sale with (flying from Halifax to Toronto on January 6th). When I did this with the Air Canada seat sale, the cheapest flight I could find was $168, which was the same for the West Jet sale. That being said, the deals for each site may vary depending on where and when you are choosing to fly; so be sure to check out both of them before you book!

Like the Air Canada seat sale, there are exceptions to this West Jet offer:

• book by December 6th at 9:59pm MT
• travel until February 15th, 2016
• for any Canadian destination, travel on any day of the week where WestJet offers scheduled service
• you are required to use both the coupon code and promo code when you book travel
• percentage is applied to base fare excluding taxes, fees and charges
• promo code may also be applied on a return flight with the same restrictions.
• the discount is only valid for flights booked on Econo, Flex and Plus category

Click here to begin shopping the seat sale at West Jet Canada.

Good morning 🙂 Happy Saturday! As you know the ‘Family Favourite’ awesome promotion from Cineplex Canada is back every Saturday morning at 11am, where the family weekend’s fun comes in handy with this weekly event promotion!

Cineplex Canada has their Family Favourites movies each Saturday at 11 am, where you can watch a film each week for just $2.99 per ticket, regularly kids cost $7 and adults cost upwards of $10 depending on your location. Another great aspect of this promotion is that portion of the proceeds goes towards supporting Free The Children!

This Cineplex Canada offer is valid until Saturday, December 12, 2015. Here’s the upcoming movie line-up every Saturday mornings at 11am for December, 2015 for Cineplex Family Favourites for $2.99 each:

December, 2015:

• Saturday, December 5: Polar Express 3D. “Today” 
• Saturday, December 12: Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Today, Saturday, December 5, 2015 you can watch the film “Polar Express 3D” and tickets on sale now for just $2.99 per person!

Click here to view the Cineplex Canada Family Favourites detailes.

Click here to view a list of participating Cineplex theatres locations.

TekSavvy has two special Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) promotions available to Ontario and Quebec residents only. These promotions are only available now until December 31, 2015.

The first promotion is available for the ZyXel P660R single-port non-wireless modem:

• Free DSL activation (normally $50)
• If renting to own, pay $0 on the initial down payment, if outright purchasing modem, pay only $50
• 6 months of TekTalk Unlimited Digital Home Phone service FREE (reg. $22 per month), with TekTalk’s digital adapter
• $0 shipping on all hardware
• With this deal you can save up to $278!

The second promotion is available for the SmartRG SR505N four-port wireless modem:

• Free DSL activation (normally $50)
• If renting to own, pay $0 on the initial down payment, if outright purchasing modem, pay only $90
• 6 months of TekTalk Unlimited Digital Home Phone service FREE (reg. $22 per month), with TekTalk’s digital adapter
• $0 shipping on all hardware
• With this deal you can save up to $318!

Click here for more information on TekSavvy’s DSL promotion.

  This Walmart Canada deal on PS4 Uncharted Bundle with Guitar Hero Starter Pack and Destiny the Taken King was for Black Friday, but they’ve left the deal on the site so you can the entire bundle for only $429.96! The PS4 Uncharted Bundle with Guitar Hero Live and Destiny the Taken King normally costs $639.88 if bought separately. That’s a savings of $209.92!

To get the deal you’ll need to go to the Walmart Canada site here, the price will show up at the discounted rate and you need to save a link to the site and take a screenshot of the price , place your order which will be processed at the regular price. After you’ve placed your order you will contact Walmart Canada customer service at 1 (800) 328-0402 and ask them to have your price adjusted to the advertised price. They’ll adjust it and you’ll have your PS4 Uncharted Bundle with Guitar Hero Starter Pack and Destiny the Taken King for only $429.96 plus tax!

This deal is only good while supplies last so get to it now!

Christmas is here in a few weeks, and Christmas songs are playing everywhere. Google Play is now offering Mariah Carey’s 1994 “Merry Christmas” album for FREE! You can now go onto to Google Play’s online store and download this whole album absolutely free.

This album features her extremely popular song “All I Want for Christmas is You”, and contains 10 Christmas songs. Google Play is selling each song for $1.29, so with this offer you save up to $12.90!  Not too sure how long this offer is on for, so hurry and download this album before offer ends.

This gift from Google Play will surely put you in the holiday spirit!

Click her for free Mariah Carey’s “Merry Christmas” Album Downloads from Google Play.

Royal Ontario Museum is giving discounted admission and extended hours for the holidays! Come socialize and immerse yourself in the arts, history and culture on December 27th- December 30th and January 2nd from 4:30 PM to 8:30 PM for only $10. That’s $7 off the normal admission fee.

This price is normally reserved for Friday evenings only which makes it perfect for a night out  at the Royal Ontario Museum with family for the holidays.

You can learn about a few of our prehistoric friends in The Age of Mammals exhibit, see some of our mummified ancestors in the Egypt exhibit, absorb some Canadian history in the Sigmund Samuel Gallery of Canada.

With so many things to see for $10 you can’t go wrong, but you have to plan your trip on December 27-30 or January 2nd after 4:30 PM to get this offer.

Stop by the Royal Ontario Museum or get tickets online and come get a healthy dose of culture!

FELLOW COOKIE MONSTERS! I have great monstanews! FREE cookies are sweet cookies! National Cookie Day is celebrated annually on December 4! Subway Canada is celebrating the National Cookie Day this year by offering FREE cookies nationwide.

Whether your favourite cookies are chocolate chip, peanut butter, oatmeal raisin, lemon, snickerdoodle, all of them are delicious with a nice hot cup of tea or coffee and some of those cookies are more tasty straight out of the oven.

We have to go to Subway for lunch on the 4th to enjoy some FREE cookies that day!

Click here for Subway Canada participating locations near you