My Favorite Rewards Programs for Freebies

For those of you that know me well know I love getting a great deal and I love earning rewards for freebies.  My favorite rewards program and the one that I think you get the most value from is the Shoppers Drug Mart rewards. If you shop at the right times and get the right products you will end up with a ton of free groceries!  Although its my favorite, it's no the only one out there for freebies!  I thought I would take the time to write about some of my favorite programs and how they work for you to get you your best shopping deals.

So lets start with my favorite!  The Shoppers Drug Mart Optimum Card.

The Shoppers Optimum card it free and you automatically collect 10 Shoppers Optimum Points for every dollar you spend including prescriptions.  It does not include items such as stamps, tobacco products, and gift cards that are not theirs and a few other items.  You get 10 points for every dollar you spend.  When yo have enough points, you can redeem them for cash off of your purchases.  The points system goes as follows...

8,000 points = $10 off
22,000 points = $30 off
38,000 points = $60 off
50,000 points = $85 off
95,000 points = $170 off

Most people would be tempted to redeem the points every time you reach the $10.00 mark but in my opinion that would be a waste of your points.  Shoppers Drug Mart often has bonus redemption events where you can redeem your points for more than the usual amounts.

50,000 points = $100 off (instead of the regular $85)
95,000 points = $200 off (instead of the regular $170)

I always wait for these events (they usually happen every couple of months) because you get the best value.  There is also usually a Mega bonus redemption day that will give you even better values.  This bonus redemption tends to happen one time a year close to Christmas.

It may sound like you need to spend a lot of money but you dont... you just have to be a smart shopper!  Here are some tips to get huge points for little money!

1. Buy a Shoppers Drug Mart gift card first.  Since you get points for buying a shoppers drug mart gift card, I buy one for the amount I would be spending in the store before hand and pay with it.  Buy doing his you double the points you will get.  For example, if you spend $50.00 you would get 500 points, but if you buy a $50.00 gift card first you get 500 points for the gift card and then another 500 points for spending the gift card worth $50.00 for a total of 1000 points!

2. Shop on bonus points days.  at least once a month Shoppers drug mart usually has bonus point days often 20x points.  They also have 10x and 15x points events or "spend $50 get 10,000 points".  If you wait to shop of those days, you will rack up the points pretty fast!

3. Sign up for the Shoppers Optimum credit card and use it for your purchases.  There is no annual fee and instead of earning 10 points for every dollar you spend you will earn 25 points for every dollar in purchases.  Also after your first purchase with the card you will earn 15,000 bonus points just for using it!

4. Use bonus points coupons or buy bonus points products.  If you sign up for the shoppers drug mart email newsletter or if you check their website weekly there are bonus points coupons that are available to print off.  These coupons require to to buy certain products or spend certain amounts and can be paired with regular coupons.  These coupons can be worth anywhere between 500 bonus points to 10,000 bonus points!  They also feature products in store that don't need a coupon and when you buy them you will get a specific number of bonus points. 
Click here to sign up!

Airmiles

AIR MILES reward miles can be collected from all types of companies across Canada, and there are lots of rewards to choose from.  You can earn everything from small household items to free flights!   Click here to see the rewards catalog!  To earn Airmiles, you need to swipe your airmiles card at participating sponsor stores and depending on their policy you will earn points towards free  items from the rewards catalog.  

To optimize your rewards, use a airmiles credit card by getting airmiles points for your purchases as well as using your credit card.(depending on the card there could be a yearly fee) If you sign up to their newsletter, they will send you bonus airmiles coupons and booklets either through email or in the mail.  To find a list of participating sponsor stores check out this link! For a list of all Participating Sponsors.




HBC Rewards

This is also a great program because you can use the HBC card at multiple stores.  You can use it at The Bay, Zellers and Home Outfitters for all of your purchases including buying gift cards.  You will earn 50 Hbc rewards points for every dollar you spend at one of the stores listed above.

Just like many other programs, sign up for their newsletter and receive bonus point coupons.  You can redeem your bonus points for various household items, gift cards and you can even have them converted into Airmiles!  Plus, you earn an additional 50 Hbc Rewards points when you use your Hbc Rewards Card  with your Hbc mastercard. With the  Hbc MasterCard, you can earn Hbc Rewards points everywhere else you shop.

Click here to see the rewards catalog!
Click here to sign up!

Sobeys Club Card

If you shop at Sobeys you will earn 1 point per whole dollar spent there using your Club Sobeys card.  There are no fees and you can redeem your points for money towards your purchases. I like shopping at Sobeys personally because they have pretty good prices and they have a great coupon policy that they have recently updated to compete with larger stores!
Click here to see the rewards catalog!

There are some many cards out there that you can earn points, products or money with these are just a few of my favorites.  What are some of your favorites?