There are a plethora of websites that can help you scour the great deals and make sure you never pay full price (or sometimes even pay anything at all!) for goods. These websites are the “must read” websites for any person who identifies themselves as frugal in Canada who refuse to pay full price. The fine line here with these websites, is to make sure one doesn’t go overboard and buy something for the sake of it being on sale (which I tend to struggle with myself).

The following websites are updated on a daily basis (if not multiple times a day), so you can be rest assured that you are getting the latest deal. Some of these deals, once posted, may last only a matter of hours, due to their popularity. Also, some of the websites have some overlap (e.g. You may see the same ‘deal’ on multiple websites).  Just click on the title to head over to their sites to take a gander (sorry my hyperlink is a bit screwed up.  Apologize in advance for my lack of HTML skills )

Red Flag Deals

The granddaddy of them all (now bought out and owned by Yellow Pages group -YLO) is Red Flag Deals. Red Flag Deals has been so kind to me and such a great tool and resource. For example, I found out about my beloved late Starwood Preferred Guest MBNA Mastercard there, my free Gucci glasses courtesy of Clearly Contacts, and I find out about the latest freebies and great deals. The site is so well-known that oftentimes they have what’s called the “Red Flag Deal” effect- once a great deal is posted, a few hours later, because of all the Red Flag Deal readers getting in on the action, the deal is done and it is sold out, or the freebie is all distributed. They have a great “Latest Deals” page and have “Most Popular Deals” (whereby members can vote for good deals that are shared amongt members) page, as well as a very active forum on contests, good deals in electronics, home and garden, beauty, and even a section on personal finance. I used to check Red Flag Deals religiously (like every day) and now I check it at least a few times a week.

Smart Canucks

Smart Canucks claims to be the big kahuna, the largest coupon and shopping deals community. They are indeed large, the website has coupons, freebies, contests, reviews etc. Like Red Flag Deals. They are a great resource for coupons. They have over 100,000 members and have launched in 2006.

Bargain Moose

Run by Anna, a 29 year old super girl and self-confessed shopaholic, this website has been around since 2008 and is really funky and good looking- very Canuckesque with the snowshoes and a Trans-Canada highway sign on her header. She posts the latest deals and freebies that readers find or she finds. For example, I found out about free shipping from La Senza (aka the Canadian Victoria Secret) the other day on her website and took advantage of the free shipping deal on some clearance merchandise you could get online (I hate paying for shipping).

She had a guest post, 10 tips for avoiding travel trauma and saving money on my site a while back, and I also did a guest post on her page on 5 tips for eco-travel on a budget.  Guess we’re both into traveling

Mrs January

I recently got started with Mrs January- I think I started following her on twitter, and then checked out her page and fell in love! I now check this one quite often too, at least a few times a week…and perhaps compulsively every day, but I won’t admit to it. She shares some great deals, some of my favourites being her posts on what she buys and how much she pays and how much she saves (almost an Extreme Couponer, by Canadian standards, anyway!). She also shares the weekly flyers (for stores such as Zellers, Superstore, No Frills, Walmart, Shoppers Drug Mart etc.) and matches them up with coupons that are circulating or that you can sign up for easily.
For example, recently Ziplock bags were on sale at No Frills for $2 a box. There was a coupon you can print out (and she shares a link to where you can get the coupon) for $4 off any two ziplock bag purchases. This renders the Ziplock bag purchase FREE! She recently added a “printable coupons” button on her page so you can get in on the couponing action instantaneously.

She also has tattoos (which makes her instantly cool, of course) and even shares some tips via video like how to make your own glass/mirror cleaner with vinegar and water.

Grocery Alerts

This website is run by my fellow British Columbian, Steve Zussino. They upload the weekly flyers so you don’t have to waste newspaper and also share the latest deals and freebies for groceries on his website. Steve and Lina have saved $1700 so far in the past nine months using smart shopping techniques, coupons, and understanding sale cycles. Steve also posts some great contests regularly on his website. Check out their recent video on how to do extreme couponing in Canada. They recently started a coupon trader service from their website, so you can get rid of the coupons you don’t want for the coupons you do want.

He also interviewed me about my grocery shopping habits a while back- you can take a sneak peak in my fridge at the end of his post (warning you!  It’s messy).

Canadian Daily Deals

Run by Justine is another site that posts multiple times a day of the latests freebies, promotions, coupons, and deals. She often updates on twitter and has a nice sidebar where you can find the latest deal from the store you want (e.g. You can check out from Ikea, for example).

Frugalis

Frugalis is very active on twitter (I think they tweet about every hour on average). It lets you check out savings in your city (though there aren’t that many listed as a link). This is a good website to check out if you are wanting a specific deal for a specific store. It doesn’t post in a “blog style” like the other websites.

Fabulous Savings

Fabulous Savings.ca has online coupons for Canadians and a lot of their coupons are exclusive to them.  Their website is very clean looking and looks like they have a lot of “pull” with the merchants out there (taking a closer look, it looks as though they have a Fabulous Savings based out of the United Kingdom AND the United States– talk about being big and international!).

Canadian Free Stuff

A website including not only great deals, but also free stuff (like freebies, contests, free samples, you name it!).  Theresa is also quite active on Twitter and has a following of 5000 on twitter.  You can also win some giveaways on her site too!  She also has some product reviews along with these giveaways.  Another great Canadian Deals website!

Readers: Have I missed any great Canadian deals, coupons, and freebies websites that you like? Which of the ones I have mentioned do you tend to frequent the most?

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3. TaxWiki.ca – One Stop for your Canadian Tax Questions

A generalization of Generation Y (read: 20-somethings) is that we want things done fast, done now, right away, no time to wait….er…did I lose your attention already?

Generation Y are internet and techonology savvy (everyone at work is AMAZED at my typing speed. AMAZED. I honestly do not think I type that fast) so we don’t really have the time or energy to sit through flyers and circle what we want on sale. To find information that we need, we google. To spread information to friends, we facebook or twitter. So, to find the coupons and grocery store deals we need, what should we do?

I like to save money on groceries, and I like to use coupons (I’m not ashamed to use coupons, are you?) at the checkout.
There’s a Canadian website (based in Victoria, our good ol’ capital city of Beautiful British Columbia) called: Grocery Alerts Canada – Coupons and Deals that gives you the one-stop shop for flyers in Victoria, Vancouver, and the T-Dot (that’s Toronto, in Canadian-speak). It eliminates the need to scour the flyers for the grocery item that you need- or don’t need, and it has posts on hot coupons (I’m printing out that 75 cent coupon for Olympic Yogurt- that stuff is pricey, but delicious!) and deals. You can even subscribe to deals in your area and get it emailed to you, handy for you to print out.

Check out the latest coupons out to the right of this post ——->

Do you cut or print out coupons to save money?
(every little bit counts right?)

I used to be so ashamed when I was shopping with my mom at the grocery store and she whipped out her coupons. I’m not sure why I was (must’ve been my teenage angst)- maybe it’s true what they say that you turn into your parents when you get older….

Related posts:

1. The Ultimate Guide to Canadian Deals Websites
2. 6 Tips for Buying Organic On the Cheap