2011 : Half a Year in Review

Reflecting on my savings gives me great pride in what I've accomplished in only 6 months. Here's what I have saved since June 2011:

• Redeeming SDM Optimum Points : $830 in free products & groceries
• Redeeming Sobeys club points : $200 in free groceries
• Redeeming CAA points : $230 for 4 free Canada's Wonderland and Movie tickets
• Free gift cards earned through various sources
• Sobeys : x2 Nestea mail-in rebates = $40
• SDM spend $50 receive $10 Tim Horton's = $40
• Stouffers Rewards = $20
• Kellogg's Gas Cards = $20
• Marks Work Warehouse = $10
• Swagbucks = $100
• Couponing : Lost track .... but is over $1,000 which includes all my FPC's! 

Happy 2012!

Advil Cold and Sinus Bonus Count : $4 Coupon

Current Walmart flyer has Advil Cold and Sinus on sale marked from $10.92 to $8.47. I applied the $4 coupon found on a tear pad (from Shoppers Drug Mart) and brought the price to $4.47 for a 50 count bottle. It's already opened because DH is ill this week.

Easy Rice Pudding Recipe that tastes like Grandma used to make!

So much more cost effective to make at home than buy store bought versions.  I found an incredibley easy and tasty Rice Pudding Recipe that I would like to share. It tastes just like I remember my grandma making but this uses instant rice.

Makes only 2 servings so I double up on the ingredients that it calls for:

• 1 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup instant rice, uncooked
• 2 Tbsp of sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp vanilla

Combine milk, rice, sugar and salt in saucepan. Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered for 6 minutes (stirring constantly).

In separate bowl, whisk egg and vanilla until blended. Add a small amount of hot milk mixture and mix well. Pour egg mixture to saucepan, cook and stir on low heat for 1 minute (do not boil).

Remove from heat and let stand for 30 minutes.  I also sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top.

My preference is to serve cold but also tastes yummy warm!

DD shops smart too : Makes a mama proud !

Children do learn from example and my 10 year old made me proud. We browsed the Ardene store and she was looking for discounted items! She paid only $10 for the necklace, bracelet and earrings. The necklace is heavily beaded and the bracelet is quite heavy so I'm thinking it's glass beads.

The jewlery box pictured was a DiY project turned from an ugly brown to white adorned with glitter star stickers. Cost of the jewlery box = $8

How I was frugal this Christmas and no one had a clue!

I became extra frugal this holiday season but seemed as if I spent lavishly to my recipients.

• Throughout the 2011 year, I took every opportunity to collect Shoppers Drug Mart points and redeem during bonus (and mega) redemption days. I picked up a Wii console and fit game / USB sticks / earbuds, Dior, Givenchy, Million and Beckham cologne & perfume sets. I also collected free $10 Tim's gift cards for having spent the minimum of $50 (on items I would have normally purchased).
• I also earn points from Swagbucks and redeemed for Starbucks gift cards, books, USB charging cables for ipods and a self gift of a latte machine.
• I sold items on ebay and etsy to earn paypal funds and inturn shop on ebay for clothing to gift
• Shopping at Sobey's when they offer great bonus points (ie, kraft dinner for $1.99 earning 300 pts per box) allows me to earn points quickly. I redeem at the $50 level and made gift baskets of jams, teas, mineral water, coffee, crackers, cookies, chocolates, peanuts, almonds and honey.

Zellers: 50% off one item - December 26-31, 2011

I casually browsed through Zellers today to see what Holiday items were left on the shelves. I picked up a couple of packs of wrapping paper and 2 leaf ornaments that I will use to adorn the gifts for next year. Best part is that I took the 50% off one item offered by Zellers facebook (and yes I said the code word 'cucumber' to get the deal) hehe. Out of pocket was $6.73 and saved $13.00.

You Can Draw in 30 Days: The Fun, Easy Way to Learn to Draw in One Month or Less

This Christmas, I redeemed swagbucks points towards amazon gift cards. One of my purchases was this learn to draw book for my nephew and turned out to be a great hit! I paired it with a portfolio, drawing paper, mechanical pencil, crayola from the dollor store and a personal name stamp I had created from Vistaprint.

Vintage grey glassware collection

Showing a sneak peak of my glassware collection that is on display in my new kitchen cupboards (behind the patterned glass door inserts). The decanter and glassware in pic 5 was sent from Australia! I l love the shapes of each piece and will continue to add other lovelies to the collection.

Kitchen Reno - Part 3 : Custom Glass Decals

In an effort to have a focal point in the kitchen but still keeping costs at a minimum, we opted to have custom decals made through a shop found on etsy.com and placed on glass inserts. The pattern colour is grey to keep with the stainless steel.

The backsplash still needs to be installed but that will be in a few months - for now the range is up and functional.

My Ralph Lauren sweater and leather belt purchases - paid $13.99 !

I have an eclectic style and love to find fashions at rock bottom prices (who doesn't)? I picked up this stylish orange knit sweater with boat neck, RL buttons at the neck and 3/4" sleeve length for only $9.99. The leather belt was only $3.00.

Kitchen Reno - Part 2 : Repainting Cupboards

In the attempt to save money, rather than replacing the kitchen cupboards, we've decided to paint them. The original cupboards are 21 years old and the colour is what we call 'flesh' - the new colour is a light grey. I think it gives the kitchen a fresh new look and very inexpensive. Supplies are primer, heavy duty malamine paint, foam rollers from the dollar store, hand brush and time. I'm pleased that we are still able to see the wood grain so it's more natural looking.

SDM Mega Redemption #2

Redeemed 30,000 pts for $60.00

• x3  eggo waffles
• x1  frozen peas
• x1  frozen french fries
• x1  shrimp ring
• x3  peak freans cookies
• x12 stouffers crustini's (codes on box that count towards stouffers rewards program)
• x1  highliner salmon
• x1  carton of eggs
• x2  oasis juice

total 60.75
OOP tax 1.04

SDM Mega Redemption #1

Redeemed 95,000 pts for $250 worth of products

• x2  kingston usb sticks (stocking stuffers)
• x2  bathroom tissue
• x2  cheerios cereal
• x1  scott's paper towels (pkg of 2)
• x1  cashew canister
• x1  j'adore dior perfume set (holding for a bday gift)
• x3  contact lens cleaners
• x1  eye drops
• x1  gum pkg
• x1  kleenex hand towels
• x1  recycling bags (pkg of 40) 
• x1  cetaphil moisturizer
• x1  ear buds
• x1  mars bar
• x1  kit kat bar
• x1  kit kat mini's (pkg of 20)
• x1  russell stover billion dollar chocolate (stocking stuffer)

total $250.89 -
OOP $32.10 tax

What $7.44 bought me at Sobeys !

Redeemed points at Sobeys yesterday to receive $50 of free groceries. I forgot to take a pic before putting all the stuff away so unfortunately I won't have a visual reminder but the description in this blog entry will do just fine. Out of pocket was only $7.44

• x1  4L milk
• x4  1L chocolate milk
• x1  eggs
• x3  2L cola
• x1  50% reduced key lime pie
• x2  50% reduced sushi and maki rolls (yum)
• x1  motts applesauce
• x1  bistro sliders 
• x2  uncle bens 1.1K instant rice
• x4  cat soft cat food
• x1  bag hard cat food
• x1  deli meats
• x1  kit kat bar
• x1  parmesan grated cheese

All great staples for the fridge and pantry

Free Box of Kashi !

Today I redeemed my Free Product Coupon (FPC) for a box of Kashi bars. I sent away for the "Kashi challenge" and rec'd a free sample plus coupon for a free box of choice. I stuck with the roasted almond flavour as it had a qty of 10 per box while the others only had 6. Why would I just toss aside 4 perfectly good bars?

Kitchen Reno - Part I : Rona Pendant Lamp

Rona had a 15% off one item sale last Saturday but the pendant that I wanted was not in stock. I picked up a reincheck and luckily the item was back in stock a few days later. I decided to pick it up today and take advantage of their spend $50 and receive a $10 Rona gift card. I purchased a pack of light bulbs with the card. Total spent was $59.

Received free $10 Tim Horton's gift card from SDM

I am always on the hunt for a deal on a deal.

Last Saturday, Shoppers Drug Mart offered a free $10 Tim's gift card when you spend $50. I planned ahead and purchased the SDM gift card and bought only food items. I didn't need any creams, hair products or makeup so it would be just spending money do be buying those items. This was a way to buy sale essentials that we consume. I will be giving the Tim's gift card as an Xmas gift. So there it is.... a deal on a deal. 

Shoppers Drug Mart - Gift Card Promo!

Promo is to purchase a minimum of 2 gift cards and spend minimum of $150 to receive 8,000 bonus points. I bought SDM own gift cards and rec'd instantly 1,500 points. It's not money wasted because I will eventually have purchased this amount so I might aswell get something more out of it.

I'll go again before the end of the promo to get some gift cards to use for the holidays.

They're offering and I'm taking! hehe.

Glade Febreeze Noticeables

I used my free product coupon from P&G towards one of these plug-in's and am looking forward to trying it out. The item was priced at $3.49+tax and as mentioned, I didn't pay a scent. I am anxious to try this product (hopefully holiday scented) but won't be duped into buying an expensive fragrance insert.... patience is the key to great deals!

Walmart, McDonald's and Sobey's Freebies!

Today was another great day for freebies! Here's what a brought home:

Walmart

• x1 small container of skinny cow icecream $1.67 and used the $5 coupon (expires Nov 9) . I rec'd an overage of $3.33 to use towards my purchases
• x2 old el paso taco kits $3.47ea and rec'd x2 free TexMex shredded cheese (kits also have $4 ground beef coupon inside
• x2 hamburger helper $1.67 (boxes have green giant freebie coupon inside)

Sobeys

• SCOP on burger buns = free

McDonalds

• Mom and I enjoyed our free McDonald's coffee (today is the last day of this promo)

My FREE latte hot milk maker has arrived!

It's an amazing little latte maker and I am so pleased that I chose it using my amazon money earned through swagbucks. It would have cost $42 but was completely free !! This replaces any urge to by latte's at places like Starbucks when I can make it with any flavouring at the cost of just pennies a cup. 

Shoppers Drug Mart "redeem your points" event

Today is Shoppers Drug Mart's "redeem your points" event. For 95,000 points they will give you $200 in merchandise instead of the usual $170. Great value so I picked up on more holiday gifts. My purchases include:

• 1 men's Givenchy cologne set  reg. $86.00
• 1 men's Paco Rabanne Million cologne set $82.00
• 1 Beckham cologne set $30.00
• 1 bag of sugar (not pictured) $1.99

I paid $26 in taxes and used my pre-purchased SDM gift card to cover that portion. If you're wondering why I bought the gift card is because SDM gives points on their own cards so it's an easy way to accumulate more points.