How to spend less and buy more!

Teri Ann Renee Paisley, Gleaner Online Writer

I walked into the supermarket with $200.00 and was able to purchase a 400g bag of soap, a bottle of drink mix, a bunch of green bananas, snacks, a dozen eggs, canned tomato sauce and a pack of mincemeat.

Is it impossible to buy so many items with only $200.00?

Well I wasn’t quite honest, although I did have $200.00 I also added to that the value of my MAGNA voucher and coupons that were sent to me in the mail.

The persons at the register waiting to cash their goods could not believe that I was able to pay for so many items using the MAGNA voucher and the coupons.

One lady asked how did I earn so many points in order to get that much in my MAGNA voucher.

How to get Maximum points!
The best way to accumulate points is to swipe the card at every opportunity.

I have been known to ask friends who do not have a MAGNA card to allow me to swipe my card after their purchases so that I can accumulate points. I also only shop at participating retailers who accept MAGNA cards.

The fruit of my labours is that every four months I get a voucher in the mail which I can then use to purchase goods and services.

Some persons I spoke to got MAGNA vouchers as well but promptly discarded them because they thought the small amount could not pay their expenses.

However, I disagree because even if the voucher is just for $200.00, it can be kept until another four months and they can be used together to make a larger total.

Some retailers, such as The Lees Group, offers consumers double points on vouchers over $500.00. which helps to increase points on their account.

Scotiabank also has an arrangement with MAGNA card users by offering them the Scotiabank MAGNA MasterCard card which they can present to MAGNA merchants along with their MAGNA Rewards card to earn double points.

Here is a list of participating retailers : http://www.magnarewards.com/index.cfm/1,123,0,0,html/Partners

The coupons that I received in the mail came with my MAGNA voucher. The representative who I spoke to from MAGNA said this was as a result of a partnership between the company and retailers.

Common household items were discounted in the coupons, some of them even had up to a hundred dollars off the ticketed price and could be used with the MAGNA voucher.

Signing up for the MAGNA card is free as well as swiping the card at participating retailers.

In order to sign up just go to any participating retailers and ask for a form or you can fill out a form online on the company’s website. http://www.magnarewards.com

All I needed was my identification in order to cash in my voucher. It was the best time I had shopping for food in a long time. I can’t wait until my next voucher!

Do you use a Magna card? Let me hear from you!

Tags: coupons, savings