Category Archives: Money Tips

How I Saved $5.40 Off the $99 Sale Price for Office 2016 And Got a Roll of Designer Duct Tape Plus $1 Back

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My 2008 laptop is still working fine. I use it for email, with MS Word, PowerPoint and Excel; I edit photos with Photoshop Elements; my kids do homework and play dubious computer games. Still, my husband would never be able to run *his* games on such an antique which resulted in him eventually upgrading his boat anchor. We decided to load it with MS Office 2016 because so much of the homework our children get encumbered with requires them to use it. I shopped around for a reasonable price and found it at Staples on sale for $99. Of course, I immediately tried to get an even better price: this is how I saved $10 more and got $2 back in amazon.ca gift cards although I decided to blow some of that $10 on a roll of designer duct tape adorned with comical cartoon owls.

Always Check Great Canadian Rebates Before You Make an Online Purchase

I wasn’t sure if Staples was one of the stores available through Great Canadian Rebates so I visited the website and checked. Yes. And even better, it offered rebate of up to 4% on purchases. Admittedly the rebate on computer-related stuff like this software is only 1% but still, not bad.

What really caught my eye, though, was the click through coupon to save $10 on an order of $100 or more. That’s significant considering it applies to items that are already on sale!

Of course, the software I wanted was $99.00. I thought about buying something that cost very close to $1, like paperclips at $1.68 a box. But then I thought what we need more of is duct tape. There were many colours and styles to choose from: I went with the sophisticated neon cartoon owls that should add a certain j’n sais quois to patching that hole in the yard waste tub.

(This image leads to my amazon.ca kickback page to buy the tape. It’s cheaper at Staples right now so shop around.)

Buying from Staples Through Great Canadian Rebates Also Gets Free Shipping on Lower Orders

Another perk that is available when buying from Staples through Great Canadian Rebates is the minimum order for free shipping is lower. Shipping is free on most orders of $45 or more. (This offer will change from time to time, so check before making a decision.)

How Did I Get $2 In Amazon.ca Certificates If I Bought from Staples?

The kickback Canadians get from buying stuff through Great Canadian Rebates is paid in amazon.ca gift certificates. They nicely round up to the next $ if your monthly total rebate is even $0.01 above a dollar. Since I didn’t buy anything else last month, and since my eligible rebate is $1.04, I’ll be getting a $2 certificate for Amazon.

UPDATE: As of June or July 2016 it appears they no longer “round up” the Amazon certificates. They seem to be issuing them now right down to the penny you’ve earned.

What Did I Save In Total For Clicking Through from Great Canadian Rebates?

So by
signing in to my GCR account (e.g. typing my email and password), and then
typing Staples in the Merchant text box, then
clicking on the Save Now button beside “Save $10 on Your Next Purchase of $100 or more” and then
shopping at staples.ca as usual, I saved or was rebated

  • $10 – $5.60 the cost of the duct tape that I would have bought elsewhere possibly for less
  • $2 – $1 rebate from GCR in Amazon certificates (It would have been $1 if I had not bought the tape.)
  • Plus the cost of gas driving to staples

On software that was already on at a reasonable sale price of $99.

For a total saving of
$5.40 (or
$12
if you don’t adjust for the duct tape)

Cool.

Blatant Sales Pitch for Great Canadian Rebates

If you don’t belong and you join GCR by clicking on my link, you will get the same rewards as if you just join GCR by searching for it on the internet. I, however, will be very happy you used my link because I will get a small percentage rebate if you ever buy anything using GCR, even though it will not reduce or affect your reward. (I don’t get any info about who joined, what they spent, or what they spent it on, though, so I won’t know how to thank you personally.)

To join Great Canadian Rebates and help me earn a few more dollars in amazon.ca certificates, please join using my

http://www.GreatCanadianRebates.ca/register/171462/

Code, which is automatically entered if you click on this above link.

Either way, consider joining as it could save you a few bucks and get you a free roll of duct tape, too!

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Do you use an online rebate program like GCR or RedFlagDeals to save a few $$ on your online purchases? Please share your experiences with a comment.

What Makes a Great Gift for Someone Who Has Everything and Doesn’t Want Anything?

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If you’re like me, this is a question you have to ask yourself about more than one person more than once a year! I agree that some people really don’t need more “stuff.” So I try to think of things they can use, or things that get used up and need replacement. One gift that has proved quite acceptable to a few people on my list in a CAA membership.

(NOTE: I don’t get anything from anyone including CAA if you join. This is something that I recommend just for the fun of it.)

What Makes a CAA Membership the Right Choice for Certain People Who Have Everything?

This is an especially good gift if the person receiving it

  • doesn’t believe in snow tires
  • drives more assertively than you’d like
  • is prone to doing things like dropping their keys in their purse, dropping their purse in the trunk, and slamming the lid shut, and not realizing what they just did until they come back from a day’s outing exhausted from the portages and welting up from the mosquitoes (Yes, I know someone like this.)
  • thinks gas gauges lie and there is “always another few litres in the tank even when it says E”
  • is convinced nothing will ever happen to them to make them need roadside assistance and therefore will pay $1000/year for car insurance but will refuse to spend a few hundred on an auto plan, and then IT happens

For sure a CAA membership won’t take up space in their already over-crowded home, smell funny, be the wrong colour, or make them gain any more weight.

What Are Some of the Overlooked Benefits of a CAA Card?

When I think CAA I usually just think about

  • dead battery boosts
  • maps and touring guides and TripTiks
  • towing

But I’ve often paid out my membership’s cost claiming other valuable rewards which have included

  • a significant discount of 10% off the lowest available fares at VIA Rail. This discount on train tickets is available for tickets purchased before December 31 2015 for travel before December 31 2016. I don’t know if it will be offered again in 2016 or not.
  • unexpected discounts at stores: One year I saved 50% on a rush pair of prescription glasses from LensCrafters (the store told me to go home and print the coupon!)
  • discounts on Cineplex movie tickets both for our own use and to give as gifts (Yes, Costco has some good deals on these too, but the local CAASCO office has NO LINES.)
  • hotel room rate discounts: We don’t travel much but many places, especially small hotels who don’t want to develop their own rewards system, offer an almost automatic 10-15% off for CAA members
  • admission and sometimes gift shop discounts at attractions across Canada including the Aquarium in Quebec City (which unlike Ripleys in Toronto is huge and has marine mammals and a large outdoor play area for children) and the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic in Lunenburg.

These are just some of the discounts we have used to save money. You may want to check your CAA branch website for a more complete list to see if anything matches your hobbies.

You may want to mention to the person you are giving the gift membership that these types of benefits are available. Like me, they may not even think to check the CAA website.

The December Petro-Points to CAA Dollars Bonus Is Back

What brought this post on at this time of year? I received a postcard from the southern Ontario branch of the CAA reminding me of an annual promotion. If I redeem 10 000 Petro-Points for $10 CAA Dollars, I’ll get 2 500 new Petro-Points, worth about another $2.50 in the future.

Unfortunately, the offer is not “scaleable” so I can’t get 25 000 Petro-Points for redeeming 100 000 Petro-Points into $100 CAA Dollars. Still, it’s a pleasant little bonus and a good reminder to get someone special their usual birthday gift.

You can read this article if you’d like details on how I used this promotion in previous years.

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Have you had another, probably better, idea of what to give someone who neither needs nor wants anything? Please share your suggestion with a comment.