New Coin Drop Service

Posted on February 10, 2012 by FrugalVictoria

Every penny counts! The new Coin Drop service at Island Savings is an automated exchange that calculates your coins quickly and accurately, without needing to roll them up first. Simply collect your change, pour it into the machine, and take your printed receipt to an Island Savings ATM or Member Services Representative to receive your cash, or deposit directly into the account of your choice.

They currently have Coin Drops at our Downtown Duncan, Woodgrove Centre, Mill Bay, Cowichan Commons, WestShore, and Salt Spring Island locations.

Posted from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Change is in the air!

Posted on January 6, 2012 by admin

After a decade under one owner, Frugal Victoria has been sold. With the New Year, the website (and social media accounts) are in the process of being transferred into new hands — so please excuse the dust as things shake out and watch for a full announcement when the transfer is complete!

Free gift tag round up!

Posted on December 24, 2011 by admin

It’s Christmas Eve and you still have gifts to wrap — if you’re like me, you have a good stash of paper and reusable gift bags to use but sometimes the finishing touch is the tough part. If you’ve got a printer, here’s a few great printable gift tags you can use to personalize your gifts this year.

From Uppercase Magazine, a sheet of modern tags.
From Print Your Party, a selection of holiday tags including round and square tags.
From Orange You Lucky, freeform tags by Helen Dardik.
From Made by Joel, two sheets of tags, including one by illustrator Lisa Mundorff.
From Nellie Design, "Pool & Red" design gift tags.
From Creature Comfort, a roundup of a wide variety of printable tags.

If you don’t have a printer, there’s plenty of other ways you can make your own tags:

Martha Stewart’s Gift-Wrapping Ideas For Kids includes several fantastic tips for re-using paper bags, old gift tags, old christmas cards and more.
I love this idea for "secret" gift tags — it also prevents Christmas Eve peeking!
Of course you can recycle almost anything — here’s a great post by Love You Deer on using cardboard (here a cereal box), some holiday magazines and craft punches to make sturdy tags out of stuff in your recycle bin.

Happy gifting!

UVic Libraries United Way Record Sale

Posted on July 26, 2011 by admin

If you’ve ever shopped at the UVic Libraries United Way sales in the fall you know they are FULL of great deals. This summer, on July 27th only, they are having a special record sale:

Do you have a verve for vinyl? Thousands of records in great condition are going for a song at UVic Libraries’ record sale, Wednesday July 27 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. outside the McPherson Library. Classical, opera, jazz and pop albums (plus punk, rock, metal and country!) are $2 each, with all proceeds going to the United Way of Greater Victoria. Need a turntable? They have those too!

Community Acupuncture

Posted on July 15, 2011 by admin

Interested in trying acupuncture? I just received this tip from Christina Chan, the owner of Heart & Hands Health Centre:

We provide high-quality acupuncture treatments in a group setting at sliding scale rate ($20-40), which is well below the going rate of acupuncture in Victoria, $60-120. I wanted to notify you about a promotion we have on till the beginning of August (we may extend the offer till the end of August). We are offering NEW patients their first treatment at only $10 on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Heart & Hands also offers other holistic services and are located in downtown Victoria.

Freecycle Friday at McPherson Library

Posted on June 21, 2011 by admin

Free books outside the Mearns Centre McPherson Library at UVic today 10-3!

Value Village Sale

Posted on June 21, 2011 by admin

Sizzlin’ Summer Savings

Save 50% on all used clothing, shoes, accessories and items tagged bed & bath

Monday June 27th 7 am – 9 pm

Eating Cheaply

Posted on June 18, 2011 by admin

MSN Money offers some good tips for How to Eat When You're Really Broke — among them, getting familiar with lentils, couscous and quinoa for fast, inexpensive protein and grains and the idea that 40% of your food budget should be going to vegetables and fruit. Good advice!

One of my go-to meals for eating cheaply (and more often than not clearing out the crisper drawer) is a quick stir-fry over noodles:

Heat a wok or large frying pan, add 2 tbsp of oil (sesame is ideal but almost any oil will do).
Add chopped garlic and onion.
As those are cooking, chop an add any of the following: bell peppers, celery, carrots, broccoli stalks, water chestnuts
As those cook, chop and prep any of the following for the last moments of cooking (these veggies need less time to cook): bok choy, broccoli crowns, zucchini
Add to taste any of: soy sauce, peanut sauce, hoi sin sauce, fish sauce.

Serve over rice or noodles — even super cheap Mr. Noodles will do. For protein you can toss in some tofu, chicken, a few shrimp, a handful of cashews, or grab the peanut butter and make a thick peanut sauce to pour over top!

What's your go-to frugal meal? Email info@frugalvictoria.com and I'll collect a few for an upcoming post.

Off the Grid Art Crawl 2011

Posted on June 8, 2011 by admin

Come out for Victoria's 5th annual Off the Grid Art Crawl. What's better than over two dozen open art galleries, artist-run centres and studios in one night? A carefully thought out bike route and shuttle bus to get to and from each location! The Off the Grid Art Crawl is becoming quite a popular event with 26 galleries listed this year. Pick your favourites or see something new, either way it's a great night of art for everyone.

6-10 PM Friday June 10th.
Shuttle bus runs every 20 minutes from any of 6 locations (510 Fort, 1311 Gladstone, 1442 Haultain, 2549 Quadra, 2516 Douglas, 614 Fisgard Repeat).

"The event will wrap up with a free after party at Open Space (510 Fort St) from 10:00 pm to 1:00 am. Bands, Dj's and projections sponsored by the the Art Gallery Of Greater Victoria and Legacy Gallery."

More info and a printable map on the site at: www.offthegridart.ca

Site Note – Comments Off

Posted on May 21, 2011 by admin

In the last few years, Frugal Victoria has received very few real comments and ooodles of spam comments. As readers, you generally don’t see the spam because they pile up in an approval queue. In addition, most of you send tips via Twitter or Facebook so after some consideration, I’ve decided to turn comments off by default. The time I save deleting spam can be spent posting more tips and deals!

Thanks for your understanding.