The Red Plum (used to be called the Shop & Save) coupon insert will be in with your flyers this weekend so keep an eye out for that.

Also, I forgot to tell you guys about a stacking trip to London Drugs last Friday.

I ended up spending $85 and I saved $229 off my bill. I was happy and so was Papa Bird because out of all of that, he got 2 razors, 6 deodorants, 3 body washes and one shampoo for men – for FREE.

I also found something out and I’m going to share it with you. When I ordered my Brandsaver coupons online last time the system said I couldn’t order anymore until April. So the day I could order more, I went in and ordered them all again. They came to me with expiry dates of May 15.

Well, the new Brandsaver came out a week after I ordered new ones and the coupons online were updated – WITH NEW PCs – so I ordered them all again. By doing that I tripled my savings.

I know that doesn’t make a lot of sense, but long story short. If you can order the Brandsaver coupons the first day they come out, you ‘should’ be able to order them once more before they are taken down. Then they will be taken down and new ones will be put up. You will get the old ones and then new ones with different UPCs because it is a different campaign and you will be able to use them together.

Get your hands on the paper flyer that comes out too, and you can possibly triple your coupon savings.

Anyway – back to my original post – the Red Plum is out this weekend…

Red Plum Flyer Out This Weekend and a Tip for Coupon Stackers is a post from: This Bird's Day

First of all, I need to let you all in on a little secret. I’m a dork!

I took a vacation day off work today to coupon stack at London Drugs. Okay, it wasn’t just to coupon stack. I also wanted a me day. I have some stuff I want to do around the house too and after this post, I am going to have a me afternoon. I plan on playing Rock Band all by myself and I’m going to sing at the top of my lungs – yes, that is what that horrible sound is!

Anyway, back to my best coupon stack ever. Seriously, I won’t need to buy anything other than groceries now until the new year. Here’s how it broke down:

LD bill: $542.54
Coupons: $425.55
Total bill: $116.99 (of that $25.96 was taxes)

I am giddy, I can’t believe I just saved $425.55. And I bought everything that Papa Bird, Baby Bird and I use all of the time. The only thing I bought that I have never used before was Crest Advanced Whitestrips ($35) and I got them for free. I thought it would be a great chance to try them out. Here’s the final picture of all of my deals.

I prepared for this shop for about a week. That doesn’t include the time I took to collect the coupons because I have been collecting all of the coupons I used for a few months now.

Okay – I’m going to rock out now!

Coupon Stacking – Holy #%*@ is a post from: This Bird's Day

I have a couple of deals to tell you about. The first one will benefit anyone with an IKEA. If you go to IKEA’s webpage, there is a link on the left hand side where you can choose your city’s location to see what specials they have in store. For example, my IKEA has Wacky Wednesdays where they list different items that are on at a great price. You can go there any time, the sale is on Wednesdays though.

I completely forgot to post this today… the BrandSaver flyer is coming out this weekend. I usually get all of my great stacking coupons from here, so make sure you keep an eye out for the flyer. In the meantime, make sure you print the coupons from the BrandSaver online site. As they have different UPCs, you can stack them with the flyer coupons when they come out and technically double your coupon value at London Drugs. Another tip, the BrandSaver coupons have different UPCs from the regular Save.ca coupons, so you can further stack them.

One last thing, tomorrow is the last day to enter my Father’s Day Giveaway of a free 18 X 24 Poster Print.

Wacky Wednesdays is a post from: This Bird's Day

I know I post a lot about coupon stacking at London Drugs. I buy all of my household cleaning, toiletry and beauty products there because I can use all of my coupons together (as long as the coupon hasn’t expired and the UPC’s are different). Papa Bird says he has enough shaving cream to keep him clean shaven for at least a year and a half. And the cost to me was just the taxes.

Now what do you do if you need to eat?

Well, London Drugs does sell food too, so you can get some soups and cereals there by stacking as well. Too bad they don’t sell fruits, vegetables, meat…

I was in Superstore the other day and they had an in-store coupon for 50¢ off their Catelli Whole Wheat pasta (my favorite). I had a coupon from Save.ca for B1G1 on the same item. I asked the cashier if she would accept a store coupon with a manufacturer coupon, and she said yes, but that not all cashiers accept those.

So it doesn’t hurt to ask. When I ask about stacking a store coupon with a manufacturer coupon, I make sure I am clear that one is their in-store coupon, the other is from the manufacturer. I also don’t expect to hear a yes, but it is nice when it happens.

Good luck.

Tip #1 – If shopping at Superstore, always check their wall of coupons to see what coupons they have that you can either use, or match with a coupon you have.

Tip #2- if you are stacking at London Drugs and the cashier says you can’t use all of your coupons because you are over by a penny (an item is $9.99, and you have $10 in coupons), ask the cashier if she can take one of the coupons at one penny less.

PS – Did you know that milk will keep in the freezer for 1 year or more? Good to know if it ever goes on a good enough sale…

Doesn’t Hurt to Ask… is a post from: This Bird's Day

Papa Bird, Baby Bird and I made it back after one wonderful week of holidays and visiting family. It was a long two days drive back though.

Right now I am sitting in my living room, looking at the mountain of ‘stuff’. How did we get all of that in the car along with Baby Bird and her stroller?

We made dinner, called the family to let them know we got home okay then put Baby Bird to bed. Ahhhhhhh (that’s me exhaling!)… Papa Bird and I wandered around the yard with a “we-made-it-home-in-one-piece” celebratory drink in hand and looked at our plants. The grass is so long and my tomatoes died (damn frost!) — it’s good to be home.

I also tore through all of my mail and it reminded me that the Brand Saver flyer coupons end on May 31, so for those of you who use them as stackers at London Drugs, you only have a couple more days to use them. This applies to the flyer coupons only, if you printed some from the website, you are still okay.

When I got home, I had some wonderful surprises waiting for me… and you! I have some great giveaways that I am so excited about coming up. One I am posting first thing tomorrow morning.

I hope everyone had a great week, now I have to catch up!

Home Sweet Home is a post from: This Bird's Day

I had a chance to go through our flyers this morning and I found a couple of deals here that might be useful to you.

Shoppers Drug Mart – On Sunday and Monday only, they have their Royale bathroom tissue on sale for $4.97 for a 24 roll pack. Use your $1 off coupons from save.ca to make them $3.97 and it’s a pretty good deal.

Wal-Mart – Has the Glad Sense and Spray Holders on for $5, use your $5 off coupon from a previous flyer (if you’ve got them) and they are free.

London Drugs – My local London Drugs has their Gilette Series shave gel on for $1.99. Use your $1 off coupon from the last Brand Saver flyer and get it for 99¢ – or better yet, coupon stack that coupon with the $1 off coupon from brandsaver.ca and get them for free.

Well, Baby Bird is quite active today so we are going to get dressed and head out – not sure where to yet.

Have a good one…

Couple of Deals This Weekend is a post from: This Bird's Day

Baby Bird and I spent another morning at the mall. Here’s what we found.

Our Zellers store has a lot of new coupons around so if you are looking for some new ones, check out your local Zellers. I always look in the hair care/beauty, home cleaning and food sections.

I also picked up a couple of coupons at London Drugs in the make-up section. I did some coupon stacking while I was there and got $116.28 worth of items for $20.28. At first, the cashier I was at would only accept one coupon per item. She even checked with a floor supervisor who agreed. So I only bought the item I needed for Baby Bird. I started to feel bad about my previous deals – I mean it is not my intention to rip anyone off – so I went back to the cashier I normally go to and asked for clarification. The floor supervisor had spoken to the Assistant Manager and came over and apologized saying that he was wrong (which was very nice of him) and that as long as the coupons have different codes, then I can use them. I said thanks and that I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I asked if I could ring the rest of my items through and I got a savings of $89.50.

Well, she’s napping now (YAY) and I am going to relax for the little time I have.

Shopping Today is a post from: This Bird's Day

If I am taking anything away from this recession, it is that we need to look after our money more. I am in my mid-thirties and I have never really been through something like this and in the past I just accepted that prices are what they are. Our family hasn’t been affected as much by the recession (yet), but there’s no time like the present to learn better spending and saving habits.

My father says “If you don’t take care of your money, there are a lot of people out there who will take care of it for you.” Now that I am grown and have a baby bird of my own, that statement makes more sense now.

So, that being said, I have three reasons for the title of my post.

1) They have really good sales each week and the ‘manager’s special’ prices can be quite significant (enough to use coupons with and almost get it for free).

2) They allow coupon stacking, which means if you have two or more different coupons for the same product, they will allow you to use both (or all) of them, provided they have different codes.

3) The cashier that always works at my London Drugs is AWESOME. She is so nice and has nice comments on the amount of money I am saving (something like “Great savings today.”)

I went up to London Drugs yesterday to see how I would do on my first try at coupon stacking and I was able to pick up $18 worth of items for $3.71. Not too bad for a first try.

So going forward, I will be buying ALL of my non-food items at London Drugs and will be checking them frequently. So save all of your coupons and visit your London Drugs soon.

I am actually going back to bed now. Baby Bird was up for pretty much the whole night. My parents are still here so I am taking advantage and catching up on sleep.

I Love London Drugs is a post from: This Bird's Day