Safeway's Sweet AirMiles Deals

[hollyhill]

There are as usual various overpriced other individual products sprinkled throughout the flyer.As it is it would appear the small size Kellogg's (do you really need more cereal) and the B2G50 on Best Buy Cheese in this week's email.direct appear to be the best bet.

Thanks BOb.

We can always use more cereal... My teen son would eat a whole small box in one sitting if I let him...

[poppleton]

Seems long-winded but what I'm getting at is how much fun it is to put more money in your own pocket doing something you enjoy (Field of Dreams).

I enjoy doing this AirMiles thing because it's a fun game with a real, legitimate successful pay off at the end.

As an editor to a financial magazine I really like to stress that if you can start a fun home business go for it. The rewards can be tremendous: financially and mentally.

Off soap box!

Good for you, Bob!! I'm coming at it from the opposite side of things - I have a toddler and a baby, and in order for us to afford for me to be home full time, I need to look for deals to make our budget work! This whole Air Miles thing has been the hugest blessing - we're getting groceries for next to nothing, and my parents buy the GCs off of us because they do a lot of shopping at one of the stores.

I actually sing too, although not professionally And, I have to admit, opera has just never been my thing. I can sure appreciate the talent required to perform such amazing music, though!

[operabob]

pop,

Couple of my favourite sayings:

No one will look after your money better than you will.

and

Mind the pennies and the pounds (dollars) take care of themselves.

I have friends that make fun of me for being a coupon collector. But many fail to realize that a $1 coupon is often worth $2 because if you're paying cash it takes $2 earned before tax to have $1 to spend.

The joke is we're going with them for a vacation on the August long weekend. They'll spend well over $500. We'll spend $0. My inner smile will be that they'll pay cash to buy me a beer while I'll buy them one on a free gift card.

[operabob]

BTW: Was just in Zellers.

Safeway has lots of the Nestea Cool 12 tins in with the MasterCard but I see Zeller's has the Nestea with Splenda with the logo on 2 for $10.

4 will cost you $20 and disregarding tax you'll get a $25 gift card.

[Giving-Small]

I was so focused on the eggos that I just realized that there's an even better deal.

I just realized Rice Crispy Squares at 2 for $5 are part of the B5G60 air miles.

So I've cut all my coupons out of the cereal and I'm off to buy some to donate. The coupons are $2. Same for straws but our straws are set to clear for $1.94 so I suspect they won't take the $2 coupon.

So buy 6, 3*5 - coupon (6*2)= $3
Collect airmiles = 60*.12 (we'll do it for gas this week LOL)= $7.20
Get to go to the gas station each time for free gas!

Now if someone has enough to do this 33x they could get to $100 and get the bonus. Good luck with that one LOL.

But you could use the $2 off purchases from the Prostate cancer flyer IF you get to 20. So 7 batches of the above in straws and rice crispies. That's still alot of coupons.

At 7 batches you would get $29.40 in free gas and pay $19 (but also get that back in AM) for all those boxes of Kellogg's convenience food. Yikes!!

[blueegg]

Giving small, depending on your cashier you may be able to use some of the cash for kids $1.00 WUB any 2 kellogs convenience foods coupons.

[operabob]

Are the coupons good on that size? Hope so!

Good luck.

[operabob]

TOP STORY











<div id="ctl00_JEFeedsArticleInlineVideo2_pnlTop"> Retail sales slip in April, says StatsCan

Canada's road to economic recovery hit a speed bump Friday, with new figures showing that retail sales fell 0.8 per cent in April, following three straight months of increases.


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<table id="playeroutline1"> <tbody><tr> <td> Retail sales slip in April, says StatsCan

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Go to CTV.ca




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<table width="1" align="left"> <tbody><tr> <td align="center"> <small> </small><small>Retail sales in Canada fell 0.8 per cent in April 2009 to $33.5 billion, partly offsetting three straight increases. (AP / Vincent Thian) </small>
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CTV.ca News Staff
<script>initializeArticleBodyFontSize()</script> Statistics Canada says sales slid in five of eight sectors. The worst hit, not surprisingly, was the auto sector, with a 1.9 per cent drop in sales.
Accordingly, gasoline sales slipped 1.8 per cent.
Sales at food-and-beverage stores were off 1 per cent, with beer, wine and liquor stores registered a 1.7 per cent drop.
Furniture, home furnishings and electronics stores posted their ninth consecutive monthly decline in April, with a 0.8 per cent decrease in sales. Since July 2008, sales in this sector have fallen a staggering 11.4 per cent.
TD Bank economist Diana Petramala said that retail sales have been a rare economic bright spot over the recent months -- but no longer.
"With all factors considered, we expect that consumer spending will continue to be a drag on growth for most of 2009."
Analysts have said the economy will experience so-called "green shoots" of recovery, but a full-scale economic turnaround is still a long way off.
According to Bank of Montreal Economist Doug Porter, the sales slump isn't surprising given the upswing in both unemployment and household debt.
In some recessionary cycles, consumer spending has been enough to help pull the economy out of its tailspin. This time, however, that may not be the case.
"A lot of people have been saying we can't count on the American consumer to lead us out of this and to some extent that goes to the Canadian consumer as well," he said.
"Households here face a lot of challenges as well, most notably a weak job market and high levels of debt."
Statistics Canada says retail sales were down in six provinces in April, with Quebec (down 2.5 per cent) and Ontario (down 1.1 per cent) registering the steepest declines.
Western Canada helped offset the declines, with higher sales in British Columbia (up 1.3 per cent) and Alberta (up 0.6 per cent).
Nationally, April's decline follows three months of slight increases which had some economists believing the economy had bottomed out.
BNN's Michael Kane explains the upswing was due to "the holiday buying period".
"Retailers were trying to get people to pare down those inventories. Now for April we're seeing another blip again, " Kane said.
Still, Kane says the overall economic picture can't hang on one month alone.
"We're going to get a month like this," Kane explained, "but it could very easily turn around the next month. You have to look at quarterly arcs to get a true picture of where we're going, and if we've bottomed out."

I expect this will mean the AirMiles super deals will continue for a bit longer.

[gudeitaimu]

I was so focused on the eggos that I just realized that there's an even better deal.

I just realized Rice Crispy Squares at 2 for $5 are part of the B5G60 air miles.

So I've cut all my coupons out of the cereal and I'm off to buy some to donate. The coupons are $2. Same for straws but our straws are set to clear for $1.94 so I suspect they won't take the $2 coupon.

So buy 6, 3*5 - coupon (6*2)= $3
Collect airmiles = 60*.12 (we'll do it for gas this week LOL)= $7.20
Get to go to the gas station each time for free gas!

No it someone has enough to do this 33x they could get to $100 and get the bonus. Good luck with that one LOL.

But you could use the $2 off purchases from the Prostate cancer flyer IF you get to 20. So 7 batches of the above in straws and rice crispies. That's still alot of coupons.

At 7 batches you would get $29.40 in free gas and pay $19 for all those boxes of Kellogg's convenience food. Yikes!!

I bought 4 boxes of Raisin Bran (2/$5) and I had my $2 coupons. As well, I got a box of Rice Krispies Squares. Total: $12.5- $2 X 5 = $2.5 for 60 bonus airmiles

[operabob]

Smalls & Gude,

I placed your last two posts on a competing website as they were so good.

People on the other site haven't been using our average method yet and I think it would help.

The other site and this one filter each other's URLs. That's why I'm not mentioning the name.

I guess they don't like each other!

[operabob]

One I missed.

Could be a good one for Shopaholic with that 1 month old:

Pampers Mega Pack Diapers @ $14.99 each B2G80

Not counting tax 2 = $29.98

80AM = $11.20

Effectively: $18.78/2 = $9.49 each for you comparison shoppers.

[trinity991]

And even better if you have those $2 coupons! I might have to go buy some

One I missed.

Could be a good one for Shopaholic with that 1 month old:

Pampers Mega Pack Diapers @ $14.99 each B2G80

Not counting tax 2 = $29.98

80AM = $11.20

Effectively: $18.78/2 = $9.49 each for you comparison shoppers.

[trinity991]

Hey Bob, I have a question for you.
For redeeming miles what is the best deal-flights or gift cards? I get confused by trying to figure it out. Thanks

[operabob]

Flights are kinda hard to calculate so I haven't really looked at them that hard. Some people have indicated they are one of the better deals. However, we could look at it as a good exercise as I did with magazines.

With the magazines I took the lowest price available from those little cards that fall out. Often there'll be 3 cards with 1 having a lower price than the other 2. I think this is a marketing technique in the hopes people will buy in case the lower price was a mistake.

I'm seeing the same thing from Princess Cruises. On Monday I'll get a mail out listing cruises for $1,499. The very next day I'll get another in the mail for exactly the same cruise at $899.

So here's what we need to do:

1. I believe AirMiles includes taxes in the flight but I can't remember for sure.

2. Everyone pick a flight, for example for me Victoria to Toronto and determine how many AirMiles neccessary.

3. Go on WestJet and Air Canada's website to determine the lowest priced flight including taxes during the same period.

4. Divide the known cost by the number of AMs to purchase the same. Then you'll know how much each AM is worth and whether it's a better deal than the cards.

BTW: Question to you all.

After Shell Gas Coupons what is the next worst Gift Card/Coupon deal?

[operabob]

OK, I just did a quick look using:

1. Victoria to Toronto one-way
2. Lowest priced seat
3. Did not add any extras

I also picked an arbitrary date of August 1 as it is peak season with no specials (Note: for around two weeks before during peak season there's a 25% off special).

Air Miles needed 3,850 (I assumed this is one-way. If it's 2-way double the values below).

Prices varied throughout the day and I doubt there'd be any room on the highest priced trips.

Including taxes:

Lowest: $290.50

Highest: $918.40

Before taxes most common was $269 - $310. I can add around $60 taxes on those.

$290.50/3850 = $0.075/AM

$918.40/3850 = $0.24/AM

Using the $310 + $60 = $370/3850 = $0.10/AM

Now, if the 3,850 is two-way double the values but in general if my calculations are correct and it's one-way gift cards look to be a better deal (disregarding specials) unless you can get on the highest priced flights. Then again, being your basic Scotsman the cheapest flight gets you there just as well as the expensive one.

Now, I might have missed something above so let me know if I have.

Interesting though that if you need to buy some miles from AirMiles to have enough for a trip they sell them to you for $0.30 each.