I often save money on things. I’ll think to myself, “That was smart. I should write about it.” Then, I sit down to do just that, and I balk. I realize that nobody wants to read an entire article about how I got a free box of granola bars. And this is coming from somebody who writes entire articles about shoes from Dollarama. In the last week, I collected a bunch of these little tidbits and I’ve prepared an omnibus list that hopefully won’t bore you.
1. Free box of Fibre One
I got an email from Save.ca the other day, offering a coupon for a free box of Fibre One cereal bars. I think they taste awful, but my partner loves them, so I promptly signed up to receive the coupon and I’m looking forward to getting it in the mail.
2. Tremclad EVERYTHING
I had a bit of extra Tremclad after spraypainting my desk. I didn’t let it go to waste. How?
First off, as you may recall from the time I changed my 03 Malibu’s air filter, the screws on the air filter compartment were extremely rusty. To the point that I was afraid they’d get stripped very soon (take a look at the pics in that article and you’ll see how bad it was). I wrapped the surrounding box with a plastic bag and some of my painter’s tape. Then I pulled out the screw and sprayed it where it lay.
Secondly, after I finished my desk, the whole setup for painting remained in place (the drop sheet, disposable mask, and sanding block, etc.). I used this as an opportunity to clean and re-paint my office garbage can (a lovely Ikea item that seems perfect for recyclable paper). It now looks a lot nicer.
3. Rolled coins
I technically save $0 by rolling coins. I already have the coinage, I’m just putting it in a roll. In my case, I refuse to spend any currency that is smaller than a loonie (except for quarters in a machine). I strongly think it’s a waste of everybody’s time. Obviously I don’t throw my pennies, nickels, and dimes in the garbage (I’ve known people who do this! Unbelievable, right??). So every couple of months, I roll my change and deposit the money.
Rolling your own coins does save some money compared to using a CoinStar-type machine. I spent $3 + HST years ago at the dollar store to buy penny, nickel, and dime rolls. I’m still using them. If you are buying coin rolls, get the paper rolls, not the plastic rolls. Just trust me on this.
I’ve heard about some Canadian banks introducing free coin machine services, but nothing of the sort has popped up anywhere that I bank. Until a free service arrives, I’ll keep using the rolls. Rolling coins is one of the very few things I can accomplish while watching TV. For this reason only, I will miss pennies. 
4. Free sundae
On Sunday, it was Father’s Day. I noticed, from their signboard, that Dairy Queen in Peterborough was offering a free sundae for Dads. At first I thought to myself, “Man, I wish I was a Dad,” completely forgetting that I had a daughter three weeks ago and she was sitting in the back of the car. So on Sunday, we stopped by Dairy Queen during our grocery trip. I could have gone to the other DQ in Peterborough to get a second sundae, but I’m trying to be less fat. We also went to Chapters, just down the street, and I enjoyed leafing through the latest edition of MoneySense and Rob Carrick’s new book, “How Not to Move Back in With Your Parents“. And that’s how I topped off a frugal week.
Good job! I always like signing up for restaurant emails and getting free entrees. It’s been happening a lot lately.
Nice! Even if it takes a bit of work, the satisfaction of “free” food goes beyond the money saved. I should sign up for more of those, but I have bad experiences; probably something to do with the fact that Cdn restaurants suck lol.
Apparently, TD will give coin rolls for free. I don’t know which ones they give though, as I still have to work through my stash of dollar store ones. I agree with you on the paper ones, I would prefer to pay for them than fiddle with free plastic ones.
Good pro-tip. In my experience, the bank would give out empty rolls. But like you said, it’d be the less-than-ideal rolls (nobody despises plastic rollers more than bank tellers). Also, they were typically only for customers, and if they were short on a denomination, they’d only give enough to roll the amount the customer presented. I think these are all pretty reasonable limits (I wouldn’t want my bank giving out unlimited amounts of nice paper rolls to non-customers). Still, I can’t help but think like yourself that the $3.39 (or so) spent on rollers – which buys enough to roll hundreds of dollars in change – was a reasonable investment, given that it’s more convenient and I’m not dependent on a bank’s generosity (is that an oxymoron? lol)
My younger brother once brought a bunch of change to a TD not knowing they want it rolled. At first the lady got mad at him because he just poured it on her desk. They were really slow at the bank that day though so a bunch of employees came over and spent a while rolling coins. This was a while back though. Nice to know they’ll give you rolls for it now.
Yay! Free ice cream! Now I am craving ice cream… Thanks a lot Joe!
lol yeah, who can blame them? The GDP that is wasted counting coins must be outrageous hahah.
And you’re welcome. If you happen to have a baby between now and next year and can afford to travel for free ice cream, the DQs in Peterborough do it for Mother’s Day, too. lol.
Tremclad – Glad there’s more than one of us that reuses things like Tremclad. Just because you purchased and used it for one project doesn’t mean it won’t be useful for another. Otherwise its a total waste of time and money. And on that note, I keep forgetting to make enquiries at the hardware store as to whether there’s anything I can spray onto my bamboo blind, which I’d like to hang outside from the awning covering my deck for privacy. I’d like it to not be affected by the weather. So I was thinking about whether there’s a product out there that’ll protect it (like some sort of shellac) while not ruining its ability to roll up and down. Any thoughts out there?
Rolled Coins – I keep jars of coins. I don’t carry around too much coinage ‘cos of the weight. And then every once in a while, using coin rollers purchased from Dollarama, I’ll have a coin rolling session and drag the log into the bank. I usually deposit $70 or more dollars every several months that way, and its a load off!!
Free stuff – always fun!
Other – doing your research to save money on things really does work – I recently saved a bundle on my home insurance package. Often, being a member of a group can garner you some discounts. So here I am, a member of CARP (not the fish). Their insurance quote was @ $1200 (maybe just under). An online insurance quote exercise got me a range of @ $600 and up. A call to the company I eventually went with got me comprehensive home insurance for $780. This included the discount of $10 ($10 is $10!!) because I’m also a member of the Quarter Century Club. My existing insurance company sent in the renewal form and they wanted just under $1200 this year. That was a significant increase on the just over $800 or so I paid them last year. So, for the same package and a change of companies plus a discount for membership in QCC, I saved somewhere around $420.
Zipcar – being single, relying on TTC and not having my own transport sometimes poses its challenges, especially when I don’t have friends with cars who can help out “just like that”. So, having been a member of Zipcar in the past and cancelling the membership because a) I couldn’t get the cars I wanted (they took them out of the fleet) and b) I’m picky about what I drive and c) it had become expensive, I was intrigued when I started getting offers to rejoin at special prices. The last offer was the best and I have rejoined. I checked what types of cars they have in the fleet now and, although there aren’t any in my area (south Scarborough), I can still get to vehicles that I like to drive. I only have to pay a total of $6 per month as a member, no other fees apply other than paying for the time I rent and use the vehicles. All insurance, gas, parking, etc. is included. So I figured, what the hey, this way I can increase my independence and get my own wheels on my schedule and not infringe on anyone else’s time. Wu hu.
Other things to consider – further research into Term Life Insurance as per Joe’s comprehensive and informative bloggings a month or so ago (thanks Joe); what about critical illness insurance?
Have a happy hot summer’s day!!!!
I think you’d be find to spray paint bamboo — in this respect, it’s the primer that matters! If you get the proper primer and it’ll adhere, spraypainting will be no problem.
I never save up more than $20 or so, because my holder (a small plastic tackle box; I like to keep the coins separated by type) doesn’t give me a lot of room to fill.
I had no idea you were an OPSer! I’m only 21 years, 11 months, and (approx) 25 days from being in the QCC lol!
ZipCar is an awesome solution that I’ve recommended before. It sure beats owning your own car. I drive a beater and it’s still expensive as hell.
I still need to do an article on critical illness and disability insurances. I actually promised this but didn’t follow through. Tomorrow’s article is going to be about the “Hypothetical Portfolio” for my imaginary $1 million; I promise that article, too, quite a while ago. I’m slowly working my way through planned posts, now that the baby is here and we’re in a decent schedule
You’re doing much better than even YOU realize! I’d forgotten about your hypothetical portfolio; that’s something else I’ll be interested in seeing you write abut. As for the QCC, in my case (I’m with an agency) I was able to join with 13 years of service (its 10 years + in my case). And unlike CARP it actually didn’t cost me anything to join. Although with CARP, even though there’s a membership fee you do get a neato magazine which has several good articles about investing and retiring and all that kind of stuff. As for the bamboo, I intend to get around to asking at the hardware store what product will work best (I’m sure it won’t be Tremclad, but, then again, it might). Wuhu!
Part II
Forgot – about Zipcar – just so’s others are also aware – its not always the most reasonable way to go cost wise. As an example, for a long weekend up in Algonquin Park one year I investigated getting a Zipcar from Friday to Monday. Cost = prohibitive (something like $300 for the weekend!!!!!!!). A taxi to Union Station, a VIA train ride into Huntsville, and a rental car altogether cost less than that. The rental care was only $114 for the entire weekend!!!!!
Zipcar now also offers moving vans. One that I was looking at (out of curiousity) cost $104 per day. What’s the cost of a Budget Rental Van, a U-Haul, etc.??? Zipcars can also cost $78 daily (that’s the cheapest I’ve seen but I haven’t looked at that option overly closely). Methinks for a day with a rental moving van or a rental car it might cost less. I usually use the Zipcars for about 2 hours or so and, again, the convenience of having everything included and not necessarily having to fill the tank (which is also paid for via the supplied gas card) AND being able to haul around my purchases, its well worth it. And fun. I think I’m going to have MORE fun this time too because there are a lot more vehicles in the fleet. The Mini; the Prius; and various other Hondas and Toyotas and stuff. I’m looking forward to it.