CAA = 10% off at The GAP

As I mentioned in my previous post, my friend and I went tent shopping recently. Our last stop was at Vaughn Mills mall. While there we also perused many of the other retail stores.

Normally I don't like doing that because I always end up seeing something I want. That happened again at The GAP. There were a pair of light shorts and light pants great for summer hiking.

The shorts were regular $40 with a 60% off discount and the pants $55 with a 40% off discount. I bought 2 pairs of shorts for $16 each (after the discount) and one pair of pants for $33 (after the discount).

While standing in line to pay I noticed a customer ahead of me who had her CAA card out at the cash. She presented it to the cashier for some sort of discount I assumed.

When it was my turn I asked what it was about. The cashier said that if you show your CAA card you receive an extra 10% off your purchase which is great.

What wasn't great was that I didn't bring my CAA card. Since I didn't drive I brought my slimmed down wallet with my three basic cards - driver's licence, health card and VISA card.

I asked if I could come back with my CAA card later and still receive the discount. The girl said, yes. So I did that the following Monday and received a further $7.35 savings.

The lady behind me noticed and asked what it was all about. When she found out you could save an extra 10% with your CAA card she produced hers too.

So, now you know.

Save your Money

Save your Money–I think this is a statement that's foreign to many people nowadays. The debt level of so many Canadians has grown bigger and bigger in recent times. This has been encouraged by current record low interest rates. But experts fear that if they happen to rise a lot of people won't be able to deal with it. So we all have to be very careful. Don't spend what you don't have.

One way to save your money is to buy only what you need (versus what you want). Let's face it, we all have plenty of wants. That's a problem I've dealt with in the past. I liked clothes and I would often go shopping. At one point I dug through my things at home and discovered I had 20-30 pairs of pants (some of which I rarely wore). I believe many others aren't unlike me in this way. We walk into a store and see something we like and without thinking about it put it on our credit card.

Don't necessarily buy name brand. Sometimes you can save a lot by purchasing generic or less well known brands for certain things. Or, if there's a particular brand you can't live without, try buying off season (for clothes or sports equipment like bicycles or skis etc.) when stores are trying to clear their shelves for new merchandise.

Don't forget–The Little Things Add Up! $3 for that caffè latte and $1.50 for multi-grain bagel in the morning, plus $4 for a juice and blueberry muffin for your mid-afternoon snack may seem like pocket change now. But, it really adds up in the long run. And most people will buy more than that throughout the day. You can be sure of it. Instead of going out, why not bring snacks to work or have them at home? You can save a lot by doing that.

We have to prepare ourselves for the future. It's a fact of life, we're all going to get old. At one point we either won't be able to or won't want to work any more. We can't and shouldn't rely on the government to supplement our income with things like pensions or Old Age Security.

Right now there's a huge number of baby boomers nearing retirement age. Our tax dollars will be stretched to the limit trying to care for them. With the way things are going who knows if there will be anything left when we reach that stage in our lives. The only people we can rely on is ourselves.

It's imperative we save our own money and invest it wisely. It's never too late to start. If you haven't already done so, today is the day to start.