I wanted to pop in here and follow-up on my last post about the Walmart Super-center in NE Edmonton.
The fresh produce department is now open, and on Saturday, I managed to take a good long walk through there and compared some of the prices. I'd say that the produce prices are equal, and possibly a little cheaper than Superstores, depending on what's on sale at the time. Though the produce looks fresh and of great quality, the prices still cannot beat H & W Produce. Apples are at least $0.20 cheaper per pound at H&W, and potatoes are about half the price.
H&W doesn't have the brand name bags of potatoes, and their apples are sometimes bruised and marked. But again, that's what makes it a discount store, and that's why their prices just can't be beat.
Walmart had bananas for $0.57 a pound, which matches perfectly with H&W's regular price. Lemons, limes, and pineapples were also priced similarly.
All things considered though, I have to say that I'll be sticking with H&W for my fresh produce and only purchasing produce that is on sale at Walmart.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
Walmart - 137 ave & 40 Street, Edmonton
Okay folks. So I've raved about Walmart's recent grocery prices, specifically their "Great Value" brand items, but now it got even better.
At the Clareview Walmart here in Edmonton, AB (137 ave & 40 Street), they've just added a fresh food department. I was a bit skeptical about the quality of their food verses the prices, so I went in to see for myself. When I walked in, I was slightly overwhelmed at the magnitude of the changes in the grocery department.
To me, Walmart is full of clothes, toys, kitchen gadgets, electronics, and health and beauty supplies. When I walked in and saw bins of potatoes, piles of yellow bananas and fresh tomatoes, and a host of other fresh foods, I was amazed. Then I started to see the prices. $0.57 a pound for bananas? $6 for a massive pizza that doesn't even fit on the biggest pan I own? $12 for two healthy looking roasting chickens? $23 for 2.5 kgs of frozen chicken breasts? $.1.50 for a 900g package of pasta- no matter what type of pasta? That impressed me.
I have yet to try the Great Value brand meat, and haven't yet tried too many of their vegetables, so I cannot comment on the quality yet. What I can say though, is that I was very impressed with the prices on nearly every grocery item in the store. Even the brand name products seemed to be well priced.
Since shopping for 80% of my groceries at Walmart, I have been able to save a lot of cash. I notice only minor quality differences. For example, the Great Value brand pasta is a little stickier than Catelli, and it takes a little longer too cook. The Great Value cheese seems to be softer and more difficult to slice than some of the other brands. To me though, these differences are not worth the money I save by not purchasing brand name products. I don't mind if my noodles aren't perfect, a little sauce will cover that up nicely. My cheese simply looks a little squished when I slice it, and that's just too bad!
For bread though, I still hit the Bread Basket for their 10 loaves for $10 sale. All the day-old bread is $1 a loaf, provided that you purchase 10 loaves. There is usually a good selection of what types of bread you can purchase, everything from bagels to wraps, to nutritious breads. I freeze 9 loaves, and put one on the counter. If you don't have the space to freeze the bread, try finding a friend who would like to split the deal with you, $5 for 5 loaves each.
Is there better places in Edmonton to shop for groceries? Let me know! I'd love to find new places to save money, and it's a bonus to be able to share with others and help them save money too.
At the Clareview Walmart here in Edmonton, AB (137 ave & 40 Street), they've just added a fresh food department. I was a bit skeptical about the quality of their food verses the prices, so I went in to see for myself. When I walked in, I was slightly overwhelmed at the magnitude of the changes in the grocery department.
To me, Walmart is full of clothes, toys, kitchen gadgets, electronics, and health and beauty supplies. When I walked in and saw bins of potatoes, piles of yellow bananas and fresh tomatoes, and a host of other fresh foods, I was amazed. Then I started to see the prices. $0.57 a pound for bananas? $6 for a massive pizza that doesn't even fit on the biggest pan I own? $12 for two healthy looking roasting chickens? $23 for 2.5 kgs of frozen chicken breasts? $.1.50 for a 900g package of pasta- no matter what type of pasta? That impressed me.
I have yet to try the Great Value brand meat, and haven't yet tried too many of their vegetables, so I cannot comment on the quality yet. What I can say though, is that I was very impressed with the prices on nearly every grocery item in the store. Even the brand name products seemed to be well priced.
Since shopping for 80% of my groceries at Walmart, I have been able to save a lot of cash. I notice only minor quality differences. For example, the Great Value brand pasta is a little stickier than Catelli, and it takes a little longer too cook. The Great Value cheese seems to be softer and more difficult to slice than some of the other brands. To me though, these differences are not worth the money I save by not purchasing brand name products. I don't mind if my noodles aren't perfect, a little sauce will cover that up nicely. My cheese simply looks a little squished when I slice it, and that's just too bad!
For bread though, I still hit the Bread Basket for their 10 loaves for $10 sale. All the day-old bread is $1 a loaf, provided that you purchase 10 loaves. There is usually a good selection of what types of bread you can purchase, everything from bagels to wraps, to nutritious breads. I freeze 9 loaves, and put one on the counter. If you don't have the space to freeze the bread, try finding a friend who would like to split the deal with you, $5 for 5 loaves each.
Is there better places in Edmonton to shop for groceries? Let me know! I'd love to find new places to save money, and it's a bonus to be able to share with others and help them save money too.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Cell Phones
Well, one MAJOR lifestyle change in the last few months has revolved around my cell phone.
Because I was locked into a voice and data plan, I was paying at least $150 a month for the cell service. Because we didn't have a land line phone, we couldn't put the cell phone onto a less costly plan. I used a lot of minutes each month, including a lot of long distance minutes.
At first, we looked into pulling the cell back to a very basic plan, and getting a land line. Unfortunately, that would have been just as expensive, as I was still locked into a voice AND data plan on the cell. I asked about getting the cell phone contract canceled, and was told that it would cost me over $500 to do so. $500 seemed like a whole lot of money to spend in order to save money.
I then came up with a plan to give the cell phone contract to someone else, and include the cell as an incentive. I had a really nice Blackberry, and though I was fiercely attached to it, I am more attached to the idea of saving money.
After trying to give away the contract and the phone, we were unsuccessful. Truthfully, this made me cheer on the inside because my cell phone was pretty much my life. It was my phone, my calendar, my email, my alarm clock, my kids time-out timer, my camera, and my entire life organizer. It seemed like I would have nothing if I did not have my phone. I felt naked without it, and usually panicked at the thought of leaving it behind. Yes... I was truly addicted.
Over the summer, I kept looking at ways to save more money, and the one thing that kept coming up was the large cell phone bill each month! I had to come up with a solution.
I finally resorted to paying someone $150, to take my cell phone plan, and offered the phone too as a bonus. The person who took the contract was not actually interested in the phone, so I lucked out! I sold the phone on Ebay for $90, so I made back some of my "closing costs" on the contract. I was a little scared to begin life with only a land line, but thrilled to save ourselves $150 a month. That's $1800 a year!!
I have learned that life without a cell phone is actually easier! It's surprisingly less busy, and though I tend to be a little harder to get ahold of, that's okay. If I go out for a walk with the kids, people simply have to wait until I get back home to know that they called. It seems like such a foreign concept, but it actually much less time consuming. I spend much less time "tinkering" with my phone - checking emails, checking social networking sites, checking text messages, random tweaking, and all that stuff.
I have saved a lot of time and money by not having a cell phone. My husband still has a cell phone because his employer requires him to carry one during business hours. I use this phone if I go out in the evening without my husband, but for the most part, I am cell phone free.
What did I learn? Sometimes our "needs" are not needs at all, but just very high priority wants. Sometimes, it's okay to let go of those things in order to save money, and sometimes, it can even be better for us when we do let them go!
Because I was locked into a voice and data plan, I was paying at least $150 a month for the cell service. Because we didn't have a land line phone, we couldn't put the cell phone onto a less costly plan. I used a lot of minutes each month, including a lot of long distance minutes.
At first, we looked into pulling the cell back to a very basic plan, and getting a land line. Unfortunately, that would have been just as expensive, as I was still locked into a voice AND data plan on the cell. I asked about getting the cell phone contract canceled, and was told that it would cost me over $500 to do so. $500 seemed like a whole lot of money to spend in order to save money.
I then came up with a plan to give the cell phone contract to someone else, and include the cell as an incentive. I had a really nice Blackberry, and though I was fiercely attached to it, I am more attached to the idea of saving money.
After trying to give away the contract and the phone, we were unsuccessful. Truthfully, this made me cheer on the inside because my cell phone was pretty much my life. It was my phone, my calendar, my email, my alarm clock, my kids time-out timer, my camera, and my entire life organizer. It seemed like I would have nothing if I did not have my phone. I felt naked without it, and usually panicked at the thought of leaving it behind. Yes... I was truly addicted.
Over the summer, I kept looking at ways to save more money, and the one thing that kept coming up was the large cell phone bill each month! I had to come up with a solution.
I finally resorted to paying someone $150, to take my cell phone plan, and offered the phone too as a bonus. The person who took the contract was not actually interested in the phone, so I lucked out! I sold the phone on Ebay for $90, so I made back some of my "closing costs" on the contract. I was a little scared to begin life with only a land line, but thrilled to save ourselves $150 a month. That's $1800 a year!!
I have learned that life without a cell phone is actually easier! It's surprisingly less busy, and though I tend to be a little harder to get ahold of, that's okay. If I go out for a walk with the kids, people simply have to wait until I get back home to know that they called. It seems like such a foreign concept, but it actually much less time consuming. I spend much less time "tinkering" with my phone - checking emails, checking social networking sites, checking text messages, random tweaking, and all that stuff.
I have saved a lot of time and money by not having a cell phone. My husband still has a cell phone because his employer requires him to carry one during business hours. I use this phone if I go out in the evening without my husband, but for the most part, I am cell phone free.
What did I learn? Sometimes our "needs" are not needs at all, but just very high priority wants. Sometimes, it's okay to let go of those things in order to save money, and sometimes, it can even be better for us when we do let them go!
Produce Deals (Edmonton)
This is a grocery tip specifically for those in the Edmonton, Alberta area.
H & W Produce is my favorite place to find some great deals on fresh fruits and vegetables. The prices are almost always considerably less than Superstore or Safeway, and most of their produce is just as good in quality. I say most because though we've had incredible luck with apples, oranges, carrots, potatoes, and a few other things, I find that their bananas are usually very green (and never ripen very well), and their lettuce tends to go bad quickly.
Thankfully, I live within a few minutes of one of these stores, and find that even though some things spoil easily, I can make a trip to this store every week and be just fine.
It always amazes me that I fill my grocery cart full of fresh fruits and veggies, and then when I go to the checkout, they say, "$25 please". The deals are really incredible!!
Last week, I got apples for $0.57 / lb, and a 10lb bag of potatoes for just over $2. I bought several large bags of apples, peeled them, chopped them, and froze them! I used one frozen bag already to make a nice apple crisp.
You can check out H & W's current special deals at: http://www.handwproduce.com/specials.php
Even if you don't live near Edmonton, you may be able to find a small discount produce store near your home. You'll probably find, as I did, that things aren't always as high quality as they may be from higher end grocery stores, but as long as you use them quickly, they sure do save you money.
H & W Produce is my favorite place to find some great deals on fresh fruits and vegetables. The prices are almost always considerably less than Superstore or Safeway, and most of their produce is just as good in quality. I say most because though we've had incredible luck with apples, oranges, carrots, potatoes, and a few other things, I find that their bananas are usually very green (and never ripen very well), and their lettuce tends to go bad quickly.
Thankfully, I live within a few minutes of one of these stores, and find that even though some things spoil easily, I can make a trip to this store every week and be just fine.
It always amazes me that I fill my grocery cart full of fresh fruits and veggies, and then when I go to the checkout, they say, "$25 please". The deals are really incredible!!
Last week, I got apples for $0.57 / lb, and a 10lb bag of potatoes for just over $2. I bought several large bags of apples, peeled them, chopped them, and froze them! I used one frozen bag already to make a nice apple crisp.
You can check out H & W's current special deals at: http://www.handwproduce.com/specials.php
Even if you don't live near Edmonton, you may be able to find a small discount produce store near your home. You'll probably find, as I did, that things aren't always as high quality as they may be from higher end grocery stores, but as long as you use them quickly, they sure do save you money.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Ebay Buying and Selling
Ebay is one of my favorite ways to purchase gifts at a discounted rate from your regular retail stores. For example, I purchased a Webkinz brand stuffed kitty for my little girl as a Christmas present. In stores around here, the kitty would have cost about $25 brand new, but I got it for $2.50, plus $2.50 in shipping, for a total of $5!
Because the kitty came with sealed code tags (Webkins has a huge online community where you can play with your animal and your friend's animals in a virtual world) I decided to resell those on Ebay. My daughter is far too young to care about any online games, and just enjoys snuggling with this kitty! I managed to sell the sealed tags, with no plush, for $5.50! I used $0.98 to mail the tags to the buyer, and paid $0.40 in selling fees on Ebay.
In the end, I paid basically $1 for my daughter's Christmas present, and got a quality toy that will last for years. It was brand new, and I was thrilled to find such a deal!
I have purchased and sold many things on Ebay, and have learned a few things.
I have also had some poor luck with Ebay... selling a pair of $100 women's formal shoes for $0.90. Ouch. Oh well, the laptop and other things have made up for that one. Sometimes you just can't win them all, but if you keep trying, you never know what will happen.
Take advantage of local buy-sell boards online, such as Kijiji (my other favorite online shopping/selling place!) where the buyers won't have to pay shipping fees. These deals are usually done in cash, and usually the buyer meets directly with the seller to close the deal and make the purchase.
My advice to you... look through your house, find things to sell! Broken stuff, old stuff, new stuff, you never know when there's someone out there who is looking for that very thing.
Because the kitty came with sealed code tags (Webkins has a huge online community where you can play with your animal and your friend's animals in a virtual world) I decided to resell those on Ebay. My daughter is far too young to care about any online games, and just enjoys snuggling with this kitty! I managed to sell the sealed tags, with no plush, for $5.50! I used $0.98 to mail the tags to the buyer, and paid $0.40 in selling fees on Ebay.
In the end, I paid basically $1 for my daughter's Christmas present, and got a quality toy that will last for years. It was brand new, and I was thrilled to find such a deal!
I have purchased and sold many things on Ebay, and have learned a few things.
- Look out for Shipping fees when purchasing items!
- Think carefully about the customs and duty fees when purchasing an item.
- When selling, make sure you take good clear pictures.
- You can even sell broken electronics for a good price! Someone out there just might want it.
I have also had some poor luck with Ebay... selling a pair of $100 women's formal shoes for $0.90. Ouch. Oh well, the laptop and other things have made up for that one. Sometimes you just can't win them all, but if you keep trying, you never know what will happen.
Take advantage of local buy-sell boards online, such as Kijiji (my other favorite online shopping/selling place!) where the buyers won't have to pay shipping fees. These deals are usually done in cash, and usually the buyer meets directly with the seller to close the deal and make the purchase.
My advice to you... look through your house, find things to sell! Broken stuff, old stuff, new stuff, you never know when there's someone out there who is looking for that very thing.
Long time - Getting back at it.
Boy, it's been awhile since my last post, but I'm going to try and get back into the swing of things. Since my last post, we had a lot of things happen in our personal lives, including a pregnancy! =) We are now expecting our 3rd baby on or around April 1, 2011. We are very excited.
To give you all an update as to where we are in our goal of financial peace, we now have over $5500 in our emergency fund, as we slowly crawl towards our goal- 3 months of expenses. Eventually, we will bump that number up to 6 months, but for now, it seems easier to reach the smaller goal first.
We have finally found our groove in this cash budget world, and for us, it breaks down like this:
Every two weeks, our budget consists of:
$240 - Groceries/ food/ all dining out
$30 - Diapers/ Wipes
$10 - Childcare
$20 - Clothing
$10 - Gifts
$10 - Personal Care (Mainly haircuts)
$20 - Miscellaneous
We are thrilled to report that we have been sticking to these numbers like glue, despite our dietary concerns (which makes groceries more expensive) and having baby coming.
In the grocery department, Walmart's Great Value brand items have been excellent deals all around. I am very excited that within the next 2 weeks, Walmart will be adding in a fresh groceries department in the location near my house. They claim that the prices on the fruits and vegetables will beat Superstore, but I'm hoping that the quality will still be there. For now, I shop for my fruits and veggies at a small discount produce store (H&W Produce) near my house. The prices are very low, and the quality is usually pretty good.
In the last week, I bumped up the diaper budget a little to start stockpiling the cash for when baby3 is born. I know that in the first month, those babies go through a LOT of diapers!!
I also bumped up the clothing budget as I found that I just couldn't keep to the old budget of $30 a month. Kids grow fast, and with that comes clothing expenses! I was able to keep up with the kids, provided that we shopped only for really good sales and at thrift stores, but I didn't have enough for when my husband and I needed something. With $10 more a month, it will make it just that much easier for us to clothe our family.
Hope you are all doing well out there, remember too keep saving!
To give you all an update as to where we are in our goal of financial peace, we now have over $5500 in our emergency fund, as we slowly crawl towards our goal- 3 months of expenses. Eventually, we will bump that number up to 6 months, but for now, it seems easier to reach the smaller goal first.
We have finally found our groove in this cash budget world, and for us, it breaks down like this:
Every two weeks, our budget consists of:
$240 - Groceries/ food/ all dining out
$30 - Diapers/ Wipes
$10 - Childcare
$20 - Clothing
$10 - Gifts
$10 - Personal Care (Mainly haircuts)
$20 - Miscellaneous
We are thrilled to report that we have been sticking to these numbers like glue, despite our dietary concerns (which makes groceries more expensive) and having baby coming.
In the grocery department, Walmart's Great Value brand items have been excellent deals all around. I am very excited that within the next 2 weeks, Walmart will be adding in a fresh groceries department in the location near my house. They claim that the prices on the fruits and vegetables will beat Superstore, but I'm hoping that the quality will still be there. For now, I shop for my fruits and veggies at a small discount produce store (H&W Produce) near my house. The prices are very low, and the quality is usually pretty good.
In the last week, I bumped up the diaper budget a little to start stockpiling the cash for when baby3 is born. I know that in the first month, those babies go through a LOT of diapers!!
I also bumped up the clothing budget as I found that I just couldn't keep to the old budget of $30 a month. Kids grow fast, and with that comes clothing expenses! I was able to k
Publish Post
Hope you are all doing well out there, remember too keep saving!
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
What About You?
Do you spend money on things that aren't very frugal?
Use the comments box to give your opinion.
Use the comments box to give your opinion.
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