Most of the information I've shared has been about coupons. Ok, other than my stockpile posts, ALL my posts have been about coupons. Well today I'm going to share another way I save money. There's 2 things I'm going to talk about 1) points cards and 2) money saving apps, which I use both frequently.
So let's start with points cards. The ones I use most would be Airmiles and Shoppers Optimum. I've been an Airmiles collector for years, but I just recently found out that now you can sign into airmiles.ca and you can decide whether you want your Airmiles to go into a "dream rewards account" or a "cash rewards account". I have chosen for 100% of my Airmiles to go into the cash rewards account, but you can set yours to any percentage you want. Once I get 95 Airmiles, I can redeem them for $10 off my purchase at participating locations.
The second points card that I use most often is Shoppers Optimum. I actually use this in 2 ways, I have a bank account with RBC that allows me to earn 1 point for every $1 I spend using my debit card (anywhere). If I shop at shoppers I can use my debit card and earn 10 point for every $1 I spend, and then if I use my optimum card I get another 10 points for every $1, that's double the points :-). Once I receive 8000 points I can use my optimum card to get $10 off my purchases. The more points you save to use the better the value will be!
Now this is a new one that I just signed up for, and I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but I'm sure I am going to absolutely love it! To me it kind of like a cross between a points card and a money saving app. It's called a PC Points Plus card. If you don't have a smartphone or tablet, you can go into any participating Loblaws company and pick up a card. Then when you shop at any of the stores you will be given points for purchasing certain items. Every 1000 points is worth $1, and just by looking at this weeks flyer, I think these points can add up quick! When you go through the checkout line simply show your card and they will scan it and points will be rewarded to your account accordingly, OR if you have already accumulated enough points and you want to use them, tell your cashier and the dollar amount will be deducted from you total bill. WAIT it gets even better? Do you have an Android, IOS, or Blackberry device? You can download the app and use your phone or tablet as your card! With the app you can do more than just collect points. After using it for so long, it will give you custom offers tailored to you depending on what you normally buy. It also has a grocery list option so you can keep your grocery list saved to you phone so you don't have to worry about loosing it. There is also lots of other things you can do with the app, but seeing as I have just downloaded it, I haven't really had much time to check it out, but I think I'm going to love love LOVE this new app! Especially since we do 90% or more of our grocery shopping at Atlantic Superstore!!!
So, the last app that I use to help me save money is called Checkout 51. Every week (Thursday) they refresh their offers with new offers. It's so simple. Before you go to the grocery store, have a look at what this week's Checkout 51 offers are. See anything you like? Pick it up, when your home simply upload the receipt and a certain amount of money will be deposited into your account. Here's an example: Yesterday I bought Clear Shampoo. This week Clear shampoo is one of the offers on Checkout 51. Buy Clear Shampoo get $2 back. So when I got home I uploaded my receipt and $2 was deposited into my account. The bad news is you can only claim each offer once. So even though I bought 3 bottles of shampoo and 3 bottles of conditioner, I was only eligible for the offer once and I only received $2 instead of $12! That's still pretty good considering I used coupons on my Clear and got 2 bottles for $0.99. Oh and that's another thing, with Checkout 51, your still allowed to use coupons on the items your planning on claiming. So yesterday I paid $2.97 for 6 bottles of Clear and then I got $2 back from Checkout 51, so I really just paid $0.97 for 6 bottles of Clear!!!!!!!! Once your account with Checkout 51 reaches $20 you can request a cheque, or you can continue to let your account grow. So far I have cashed out twice with each check totaling around $25! So I've made around $50 for stuff that was already on my grocery list!!
Well, there's a bit more information for those of you who are looking for other ways to save. If you want to check them out for yourself go to these websites:
