Tips and tricks on how to save money using the Air Miles program

After the cold weather of yesterday, it is now snowing. Once again, it’s the Holiday Season and who say Holiday Season mean traveling to go spend some time with families and friends. It’s seem like for a bunch of reason, families and friends are never really often where I am. Traveling by train can be very expensive. For years, I have been doing Quebec-New Brunswick, New Brunswick-Quebec, Ontario-New Brunswick and New Brunswick-Ontario I don’t know how many times. Thanks to Gravol pills, I am able to travel on the bus for long hours.

Traveling can get very expensive, even with the bus. A two way ticket Montreal to my XXX town in New Brunswick is like close to $200. And in a year, I can go to New Brunswick quite often, sometimes at least 2-3 times a year minimum if not even more. Calculate it, $200 x 3 times = $600. And that’s for the bus ticket only. It doesn’t include the cost for the Gravol pills !!!, food and beverage among the way. I always bring something to drink and eat on the bus and while I am on my Gravol, I feel sleepy, I am on drug and I am happy that way. I won’t ever feel very much hungry. Among the way, I usually always get a little treat like a piece of pie, ice cream and coffee (extremely delicious after spending a few hours on the bus). And it’s usually the only thing I buy when I travel.

As you can see, the most expensive part is the bus ticket. Thanks to Air Miles, I safe 40% on my bus ticket. With Air Miles, a travel certificate with Orleans Express cost 50 Air Miles.

I use BMO MasterCard that allows me to collect Air Miles. I have the card with no annual fee, so I collect 1 Air Mile per trench of $20 spend on the BMO MasterCard. I do not collect much Air Miles these days since I put a hold on my spending.

To collect the 50 Air Miles needed to get my 40% on my bus tickets, I need to spend $1 000 on my BMO MasterCard! While living frugally, it will take me about 2 and half months to earn my 50 Air Miles. Knowing that I go to New Brunswick 2-3 times a year, I am able to purchase my 40% travel certificate even with my current level of expenses.

Other than BMO MasterCard, other ways to collect Air Miles is to present your blue Air Miles card each time you make a purchase at a pharmacy Jean Coutu. You can also collect Air Miles at IGA (grocery store). However, I find IGA being expensive as grocery store. I don’t shop there very often. Provigo has much better deal. The trick is to earn Air Miles while staying frugal.

Another way to earn Air Miles is through the AIR MILES® Blue Tag Lounge. Ok, at first, you may be tempted to purchase whatever is there, but please don’t. What interests us is the AIR MILES® Blue Tag Lounge - Gift Card Zone. Even while trying to live frugally, I still go to the movies – I couldn’t live without going once in a while (this mean every single weeks!). I cannot live without having once in a while a delicious Second Cup coffee (that one is almost on every day). So knowing that I cannot live without going to the movies and without my Second Cup coffees, I can go to the AIR MILES® Blue Tag Lounge - Gift Card Zone and purchase a $50 Cineplex Entertainment Gift Card. A $50 Cineplex Entertainment Gift Card will provide you 20 Air Miles. You can even get a $25 one and you will get 10 Air Miles.

If you don’t have any original idea what to give to the birthday of your brother or sister, a $50 Cineplex Entertainment Gift Card could do the trick. While giving a nice gift away, you’ll also earn 20 Air Miles.

It is much easier to earn Air Miles through the AIR MILES® Blue Tag Lounge than on any other program. But the trick is, purchases on stuff that are to give as gifts or purchase on gift card for places you already go in your everyday life. I had order gift cards many times and I never have any problem receiving them.

With this strategy, there’s only one problem: it could take up to 120 days to receive the Air Miles points you earn through the AIR MILES® Blue Tag Lounge. So it might be a good idea to use a BMO MasterCard Air Miles on your everyday purchases. That way, you’ll be able to safe on bus ticket or anything else you need and can order from the Air Miles program.

My next best thing: Black Diamond Group Ltd (BDI)

I found it very cold today in Montreal. I went outside, was about to hit downtown, but I decided to go back home. Even with my boots, gloves, coat and my lovely little hat, I WAS COLD. It doesn’t really matter anyway because I have my night out yesterday. I saw the moving Anna Karenina. Keira Knightley is so great in that movie! More than just a sometime too skinny actress, she can be a really good actress. Jude Law fits right in his role of rigid husband too old for his wife. Go see Anna Karenina, and you’ll see the best movie of 2012. I have to say that Killing them softly with Brad Pitt was pretty good too. Not to forget Batman. And the latest James Bond...!!! All too good movies.

And yeah, you know what, I just pop up the 7k in dividend income for 2012! I am waiting for some valuable cash coming from Héroux-Devtek Inc. (HRX). I didn’t like the way the company the handle its special distribution. You cannot go announced this date as settlement date and a week or so after, announced another date. You cannot play like that. But Héroux-Devtek Inc. (HRX) did so. I am currently off something like $80 on that investment. However, I am waiting more than $200 with the special distribution. So I may be able to get on a $100 profit. Not much, but it begin like that. Small profit, and later on, someday, bigger profit. I might know too much about the stock market now because what I am in to is not big profit. But I am in whatever can generate cash for the long run. I don’t know yet what I will be doing with my Héroux-Devtek Inc. (HRX) stocks following December 19. I may set up an automatic sell order on that one. I haven’t decided yet.

I won’t recap on my investment moves of 2012, but I have to say, 2012 have been a great year. I have made some really great investment in AGU, CHR.B and I don’t know how many other lol. And now I doubt that my investment made in AGU was or was not made in 2012??? Totally LOST in time and space.

If the US can fix their budget, if Europeans can accept the austerity they’ll have to live in for the next decade, everything will be just fine. But of course, it won’t be simple and it’s going to be quite movyyy. Volatility is making it extremely hard. If I can generate a 5% income after dividend and after loses, it will be VERY good. I know, all this for 5%. And the excitement of reading ME and the excitement of the stock market. Is there really anything better than that. I mean you know, me and the stock market? 

I am having of course problem to remain on positive territory. Even the Jean-François Tardif, you know, the one we talk all the time about? Well, even Jean-François Tardif is having problem to generate super value to its JFT Strategies Fund (JFS.UN). The fund started at $10 per unit. And now, the units are at less than $10 and the fund doesn’t even pay any distribution at all. Kind of suck. If he continues that way, Jean-François Tardif will only be good for my bed.... L’invitation est donc lancée (you’ll have to use Google Translate to understand that part). Its basically an invitation to Jean-François Tardif.

I don’t like the idea of another year that is about to end too soon. Already? Is that really all of what my life is going to be for 2012? NOOOOOOOOOOO. It’s not going to end this way because you know what? We are about to welcome a new hot comer: Black Diamond Group Ltd (BDI). It’s not the first time we mention BDI on my sexy blog. The dividend payment is less than 4%, but no matter what, I feel my money will be well invested in Black Diamond Group Ltd (BDI). BDI could be my last investment of 2012. This is much much better now so enjoy.

Its 9 PM and I want to go home

You know that you life kind of sucks when its 9 PM and you already feel TIRED and just feel to do one thing: hit your bed. 

I have spent the whole summer replacing a bunch of people at the office who were going on vacations. Following the 5 months contract, I was giving a permanent job, but I still have to go through a 3 months probation, even after going through the HELL of a summer. So when the admin people begin to be foolish and act a bit crazy, I just have 2 words that come to mind: F@ck ya.

Problem being they have a bunch of vice president and admin staff costing them like crazy and now, the admin is going nut under the pressure. 

And I began to have a feeling of being at risk because I am receiving comments. It first began at the Christmas party at work. While hitting the dance floor like a bunch of others, I got that vice president who said to me: you are taking too much place (in French being: tu prends beaucoup de place). Well, a babe like me, almost 5’9 tall and of Acadian descendant with long hair and no tattoo you kna, YES IT DOES TAKE PLACE. I find her very disgusting of saying such thing to me and I began to wish her a terrible car accident.

And while she left work, she shooted me a: “Do you still love your job?”

When it comes to Quebeckers, I am very intolerant. I don’t and I will never accept any shit coming from them.

So I am very looking forward for a new situation so I can clear myself from there. I would like to hit back in the Maritimes and I hope to be back in New Brunswick or Nova Scotia for 2013.

I never loved being in Quebec, it’s a secret for no one. Pauline Marois and her bunch of f@ckers can go to hell. Those people have no integrity.

Thank you for the food allergy, Dr. Mehmet Oz

In case you are wondering, Dr. Mehmet Oz is a HOT cardiac surgeon host of The Dr. Oz show, an American TV show that I used to listen too while having cable in New Brunswick. I don’t know if you remember, but I recently started a $100 challenge (its going on well as I eat more vegetables and less junk and sugarrrrr argggggg lol), not to spend more than $100 until December 21 on food. Well, before enrolling to the challenge, I had bought a little bag of Brazil nuts. You can read the article right here. Its after reading that article that I started adding cucumbers to my water.

According to Dr. Oz, Brazil nuts are good to activate the brain and I REALLY need all my mental faculties right now. :) The stock market is going crazy like hell and I am overheating of work at my job. So I was in need of a little something extra to help me, see. So I bought myself a little bag of Brazil nuts. The deal was to eat one per day, as indicated in the article. But see, because of my $100 challenge, I ate more than one nut. I didn’t have anything for snack if not green apples, but I wasn’t feeling like eating a f apple. LOL.

So instead, I eat a couple of Brazil nuts. Maybe 10 of them. But it was too much. See the result. This is the second time is happening. The first time, I didn’t make any relation between the Brazil nuts and my rash. Why? Because I use to eat one every day without having any problem. But only ONE.

But the second time it happen – just today, I started making the relation. I remembered my dad having some kind of rash of his skins while eating too much nuts. I have the exact same food allergy as my father.

Don’t worry, however, it’s not hurting me that much. Only my delicate left wrist, my inside sexy left thigh and behind my other right thigh are being affected.  

Thank you for the food allergy Dr. Mehmet Oz.

My debt situation on date of December 9, 2012

$7 875.45 at a low interest rate of 4.75% (RRSP credit line rates) = $374.08 in annual interest PAID OFF

$4 900 at a low interest rate of 4% (credit line rates) = $196 in annual interest

$7 978.54 on a credit card at a low interest rate of 2.9% (result of a credit card balance transfer) = $231.38 in annual interest

$8 000 on a credit card at a low interest rate of 1.9% (result of a credit card balance transfer) = $152 in annual interest

$6 311.41 at low interest rate loan at 5.50% (student loan) = $347.13 in annual interest

$5 000 at 8.75% (credit line) = 437.50$ in annual interest PAID OFF

$10 000 at 9.30% (credit line rates) = $930 in annual interest PAID OFF

$51 240.65 at a low interest rates of 4.25% (margin money coming from my broker account): =
$2 177.73 in annual interest

$1 827.47 at 0.99% for a year (with American Express) = $18.09 PAID OFF

TOTAL: $78 430.60

TOTAL in annual interest: $3 104.24
[In date of December 9, 2012]