Add to Your Stockpile For Next to Nothing!

Every week before I go shopping I check out the Coupon Matches which the Freebies Deals And Rewards members share at my favourite money saving forum! I copy and paste the best deals (that I have coupons for) and head to my local store(s) to snag the deals!

I would generally recommend that you visit one store like Walmart or Zellers and price match the items you wish to purchase from all store fliers in one place. Having said that, I've found that my Walmart and Zellers aren't stocking the same sizes as the sale items, so I sometimes make multiple store visits to do my best deals shopping!

My most recent deals include the following and a breakdown of how I paid so little:

• The $1, $2, $3 No Frills sale offered Dove deodorant for $1. I was lucky to make some coupon trades with friends in British Columbia and scored 4 Unilever insert coupons to save $1 off any Dove product! So after taxes I paid $0.13 each, totalling $0.52 out of pocket (oop) for 4 units.
• Zehrs had another sale on Cottonelle for $4.44. I traded coupons with friends locally and managed to score 1 printable coupon worth $3. So after taxes I paid $2.04 for 12 double rolls (after taxes were applied). 
• The $1, $2, $3 No Frills sale had 2 different laundry detergents on sale, Purex and Sunlight. I was able to purchase 2 of each variety. The Purex was $3 and I had 2 of the coupons left from trades with friends online for other high value (hv) coupons. My oop was $0.78 for 2 bottles (after taxes). The Sunlight was less savings but still a great deal. The sale price was $3 and I had 2 coupons for $1.50 savings. My oop expense for 2 boxes was $3.78 (after taxes).
• Another deal from the $1, $2, $3 No Frills sale that I was able to get were the Ziploc Sandwich bags (40 ct). I had 2 coupons that had no size restriction from Websaver.ca to save $2 when you purchased any 2 Ziploc brand products. So I grabbed 4 boxes and my out of pocket expense was the tax of 0.52 or a mere $0.13 per box (or I could break it down to per unit of $0.00325).
• I also utilized a rain check that I had in my wallet for 4 chocolate milk from Shoppers Drug Mart for only $0.99 each. I love the stores which offer rain checks when items go out of stock, especially sale items. It would be super if more stores would adopt the practice!

Although I was able to find other deals during my shopping excursions this week, these were the most notable and the best overall savings! What was your best deal of the week and how much money did spend for out of pocket expenses on your purchase(s)?

Halloween Decorating!

Well, it’s that time of year again. The leaves are changing colours, the air has a crispness to it... and the stores are selling massive, jumbo size boxes of chocolates and candy treats! Halloween must be near.

Whether or not you have little ones who partake in the off-putting, but well meaning “trick or treating” (such cute costumes!!), most people still like to decorate a little bit for these munchkins (and witches, and ghosts!) However, it can be expensive to decorate your house for one single night. Especially when older kids are apt to take that beautifully carved pumpkin of yours and smash it in the wee hours.

So how can you have Halloween without breaking the bank?? Here are some tips to get you by:

1. You don’t need a lot of decorations for your house to look good. A single pumpkin propped up on a small table and a glowing candle (or flameless candle to be even safer) can look wonderful. Add that with a pop of full mums and you’re good to go!

2. Looking for a little more? Go thrifty – dollar stores these days can work wonders. Get some cheaper decorations, like a couple of bags of spider webs and plastic spiders and see how far you can make these stretch (literally!) You can get a lot more bang for your buck this way.

3. If you have little ones, homemade decorations can really make Halloween fun! Even if you don’t have kids to do all the work, take a look online and in magazine for decorating ideas and get crafty! For instance, it doesn’t take much to stuff some old clothes with plastic bags or leaves and make a scarecrow. Paper bats hanging from your porch is easy to do and looks great!

4. Be sure to use what you already have around the house. Black sheets? Drape them around the house to make the place look spooky. Old costumes? Find a way to display them (or even better – get the kids to re-wear them!)

The internet is a great place to find more ideas, for less cost! Enjoy and be frugal.

Happy Halloween!!