Best Tips for Saving Money in Canada

Thanks to the “skilled worker and professionals” immigration program of Canada, each year a lot of immigrantscome to this country to settle down. While starting their new life in Canada, most of them can’t help thinking: ‘How to save money while living in Canada? ‘

In fact, if you have the same concerns, you may get some great ideas from the following tips:

1- The weekly flyer can be your good source for saving money.

Every week, you may receive a lot of promotion flyers from the local supermarkets and groceries. Don’t put them in recycling bin too quickly, because there are always some valuable discount coupons or on-sale information inside. For example, an ordinary rice cooker costs CAD$50, but during its on-sale week, it costs only CAD$30 or even less.

Therefore, for some stockable products (for example: cereal, rice, toilet paper and household cleaning products, etc), you can always make a good stock during their corresponding promotion weeks.

Besides the good offers shown on the flyers, the local supermarket giant Maxi, always sells the fruits and vegetables at a quite competitive price which is lower than the other local competitors.

2 – Make you own bread at home.

For most people in North America, eating bread becomes a daily necessary. In fact, you should buy a bread maker from the market to make your own bread at home. During the sale, a good bread makeronly costs around CAD$40 and a bag of bread flour packed in 10 kg costs only around CAD$10 in the local groceries, such as: Maxi, Loblaws, Provigo and Super C, etc.

With the 10 kg flour, you can make around 20 loaves of bread. Each loaf of bread at the same size costs around CAD$4.00 in the market. For saving money, it’s a good idea to make your bread at home, isn’t it?

3 – If you can find it in Dollarama, don’t buy it from the other place!

Dollarama is a chain of over 600 stores across Canada. All the items in its stores cost you only CAD$1. (Recently, due to the America economic crisis, the prices of some items increase to CAD$1.25 or CAD$2.00).

They provide a lot of products, such as preservable food, toys and home decoration materials, etc. You might not be interested in the food or toys there. However, if you search for some tools for accomplishing household decoration, it is an ideal store for you. For example, a hammer sold in Dollarama costs you only CAD$1, while the same product costs around CAD$20 in other shops.

4 – During summer, buy your fresh fruits and vegetables from the exterior markets at a low price.

During summer, the exterior markets are available around the town. Since most of products there are provided directly by the local farms, you can find some prices even lower than the grocery stores.

However, these exterior markets open only until the end of October, before the snow arrives in town.

5 – Do your shopping on Boxing Day.

Boxing Day is a tradition in some countries, as well as in Canada. It’s the day after the Christmas day. On this day, a lot of products are sold at their half price, even lower.

On the Boxing Day, you have to wake up early for waiting outside the store for being the first group to enter the shop. However, if you buy some expensive electronic products on Boxing Day, it can always help you save a big sum of money.

6 – Buy your shoes in Payless.

Payless is a chain of footwear retailers in Canada. At the beginning of each season, they always put some models of last season on sale. Therefore, you may buy your winter boots in spring or summer at a very low price.