Food - $2 Hot Breakfast Sandwich @TimHortons until March 4, 2012

How can you say no to that? As the title states, Timmies is offering their hot breakfast sandwich for only $1.99 until March 4, 2012. Just head on to their website for more details and check out their menu. Keep in mind their breakfast items are only available between 5am - noon everyday.

Bulk Barn Coupon Save $3 WUB $10 November 11 to November 24, 2011

It's time to stock up again!

Bulk Barn is offering a coupon to save $3 when you buy $10 or more.

Coupon is valid from November 11 until November 24, 2011.

Print out your coupon here.

It's time to stock up on some more baking and cooking supplies, and a little bit of candy (as if Halloween leftovers weren't enough)

Don't know where's the nearest Bulk Barn? Check out Google Maps here. 

What do you normally buy at Bulk Barn? (I'm actually really interested to know!)

See their weekly promotions here.

Free 2012 Telus Calendar

For those of you who are Telus subscribers, you should receive an invitation to order your free 2012 calendar. Supplies are limited so order your free calendar today if you're interested. There doesn't seem to be any restriction to bar non-current subscribers from submitting an application so YMMV if you don't have any services with Telus.

Order your 2012 Telus calender here.

Telus also plans to release a cross-platform "digital calendar" in December that will supposedly support computer, smartphone and tablet.

More on their "digital calendar" here.

Coupons From Save.ca - Dr. Oetker Ristorante Pizza $1 Off, Kraft Dinner $0.75 Off

If you haven't ordered any Save.ca coupons lately, then head on over to see if there's any new coupons you can make use of. Here's just a short list of what's available this round:

• SAVE 75¢ on Kraft Dinner Smart Macaroni and Cheese
• SAVE $1.00 on Dr. Oetker Ristorante Pizza
• SAVE $1.00 on Post Honey Bunches Of Oats Cereal
• SAVE $1.00 on Majesta Bathroom Tissue
• SAVE $1.00 on Sunlight Laundry Detergent

Visit Save.ca for more detail and to order your coupons!

PG brandSampler Spoils Arrive!

Just picked this up from the mailbox. How can I not be excited to receive a package from myself? Here's a snap of today's brandSampler spoils:

Unfortunately if you haven't signed up for it already, it's too late for this round of free samples, but you can check out P&G's website and sign up for their newsletter to be notified of the round!

Click to check out P&G brandSampler website

Games - PS3 / Xbox 360 Weekly Deal - Games for $23 Each Shipped

Play-Asia has launch this week's weekly deals, and this time it's on six games, not one!
All of the games below are $17.90 USD with shipping from $4.90
They are all either region free or North American compatible.

Hurry and grab what you want before stock runs out!

PS3
Two Worlds II
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Yakuza 4


Xbox 360
DeathSmiles [Limited Edition]
Ninety-Nine Nights 2

Test Drive Unlimited 2
  

Real Canadian Superstore Clearance on Nalgene Tritan On The Go 700ml Water Bottles for $2.94

I snapped this photo on the west side of town, Oxford and Hyde Park.

Now, in all honesty, I much prefer the "leak proof" On The Fly model over this one, but at the current blowout price (and extra 3% cashback with MBNA SmartCash), one really can't complain!

I apologize in advance if the price (or stock levels) has changed since I took this photo on Saturday -- I just plain forgot about it. Only the yellow and red ones were left. They were near the back of the store, at the end of an isle along with other miscellaneous clearance item (near the kitchenware).

On a side note, I'm still itching for that Mountain Equipment Co-op to open at Wellington Commons. So even if you can't manage to get a hold of this one (or you're holding out for a different model), I'm sure MEC will have some sort of Grand Opening sale in the near future. /crossfingers

Shoppers Drug Mart - 20x Points, Mega Bonus Redemption, 8000 Bonus on Gift Cards & More!

Shoppers' have been making quite a buzz lately on penny-pinching forums all across the interwebs lately. Here's a summary of some of the finds that have caught my eye:

Mega Bonus Redemption on December 3 & 4

This one really takes the cake. Big thanks over to SmartCanucks and their forum members for posting some of this inside information: 

Shoppers is having their "Big Big Redemption" this year on Saturday, December 3rd & Sunday, December 5th, 2012. See below for redemption values

• Redeem 30,000 points for $60 off 
• Redeem 50,000 points for $125 off 
• Redeem 95,000 points for $250 off  

20x Bonus Points WUB $50 on November 19 Only

One-day 20x event. Regular exceptions apply.

Earn 8,000 Optimum Points WUB $150 in Gift Cards November 5 to 18

See the discussion over on the RDF forums, as this one seem quite unique.

You can browse through a selection of the gift cards they carry here on Shoppers' website.

Fine Print:

Offer valid from Saturday, November 5, 2011 to Friday, November 18, 2011.

* Points are issued according to the net pre-tax purchase of eligible products after redemptions and discounts and before taxes using a valid Shoppers Optimum Card®. Points to be awarded to your account by Friday, November 25, 2011 for eligible transactions. Calculation excludes Shoppers Optimum® MasterCard® points. Not to be used in conjunction with any other Shoppers promotion or offer. Gift or financial cards may not be used to purchase additional gift or financial cards. Bonus points will not be issued for transactions in which a gift card or a financial card is used as tender to pay for additional gift or financial cards. Some conditions apply. Offer valid Saturday, November 5, 2011 to Friday, November 18, 2011. See store for details.

Link to Shoppers' site for more details

20x Points WUB $75 on Cosmetics November 3 to 11

Link to Shoppers' site for more details

Save $10 WUB $75 on November 9, 2011

Print your coupon here

All Other Current Shoppers Optimum Bonus Offers

If you're just a few points shy of a redemption tier, you can just pick up a box of Kleenex or two packs of Stayfree, or check out the other current offers now running.

Click here to check out Shoppers' current offers

Rant - Shoppers Optimum Points And Our Love / Hate Relationship

I've been keeping a low profile about the recent Shoppers because of our love/hate relationship. Frankly, I feel they do a pretty good job at making me "spend" more to "save more". Now here's my take on Optimum Points - the most realistic and highest return redemption breakpoint (for me) is the 50,000 mark, where on a regular spending and redemption, works out to 1.7% return. Doing simple math, a 20x event will bump this value to 34% return.

Disclaimer: This is a lengthy rant - for a summary, see below. Note that I neither advocate for nor against shopping at Shoppers, but rather voicing consumer awareness on spending habits and avoiding shopper savings fallacies.

A 34% return sounds great on paper, but I gotta open my eyes and have a level head about things. Firstly, I need to spend at least $50 in one go, and only during the 20x points events. And at the end of it all, I need to spend my hard-earned "reward" on $85 of merchandise -- and again, all in one transaction. These two simple steps are already a large burden, but I keep telling myself that I'm "saving" 34%... but I don't "feel" the savings when I'm shelling out several hundred dollars :(

The good news is that SDM tries hard to massage that money out of my wallet but setting up "Bonus Redemption" events, and lately a pre-Christmas "Big Big Redemption" event. Here's the breakdown:

On regular redemption days:

• Redeem 50,000 points for $85 off ~ 1.7% return (~ 34% if 20x bonus)
• Redeem 95,000 points for $170 off  ~ 1.79% return (~ 35.8% if 20x bonus)

On the bonus redemption days:

• Redeem 50,000 points for $100 off ~ 2% return (~ 40% if 20x bonus)
• Redeem 95,000 points for $200 off  ~ 2.1% return (~ 42.1% if 20x bonus)

On the mega redemption days:

• Redeem 30,000 points for $60 off ~ 2% return (~ 40% if 20x bonus)
• Redeem 50,000 points for $125 off ~ 2.5% return (~ 50% if 20x bonus)
• Redeem 95,000 points for $250 off  ~ 2.63% return (~ 52.63% if 20x bonus)

What this means for me is that at my preferred 50,000 redemption mark, I would net a 50% return! To illustrate: I spend $250 on their "20x Bonus Event" on November 19th, I would qualify for $125 redemption on December 3rd or 4th. It's a great deal... but do I really need $375 of merchandise from Shoppers?

BUT... there's another route!

Shoppers also has another event going on right now where you can earn 8,000 point just for buying only $150 in gift cards. At my preferred redemption of 50,000 points (on the Mega Redemption event), that works out to $20 return for buying $150. But the problem is, there's a lot of psychology involved with how much "savings" I gained. But before I delve in deeper, here's a breakdown of the options:

Assume I start off with 0 points

If I take advantage of the 20x points on November 19th and the Mega Redemption on December 3rd or 4th:

I will spend a total of $250 to receive $375 of goods.

This would be perfect if you needed to pick up a new PS3 or Xbox 360.

If I only take advantage of the gift-card promotion running from November 5 to 18, I could spend $900 on gift cards to earn 48,000 points. Assume I have I magical way to earn the remaining 2000 points, I would net $125 in free merchandise, but lock up $900 in "gift cards"

Now my rant.

The fallacy of the gift cards is that "I bought $150 and got $20 back" wherein reality, I simply paid $150 to get $150 and the "savings" comes in the form of Shoppers' merchandise.

The fallacy of earning Shoppers' merchandise is that "I earned x points and now this entitles me to $y of free stuff". But I've failed to recognize that I have locked up a large sum of cash into gift cards to earn this reward (see Time Value of Money). Unless I was planning to spend $900 at Home Depot on a large renovation project, or gift out $900 of iTunes stocking-stuffers, the money would be locked up indefinitely in a piece of plastic that I can't use to pay my down my phone bills, hydro bills, credit card bills, or anything else that cold hard cash can do.

One can argue that I can buy gas and grocery gift cards since they are necessities that I would otherwise spend money on. However, I'm currently toting the MBNA SmartCash which would give me 3% cashback if I made my purchases directly at the retailer instead of at 1% at Shoppers. So buying the "gift cards" at Shoppers would net me 1% instead of 3%, effectively a Net Loss of 2% - the cost to gain "savings" in the form of points and ultimately Shoppers' merchandise (total $18 loss over $900 to gain $125 of merchandise). And that's an $18 loss on top of having locked ~3 months of grocery and gas spending into gift cards.

tl;dr

If you regularly shop at Shopper's and/or collect Optimum Points religiously, traditionally give out gift cards as stocking stuffers for family/relatives/Secret Santa, or you need a new PS3 or Xbox 360, then check out the upcoming Shoppers' promotions!

Otherwise, if you're more intent on "saving" a few dollars and weren't planing to purchase a few hundred dollars of merchandise at Shoppers, then don't! And if you need gift cards, consider buying them at gas/grocery stores with your MBNA SmartCash for 3% cash return.

Remember - you're not "saving" money by "spending" more. It's only the case if you had been premeditating a purchase and would have paid more otherwise.