Cash rebate for online purchases for Canadians

Ebates at Blissdom 2012-2127 (Photo credit: BlissDom 2012)

Do you go through cash rebate sites to earn rebate on your online purchases?  It is pretty easy, you go through the cash rebate site to your online purchase site (provided your online purchase site offers rebate via cash rebate site) and do your purchase as usual.  Your rebate will show in cash rebate site in few days or sometimes in few weeks.  Once you reach the threshold amount, you can request a cheque or request to transfer to your pay pal account. The rebate percentage varies from merchant to merchant.

It is great savings for those who do lot of online shopping.  I thought it is common knowledge until I found that my sister who does lot of online purchases was not aware it.

To register for rebates sites please click on the links below.

Great Canadian Rebates

RedFlagDeals

Ebates

I have been using Great Canadian Rebates for few years and it is a great site. I have good experience with them except one instance where I was not paid for a rebate for applying American express ($20 rebate). Great Canadian Rebates blamed American Express indicating their tracking system is not accurate but in my view both are at fault. If they don’t have good system to track don’t offer it.  Other than that all my rebates over the last two years were posted correctly and they are very prompt in responding to questions.

I have not used the cash rebate option of RedFlagDeals and Ebates. Great Canadian Rebates and Ebates also provide you referral bonus if you refer others but I could not see any referral link in the Red Flag deals.  The sites also announce special bonus rebates time to time with increased dollar amount or percentage of the rebate.  Ensure to read the fine print clearly before you do the purchase the site may provide rebate based on type of purchase. For example, Gift cards may earn different rebate rate than the product purchase).

Interesting information about Phasing out the Penny- Feb 4 2013

After Feb 4^th 2013, Royal Mint will not distribute pennies. Businesses will start rounding up or down after taxes for cash purchases. Finance website has a nice diagram (see below) explaining the rounding.

There is no round up or down, if you are paying by other means other than cash (i.e. credit card, debit card etc.).

More information see Finance website.

Related articles

• Canada To Stop Producing Pennies In 2013 (Slashdot)

Being green and saving money on laundry

Image via Wikipedia

My husband is a green freak and I am a frugal person. Some time this combination does not work well but we try our best to be frugal and environmentally friendly. Here is what we have learnt from our experience of being frugal and environmentally friendly in doing laundry.

• Buy front-load energy star washing machine: These machines use less water and energy. Front load machines may cost more than top load machines but in the long run, it will save money. If you are replacing your washing machine consider buying a front load energy star machine.

• Buy washing machine with auto sensor: These machines sense the load size and adjust the water accordingly. That means less water usage and less heating cost.

• Use cold water to wash:  When you wash in the cold water you not only save energy but it is also good for the clothes. I use cold water wash for most of the time and but time-to-time wash the whites in warm water.

• Use green or environmentally friendly laundry detergents: I use Sunlight Green Clean. This does not have Chlorine or artificial dyes. There are other environmentally friendly laundry detergents available in Canada. Here are few other examples: Green Works laundry detergents, PC Green Laundry detergents and Seventh Generation laundry detergents.

• Buy laundry detergent on sale and use coupons: Laundry detergents are expensive but those go sale frequently. Recently, I have seen sales for laundry detergent almost every week. You can keep laundry detergent for 1-2 years and so buy when it is on sale and keep it for future use.  Coupons for laundry detergents are available through manufacturer website, flyers, store coupons etc.  I have found Sunlight coupons in milk bags recently and used it to buy few bottles of Sunlight Green Glean. The retail price of this detergent (32 loads) is around  $7.50 and it was on sale for $4.00 and use $2.50 coupon and bought it for $1.50 (less than 25% of the retail price).

• Wash during off peak hour: In Ontario you are charged lowest hydro rate during off peak hour. Do your laundry after 9.00 pm or before 7.00 am on weekdays or weekends and holidays to save money.

• Use cloth racks to dry the clothes: I dry our clothes in the cloth racks in side house during winter and outside in summer. It dries in a day.

•  Clean the dryer vents: Cleaning the vents improves efficiency and reduces fire risk.

• Don’t use fabric softeners. Fabric softener contains chemicals. According to Environment Health Association of Ontario, it is the most toxic product produced for daily household use. It has been found to be associated with numerous illnesses and chronic conditions. I use dryer balls instead of fabric softener. I know some people use vinegar but I have heard that it may be bad for rubber parts inside the washing machine.

Related posts:

 Double Savings - Use coupons on sale items

 Price Matching

 Scanning Code of Practice (SCOP)

Double Savings - Use coupons on sale items

I rarely used coupons until late 2009. My mother who is 76 years old needed some protein supplements and her doctor suggested her to drink Ensure every day. I bought it couple of times from Shoppers Drug Mart at full price and then one week I noticed it went on sale for $8.99. I wanted to know how often it goes on sale and I googled it.  Aw… then I found there is a whole big coupon world. I learnt a lot and have saved a lot in the last one-year. Smartcanucks is a great site with lot of coupon information.

Price Matching

Do you know some stores will price match the prices of other stores if you take the current flyers with you as proof of sale at the other store.  This way you don’t have to run around different stores to get lowest prices. 

Here are some of the stores that I have done price matching:

• Zellers  
• No Frills
• Walmart
• Best Buy
• Future Shop
• Canadian Tire – Gave me 10% in Canadian Tire money as well
• Blacks

Unfortunately, Superstores in Ontario do not price match all the items (I heard superstores in western provinces price match). I usually go to Zellers to price match as I can also earn HBC points on the purchase.

Scanning Code of Practice (SCOP)

If a product scans at a higher price than the shelf price, participating retailers (see list below) have to give the product free of charge, if it is less $10 or deduct $10 from the price for the first unit. This does not apply to products with price tags but applies even if the shelf price is expired price.

The scanning code is endorsed by The Competition Bureau of Canada and was created from the collaborative efforts of the Retail Council of Canada, the Canadian Association of Chain Drug Stores, the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers and the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors. The Canada Competition Bureau website.