Bargain hunting!

Greetings, all!

As I continue my journey through the world of bargain hunting, I keep learning new things, picking up tricks and finding myself strangely looking forward to the Saturdays I know the coupon flyers are coming with the papers. (Red Plum is coming next Saturday! Woohoo!)

Upon the recommendation of my friend Sam, I have been checking some websites called Red Flag Deals, Smart Canucks and Bargain Moose. These sites syndicate information about deals, freebies, coupons and contests, which make it easy to access information about things to get for free or cheap.

I actually got a couple items for FREE in the last month, pictured here.

So, here is a mini bottle of body mist I got from Bath and Body Works, which I found a free coupon for, via their website. You just printed it out and brought it into the store, no questions asked, just straight up free! The lip gloss is from Body Shop, which was a coupon I got from my cell phone provider. Again, same thing, just print it out and bring it in. I must say, I feel like Body Shop has drastically dropped their prices of late, although I don't tend to shop there much, since I buy most of my products at Lush, which is handmade and organic, instead of just regular dollar-store stuff with a fancy smell like Body Shop makes. But, I figured for free, I would try a lip gloss. I have about a billion of them, so why not, right?

I actually ended up going back there last weekend, as I had a coupon for 40% off that I printed from Bargain Moose. I got a giant bottle of Strawberry body wash, which is value priced at 15$ regularly. (The "value" bottle is three times the size of the smaller bottles, but less than twice the price, as the small bottles run for $8. With my coupon, I got it for just over 10 bucks. It's a giant bottle with a pump -- I plan to bring it to my boyfriend's new apartment so I don't need to bring one with me when I go.) My cell phone provider likes to hook up with Body Shop also, as you saw from my free lip gloss, and I just checked now, there is a coupon for 30% off also. Might go pick up a

Another item I was very happy with was men's Gillette shaving gel ... which runs for more than $5 at Wal-Mart. I had my first "ad match" experience, being THAT person. I brought a P&G brand flyer that was compatible at any Loblaws/No Frills/Superstore etc. which had the shaving cream on for $3.99. I also had two coupons for $2 off, so used those to get both of them for $4 total.

I found some $10 hairspray at Shoppers drugmart on clearance for $3, and used a $2 off coupon, so got it for a dollar. I had two coupons and there were two bottles of spray. Worked out quite nicely. I kept one, and gave the other to my mom. (That Shoppers is small, but always has great stuff on clearance. Figured I'd go try to use my coupons there, though I wasn't sure if I would be allowed on clearance. I didn't have any trouble, though.) That day, including my $5 lotto ticket, I bought the two hairsprays and a one dollar item. (A value pack of two bottles of hand sanitizer in a great fruity smell. 50 cents is a great price for a small bottle like that, which I keep EVERYWHERE ... purse, car, you name it) My bill was 8.91 with tax after savings and the coupon. At the bottom of your bill at Shoppers, it now tells you how much you have saved. It says I saved 16.47$ ... and that is not including the $4 I saved with the coupons. so $18.47 in savings and I spent a whopping three dollars.

Later on, I was at Wal-Mart and saw a "tear-pad" which are coupons placed next to items at the store. It was for $3 off when you buy any two Aveeno products. When I was in third year, my roommate was in Co-op at university and worked at Johnson Johnson, so we were always getting great beauty booty for dirt cheap. I mean DIRT cheap. Once a month, Tiff was allowed to make a purchase from the warehouse, and we would get lotions that cost 14$ for 3$ and stuff like that. Aveeno is awesome for people like me who are allergic randomly to products, especially ones with perfume. However ... it's not exactly inexpensive. So I didn't know if I would be able to use the coupon or not. I didn't want to be greedy (the people on the bargain websites complain that the tear-pads are always empty when they arrive at the store) ... I took one for myself and one for my friend Sam. As I was in another aisle, looking for another product, I saw a bunch of clearance items. Lo and behold they had this Aveeno hair product, regularly priced at $8 on clearance for $2. Two products at two bucks each is $4. Minus the coupon and that's a dollar. For two bottles. Again. Didn't want to be greedy, so I grabbed four bottles, took the two coupons and checked out without issue. I gave one bottle to my sister, threw another in the shower for myself and saved the other two for later. A few days later I was picking up another item in the mall and decided to go back to see if they had any more a) coupons and b) bottles of hair stuff. They had both, but this time, the girl at the cash wouldn't let me buy clearance items with the coupons. Definitely not something I had encountered before, but I said I understand, and kept my coupon to use again another day. Maybe at another Wal-Mart?

I had a few coupons as well for Physicians formula makeup, a product I like, but typically buy at Winners, because I don't want to spend massive amounts of cash on drugstore makeup. I have had bronzer and blush in the past from PF, so I was really excited when I saw it was on sale for 40% off at Shoppers Drugmart. I had three coupons and used them all -- not on the same day, and not all at the same location. Some locations had a better selection of items than others, and I had my eye on the Shimmer Strips eyeshadows, because I love the colours of them. My first go-round, I bought the second one down in that photo, Smoky, which is a great collection of neutral greys and silvers, which are colours I love and wear all the time. I am finding that it is a little difficult to work with, since each colour is so small, but definitely getting the hang of it. I love all the silvers, and the colours all blend really well together.
I also picked up a "Happy Booster" bronzer/blush combo compact. It is apparently supposed to boost your mood with some vitamin complex in it and it has a pleasant scent. I just liked that it was in a cute package, and regularly priced around 19$ was on sale for about $13. And I had my three dollar off coupon. So it was $10. Oh. And did I mention it had a rebate sticker for 9 dollars off? Yes. I got a $19 compact that is hot pink, has a mirror inside and a little brush for just over a dollar. Well, a little more, counting the price of the stamp. I'm just waiting for my rebate cheque to arrive -- which I will put into savings. I had one more coupon, so I went back to another Shoppers location later that week and picked up another eye shadow which I'm massively in love with, the third one down in that photo, you see the purple and green one. It is gorgeous and I loveeee it. Haven't worn the green yet, but maybe one of these days!

There weren't really many coupons for me in the latest insert which we got on the long weekend, so most of them I will be mailing to Sam for her coupon trading and coupon trains, but there were some buy-one-get-one-free coupons for Windex, Tilex and Lysol toilet bowl cleaner, all of which are good until the fall. So I have hung on to those ones for now. Hoping I'll be able to find a good price on those items once boyfriend is all settled in his new place.

I also sent away for a sample pack from Neutrogena, so I'm anxiously awaiting for that to arrive. I also found a mail-in rebate for the full purchase price of Febreeze Noticeables air freshener, so once I get paid I'm going to go pick up one of those. I may not be quite as crazy as the people on these websites who are either REALLY poor or completely obsessed with saving money, but it's definitely cool to get products for free or cheap, especially things you wouldn't otherwise buy. Like that makeup compact, I wouldn't have room in my budget to spend $19 on something like that very often, but make it more accessible, with the sale, plus coupon, plus rebate, and I was willing to make a purchase.

I found out recently another friend of mine, Kim, is also big into living frugal, so I'm hoping to have a chat with her about the methods to her maddness as well.

Until next time!