Airmiles Armchair Chatter

[Disney Addicted]

I'm still waffling on taking a Christmas vacation...feeling guilty that our oldest DD can't come which means she's home alone....she swears that it's ok as she has work and friends that have invited her over. Anyway, the travel vouchers I ordered just in case have arrived. I ordered them Wednesday night around 9pm and FedEx just delivered them about 15 minutes ago.

Has anyone been to Memories Flamenco in Cayo Coco?

I felt guilty about our 18 year old daughter (19 now) not joining us on our cruise last April. On one hand I knew I would really enjoy a break from her but on the other hand I felt like a bad mom for those thoughts. (wry grin) But she chose not to go. She really wanted to stay the week with her Aunt & cousin. She loved being with them and after the cruise I believe she would have been bored. Your daughter will probably enjoy the time to herself and keep busy with work & friends. Have fun!!

I feel your pain too!

Venting is always welcome here and you certainly do need to!

I think it is amazing that you are saving to pay for all this stuff and not just putting yourselves into major debt like a lot of people do these days.

Thank you. It's been a busy past two or three days so I wasn't able to come here and reply sooner. Unfortunately we do have a bit of debt that I'm trying to get rid of. I wish I could say otherwise! But at least we're aware and trying to bring it down. Better this year than last year. Actually, paying for those (furnance, a/c, electrical) from the fence money instead of going into debt over them helped.

Hugs to you!
Mel

Thank you Mel. I did see your reply but I wasn't able to reply quicker. My husband says he would like to still go. He is also of the feeling this will be our last real family vacation. The Electrician had an opening Tuesday after and came out. He was here for FIVE hours! Turns out this is not the first time the fuse panel has had issues. Whether it's been on going since we moved in or from the past owners, we don't know. But he had to clean/polish up the fuse panel, replace some fuses and move the locations of a few items (ie, the dryer location, oven location, kitchen splitters, etc). He says we should be fine through winter (maybe longer) but really need to look at converting this come spring. In the meantime, we do need to keep an eye on the fuse panel and call him immediately if we think there's a problem.

So, since we have a few months breather, and need to find out just HOW much this will cost, my husband & I have decided not to make any hasty plans. We can't order the tickets through Air Miles yet anyways until probably March. We'll keep the US money in the US account. And start socking away money towards the breaker panel.

BTW....I just came back from Marlin and booked a trip to Cuba We leave on the 24th....so no Christmas drama for me

I went in yesterday to book and while there DH texts me and says his co-worker was there last Christmas and it was cold then my agent says the weather is iffy. I went home deflated after spending every spare minute for the last two weeks looking at this stuff and trying to justify the stupid price tag (as in 50-60% more than usual). Got home, my DD says....they don't have snow in Cuba and even if it's cold we can drink all day long for 7 straight days. You gotta love 19yo logic. So I checked the weather forecast which is 79-83 for the next 3 weeks and asked for input from a FB group for the resort. I think it is a reasonable chance of it being hot....so I pulled the trigger. Used my $1000 in AM vouchers and discovered that the price had dropped since yesterday. My OOP is not so bad in the end and I'M GETTING OUT OF CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

That's great. I love that the price dropped for you. Your daughter's right. No snow, lots of drinks, you can read on the beach. It's GOT to be warmer than what it will be at home. Enjoy!!

Rexall trip, completed TWO transactions and snagged 444 AM, super happy with that!! I should have enough to order one more travel voucher before the end of the year bringing the total up to $3200 towards some kind of trip next year.

Wow, that's fantastic! I tried. I really wanted those air miles from Rexall's. I made out a list and went there this afternoon. I thought I was going to get just over 300. But I kept hitting a wall. Almost everything I wanted, they were out of stock... I walked around trying to come up with $50 worth of stuff. But when I realized I was throwing items in the cart just for the sake of hitting $50, I gave up. I put everything back and walked out. I went to Sobey's for our groceries and added another 125 to my husband's account. He needs about 1,775 more on his card and then we will have enough (once the STB miles post) to get that new computer from his Air Miles.

 

[Disney Addicted]

I forgot there is a STB thread. I'll post this there.

 

[dancin Disney style]

I felt guilty about our 18 year old daughter (19 now) not joining us on our cruise last April. On one hand I knew I would really enjoy a break from her but on the other hand I felt like a bad mom for those thoughts. (wry grin) But she chose not to go. She really wanted to stay the week with her Aunt & cousin. She loved being with them and after the cruise I believe she would have been bored. Your daughter will probably enjoy the time to herself and keep busy with work & friends. Have fun!!

LOL...she's never home. I don't think she has traveled with us in about 8-9 years. My guilt is strictly because it's Christmas. OK...maybe a touch of guilt that she might think we favour her sister.

 

[Disney Addicted]

LOL...she's never home. I don't think she has traveled with us in about 8-9 years. My guilt is strictly because it's Christmas. OK...maybe a touch of guilt that she might think we favour her sister.

As much as we may try and think we are being fair, it's hard not to feel that way. I always felt my brother was more favoured than me. With my Italian grandparents because he was the grandSON. With my parents because he got into trouble more than I did and took up more of their attention.

I fear our son feels his sister gets favoured more because she does get more attention with her disabilities. I hope he realizes eventually that it's not that we *favour* her more; it's just that she needs more help. (sigh)

 

[marcyleecorgan]

I swear everytime I go to Safeway, my great AM plans are foiled. I planned on going in and making 2 shopping trips to scan the $100/100 coupon twice... except when I got there, the store was SO DEAD that there were only 2 cashiers running the whole place and not only could I not quietly sneak through self-checkout, the cashier refused to do a second transaction when I hit the $100 limit. She was insistent, "Once per household per day"; I was so irritated because I HATE when cashiers try to gate-keep! JUST SCAN THINGS, that is your job! Seriously, let the GM of the store or Airmiles figure it out, it's not your business.

Anyway... $230 spent, 156 AM earned...

If you saw me yesterday in a Safeway in Calgary, I was the weirdo pushing a cart with like 12 blocks of butter in it LOL

 

[Pumpkin1172]

Honestly, if it was me. I would have said fine...got her to return a few things...and picked out the things I really NEEDED and would have left...or honestly. I probably would have been like, fine...I'll take what I have here...and left the rest in the cart or on the belt.
And yes, I worked last winter as a cashier at No Frills....so I have had my fill of customers who wanted me to do different things that were against company policies. Sometimes I could help, others, there was no way I could do what they were asking. And if that would have been me, I would have just done it. That's a pretty grey area. And honestly, they don't pay cashiers enough to really be the police of stupid policies like that.

I swear everytime I go to Safeway, my great AM plans are foiled. I planned on going in and making 2 shopping trips to scan the $100/100 coupon twice... except when I got there, the store was SO DEAD that there were only 2 cashiers running the whole place and not only could I not quietly sneak through self-checkout, the cashier refused to do a second transaction when I hit the $100 limit.

 

[Disney Addicted]

Metro makes it pretty clear in their flyer that it's 1 offer per collector card per day. Does Safeway say that in their flyer? If not, I suggest phoning their Head Office and asking what the policy is.

But Sobey's does not, neither does Foodland. I suspect Sobey's doesn't care if it's done more than once per day per card. If I ever get a Cashier who refuses to do it, then I will do as Pumpkin suggested and leave half my order there. Then I'll phone Sobey's and ask. If they say yes I can, I will ask them to contact the store as I would like to go back in and finish my shopping. One of these days I might get around to phoning Sobey's before I go shopping and confirm with them.

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

Our last THREE trips, our adult son didn't want to go. The first two were cruises and he thought he would be bored without a friend (likely true) as he wouldn't have been able to drink at those times (under 21). Last year was the big Orlando theme park trip, which he hates rides.
This year is a Mexico AI and he's actually excited. I told him he should be milking all of the free travel he can get LOL

 

[marcyleecorgan]

Nah, it took a great deal of time to walk the store and get all the groceries, this cashier is one of the more efficient ones at this location, and I didn't have a lot of time to spare before picking up kiddo from school.
What I need to do for these kinds of multiple coupon uses is to either go to two different Safeways to buy the items, OR to carefully note the price and do some math to get only $100 worth of groceries at a time.

Since Safeway doesn't advertise prices outside of what's in the flyer, and I have dyscalculia so it's hard for me to look at a cart and go, "Oh that's $xxx of groceries," I either need to use post-it notes to total my cart before I get to the register, or I need to bring my tablet and use it to do the same thing. I make a strict list but one thing being out of stock or not the right quantity needed for my household can set me off on an adventure that distracts me from my AM plan! When I have a full cart and $225 worth of food, I am NOT going to pick through it. Food is food, we'll always eat it.

At least the personalized Get My Offers threshold offers are finally stacking with the Spend/Get physical flyer coupons! For once I got the $140/35 AM to stack with the $100/100 AM coupon...

 

[bababear_50]

Rexall
Beauty and Skin Care Event
Sunday Dec 16 2018
Spend 50.00 get 100 airmiles.
https://www.rexall.ca/eflyer/?utm_s...aign=december14-giftthemfavefragrances-Rexall

remember to check your load and Go
Mine is
Spend $70 or more and get 100 Bonus Miles, or $50 or more and get 60 Bonus Miles.

I do wish they would change my Load N Go offers once in awhile though.

 

[ottawamom]

Nah, it took a great deal of time to walk the store and get all the groceries, this cashier is one of the more efficient ones at this location, and I didn't have a lot of time to spare before picking up kiddo from school.
What I need to do for these kinds of multiple coupon uses is to either go to two different Safeways to buy the items, OR to carefully note the price and do some math to get only $100 worth of groceries at a time.

Since Safeway doesn't advertise prices outside of what's in the flyer, and I have dyscalculia so it's hard for me to look at a cart and go, "Oh that's $xxx of groceries," I either need to use post-it notes to total my cart before I get to the register, or I need to bring my tablet and use it to do the same thing. I make a strict list but one thing being out of stock or not the right quantity needed for my household can set me off on an adventure that distracts me from my AM plan! When I have a full cart and $225 worth of food, I am NOT going to pick through it. Food is food, we'll always eat it.

At least the personalized Get My Offers threshold offers are finally stacking with the Spend/Get physical flyer coupons! For once I got the $140/35 AM to stack with the $100/100 AM coupon...

I hear you. I have started doing up a spreadsheet for my shop when I'm doing a threshold spend. Known $ go in one column and the ones I add at the store I add up on my phone. The known $ column saves a bit of adding. DH hates shopping with me when I do this because I take too long but I'll be darned if I spend more than I need to to get the AM bonus. Often I'm picking up things I don't necessarily need this week so I can always get them in next weeks threshold shop.

 

[mernin]

I ordered Universal tickets on Dec 11 evening...Received the email that they shipped yesterday afternoon (the 13th) and they arrived this am (the 14th)! Crazy fast! The website said the generic 3-4 weeks.

 

[Donald - my hero]

Rexall
Beauty and Skin Care Event
Sunday Dec 16 2018
Spend 50.00 get 100 airmiles.
https://www.rexall.ca/eflyer/?utm_s...aign=december14-giftthemfavefragrances-Rexall

remember to check your load and Go
Mine is
Spend $70 or more and get 100 Bonus Miles, or $50 or more and get 60 Bonus Miles.

I do wish they would change my Load N Go offers once in awhile though.

The LnG threshold doesn't start till Monday BUT the Sunday offer will stack with the weekend spend $50 get 60 or spend $70 get 100 !!!!

 

[osully]

Had a great trip to Sobeys tonight! Had $20 left of gift card from the Sobeys Urban Fresh promo last week Spent $125 and earned 156AM. Had to buy some firelogs and omg, 6 are $25 at Sobeys!

The MyOffers spend threshold worked in addition to the spend $100 get 100AM coupon LOVE that!

 

[Donald - my hero]

Wow, that's fantastic! I tried. I really wanted those air miles from Rexall's. I made out a list and went there this afternoon. I thought I was going to get just over 300. But I kept hitting a wall. Almost everything I wanted, they were out of stock... I walked around trying to come up with $50 worth of stuff. But when I realized I was throwing items in the cart just for the sake of hitting $50, I gave up. I put everything back and walked out. I went to Sobey's for our groceries and added another 125 to my husband's account. He needs about 1,775 more on his card and then we will have enough (once the STB miles post) to get that new computer from his Air Miles.

We seem to go in spurts with Rexall, it's either we need nothing or BOOM, we both end up needing pricey items that might as well come from Rexall to get miles. I've spent a few trips like you where i question my cart and then "unshop" replacing everything while i mutter to myself. The one store in our city that is easy for me to get to is tiny, poorly stocked, doesn't treat the $5 survey coupon is a fashion that lets it work with anything else AND their prices are higher (seriously, i had a cart priced out to the penny but they were out of 3 things i NEEDED, went to one that's maybe 10 minutes away and we were almost $10 shy of the threshold )

I probably could have done at least one more transaction but i was taking the bus and my backpack was already full to the brim making me look like a turtle Hubby dropped me off so i only needed to bus one direction but the one item the dietician wants me to take is seriously HEAVY!! I've got my fingers crossed that there will be another big offer at Rexall this week coming since the LnG threshold ends on Wednesday again.

 

[osully]

I wanted to add that at Sobeys they gave me a receipt coupon valid Dec 20-24 only. Spend $150 get 150AM. Finally one I don't know that I can get to! Unless I pick up a frozen turkey to roast during the holidays so husband and I have our own stash of turkey leftovers And maybe some candy for husband's stocking!

 

[ilovetotravel1977]

My Sobeys gave me one for next weekend too: Spend $100, get 100 miles. This is Atlantic Sobeys.

$100 is the perfect amount to finish an targeted offer I had for Sobeys:

5 $100-transactions, earn 375 miles + 25 miles if I did all five transactions.

 

[mernin]

My Sobeys gave me one for next weekend too: Spend $100, get 100 miles.

I got this one too (in MB).

 

[marcyleecorgan]

I wanted to add that at Sobeys they gave me a receipt coupon valid Dec 20-24 only. Spend $150 get 150AM. Finally one I don't know that I can get to! Unless I pick up a frozen turkey to roast during the holidays so husband and I have our own stash of turkey leftovers And maybe some candy for husband's stocking!

Yep I got that one too. I don't know if I will be able to use it either... it sort of puts us over the grocery budget to spend that much. So I guess it depends on what's on sale that I need to stock up on!

 

[bababear_50]

I picked up a few last minute things at Sobeys and my receipt coupon is spend $150.00 get 150 airmiles but there is no way I can reach that a week before Christmas.
I don't usually ever spend over 100 at Sobeys unless there is a *Blue Friday event*.
On a plus note Gay Lea butter was only $2.97 lb and Schneiders bacon was $2.99 a lb today at Sobeys.

Hugs
Mel