Monday 22 August 2011

#winning

Ok so I am very much behind on posting here, but I'm not doing much shopping....kind of a Catch22 when you have a blog about saving money when shopping. You shop and have something to write about....you have no money for shopping and therefore have nothing to write about!

Since my last blog I've been doing well. I've made 1 personal purchase of a t-shirt. This purchase was a celebratory purchase for passing my final driving exit exam and officially becoming the first driver in my family.....at 31 years of age.

I've been doing a lot better with sticking to my weekly allowance, and am getting better at not taking out more money when I run out. I've also been losing weight which I think goes hand in hand with spendig less of my weekly because I usually spend it on junk.

Groceries are doing well. We have a good rythmn of making purchases at No Frills and checking the fliers before we make our list. I sometimes go to Kensington Market as well.

I haven't hit China town really. I know I can get cheaper produce there, but from past expirences I wonder about the quality of produce I get there. I want to make sure I'm not saving a couple of bucks, but wasting the food later. We used to shop at a little market by one of our previous apartments and as much as I loved the savings gained there...it seemed like the food was always bad without a couple of days.

That's really it for food shopping. I have heard of one grocery store in Regent Park (in one of the new builds), which is a divison of Sobey's having amazing deals. I think they price per the neighbourhood average costs of living. So there's somewhere to check out as well.

For clothing shopping, if you love designer clothing but hate the price, Winners is totally the place to go, but more than that the Winners at Gerrard Square I would say is *the* place to go. That place is HUGE and EMPTY (of people). The selection there was by far the greatest that I've seen so far of any Winners location I've been too.

If you love amazing shoes but can't afford to drop obsene amounts of money on them, I suggest looking into layaway. Layaway is no longer your Mother's Department store policy. Fluevog, probably my most favourite of shoe stores (though I only currently own 2 pairs) has a layaway program. So what's even better is they have some great sales (my 2 pairs I got for $60 total a couple of years ago)....so when you see a pair of shoes on sale that you must have, but don't have immediate capital to purchase....layaway them. This way you don't go broke up front and can ammortize the cost over a period of time.

Trust me...there are a pair of boots there right now that is making me test out how much of my weekly I can save a week....so far...not enough.

There is a fluevog location on Queen Street. Go and check them out, the staff there are amazing.

Also, keep your eye out in Spring 2012. Body Blitz is opening a new location on King Street, close to the Distillery District. Body Blitz is a women's only spa. For a small price (really it's like $50), you can lounge in a salt water heated pool, cool in the cold water dip, detox in the aromatherapy steam room, sweat it out in the infrared sauna and then expirence the tingly sensation of the green tea dip.

I've already informed my sister of a date trip one day in spring. I expect to start in the distillery for a light bite to eat. Go to the spa. Walk form the spa to Merchants of Green Coffee, and then find a nice place on Queen for dinner to end it off. Sounds like I have something fun to anticipate for Spring!

Adios.

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