Here’s a guest post by Taylor Laurents, a freelance writer who wanted to share how he thinks a storage unit can save people money.  When he is not out saving money, he spends his time explaining to people that he is Taylor Laurents and not Taylor Lautner.  I have yet to ask him whether he has watched Storage Wars yet.

Everyone is looking for convenient ways to save money these days. Carpooling, keeping lights off, and turning down the air conditioning are just a few of the tricks people are using to keep extra money in their pockets at the end of each month.  However, when thinking of ways to save money, very few consider renting a Toronto self storage unit. Wait, paying money to rent a storage unit can actually save you money?  That’s right. It may sound counter-intuitive, but there are actually a number of circumstances in which renting a storage unit can save you money.

A few of those circumstances include:

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Inspired by Sandy from Yes I am Cheap sharing her Non Extreme Couponing Experience, I thought I would share with you my somewhat mild extreme couponing experience.  As you know, I have been a bit of a coupon fiend lately, watching the show Extreme Couponing gets me riled up and excited (though I definitely don’t agree with buying 90 tubes of toothpaste, or 123 deodorants “just ’cause”).  I am more of the variety of buying items that I need with coupons to save money, and not buying 15 of them.  Two to five of the same items, maybe.  But not fifteen.

As you also know, I have been reading Mrs January’s blog (looove it!) because she matches up the coupons in the mail to the sales in store.  I have been saving up my free product coupons (like the Glade coupon) for those days where you need to purchase $50 worth of goods to get 20x the points at Shoppers Drug Mart (one of my favourite stores not only because I’m a shareholder, but I find that Shoppers shows growth, flexibility, and not to mention, it has a great rewards program).

So, last Saturday, there was a 20x the points event.  Usually each dollar you spend is only worth 10 points.  But on these special days, if you spend $50, you can get 20x the points.  50,000 points gives you a $80 redemption, so you can see that if you spend $50 on these days five times, you can get $80!  If you couple that with the more bang for your points days (that’s what I call them anyway), you will get to $100 for 50,000 points.

So here’s a recap of the mission:

GOAL: To accumulate $50 worth of groceries/ necessary items and obtain 20x the points (about 10,000 points) using the least of amount of money possible.

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This is a guest post by SavingMentor who has been deeply passionate about saving money for the past 7 years, primarily focusing on spending less money without cutting back. After learning so much about saving money, he decided to launch HowToSaveMoney.ca to help other Canadians save money on everything they buy and do.

The old saying goes “you have to spend money to make money” and, in similar fashion, sometimes you have to spend money to save money too. Buying yourself a good home theater PC (htpc) is one of those surprising ways you can save yourself a lot of money! It seems counterintuitive at first, but having a computer hooked up to your TV can provide you with a surprising number of benefits and with compact nettop computers being sold for as little as $300-$400, getting started is quite inexpensive compared to the money you can save. So how exactly can an htpc save you money?

Replace Your Existing Cable or Satellite Service

Now before you jump to conclusions, I’m not talking about downloading pirated TV shows and movies! These days almost all of the major networks publish their full length content on their own websites and you can view it in full screen mode on your HDTV using your htpc. I’ve been doing this for several years now and I’ve slowly witnessed all of the shows I could possibly want to watch become available online for free.

Advantages Of Internet TV Over Cable Or Satellite

• It’s 100% FREE, FREE, FREE!
• Watch shows on your own schedule, not the TVs schedule.
• Pause, restart, rewind, and fast forward shows as you please.
• Sometimes watch whole seasons or past seasons of shows in their entirety.
• Much shorter and less frequent commercial breaks, sometimes only 15 or 30 seconds.
  • Unfortunately, they are increasing in length as internet TV popularity increases.
• Shows are often available in 720p or 1080p HD, also free.
• No need to purchase an expensive PVR to take full control over your TV viewing experience.
• Some networks even have made for TV movies or other movies available.

List Of Canadian Television Networks

The networks are listed in alphabetical order and I’ve only included those that offer full episodes:

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Here is a guest post on youngandthrifty.ca by Jennifer Williams. Jennifer Williams is a writer, turner traveler, turned blogger. She’s trying her hand at blogging on various topics, so you can find her stepping into tech, business and finance. Follow her on twitter- @JtotheWilliams or check out her blog- allovertech.wordpress.com.

We live in a culture where nobody seems to have the time to cook anything. Or maybe it’s the dishes nobody has time for. Whether it’s a race through the drive-through or a dinner that uses the last of your energy (that takeout bag is pretty heavy), eating out is a way of life, recession or not. But you still have other expenses. Here are five ways you can eat out, and still have some money to fill your fridge later on.

1. Eat your biggest meal early.

It’s a well known fact that you need to eat early in the day to jump start your metabolism.  Common sense also dictates that if you eat a larger meal in the morning, you won’t be ravenous (and spending even more) for lunch or dinner… or even wandering the grocery store like a zombie looking for bloog.  And if you want a fourth reason, remember that taking in your calories earlier means that you’ll be burning them off all day long.

2. Bring snacks.

While this may sound like advice only a parent needs to follow, remember that there’s
no rule saying you have to eat entirely at restaurants.

The grocery store is often the least expensive option available to you. Look for free days
at bulk discount stores (such as the one Sam’s Club had on August 6-8, 2010), and pick
up a box of small chip bags, or a large container of popcorn. A little self knowledge and
some foresight can pay big dividends when it comes to meals on the go. Just be sure
to get things you actually like, instead of falling into the trap of “I should eat this, even
though it tastes like packing peanuts.”

You can also go to sites like Offers.com and download some coupons- this way, you
can get more of what you want without spending a ridiculous amount of money.

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This week, I was happy to have saved money by not having to pay for an oil change. Inadvertently.

How I inadvertently saved $100 on my car:

I went to get my winter tires put on and the place I go to (will not mention names lol) provides a free mechanical inspection on your car.  I thought- why not, it’s free anyways.  I already had an oil change booked with my usual mechanic for the following week.  The tire place told me that my car would be ready in a couple of hours, so I took transit down to do some errands.  Understandably, they were very busy as it was the first snow fall of the season and of course Vancouver drivers were scrambling madly to get their snow tires on at the first hint of 5 cm of snow on the ground.  I get a call from them to say that my car needed an oil change and a new air filter.  I told them that I had an appointment with my regular mechanic next week, so they didn’t need to do the oil change or change the air filter.  They said okay, and that my car was ready for pick up.

I arrive to pick up my car.

I see the bill: $100.  Usually to change the tires over, it’s free.  Mechanical inspection was free. So… why was I asked to pay $100?

They said they were charging me for the oil change and the air filter and labour.

I didn’t kick up much of a fuss, really. I just firmly said that I didn’t say I wanted the oil change and air filter done.

So they gave waived the bill and I got the oil change and air filter for free.

Needless to say, I was a happy camper!  Snow (check out the pic of Vancouver) and free oil change.  Couldn’t be happier.

Readers, have you had an experience where you got something substantial for free because of a mistake?

Here are some links for your perusal on the weekend:

• Financial Samurai asks why there are homeless veterans in America
• Thousandaire sings about meeting her parents for Thanksgiving (yes, you read it, sings!)
• Invest It Wisely rounds up some cool blogs AND talks about his pet peeves (which are very valid pet peeves might I add)
• Yes I am Cheap says that Suze Orman is the devil (this is an old post, but piqued my interest- I love how Suze speaks so clearly)
• KNS Financial announces that Netflix is increasing its prices
• The Passive Income Earner has a fantastic 5 part series where he analyzes some Income Trusts that are incorporating and their impact in dividends (like YLO.UN which already converted, KEG.UN etc. to name a few)
• Million Dollar Journey paid off his mortgage in 3 years and he’s sharing how he did it (yes, you read that right. three. years.!!!)
• Bucksom Boomer is giving away $25 via paypal if she reaches her goal of 200 subscribers by December 15
• The Canadian Finance Blog has a great summary post on ways to save money
• The Millionaire Nurse Blog shares the 10 traits of successful people

PS: If you haven’t already- don’t forget to enter youngandthrifty.ca’s blogiversary giveaway!!

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