a peek inside the fishbowl

Are you doing the Friday dance? I am, even though it’s going to be a work-ish kind of weekend for me. Here’s what the past few days looked like, more or less. :)

As some of may already know, I’m a bit obsessed as it pertains to collecting PC Plus points. (Read my original post if you’re looking for tips and tricks on how to maximize your points and save money.) Last year I did a big shop on December 23 and the points that I had saved up to that point covered the bulk of our holiday groceries, which made me really happy. (I mean, hello, FREE GROCERIES during a very expensive time of year would make anyone happy!) But it also inspired me to do something bigger. And so, because I am the type of person who enjoys a challenge and counting/accumulating things, I made sure Mark had a card linked up to the account and we started saving all of our PC Plus points. Which brings us to today.

Not that this is a competition or anything, but I am totally winning this. This is a screenshot of my current holdings, not bad eh?

I’m pretty sure we’ll be at $500 by the end of December. Woot!

So how did we earn so many PC Plus points? Well. As you can imagine, a family of four goes through a lot of groceries, and we probably do 85% of our grocery shopping at Loblaws and the Superstore, which helps. With a bit of practice, I was able to alter my shopping habits to accumulate the most points I could during any given trip.

We will definitely have more than enough to cover Christmas groceries (think turkey and all the trimmings, and extra food-related treats). As for the rest, I’m gearing up to buy gift cards: gift cards for our own use around the holidays, and gift cards for stockings. But until today I had no clear idea what gift cards Loblaws sells (and the Superstore for that matter). I asked their customer service folks on Twitter, but they apparently don’t have a list to share. Perhaps it varies from store to store – which is why they weren’t very forthcoming –  but I can say with certainty that when I checked yesterday afternoon, some of the gift cards for sale at my local Loblaws included ones in various denominations from iTunes, Le Chateau, Garage, H&M, Winners, Forever 21, Hudson’s Bay, Cineplex, Indigo, Starbucks, Tim Hortons, Xbox, LCBO, Shopper’s Drug Mart, Esso, Future Shop/Best Buy, Canadian Tire, Home Depot, the Keg, and all kinds of fast food. They may vary slightly store to store, but I bet the selection is fairly similar at other stores.

I think I’ll redeem our points in areas we’re most likely to feel spendy over the holidays. So that means LCBO, and maybe Cineplex might be the best choices for us. Anything extra will be going into the kids’ stockings!

How would YOU spend your PC points? :)

This giveaway is now closed. Thank you for your entries!

Into the Woods will be released in theatres Dec. 25, 2014 but I’m giving away tickets to a special advance screening: four admissions to two families!

Into the Woods is a modern twist on several of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, intertwining the plots of a few of the best-known stories and exploring the consequences of the characters’ wishes and quests. It follows the tales of Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford), Jack and the Beanstalk (Daniel Huttlestone), and Rapunzel (MacKenzie Mauzy)—all tied together by an original story involving a baker and his wife (James Corden & Emily Blunt), and their wish to begin a family and their interaction with the witch (Meryl Streep) who has put a curse on them.

Take a gander at the trailer right here!

Would you like to win? Please take note of a few details before putting your name down.

• These tickets are for the Ottawa screening, which is taking place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, December 17 at SilverCity Gloucester. Please don’t enter if you aren’t sure if you can make it!
• This is important: this film is recommended for children age 10 and over.
• To enter, all you need to do is leave a note in the comments below.
• For a bonus entry, leave a comment on this Facebook post.
• I’ll do a random draw from all the comments at noon on December 12. I’ll announce the winners here and via email, at which point I’ll forward electronic passes to the two winners. (Each winner will receive passes to admit for people to the film, just so we’re clear.)