Out of Money

So, as I mentioned, I am living on a budget and last month I did go slightly over...Oops. Anyways, this month is Christmas and it's pretty much against the law to buy your self anything in December because someone might have already bought it for you! So, the next few weeks will likely be pretty slow and only contain movie reviews and restaurant reviews, but it should pick up in January again. I will post to Facebook when I start making some purchases. Until then, enjoy the holidays and thanks for reading!

S.C.o.T.T.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 – FREE with Scene Points!

If you haven’t read the book or seen the movie, I promise to keep spoilers to a minimum and won’t ruin anything – so keep reading!

I read the book over three years ago, when it first came out, so I knew the general direction of the movie, but forgot a lot of the specifics, which I think made the movie interesting. For the record, I didn’t enjoy the book – I felt it moved too slowly and at times the movie did as well. Really though, it’s the only way for the book/movie to go. If all the problems were solved with the flick of a wand, it would be a pretty boring movie.

I laughed more times in this movie than I did in Due Date, which is kind of sad considering Due Date is a comedy. Dobby, the house elf, was hilarious and some inter-character conflict was good for some laughs too.

It’s hard to rate this movie because it’s part one of a two-part finale, so there really wasn’t a clear, satisfying ending. But overall, it had action, laughs, suspense, and some pretty good visual effects. I probably won’t see it in theatres again like some of the diehard fans, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. Treasure this.

Swiss Chalet's Festive Special

The holiday season doesn’t start for me until a) snow falls and b) I have Swiss Chalet’s Festive Special. Both events occurred last night, so, IT’S TIME FOR CHRISTMAS!

Swiss Chalet Festive Special - $10.99

First off, the price for this meal is very reasonable. You get a quarter chicken, fries (or any other side), cranberry sauce, a bun, and my personal favourite, stuffing. Of course, you can’t forget Lindor chocolates after the meal. Yummy yummy deliciousness!

Last night the restaurant was packed, but it was merely due to mass volumes of customers, not poor service. As a matter of fact, the service was the best I’ve ever received at Swiss Chalet. Our server greeted us immediately, brought us refills without asking, and stopped by our table or two separate occasions to make sure everything was fine. Overall, it was a great experience.

Treasure the food, treasure the service, and treasure the experience. Now to start Christmas shopping...

Samsung Galaxy!!

Most of you that know me know that I’m moving to Waterloo in the New Year. For those that really know me, you’d know that my current cell phone plan sucks.

So, this weekend while I was in Waterloo, I decided to get a new cell phone:

The Samsung Galaxy – $79.99 – with Virgin Mobile (P.S. – Virgin Mobile rocks!)

It’s a pretty neat phone at a reasonable price that offers a plan that fits me. So far, I’ve enjoyed playing around with it, despite having some issues with the touch screen at first. Overall, it does what I need it to do, so to me, it’s a treasure.

Now, to figure out all of its capabilities....

McDonald's Coffee

Anyone who is new to reading my blog, please check out my initial post to understand how it works. Follow the link below to get to that post a little quicker.

http://tinyurl.com/2wjsdo3

This week's product was: FREE Coffee from McDonald's

Pretty good deal if you ask me, can't complain when something's free. I think this is a great marketing tactic for McDonald's. The store had a longer line than Tim Horton's this morning and by the time I walked through the parking lot, they'd served 4 customers through drive-thru...that's some pretty quick service.

I can't really trash free coffee, so I'm going with treasure on this one. The only way I'd vote trash is if it tasted bad, but it didn't. I'll go back tomorrow for another.

Vote treasure or trash below. Also, free internet cookies to anyone who posts a link to my blog somewhere on the internet! : )

Georgian College Jacket

This week's purchase - Georgian Jacket - $64.99

My previous Linkin Park spring jacket had been worn so much that the “L” and “K” had disappeared. I sported an “inkin Par” jacket for about two weeks and decided it needed to be replaced.

After Open House at Georgian College was over (I help run the show), I got my good friend (and co-worker) Kim Ball to show me around the Georgian bookstore. I’d never been in the bookstore other than to buy textbooks at the beginning of the semester. I noticed they had a few nice coats and I needed a replacement, so I put 2 and 2 together.  

The price tag seemed pretty reasonable and comparable to other stores I’d visited in the past week. I also had a $25 gift card for the bookstore, so I tried it on and bought it!

My vote is definitely a treasure. I needed a coat and I’ll probably be able to use it before it snows!

Please leave your mark and vote treasure or trash in the comment section below!

Prezi Presentation

Follow the link!

https://prezi.com/secure/d5b49e6cbd31e8892822147693fbd46ad9c47299/

'Tis the Season!

Old Tom’s Old Fashioned Eggnog Rum - $12.99

Not really a big explanation for this one. Some friends and I went to the LCBO and I saw this. I like Eggnog and it is within my price range and thought I’d give it a try. I’ll let you know what I think when I finish the bottle...which might be tomorrow, cause it tastes REALLY good!

Due Date - The Movie

I had some time to kill while waiting for my fiancé to get off work, so I saw this movie Friday - went in with no high expectations. The commercials were funny, so I figured why not?

Cost – 1000 Scene Points (Free!) – Due Date

Honestly, if you've seen the commercials, you've already seen this movie. I read a review for it after seeing it and couldn't agree with it more...

"Due Date is a DVD rental at the end of the day. Even with its flaws and warts, it has individual moments of comedy. When you have actors of this calibre, they are going to find their way once in a while. They just don't find their way enough to justify spending ten dollars on a movie ticket. I'd say seventy-five percent of the film is uneven and about twenty-five percent of the film is funny. In the end, though, you can't help but feel disappointed by the finished project. This could have been so much better.”

That being said, I did laugh out loud at least 5 times, so there are some good moments, but overall it falls short. It’s not even comparable to The Hangover, in my opinion.

I give it a Trash.

Big Mac Attack!!!

I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for contests. When Roll Up the Rim comes around, I'll buy Tims (when I usually just make coffee at home). The chances of winning are just slightly better than the lottery, but its a small price for a CHANCE! I'll take it. That being said, today on my drive home, I saw the Monopoly Poster outside McDonalds. I'm hungry, so if I plan on buying anyways, the potential to win something is cool in my mind. I get...

Big Mac Meal - $6.49 - McDonalds

It was gross.

Also, apparently Monopoly is over, they just don't feel like taking signs down...so, I'm upset and now my tummy is making weird noises.

Why did I get it? I hadn't eaten since noon and I was starving...my stomach hurt so much that getting home and microwaving something for two minutes was two minutes longer than I was willing to wait. I haven't had a Big Mac in probably 10 years...so why not try it. Big mistake - Mac sauce, special sauce, whatever it's called... is now dubbed nasty sauce by me.

Trash, trash...1000 times trash. And it's too dang expensive. No McDonalds until at least 2011 for me!!

Leave your mark below - Treasure or Trash it.

Mmmm Sushi-licious!

Class was cancelled, so no Taco Tuesday again...we decided to celebrate with...

Sushi - Aji Sai - $18.99

So, it's definately expensive and not really great for a student on a budget, but I love sushi. I only go out for sushi once every two to three months and really, its no different in price than going out for wings and beer with some buddies.

We went to Aji Sai, which has always had great taste, service, and quality. I'm sure most of you will agree if you've been there. Crabsticks, Spicy tuna rolls, and Dynamite handrolls are among my favourite.

Lisa made the night entertaining by dropping her sushi into her soy sauce...and splashing it everywhere on the table. She also needs to work on her chopsticks techniques, but I won't hold it against her.

Overall, sushi is awesome, so I vote Treasure! Leave a comment below in the comment section with your vote - Treasure or Trash!

Ghostbusters Hat and LottoMax Ticket

Since I am on vacation, I’ve been a little lenient on my spending habits. That being said, I will only post two of the items I’ve purchased.

Item 1: Ghostbusters Baseball Cap - $24.99

Anyone who knows me understands that I’m a huge Ghostbusters fan. As soon I saw this hat, I knew I had to have it, even if I never wear it! I think the price was pretty reasonable for a hat. The last hat I bought lasted me about 2 years, so if this one lasts that long, I’ll be satisfied. Of course, I’ll never throw it out anyways. 100% Treasure in my eyes.

Item 2: A LottoMax ticket with Encore - $6.00

This is the first time I’ve ever bought a lotto ticket. A little back story...I was bored waiting for our food to arrive at a restaurant, so my mom gave me a $1 scratch ticket from her purse. I won $2. Then I got another ticket and won $6. Then I got another and won $15! I took the $15 to the casino and won $100 on the penny slots, so on the way out of the casino I thought it was fitting to attempt to win $50 million to end the day.

I’m not a lottery fan. The chances of winning are so slim and $6.00 is a lot to shell out weekly. Of course, my opinion will change if I win the $50 million, but I’d rather invest $25 a month and have a guaranteed $250,000 when I retire. Just my opinion...So let’s hear yours!

Vote Treasure or Trash for one or both items by leaving a comment below.

Happy Halloween Weekend Everyone!

Molson Canadian

This is one is pretty straight forward and needs little explanation.

A Pitcher of Molson Canadian Beer - $13.99

Dad and I split it while on vacation, just so we could watch the Raptor's season opener at the bar (since our hotel room only had basic cable!). Good times.

Treasure for me. Treasure or trash for you? Vote Below.

Treasure or Trash - The Results Are In!

Reading week has officially begun! That being said, I figure it's time to tally up the first few rounds of Treasure or Trash. Thanks to all who participated. If you haven't voted yet, it's not too late to voice your opinion - I'll tally them up again at the end of the semester. Here are the results:

		Treasure	Trash
Linkin Park's A Thousand Suns		8	1
Tim Horton's Sausage Wrap		0	13
Drake's Thank Me Later		1	4
Panormous Pizza		4	0
New Clothes		5	0
Taco Tuesday		2	5
Mazda2		4	7
Jackass 3D		6	3
Double Cheeseburger		2	6
Total Treasures and Trash		32	39

So, it appears that more people disagree with my purchase decisions than agree with them. Good thing it's my money!! I blame the Tim Horton's Sausage Wrap that not even I enjoyed. Thanks again for visiting. Until next time...

...Oh! If you think there's a product out there that I need to try, leave a comment here and I'll consider it. A friend of mine suggested KFC's Double Down - so expect a Treasure or Trash for that in the near future.

BBQ Chicken Wrap!

It’s time for another edition of Treasures and Trash! For any new viewers, please read my original post explaining the concept of this blog by clicking this link:

http://tinyurl.com/2wjsdo3


Lisa and I went back to the TLC on Tuesday, but this time we avoided the tacos. Instead, we both purchased:

BBQ Chicken Wrap with fries - $8.99 – The Last Class @ Georgian College

Before I get to the wrap, I must admit that TLC makes the BEST fries I’ve ever tasted. These are 100% treasure and I recommend them to everyone that goes to Georgian. Now onto the wrap – decent price for a restaurant comparable to Swiss Chalet’ price point. The quality, however, far exceeds that of Swiss Chalet’s in my opinion. The wrap included diced breaded chicken, lettuce, shredded cheddar cheese, tomatoes, and mild sauce. Tax inc., the bill came to $10, a very reasonable price for a poor student - good value! I’m going with treasure on this one.

Now’s your chance – Treasure or Trash it! (Sorry, no picture this time!)

McDonald's Double Cheeseburger Value Meal

After seeing Jackass 3D, I began to drive home when hunger hit me. I began thinking of the restaurant options in the area and settled on McDonalds. I love their Double Cheeseburgers and haven’t had one in five or six months. So I stop by McDonalds and look at the menu – I was tempted by the Big Mac, but the $8 price tag deterred me. I decided to stick with the Double Cheeseburger Value Meal and the employee says “Your total is $5.64.” I’ll admit, I’m kind of cheap when it comes to eating out, but I expected the price to be much lower. I can get $3.99 meals at both Wendy’s and Tim Horton’s and I just assumed McDonalds would offer the same.

The McDonalds was not busy, so I got fries right out of the fryer and burgers right off the grill (Oh, how the size of the patties have shrunk!!). Both tasted excellent! The one thing I don’t like about McDonalds is that once the fries get cold, they taste awful, so I ate them rather quickly. The Double Cheeseburger tasted just like I expected to taste. Regardless of its smaller size, it served the need.

So, despite the increased cost and reduced size, I enjoyed the meal. I don’t visit McDonalds often, but they’ve managed to keep the taste the same, so I’ll probably go back (not for a month or two though).

So vote below - Treasure or Trash McDonald’s Double Cheeseburgers!

Jackass 3D!!

A few buddies and I decided to check out Jackass 3D opening weekend. The trailers looked entertaining enough and I had enough SCENE points to get in free, so, if it sucked - it was still free!

The theatre was packed, which was awesome because I love hearing other people's reactions and I'm sure they loved hearing mine. There were lots of outburts of laughter, lots of groans, and lots of gagging from the crowd. There was also a lot of genitals, fecal matter, and very angry animals (none of which were harmed during the production of this movie!) so if this stuff offends you or grosses you out, don't go see it - You've been warned. It's immaturity at its best!

Overall, I thought it was a very humourous and entertaining movie worth the free admission - I'd even say it was worth the $12 regular admission. I'm willing to bet that anyone who has seen it will vote Treasure and likely the opposite for Trash, but that's just what type of movie this is.

So vote below - Treasure or Trash!

Mazda 2 Potential

It's been a slow week in general for me, so since I have no new purchases, I will talk about my most recent want - a Mazda 2.

I've been exposed to many of their ads over the last few months at Cineplex before movies, on television and most recently I got a personalized ad in the mail. I read over the brochure and it did peak my interest. I am in my last semester of school and I plan on moving to a new city when I graduate. Having a car would make life that much easier...but do I want a Mazda2?

The price looked very reasonable at $13,999 new, but after looking a little deeper and reading the fine print, by the time I added all the features I wanted (Automatic, A/C, Cruise control), it was just under $24,000. That's like taking on another student loan!! Can I realistically afford this? I guess I will have to sit down over reading week and figure it out.

Until then vote Treasure or Trash on my want - not my purchase.

Taco Tuesday!

Newest purchase! We had an hour break between class, so some friends and I went to the school pub for some grub. It's TACO TUESDAYS!

Tacos from our school pub - The Last Class. One taco - $1.39,  minimum order of 3.

So, you could choose between soft or hard tacos and the toppings included lettuce, tomatos, and cheese. Salsa and sour cream was on the side.

Overall, these were really just your typical taco. They lacked in flavour (the cheese was good!) but the price was pretty reasonable. The tacos could have used more toppings - I'm thinking green peppers and hot sauce...I prefered the soft tacos over the hard tacos and if I buy tacos again, I'll stick with soft.

So, vote below. Do you like Tacos? Is $1.39 reasonable? Treasure or Trash it!

New Clothes!!

Hope everyone had a great (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend! If you haven’t voted on older items yet, please take a minute to do so!

Now, on to this weeks most recent purchase:

This is a pretty exciting purchase for me. I believe it's the first clothing purchase I've made this year that didn't have the Ghostbusters logo on it. I went into International Clothiers looking for some business clothes (and I found some neat stuff!) but I ended up spending about $100 on two new sets of clothing as shown above. The other set is pretty much identical, but with blue jeans, a blue outer shirt and a white shirt with blue writing underneath. I REALLY needed some new jeans, all of my current pairs are a) too short on the legs or b) too big on the waist.

Generally, $100 is too expensive for my taste, but I really needed some new clothing and got two entire new, stylish outfits out of it.

So, now's your chance - Vote Treasure or Trash. You can base your vote on the style of clothes, the pricetag, or a combo of both - it's all up to you!

Panormous Pizza from Pizza Hut!

Thanks for your continuous support of my school blog. This week’s purchase was …

Panormous Pizza from Pizza Hut – Cost 15.99

 A friend and I were hungry and we decided we wanted pizza. The next big task was deciding which of the many pizza places we should order from! We looked through some flyers promoting various pizza places, but decided to try the Panormous Pizza.

The Panormous Pizza consists of two square pizzas with 8 slices each and 1 topping each pizza. We decided to go with chicken on one and classic pepperoni on the other. Since we split the cost, it was about $8.50 each for 8 slices. We could have easily split these four ways with other friends because these pizza are truly "panormous" and we were stuffed after 4 slices.

I think this is a great deal for pizza, about $1 a slice, but this is an even greater deal because in the past, Pizza Hut slices have been closer to $2 or $3 a slice. They’ve repositioned themselves and lowered their prices and in my opinion, created great value for the customers. I vote Treasure.

So, now is your chance to share your opinion. Was this a good deal? Do you like Pizza Hut pizza? Use whatever criteria you want to make your selection (you don't even have to share your criteria! Just say Treasure or Trash!).

Side note: Because this is a school project, I moderate comments, so it will take about an hour for your comment to appear in the comments section.

Thank Me Later - Drake

First of all, thanks for taking some time to visit the blog and props to those who voted on Treasure or Trash on the first two items. If you are new to this blog, feel free to vote on each item. At the end of the month I will summarize the results for ALL items and post them as a blog entry. That being said, my third purchased item is:

Audio CD – Drake – Thank Me Later                           Cost $14.99

I spent about a month contemplating whether to buy this CD or not. This CD was likely the most commercialized CD of the summer. It is most likely attributed to Drake being from Toronto (close to my hometown) but the reviews of this CD just further emphasized the buzz. I finally made my decision after watching “Born To Be” featuring Drake – basically a 30 minute infomercial on his success.

Wanna hear something funny? That last rap/hip hop CD I purchased was Stankonia by Outkast with the hits “Ms. Jackson” and “B.O.B.”. That was in 2000. I have not bought a rap/hip hop CD in close to a decade!

Why did I consider buying it? As already mentioned, the buzz for this CD release was massive. Drake was everywhere. The first single “Over” really caught my attention and grew on me fast. The next two singles I’ve been rather indifferent about, but I was hoping there would be more songs like “Over” on the CD.

So, I took a gamble. I bought the CD. After my first listen to the CD, I immediately thought trash. I’m not a huge fan of the vulgarity in the rap genre, but after a few listens, the music and lyrics have grown on me.

Drake does some great duets with Alicia Keys and Jay-Z and the CD, overall, has a very mellow, laidback feeling. It’s something to listen to when you just want to chill, not so much when cruising down the streets at full blast.

Ultimately, my vote goes to treasure. Drake is worth the hype and I personally believe he will be around for years to come.

So, blog readers, this is your chance to vote Treasure or Trash. Use whatever criteria you want to make your decision and post it below!

Tim’s *NEW* Sausage Breakfast Wrap

So, I finally got around to buying my second item to put into my blog. Looks like Linkin Park’s CD got 6 Treasure votes and 0 Trash votes. Let see how this next purchase pans out.

It is the *NEW* breakfast wrap from Tim Horton’s (Everyone knows Tim Horton’s right??).

Sausage Breakfast Wrap                               Cost $1.99

The initial thing that caught my attention was the price. For $1.99, you get a whole wheat wrap, filled with scrambled eggs, a sausage patty cut in half and some...sauce – pretty sweet deal.

I wasn’t overly impressed with the wrap. Because the sausage patty is pretty big, it didn’t wrap very tight and all the eggs fell out when I went to take my first bite. Sigh. I re-wrapped it and continued. I wasn’t particularly fond of the sauce flavour. Don’t ask me what it was, I couldn’t tell you – probably a spicy ranch of some sort. I didn’t like the taste of the wrap either; I much prefer the tea biscuit or English muffin to hold it together.

Overall, I consider this a trash buy. I’ll likely never get it again and will probably stick with the breakfast sandwiches for 0.50 cents more.

Readers, place your vote below! Have you tried it? Liked it? Disliked it? Good price? Still too expensive for a breakfast item? Vote Treasure or Trash in the comment section!

My First Purchase/Item

I didn’t get around to doing any shopping this weekend, so I will just use my latest purchase as my first item for Treasure or Trash. The item:

Audio CD – Linkin Park – A Thousand Suns                            Cost $12.99

As a fan of this band for close to a decade, there was no doubt I was buying this CD. But then, I started reading reviews (it was released early online) and fans weren’t too pleased with the CD. Linkin Park has changed its sound as the band grows and evolves. As a loyal fan, it didn’t matter what the reviews were, I went out and purchased it. After a few listents to the CD, I definately think it was a Treasure purchase.

So, blog readers, this is your chance to vote Treasure or Trash.

Reasons you may vote Treasure
1. You like the band/music
2. You don’t agree with illegally downloading music
3. It was a good price
4. You'll listen to it for years to come

Reasons you may vote Trash
1. You don’t like the band/music
2. You'll get bored of it when a new CD comes out
3. You think CDs are extinct
4. It was overpriced

The criteria you use to vote is up to you!! Please leave a comment below your vote, age and gender. Thanks!

What My Blog is All About

First of all, this blog has nothing to do garage sales. A garage sale, however, is what inspired me to create this blog. Our family had our last garage sale of the season last weekend and I couldn’t help but notice some of the items we were selling. Some items were 10-15 years old. We had used these items to our content and were ready to pass them onto other families. Some items, however, were less than a year old. What drove us to purchase an item and then sell it less than a year later? Maybe it was an impulse buy? Maybe we found a better item that did the job better?

So what I’m going to do it post my purchases over the next month in this blog along with reasons for making that purchase and you – the readers – will vote on whether you think it was a good decision to buy that item. You’ll vote by leaving a comment and saying “treasure” or “trash”. Treasure -meaning you think it was a good purchase and Trash - meaning you think it was a bad purchase. The criteria you use to make the decision is up to you! Also, when leaving a comment, please post your gender and age.

Once this blog gains popularity (which I hope it does!) I will summarize readers’ comments and post the results in a blog entry. So come back soon and watch for my first purchase!

-Scott