Confessions of a Frugal Shopper

[InvisibleSoul]

Originally Posted by Okami

for awhile (about a year) i barely paid anything for my old spice body wash/deodorant + random things like toothpaste and floss..

at london drugs yoy can coupon stack as long as the coupon is for the same product and has a different barcode..

so for example if you had a coupon for $3 off if you buy 2 bodywashes.. and you have a coupon that says $1 off one bodywash.. you can use one of the $3 coupons and 2 of the $1 coupons

and sometimes online sources of coupons will give you the exact same coupon as the printed flyer source.. (but different barcode!) so that's 6 coupons for 2 items.. you still have to pay tax, and some coupons state you cannot stack.. so read the rules to avoid embarrassment

happy couponing

i stopped though.. cuz its a pain in the pass to collect them

I heard you can't do it anymore for most of that stuff because P&G specifically added a line on their coupons to prohibit coupon stacking. So while London Drugs may still allow coupon stacking, you can't do it for P&G products... which is the majority of stuff people were able to get for free before.

I did that three years ago when I was unemployed for about a year. It really does take a significant amount of time to collect up coupons for stacking... but I decided to go all out one time and ended up getting paid $4.87 to take $737.33 worth of merchandise.

[InvisibleSoul]

Originally Posted by twitchyzero

a tip: don't join bargain-hunting communities like redflagdeals

you spend money on useless shit you don't need...and try to justify the purchase with silly rationales

Depends on the person though... if you can resist impulse buying, then it's fine... just look for deals for stuff you actually need.

If you're looking for everyday household items more so than electronics, a better site to go to is smartcanucks.ca

[Psykopathik]

we need our own bargain hunter forum.

[Spoon]

CardSwap: Canadian Gift Card Exchange, Buy Discount Gift Cards, Swap Sell Gift Card
Great for buying gift cards for items that you need anyways. Still have a bunch of Toys R Us and Gap gift cards that I haven't used yet. But with a 2 year old baby, it's just a matter of time.

[Tapioca]

Originally Posted by saveth

I get my gas in the states. I cross the border with 3 25l Jerry cans. It works out to a 7 dollar savings each and 20 dollar savings in my pathfinders gas tank. I save about 40 bucks a trip.
Posted via RS Mobile

I also buy groceries while I Blaine if it's cheaper.

I'm curious if anyone north of the Fraser (ie. Vancouver, tri-cities, Burnaby) makes these types of trips. When you factor in time and gas (getting to the Peace Arch for me takes about 45 minutes and is about 50 clicks which is about 5-7 litres of gas), is it really worth it to save a few bucks? I work Monday to Friday and so the only time I can get down there is on the weekends and of course, the lineups can take up to an hour. Perhaps the savings are multiplied if you're feeding a family, but to drive all the way down there to save a buck fifty (2.99 vs 4.59 here) for a 4L jug of milk?

I do make large purchases Stateside such as auto parts and tires. The savings on these types of things can be significant which makes a trip worth it. (Eg. Saving hundreds)
Posted via RS Mobile

[Sky_High]

Originally Posted by Spoon

CardSwap: Canadian Gift Card Exchange, Buy Discount Gift Cards, Swap Sell Gift Card
Great for buying gift cards for items that you need anyways. Still have a bunch of Toys R Us and Gap gift cards that I haven't used yet. But with a 2 year old baby, it's just a matter of time.

Reminds me....I still have a $25 Brentwood gift card that's been sitting here collecting dust

[MG1]

Originally Posted by Turbo E

we need our own bargain hunter forum.

I'm hoping this thread would become that. I'm always looking for bargains. The more eyes we have looking, the better.

Clearance sales, auctions, liquidations, etc.

[GLOW]

Saw this and thought it would be of benefit
Computers & Electronics : Newegg.ca: Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard $27.99 | Vancouver Deals - RedFlagDeals.com

i can attest that this is a great keyboard. when i was a sw engineer i had carpal tunnel from typing all day. ordered one of these from work and it was so awesome i bought one for myself at home. thought it would affect how i played WoW back then but nope LOL. i think i hunted around and found it on sale for $50, BB & FS had it for $70ish. so IMO this deal is super awesome. I never shopped on newegg before but i always hear about it so i figure it's a fairly legit site.

[drunkrussian]

Originally Posted by Spoon

CardSwap: Canadian Gift Card Exchange, Buy Discount Gift Cards, Swap Sell Gift Card
Great for buying gift cards for items that you need anyways. Still have a bunch of Toys R Us and Gap gift cards that I haven't used yet. But with a 2 year old baby, it's just a matter of time.

wtf i saw them on shark tank or dragons den or something!

[Eff-1]

Here is a handy tool to figure out if it is worth driving a further distance to get cheaper gas.

Is it worth it to drive for cheaper gas? - The Globe and Mail

[Gh0stRider]

Cheap Asian?

is there such thing?

[Spoon]

Originally Posted by drunkrussian

wtf i saw them on shark tank or dragons den or something!

Yep, they were on dragon's den.

Originally Posted by Gh0stRider

Cheap Asian?

is there such thing?

When the Americans needed bail out money, who did they end up looking to? Food for thought.

[InvisibleSoul]

Originally Posted by GLOW

Saw this and thought it would be of benefit
Computers & Electronics : Newegg.ca: Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard $27.99 | Vancouver Deals - RedFlagDeals.com

i can attest that this is a great keyboard. when i was a sw engineer i had carpal tunnel from typing all day. ordered one of these from work and it was so awesome i bought one for myself at home. thought it would affect how i played WoW back then but nope LOL. i think i hunted around and found it on sale for $50, BB & FS had it for $70ish. so IMO this deal is super awesome. I never shopped on newegg before but i always hear about it so i figure it's a fairly legit site.

Fairly legit site?



Newegg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[StylinRed]

BCHydro is giving several dollars worth of discounts off the purchase of each Philips CFL and LED bulbs @ Home Depot for the month of March

http://www.homedepot.ca/wcsstore/Hom...hting-2012.pdf

just saw a google ad and checked it out, no coupon needed it looks
and here's a home depot article about led lighting from philips http://www.homedepot.ca/know-how/buying-guides/philips

[saveth]

I've got those led lights in my living room. They're actually pretty good. They're just expensive.
Posted via RS Mobile

[TheNewGirl]

I admit to being a master with the Shoppers Optimum points. I can spend $75 on make up at a triple points sale and get $90 worth of points and sometimes even a $20 gas card and then I will wait for a double points spending day and load up on coupons and get $200+ in groceries off that $90 of points.

I will never, ever, ever again in my life pay full price for toiletries again.

For food I shop at lot at T&T and little asian grocers. I will also never pay Save On or Safeway prices for produce again in my life if I can help it.

I also buy night out for 2 passes at Costco for movies - $25 gets two adult admission + 2 drinks and a popcorn. The 2 drinks + popcorn combo on it's own at the theater is $17.99.

[Gridlock]

Cool! I need 3 led bulbs for my bathroom. The light fixture chewed through the incandescent bulbs, so I replaced with CFL's, which take forever to warm up, causing grief for the lady that doesn't like peeing in the dark for some reason. Maybe the $15 dollar each led's will work. It takes 3, so that cheap light I got on sale is really working out for me

Never buy a light fixture that takes special bulbs. This one takes the small base chandelier bulb, and they don't like hanging upside down.

[InvisibleSoul]

I don't know if it's still going on, but a couple months ago down at the Bellingham Costco, they had ridiculously cheap prices for CFL lightbulbs because of a similar Washington State rebate. All types of 4-pack CFLs were like $5-8 total.

[MG1]

Originally Posted by TheNewGirl

I admit to being a master with the Shoppers Optimum points. I can spend $75 on make up at a triple points sale and get $90 worth of points and sometimes even a $20 gas card and then I will wait for a double points spending day and load up on coupons and get $200+ in groceries off that $90 of points.

I will never, ever, ever again in my life pay full price for toiletries again.

For food I shop at lot at T&T and little asian grocers. I will also never pay Save On or Safeway prices for produce again in my life if I can help it.

I also buy night out for 2 passes at Costco for movies - $25 gets two adult admission + 2 drinks and a popcorn. The 2 drinks + popcorn combo on it's own at the theater is $17.99.

"Spend Your Points" event is coming up. I'm on Shoppers Drug Mart's mailing list. It's not as good as the one they had at Christmas time, but I might just go wild with the 450 bucks or so worth of points that I've got left.

I wish Superstore had something like that, so I can use up the over $1000.00 worth of PC points I've racked up. Too busy collecting them and not redeeming them, LOL

[EuterVanWasser]

Originally Posted by StylinRed

BCHydro is giving several dollars worth of discounts off the purchase of each Philips CFL and LED bulbs @ Home Depot for the month of March

http://www.homedepot.ca/wcsstore/Hom...hting-2012.pdf

just saw a google ad and checked it out, no coupon needed it looks
and here's a home depot article about led lighting from philips Philips Lighting | Buying Guides | Home Depot Canada

You know, I wanted to buy about 20 of these new LED lamps for all the pot lights in my house, but admit the upfront cost put me off even after considering the discount.

Does anyone know whether there is a site / calculator, etc. that can help you figure out your annual savings per year by installing these?

Edit: Oh jeeze.. I'd fail myself here if I could: seems Home Depot's link off that .pdf provides an example of what I'm looking for.. and seeing as it's coming from a trusted retail source, it must be completely non-biased! lawlz.

[EuterVanWasser]

Actually, one more thing here I'll say. It's not shopping related specifically, but it turned out to be one of the best decisions I've made to help save money for the family month after month.

We bought a 60s era house, and I invested in a few hundred dollars in insulation and brought the R-value of the house up from 20 to 48. I did the work myself crawling around in the attic laying it all out, but it only took about two days.

Sure it wasn't enjoyable work and it wasn't the only thing I did to make the house more energy efficient, but our monthly gas bill was adjusted downwards by a fair margin the following year after we moved in, so this is paying dividends.

[MindBomber]

Originally Posted by EuterVanWasser

Actually, one more thing here I'll say. It's not shopping related specifically, but it turned out to be one of the best decisions I've made to help save money for the family month after month.

We bought a 60s era house, and I invested in a few hundred dollars in insulation and brought the R-value of the house up from 20 to 48. I did the work myself crawling around in the attic laying it all out, but it only took about two days.

Sure it wasn't enjoyable work and it wasn't the only thing I did to make the house more energy efficient, but our monthly gas bill was adjusted downwards by a fair margin the following year after we moved in, so this is paying dividends.

Good move.

You can save a bit by doing it yourself with batts, it's not quite as effective by having a pro-install loose fill, but still makes a significant difference.

Just let me add for anyone reading this, don't let any dumb clerk at HD talk you into renting the attic blowing machines they all carry now. If you want to use loose fill hire a professional or your wasting time and money, someone with no experience will knock down the r-value significantly while installing.

[JesseBlue]

Originally Posted by InvisibleSoul

I heard you can't do it anymore for most of that stuff because P&G specifically added a line on their coupons to prohibit coupon stacking. So while London Drugs may still allow coupon stacking, you can't do it for P&G products... which is the majority of stuff people were able to get for free before.

I did that three years ago when I was unemployed for about a year. It really does take a significant amount of time to collect up coupons for stacking... but I decided to go all out one time and ended up getting paid $4.87 to take $737.33 worth of merchandise.

my wife is one of those couponers and we have a stash of stuff here at home...its not just a one off thing as our goal is to never pay for the full price at all times...right now she has numerous free product coupons that she can't wait to use...

oh yah superstore stack one manufacturers coupon as well as in store coupon so you can still get freebie products...

also as a tip, try not to live beyond your means...sacrifice can benefit in the long run...ie do you really need a data plan on your phone? do you really need a third tv? do you really need to change your video card? etc

[InvisibleSoul]

Originally Posted by JesseBlue

my wife is one of those couponers and we have a stash of stuff here at home...its not just a one off thing as our goal is to never pay for the full price at all times...right now she has numerous free product coupons that she can't wait to use...

oh yah superstore stack one manufacturers coupon as well as in store coupon so you can still get freebie products...

also as a tip, try not to live beyond your means...sacrifice can benefit in the long run...ie do you really need a data plan on your phone? do you really need a third tv? do you really need to change your video card? etc

I was only willing to spend the time being an extreme couponer when I was unemployed. It really takes a lot of time to gather all the coupons, organize them, find the deals to use them on, and even going to buy them. That one trip where I got the $700+ stuff for free, I'm sure the aggregate time I spent preparing it was at least a few hours... but now I have enough razors, body wash, shampoo and other stuff like that to last me for years.

Yeah, you can stack one manufacturer coupon with an in-store coupon at Superstore... but I didn't find there was much that you could actually get for free with that.

I'm just a casual couponer now.

[MG1]

Zellers has started their liquidation sales at certain locations only. Not many places in BC yet, as they still have about a year to go.


Zellers | Liquidation