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Free and Legal Streaming Services Available Through Your Local Library
I have oftentimes sung the praises of your local public library and all the extra services it offers beyond simply loaning out books. But it just keeps on getting better. Tired of paying money to ‘rent’ steaming films and TV shows through Crave, Amazon or Google Movies? Check out the free steaming services offered through…
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Introduction to the Buy Nothing Project for Community Giving
Have you ever thrown something away while simultaneously thinking “gee, I wish I knew someone I could give this to?” You now have many ‘someones’ you can give things away to. In your own community. Welcome to the Buy Nothing Project. So what is the Buy Nothing Project? The best description I’ve read is that…
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FSBO Explained: Demystifying Selling Your House Yourself
If there was ever a more mafia-like business than that of the residential real estate agent, we have yet to encounter it. Outside of the Godfather movies, naturally. Real estate agents provide lists of reasons you need a real estate agent. We would like to refute these reasons and draw back the curtain of mystery…
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What to Expect When Buying a Used Car
First, before you even begin negotiating on a new-to-you vehicle you should determine if you can and/or are willing to sell your old ride. Naturally, if your are truly frugal you will have driven your old vehicle into the ground and donated its remaining carcass to a charity like Kidney Car for the tax receipt…
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The Role of Consumer Advocates in Retail Conflicts
I follow a few different consumer advocate sites. The struggle between consumers and retailers can be quite compelling when one or both feel they have been disadvantaged in a transaction. Unfortunately, businesses have a tendency to gloss over the finer details of their business transactions, and consumers tend to not read or care about such…
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How to Research and Price a Used Car Purchase
What car to buy is, in my view, a far more complex question than whether to buy new or used. The upside if you have decided to buy used: assessing the relative reliability of various auto brands and models becomes far more feasible with used cars than with new ones which have not yet developed…
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Why You’re Not Really Richer Than You Think
This is a tale of a very typical interaction with a big Canadian bank financial guy (I refuse to refer to these guys as advisors, since they do very little actual advising – selling bank products is what they do) who is used to dealing with customers who unquestioningly accept his advice/direction for their investment…
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New Features Learned by My Smartwatch
These days, life on the leading edge of consumer technology is a little like sitting through a student production of Waiting for Godot. The tech press, such as it exists online with its adolescent sense of gravitas, breathlessly anticipates the arrival of a new and highly disruptive widget, preferably from Apple. Instead, it has to…
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How Cash-Back Grocery Shopping Apps Work
If you read my earlier article on frugal grocery shopping, you are now aware of online apps for grocery flyers, like Reebee and Flipp. But did you know that there are also apps that will give you cash back for grocery shopping? Granted, it’s not quite so straightforward. The apps of which I speak trade…
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Navigating the Challenges of Shopping on Amazon.ca
Pay a visit these days to Amazon.ca, and you’ll notice straightaway that it is awash with third-party sellers: businesses other than Amazon who use Amazon’s colossal e-commerce platform to peddle their own merch. Some of these brands are known to all – vaunted household names, ubiquitous corporate marques, the retail elite – and others are…
Amy Thegame
