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Sears Canada Back To School

Win A $300 Sears Canada Gift Card In Time For Back To School!

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There may still be a couple weeks of summer left but it’s Back To School shopping season for parents! Whether you’re sad to see summer come to an end or excited to get back to a structured schedule, you can’t escape the fact that clothing and accessories need to be acquired and I’m going to send you on a Sears Canada shopping spree to help you get it all done!

Sears Canada holds a place close to my heart as my grandmother worked there for years and would take me there on the bus at least once a week for many, many years of my youth. I don’t remember much from those years but I do remember hanging in the shoe department and the fact that she used to have a bag full of used tissues that she’d pull out to clean my face. I know that has nothing to do with Sears, I just wanted to throw it in there…

Where was I?? Oh yeah, I took the kids to Sears Canada this week to do our back to school shopping and while I’ll be writing about the full experience later in the week, I can say that I was amazed at how much stuff we were able to get for the budget we had set. I was also impressed with the Sears private label clothing line, as were my kids, which you can see in the above photo.

So, how do you win this amazing shopping experience?? Simply fill out as many of the Rafflecopter entries you feel comfortable with and I’ll draw the winning name in a weeks time! Good luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Marks Giveaway

Mark’s Is Your One-Stop Holiday Gifts Shop! {Plus Giveaway}

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As I get older I find that I am having a harder time finding things to put on my Christmas wish list. At some point you just accumulate so much stuff that the thought of trying to fit something else into the garage becomes more of a nuisance than a gift. A funny thing happened last year as it was the first year I realized that I had made the transition from the kid who hated getting clothes for Christmas to being the guy who only wants new clothes for Christmas. Well, and a big Toblerone…

While I am still working on my fashion sense, I have never had any problem finding clothes I like at Mark’s. As someone who didn’t own a pair of jeans until his late 20’s, there is an overwhelming irony in the fact that my favourite clothing store happens to be the #1 retailer of jeans in Canada, but people change and I have learned to love representing my Canadian heritage by sporting endless denim combos. That, and the fact that Friday is jeans day at work and I didn’t want to be the only one not wearing jeans!

On top of the jeans, dress shirts and sweaters I stock up on, Mark’s is a one-stop-shop for everything else I need to get through the harsh winters we face here in Ottawa. From winter coats and boots to warm socks and toques, Mark’s covers everything on my wish list from year to year and has something to fit everyone’s budget. If you’re having trouble trying to figure out what to get for someone on your shopping list, you definitely can’t go wrong with a gift card from Mark’s.

I took the liberty of putting together my personal wish list from Mark’s, so please feel free to steal my ideas if you’d like. Unless you live near me and there is only one of these left in XL. Then you’ll have to leave it there in case I want to come in and grab it…

Marks Wish List

1. Windriver Nordic Ragg Wool Toque – I have so many toques with sports team logos on them that I think it’s time I class up my collection and this definitely fits the bill!

2. Kombi Timeless Winter Glove – Between shovelling, sledding, outdoor skating and snowball fights, my winter gloves are probably my most important winter accessory and I need something that will last the whole winter.

3. Sorel Men’s Bear XT Winter Boot – I got a pair of these boots last year and it was like walking on clouds when I put them on. If you spend any amount of time outside during the winter, whether it be ice fishing, tobagganing or just chasing kids around, these are the boots for you.

4. Denver Hayes Jaquard Quarter Zip Sweater – I was drawn to this sweater and with a number of holiday parties to go to and how cold it gets here, this looks so warm that there’s no way I could leave it off the list.

5. Silver “Zac” Relaxed Fit Straight Leg Jeans – Hey, after 20+ years of not wearing jeans, I am now addicted to buying them and am definitely a dark jeans kind of guy.

6. Ripzone Color Block Winter Board Jacket – This is a straight up vanity selection. I love the colour and just kept coming back to this coat time after time.

GIVEAWAY!

To get you started on your holiday shopping at Mark’s, I am giving away a $50 Mark’s gift card! All you have to do is enter using the Rafflecopter form below and I’ll notify the winner as soon as time is up! Good Luck and Happy Shopping!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I was compensated for my participation in this program.

Canadian Tire WOW Guide

Prepare to be WOWed! {Plus, Win a $200 Canadian Tire Gift Card}

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Remember the joy of grabbing a coffee, kicking back and flipping through your favourite store’s catalogue? Those days seem to have been replaced by the digital age, with most companies opting to focus more on online content and less on printed materials. I thought I was transitioning well to this change until I received Canadian Tire’s WOW Guide in the mail earlier this week.

Now I find myself taking on the role of the traditional male and carrying this folded catalogue around with me in my back pocket as if it were Marty McFly’s Almanac, so I can take breaks to look at power tools, yard equipment and baseball gear any time I want. Sometimes even, to my wife’s dismay, with a small grunt.

On top of that, with two birthdays in the coming weeks, both of my children were able to easily flip through the WOW Guide and circle some things they would like to receive. Everybody wins!

Canadian Tire WOW Guide Kids

What is the WOW Guide, you ask?

Being delivered to over 12 million homes, the WOW Guide is full of thousands of products, countless ideas, and pages of inspiration that will help you make the most of spring and summer 2016. The guide covers everything from everything from lawn and garden and home décor to power tools and tires.

There is great news for you techie types as well, as you can use the Canadian Tire app to hover over the products you love in the WOW Guide to unlock dynamic digital extras like videos, how-to’s and DIYs. Simply Download the free Canadian Tire app and Hover your phone over the digital extras sections to Discover videos, deals and more; be sure to look for your WOW Guide on your doorstep this week and visit canadiantire.ca/wow.

Win A $200 Canadian Tire Gift Card!

Ummm, Chris, I believe you mentioned something about a gift card??? That’s right, to celebrate the launch of the WOW Guide, Canadian Tire has given me a $200 gift card for me to pass along to one of you. All you have to do is complete as many of the Rafflecopter entries as you feel comfortable with and I’ll notify the winner at the end of the contest!

Good Luck and don’t forget to Download the free Canadian Tire app, Hover your phone over the product you like the guide and Discover more of what you love at Canadian Tire!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I was compensated for this post

YP App

Finding My Way Around With The Yellow Pages App

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I don’t do a lot of app reviews, mostly because I don’t tend to use a lot of apps outside of my social media accounts. So when I got the pitch from Yellow Pages to check out their new YP App, I was all set to politely decline. That was until I saw all the features they were promising to deliver on, at which time I decided to give this thing a go, and am I ever glad I did.

I hadn’t had the YP App downloaded for 24 hours before I needed to use it in an emergency. I have been having some car troubles lately and on my way to the shop to drop it off, someone blew under the hood and forced me off to the side of the road in rush hour traffic. I’m not sure if you’ve ever had to pull over on a highway but it can be a very stressful experience. I froze for a minute, thinking of what to do, when I remembered that the YP App had specific pre-sets, with one of them being Towing Info. I quickly turned to the app, clicked on towing and it immediately populated towing companies in my area, with their phone numbers and even a rating for them. All I had to do was pick the closest company, hit call, and I was on my way in 15 minutes.

YP App Towing

After the towing experience, I couldn’t wait to see what else the YP App could do, so I went exploring. One of the first things I noticed was that it had a Reverse Phone Number Lookup section, which is something I use often on my cell phone. Normally, however, I’d have to go to my phone browser, head to the yellow pages site and find the reverse section in order to begin. With the app, I just hit Reverse, enter the number and voila! I am done. Now, in a flash, I will be able to tell if I missed a call from a friend or just another foreign prince in need of my help.

Reverse Phone YP App

Finally, there is the deals section. I kind of assumed that this would be filled with a lot of random stuff that I wouldn’t be interested in but was pleasantly surprised to see great deals from places like Toys R Us, Cineplex, Absolute Comedy and the Canadian Children’s Museum. These are all things we do on a regular basis and the savings will definitely come in handy!

YP App Deals

I’m not sure what more I can say to convince you to check out the YP App. There are so many more features, from directions and photos to GPS and sharing options, that at the low, low price of FREE, you really have no reason not to give it a shot! You can download the YP App on iTunes or on Android and you can find more information over at the Yellow Pages Website.

Disclosure: I received compensation for my participation in this campaign.

 

And This One Time, At Coupon Camp…

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I have a confession to make. There was a time, back when we only had one child, where I may have been one of those crazy coupon binder people that you see on the show Extreme Couponing. Now, I don’t want to say that I am not proud of this fact, because let’s face it, there’s nothing wrong with trying to save a few dollars for your family. The problem is in the way I was running this elaborate couponing scheme.

I would visit all my favourite coupon sites, like Save.Ca, print out every coupon they had available, even if I didn’t need them, and then store them in my little black book until they expired. Sure, I used the good ones but I was wasting way more than I used and, in the end, my incompetence became way too much work to manage. Fast forward to today and I feel like I have come a long way from those days of sandwiching coupons for allergy medication (we have no allergies) with a coupon for $1.50 off a Lady Bic disposable razor.

These days I do almost all of my online deal searching at Save.Ca because they have a virtual one stop shop for everything from coupons to flyers and other great deals. They even let you create an online shopping list by clicking on items from the various flyers. Just because I didn’t make it a binder carrying couponer, doesn’t mean I can’t still save money on the things my family actually NEED. In fact, as I was typing this post, I popped in to see what was new and found these two amazing deals immediately:

Michaels CouponIndigo Books
 

If you are still reading this, I have to ask you why you haven’t already left to check out everything that Save.Ca has to offer?? Okay, okay, before you go I will leave you with the best advice I can give for new couponing families: Only collect and grab the coupons/deals you need! If you only use one type of laundry detergent, don’t print coupons for three different brands. Yes, they are shiny and remind you of money, but you will end up throwing them out and those detergents will never know what it’s like to feel the love of a shopper who is getting a deal.

I think I’ve rambled on enough, don’t you? Look a little bit lower, watch the video about how awesome Save.Ca is and then thank me after you’ve saved 40% on that new glue gun from Michaels, that you have absolutely no use for.

Disclosure: I received compensation for my work with Save.Ca. That said, I couldn’t have made this up if I tried and the whole thing is 100% true.

Lego + Star Wars = A Great Giveaway From Tag Along Toys

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Tag Along Toys

I can’t think of a better way to introduce a new advertiser to the site, than to run a giveaway for some of their merchandise. Especially when that merchandise combines two of my favourite things in Star Wars and Lego!

Before we get to the giveaway, I would like to introduce you to my new advertiser and one of my favourite places to visit in my city, Tag Along Toys. It’s probably no surprise to people that know me, that I like to hang out in toy stores whether my kids are with me or not. The difference with Tag Along Toys is that it is a local small business that always makes you feel like a part of their family whenever you visit.

The owner, Patti, always has new things for the kids to do, from charity spa days to visits from real princesses, my kids ask to go in every single time we drive by and I can’t blame them. In good news for all of you, Tag Along Toys has just launched their online shop as well, so now all of you can check it out and find a lot of toys that you can’t get at the big box stores.

How about a giveaway to kick off this new partnership? Patti had generously donated this amazing Lego Star Wars, Darth Vader LED Desk Lamp and in honour of the new online store, has opened up the contest to all of Canada (excluding Quebec).

Star Wars Lego

 

All you have to do to win is “Visit Tag Along Toys Website” and leave a comment here letting me know which toy your child would like most. That’s it. I’ll draw the winning comment at Noon on May 10th and we’ll ship it out to you! Good Luck!

 

 

For more great deals and giveaways, you can also follow Tag Along Toys on Twitter and Facebook.