Thanks Phuleshouse for suggesting this freebie & coupon.

Bluewater Seafoods is offering free oven mitt with the purchase of three Bluewater items – Check out the website and there is a 75 cent coupon for any Bluewater Seafood product as well.

Click here for more details on this free Bluewater Seafoods oven mitt

Thanks pennypincher and Phuleshouse for suggesting this freebie 🙂

Get a free bumper sticker from Johnson & Johnson and Safe Kid’s Canada – What’s the Rush.

Click here to get your free bumper sticker

Thank you consumatrix for all your lovely deals/freebie suggestions 🙂

Free day at Ontario conservation areas, this Sunday, June 8th 2008, compliments of RBC:

Join us for a free day at your local conservation area. Sunday, June 8th, 2008. Enjoy a family hike, experience the great outdoors and find out more about your local watershed. Compliments of RBC.

Click here to find an Ontario Conservation Area near you

Click here for more details on this Fre Ontario Conservation Area Day

Thanks couponlady for posting this freebie on the forum.

From now until June 15th, stop by at Yves Rocher, present your coupon and walk away with a free pair of Yves Rocher sunglasses just for visiting.

Click here to print your Yves Rocher coupon

Thanks Darren for emailing me these Ontario Place coupons 🙂

Ontario Place Play All Day pass for $9.81 on June 22, 08

Ontario Place Play All Day pass for $5.90 on Father’s Day June 15, 08

Thanks Alajen for posting these coupons on the French Blog.

Save $1 on any Coppertone product

Click here to download this Coppertone coupon

Thanks consumatrix for this info!

Ottawa Sun is offering coupons in their Monday and Friday papers from May 19 to June 27 for things like free fries at Burger King or free coffee at Mac’s — no purchase necessary, no strings attached.  I saw this ad in p. 69 of the Sun’s June 4th paper.

Register your Starbucks card and receive a coupon for free a free drink in the mail.

Limit one per customer. Two per household. Must join between June 3–July 14. Your coupon for a free beverage will arrive in the mail within 2 weeks (U.S.) or 3 weeks (CAN). Offer expires July 14, 2008. Good for one handcrafted beverage per person with coupon. Offer good only at participating Starbucks stores in the United States and Canada. Void where prohibited, taxed or restricted. Cannot be combined with other offers.

Click here to register for your Starbucks card and get free drink coupon

Establishing and sticking to a budget requires motivation and discipline. The easiest way to stick to your budget is to keep it realistic. Always over-estimate your expenses to give you a bit of a cushion.

Now, first you need to set your goals. Organize them in order of the most important and put a date next to them of how much money you will need to have saved for that item/bill. Then figure out when you would like to have each one paid off and put the date next to it. Remember to be realistic!

After you’ve done that, you must find out how much money you have to work with. What is your monthly income?

Finally, add up your expenses. Make a list of every single bill you pay each month including rent/mortgage, hydro, cable, etc. At the bottom of your list you should put your variable expenses. This includes groceries (including toiletries), clothing, gifts, entertainment and the like. Hopefully your monthly bills don’t exceed your income. If they do, it’s time to start trimming your variable expenses!

Also, you must have an emergency category on your list. Even setting aside just $100 a month will net you $1200 a year and if an emergency happens (vet visit, car trouble, etc.) you will be covered (depending on how much you have in this account!). Ideally, you should have 3-6 months worth of living expenses on hand in case you and/or your spouse are suddently out of work.

Another account you should have is a savings account. This account should be used for savings towards the things on your GOALS list. New house, new car, a baby, furniture for your home, vacation.. all of those things. If there’s not enough money in your savings account, you can’t buy that item. It’s as simple as that!

Don’t forget to start planning for your retirement. You are never too young or too old to start saving. A good way to do this is to open an RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plans) and start putting some money away. Set aside as much as you can afford per month. Any money contributed to an RRSP remains tax-deferred until the funds are withdrawn.

Now that you have your budget written down (or typed up, like me) STICK TO IT! You also need to write down every single thing you buy for a month, including that coffee on your way to work in the morning. This way, at the end of the first month when you go over everything, you can see what you spend your money on. This helps you to cut back on things much easier than just guessing what you spend on certain items.

Good luck!

 

Another day of crappy deals that I won’t bother reviewing. It’s sad Dell calls these deals “The People’s Choice Event”

Click here for today’s DELL Canada Days of Deals

Clothing is one thing we like to indulge in sometimes. We want those new jeans with that gorgeous new sweater. Right, ladies? Well, let’s face it – clothing can be expensive. The good news is, it doesn’t have to be. Here are some great places that you can find clothes so cleap, you will never go back to paying full price!

1. Ebay – Ebay has some fantastic deals when it comes to clothing. Yo can search for specific items in single pieces or in large lots.

2. Second Hand/Thrift Stores – If you’re not looking for anything specific you can stop in one of these great stores and browse through the racks. You are bound to find some things that you like and the prices are unbeatable!

3. Kijiji/Craigslist – Kind of like Ebay, these websites allow you to search for the type of clothing you are looking for and if there is a match in your location you can go to pick the clothing up. No shipping or paying with your credit card. Just pay with cash and that’s it!

Thanks consumatrix for suggesting this free song download 🙂

Get free mp3 downloads of Barenaked Ladies songs Popcorn and 789. These two songs are from the barenaked ladies first childrens’ album, SNACKTIME.

I downloaded the mp3s to try them out before posting and I think they’re fabulous! Kids will love them!

Here’s the video of 798:

[youtube]x1cnJ_pOAdQ[/youtube]

Click here to download your free mp3 of Popcorn by the Barenaked Ladies

Click here to download your free mp3 of 789 by the Barenaked Ladies

Yes, this is valid in Canada too. It actually says that on Microsoft’s website. Your order will go through.

Source: slickdeals

The Microsoft Technet Plus Subscription is back as of June 1st with a new student discount coupon code, bringing the annual cost to $99 + applicable sales tax. No student verification is required. A Technet subscription at this price gives you access to DOWNLOADABLE versions of most Microsoft software products, including XP and Vista, with a multi-use license/activation code good for up to 10 installs/activations per product. If you require additional codes, they are generally available upon request. You can watch a short informational video here

This subscription does not auto-renew. Allow three-five business days after ordering for your login credentials to be provided -and- activated on the Microsoft Technet server. You can choose how you wish to download these products. Many are available in .ISO format for direct burning to DVD media, but you can also download compressed versions and, for some products, even versions that are split up for burning on CD media.

Activation codes do not expire, even after the subscription ends.

(more…)

Get 5 Tacos at Taco Bell Canada for $3.99 plus tax.

Each Taco is usually $1.29. So 5 Tacos would usually cost $6.45 + tax.

Click here for more details on this Taco Bell Canada promo

A stockpile is a large quantity of items that are stored for future usage. In my opinion, everyone should have a stockpile. Whether it be small or large, having extra supplies on hand makes life alot easier.

With grocery prices rising, it is becoming more important than ever to find ways to save money on your groceries. Many people go to the store every week and purchase just what they need for the next 7 days. Some people shop every day! This will definetely not allow you to save money, but will more often than not, have you spend much MORE money than you should.

So how do you build this stockpile? Well, first things first – make a list. Write down all of the things your family uses. Shampoo, razors, deodorant, pasta, bread, tomatoes, etc. Then, estimate how many of each item you use per month (also, for the future, once you start a new item, put the date on it. This will show you exactly how long it took you to use up so you can update your list later on). Multiply it by 12 months and that is the amount you should have in your stockpile. Of course, you don’t need a full year’s supply. You can do 3 months or 6 or 8. Whatever feels right for you. Personally, I do 12 months. For example, let’s say your family goes through a bag/box of pasta every week and you want a 6 month supply. 6 months x 4 weeks = 24 weeks. That means you will need to have 24 bags of pasta in your stockpile. Now, that doesn’t mean you will get all 24 in one time (unless they are free of course!). You have to BUILD your stockpile – it’s an ongoing process.

Now you are ready to build your stockpile! First, keep in mind that stockpiling should never affect your budget in a negative way. Set aside, say, $15 per week for your stockpile items (or whatever you can afford). Once that is all gone, only go after items that you can get for free. The whole point of a stockpile is to SAVE MONEY!

To begin building your stockpile, you will need to watch the sale flyers at all of the stores nearby. Don’t just limit yourself to one store and also, don’t just limit yourself to a grocery store. Drug stores and department stores (think: Wal-Mart) work just as well! Say Price Chopper has a sale on cereal for $1.50 per box. You know that your family eats 2 boxes per week and you want to have a 6 month supply which = 48 boxes. If you don’t have coupons, this would cost $72 which is a good price, but not worth it to buy that many at one time. However, if you had 48 coupons for $1.00 off, this would only cost you $24 which is a fantastic deal! This is why I suggest coupons to everyone. They dramatically help with lowering the cost of your items!

A stockpile is not something that is built in one day. It takes months, sometimes years to have a large enough supply for your family. Just remember that with every item you throw on those shelves is future money saved!

Things you should consider before you start stockpiling:

1. Space – You should always make sure you have adequate space in your home before you start bringing tons of items into the house. Worried about lack of space in your home? You have more space than you think. Install shelves, store things under the beds, in closets, in the garage. Whatever you do, don’t let your stockpile own you. If people are tripping over packages of paper towels and you cant find your jacket in the closet because it is filled to the brim with baby wipes, you are starting to get out of control! Only stockpile what will be able to be stored comfortably in your home.

2. Expiration Dates – You should always watch the dates on items before you purchase an item. You are not saving money if you can’t use up the item before it spoils!