Keeping An Eye Out For Deals

From time to time, I visit deal websites to see what deals are available. It's not really a website. It's more of a forum where people from all over Canada post deals that they feel are really good. Most of the deals posted are meh. However, once in a while you stumble upon a deal that's really, really good.

For example, back in January, McDonald's was offering a $5 off coupon to Cineplex for answering a survey. As wifey and I watch movies, I did the survey four times and picked up four $5 off coupons. I wanted to do more, but four coupons is a lot. Sure that's two movies, but I figured we'd have about two movies this year to see. Turns out, the coupons are good until the end of June and there may be three movies (Deadpool, the Batman/Superman, and Captain America). The next day or so, McDonald's ran out of the $5 coupons. Word of mouth. Plus, the forum is very popular.

Anyway, turns out now there is another offer from Visa Checkout. You purchase a movie ticket from the Cineplex website and pay for the ticket with Visa Checkout and you'd get a free movie ticket. The free movie ticket is good until the end of March or so, so that's a good thing since the Batman/Superman movie is being released on March 23, 2016.

Watching a movie in Markham is actually quite expensive. $20 a ticket for some special IMAX or VIP+ ticket. Not sure what the fuss is about. Even the regular admission is $11.99. Yikes.

However, if we go south the same distance into Scarborough, we can see the same regular movie for $8.99. Awesome, that's a $3 savings.

Take into account the $5 coupon, and now we're paying $3.99 for each ticket.

If you factor in the free movie with Visa Checkout, then it's like we're paying $2 a ticket.

Which is a similar price to what I paid on Twonie Tuesdays during high school.

Anyway, yes, it would be cheaper to wait until the movie is released on DVD and then you can borrow them from the library or a friend. Or possible even wait until the movie is aired on TV. Or borrow someone's Netflix login credentials.

But, sometimes, for movies like this, it's better to watch in the theatre. It's a different atmosphere. Besides, it's $8 for two movies.

Yes, $8 is a lot if you're seeing movies all the time, but wifey and I only go once in a while. It's not like we see ALL our movies in the movie theatre. That's just silliness.

So what other deals have I seen at all these deal websites? Well, there are also offers for free points, links to free products (via mail in rebate), and general price markdowns. I usually, don't go for the price markdowns. I generally don't need anything. Free stuff? Sure. Why not. It's free.

I've picked up some free samples and I've even picked up free domain hosting (no complaints so far).

There's also a small contingent of users who are strong towards accessing the best savings account interest rates. Currently, that's Tangerine with 2.5% on new deposits.* Normally, I'm more for investing the money, but as we need this money soon, I've taken advantage of this offer as well.

In short, if you're going to be doing these things or needing to purchase these things, then taking advantage of deals is a great way to save money. However, if you're just taking advantage of these deals because you're taking advantage of these deals, then you're really not saving money. You're actually just spending money.



*Actually, there's another bank in play offering 3%. However, the fine print is an unknown variable as no one is sure when they will lower the rate. It could be tomorrow, it could be next year. That and you need a cheque to open an account. Not many people have cheques. Tangerine offers printable cheques, but I don't want to hand them my personal information just to find out they don't accept printable cheques.