A Great Find, Even Without the Deal

Last August I told you about my experiences with the online deal sites in Deal or No Deal.  For those deals I payed half of the value of what I was purchasing.  Now I've found Savings Ottawa.  They sometimes offer a coupon which is worth dollars off, or perhaps a two for one deal, without us having to pay anything to get it.  While the ones you purchase almost guarantee you will use them to visit the vendor, these free coupons are still very handy to have.

We had to go into Ottawa today, and I happened to have a two for one coupon for the Merivale Fish Market.  Yes, they sell fish there, but it's also a restaurant, and my coupon said that if we ordered one meal, a second of equal or lesser value would be free.  We had never been to this establishment before, but we thought we would give it a try.  It turns out the coupon was only good from Sunday to Thursday, so we were a day too early to use it. It did say that on the coupon, but I had forgotten. Anyway, it was a nice little place and the plates I saw being delivered to the tables around us were heaped high with good looking food.  We opted to stay and give it a try, and each ordered fish and chips.  Now, there were actually three choices for that.  There was halibut, wild or otherwise, and catch of the day, which happened to be cod today.  We both chose the regular halibut. 

The meal of two batter fried fillets came with fresh cut fries and a lovely coleslaw, served up on a piece of cabbage leaf.  The batter was light and the fish was marvelous. There was both lemon and tartar sauce served with it.  We may not have got the two for one deal on this particular trip, but we did find a great new place to eat out.  We will definitely go back there, and I recommend it to everyone.

Meanwhile, why not sign up at Savings Ottawa and pick up a few deals of your own. 

Freebie Friday - Jan 11

It happens every year.  Publishers all decide to compete for your attention by sending all kinds of deals to get you to subscribe to their magazines.  I try hard to resist, but I don't always succeed.

While e-mails with welcome back offers arrived for some, I got actual sample issues from both Prevention Magazine and Good Times.  Good times also included a bookmark, and promised a new watch if I subscribed, and a matching bracelet if I did it quickly.  I think I'll pass as I have plenty of reading material here as it is.

I also received my third and final free issue of Canadian Living.  The Sample Source people gave out free 3 month subscriptions a while back, and now that my last issue has arrive, so has a message offering me the final 9 months of a year's subscription for just $9.  They have a big round ball on the ad saying that's just $9 a copy.  Ha.  They aren't thinking straight.  That's $9 for the entire year, since I didn't have to pay for the first 3 issues at all.  Looking at it that way, it's only 75 cents an issue.  That's a deal that's hard to pass up.  I've been trying all week, but I do love to flip through magazines, and I know I'm never going to get another offer as cheap as that.

Have you looked at the price of magazines on the newsstand lately?  Actually, it's hard to find a price listed on most of them any more.  I think they are ashamed to print it.  You are darn lucky if you can find one as low as $4.99 these days.  A new one I really wanted to try last week cost $15.99, and that's before adding on another couple of bucks for taxes.   That does it.  While I really am trying to cut back on my magazines, I suddenly don't think I can afford to pass up the deal of 9 more months of Canadian Living for just $9....especially now that I've clicked though to the renewal and see that actually includes the taxes!.