Tips and Tricks to gaining more Optimum Points?

[windowwendy]

i freeze milk and grate mozz cheese and then freeze it. bacon can be frozen. i dont know if you shoppers sells any groceries at all toronto gal but i try and think about stuff that can freeze or be stored over the course of a month

[torontogal12]

The one around the corner doesn't even sell milk. A few pops, cookies, that's it. There is one further away that sells stuff like cheese but shelves are often cleared out. It's the only one even remotely close that sells food, which explains that.
That's a good idea re, the cheese and bacon, I'll start looking for that stuff. Are Shoppers prices good for cheese? I usually buy the Black Diamond with coupons when it goes ons ale at the grocery store

i freeze milk and grate mozz cheese and then freeze it. bacon can be frozen. i dont know if you shoppers sells any groceries at all toronto gal but i try and think about stuff that can freeze or be stored over the course of a month

[windowwendy]

cheese is usually on sale for $2.99 for a 500g bar. grated chhese is usually on sale for $3.99 and my kids love the cheese strings and they are $3.99 for 10 and right now there is a printable coupon for $1 off. and i am always the early bird at shppers to make sure i get what i want. mine opens at 8 am and i am there by 9am at the latest.

[sarajk]

What advice do you have for people whose SDMs don't sell groceries or are always sold out of stuff? I can never get to $50 on bonus points days because of this.

And another thing. I always read brags when people say they bought 4 bags of milk and 6 loaves of bread or something in large amounts. Well there's only 2 people in my house and we can't eat all that. We go through only 1 litre per week so it would be throwing money away. Are there ways someone in this situation could still get loads of points? I mean we can only buy so many creams, shampoos,toothpaste, and all that other stuff

You are one of the minorities, you only buy what you need & not to earn points.
Good for you!
There is also only 2 of us but we do go through quite a bit of milk.
We drink it every day, he loves cereal, I love smoothies.
I have been shopping in the US more (77cents/dozen eggs!) so I have been slacking in the points department.
I try to only shop on 20x or 18 500 days.
But our stores have groceries. If Kashi is onsale durring a bonus promo I can do $25-30 right there in cereal for
my mom. I also usually pick up her vitamins for her.
Their electonics and games are competative with other stores prices so I also buy those at sdm.
I'm finding their sales haven't been great this year so I have been skipping promos.

And always use coupons to drop your total below $50!

[torontogal12]

I guess I was lucky last time. I bought 2 boxes of Aerius. Came to $60 before coupons and $40 after coupons. Cashier said the computer told her to give me the Tim's card, so she did no issues at all. Figured getting a gift card when the meds were an amazing price was better than getting 20x points and spending $10-$15 more per pack

Yes, you can use the sdm gc on 20x day or any day...same as cash.

Also you can get 20x even if your out of pocket amount is under $50...the trick is make
Sure your subtotal is over $50 before tax, then give your coupons.

With the right sales it works great...for example in the past Multibionta vitamins 30 ct were $9.99
Less $10 coupon...so free and got the points got 4 or 5 and milk, eggs and paid very little oop!

For the Tim card promos etc they require you to actually pay $50 oop so the above won't
Work....now a few got lucky and it worked...but it's rare.

[heycinderella]

I went crazy about this program last year. Spent lots of money and got lots of points. This year I decided to shop smart and only buy what i need. Not so many points though.

[Poirot]

I went crazy about this program last year. Spent lots of money and got lots of points. This year I decided to shop smart and only buy what i need. Not so many points though.

Good for you.

[sweetproserpina]

Definitely helps to shop smart! It's easy to get carried away or try and think of things to add to make it up to 50$. I started doing points last year, and this year I'm determined to be smart and frugal about it. I'm also switching my regular RBC account over to the Shoppers Optimum RBC card, that way I'll earn points on everything I buy, not just at SDM

As as a poster above noted, think ahead- will you need sunscreen, allergy meds, cough drops, rechargable batteries etc.. It's always nice to have those things on hand and when things go on sale in the flyer, the prices are usually competitive.

If you do buy perishables check the expiration dates! I'm always tempted to buy more than a couple bags of milk but I find the dates aren't that far off from expiring at my store. But I often buy a couple creams when on sale, because their dates are always far off.

This year I'm keeping all my SDM receipts to keep track of how much I spend vs my $$ returned in points, to see if it's really worth it for our family.

[torontogal12]

I get what you are saying. You always need sunscreen, allergy meds, batteries and similar things like that, but I find that they are full price on 20x day and you can get them on sale on other weeks that don't have promos. I think it's great that you keep track because I did the math a few times and found that I would end up just "paying" for points by buying stuff more expensive on a 20x

Definitely helps to shop smart! It's easy to get carried away or try and think of things to add to make it up to 50$. I started doing points last year, and this year I'm determined to be smart and frugal about it. I'm also switching my regular RBC account over to the Shoppers Optimum RBC card, that way I'll earn points on everything I buy, not just at SDM

As as a poster above noted, think ahead- will you need sunscreen, allergy meds, cough drops, rechargable batteries etc.. It's always nice to have those things on hand and when things go on sale in the flyer, the prices are usually competitive.

If you do buy perishables check the expiration dates! I'm always tempted to buy more than a couple bags of milk but I find the dates aren't that far off from expiring at my store. But I often buy a couple creams when on sale, because their dates are always far off.

This year I'm keeping all my SDM receipts to keep track of how much I spend vs my $$ returned in points, to see if it's really worth it for our family.

[Marteli]

OMG !!! I JUST LOVED THIS THREAD !!! LOL ... I LOVE SDM !! and gosh I just learned new things todya !! THANKS !

[Panache70]

Most of the time, it is very easy to hit 50$ with items that are equal or less than the leading supermarkets. In Quebec, whenever there is a 20x points sale I buy 2 bags of milk (8 liters) 2 breads, 2 dozen eggs, 4 packs of kleenex or toilet paper (whichever one is on sale that I can use coupons for), 4 6-packs of pop and a box of eggos. There you go 50$. I am in and out of there in 10 minutes. If you stick to the basics, Shoppers usually puts them on sale in the flyer or they are competitive price with other supermarkets. 10,000 points is 20$ on a bonus redemption day (50,000 = 100$). So I end up saving 40% off the sale or regular competitive price. You can't beat that, and you don't need a calculator to figure out that it is worth it.

[westcoastblondie]

We're having a 20x points day on Saturday here in BC. I'm hoping that I can make it to fifty, though the flyer didn't look all that interesting.