Free Yoga Classes Across Canada
Reb Stevenson 
Jul 30th 2010
Filed under: Bargains & Freebies, Daily Deal, Health
While Lululemon's prices might elicit more of an "ummm" than an "om," did you know that this homegrown purveyor of butt-flattering pants also offers free yoga classes at most of its locations across Canada? Click here to see a list of stores, then scroll to the calendar area to see what classes are available in your area.
Many of the classes take place within the store, but some locations take the action outside and incorporated fabulous backdrops. For example, the Ottawa store does its downward dogging on Parliament Hill, while Halifax executes sun salutations on Citadel Hill.
If you've always been yoga-curious but feel intimidated by studios and hardcore human pretzels, this could be a great way kill your inhibitions and discover yoga.
Win Big With Microsoft Hardware
Waheeda Harris
Jul 29th 2010
Filed under: Back to School
Wish you could upgrade to a brand new computer this September? Be the envy of your dorm floor and enter to win the Microsoft Hardware Student Contest.Microsoft Hardware has launched a nation-wide contest, with three grand prizes worth $3,000 each and the possibility of five students winning $1,000 each towards their tuition costs.
Students can win one of three prize packages, which include a Dell notebook, Arc mouse and keyboard, Microsoft Lifecam HD 5000, Microsoft Office Home and Student 2010 software, computer speakers, printer, wireless router, USB key, FLIP digital video camera, bean bag chair, Windows phone and a Windows phone plan gift card for $600.
Wordsmiths, write a 250 word essay and be eligible to win one of five prizes of $1,000 towards your tuition. Enter at Microsoft Student Contest or for additional entries, purchase any participating Microsoft Hardware product before the deadline.
Entries are accepted until September 30, 2010. Entrants must be Canadian, the age of majority in their province or territory of residence and have a valid email address. Full rules and regulations found here.
Six Tips for Back-to-School Shopping
Waheeda Harris
Jul 28th 2010
Filed under: Budgeting & Planning, Family Finances, Fashion & Trends, Shopping, Back to School
As a kid, I fixated on shopping for back to school clothes, ignoring the binders, markers and calculators bought for my return to class. I know my mum secretly wished I wore a school uniform, but her constant reminders that I was going to school, not a fashion show had little effect.
According to Canadian department store Zellers, the average Canadian family spends $310 on their kid's back to school essentials, including clothing.
According to Canadian department store Zellers, the average Canadian family spends $310 on their kid's back to school essentials, including clothing.
But you don't have to break the bank to keep your fashion-hungry kids happy, says fashion expert and blogger Renee Elliott of EatLiveShop.com. Here are her top six tips for back to school shopping both parents and kids can live with:
Use LinkedIn to Grow Your Network -- or Destroy Your Career
Liz Metcalfe
Jul 28th 2010
Filed under: Careers, Entrepreneurship, Technology
LinkedIn is a fantastic networking tool that can be used to stay abreast of industry news, discuss new trends with people in your field, meet people who can help further your career, and intelligently market yourself and your business to people who will want to meet you and use your services.
You should also be using it to help other people reach their career goals, because that's what social media's about - the more people you help, the more who will want to help you. If you're looking to change companies or jobs there's no better place to research how to make contact with people at those companies. LinkedIn will help you find the person in your network who can help introduce you. You can also reach out to people in your groups (if their settings permit it) by sending them a message and asking them to connect with you.
Do any or all of those things intelligently and LinkedIn can become the central hub of your career advancement. Do them wrong, and you can quickly become a pariah.
Try a Back-to-School Clothing Swap
Waheeda Harris
Jul 27th 2010
Filed under: Budgeting & Planning, Family Finances, Fashion & Trends, Back to School
My favourite part of starting school was the trip to the store for my new outfit. I would go with my Mum and wander around the store, and pick several items to try on and model for Mum. We would pick out my new outfit, to be worn on the first full day of school. I was lucky enough to get an entire ensemble: blouse, skirt, socks or tights and shoes every year until I finished high school.
Parents are faced with a long laundry list of expenses when a child heads back to school - classroom supplies, electronics, sports equipment and clothing. To help save money, many parents are turning to an old school method of keeping costs down - the clothing exchange.
For many Canadian families, especially those with more than one child, swapping gently-used clothing can be a time and money saver. Children's growth spurts are entirely predictable and just like adults, kids have their favourites and items they don't like. So how to save money?
Toronto: Free Heist Films at Yonge-Dundas Square
Reb Stevenson
Jul 27th 2010
Filed under: Bargains & Freebies, Daily Deal, Family Finances
There is no shortage of glowing screens at Yonge-Dundas Square (Toronto's rather pale imitation of New York's Times Square). However, to see a screen there that doesn't feature a bored-looking H&M model strutting around is a treat. All summer long, Yonge-Dundas Square is screening free films on Tuesdays at sunset. The theme is heist movies, and on some nights they're showing back-to-back originals and remakes, which is either pretty neat or incredibly redundant, depending on how you look at it.
The lineup for today and next week is as follows:
July 27, 6:30 pm - The Thomas Crown Affair (1968 version)
9:00 pm - The Thomas Crown Affair (1999 version)
August 3, 6:30 pm - Ocean's 11 (1960 version)
9:00 pm - Ocean's Eleven (2001 version)
For the complete schedule, click here.
As Seen on TV: HD Vision Glasses
WalletPop.com
Jul 27th 2010
Filed under: Buyer Beware, Video
The Product: HD Vision Sunglasses
The Price: HD Vision Ultra, online $10 plus $6.99 shipping and handling: $9.99 in some retail stores: HD Vision WrapAround, online $14.99 plus $7.95 shipping and handling: $9.99 in some retail stores.
The Claims: Reduces glare; enhances color and clarity
Buy-O-Meter Rating: 3 out of 5
HD Vision glasses are making hay from the current "high definition" craze. In TV land, high definition means employing a couple of million pixels to make television look more like life. In the world of sunglasses, HD means ... well, who the heck knows what it means? Making life look more like life?
HD sounds impressive. And the line of HD Vision glasses by Idea Village -- including HD Ultra Sunglasses worn alone, and HD WrapArounds worn over prescription glasses -- does change the way we see things in certain lighting and settings.
On low-light days, these plastic glasses with amber lenses do make colors seem more vivid. Greens look greener, blues bluer. On hazy days, when everything looks washed out, HD Vision glasses make everything pop.
Amber lenses, which increase contrast and clarity during low-light conditions, do not represent cutting-edge technology. Skiers have always used amber to help them see moguls on cloudy days, and Ducks Unlimited puts its logo on amber shooting glasses that help hunters blow birds from the skies at dawn and dusk.
Although HD Vision glasses do protect eyes from damaging ultra violet rays, they do not block the sun on bright days as well as dark-lens sunglasses. And they do not cut water glare as well as polarized lenses. For instance, I can see fish swimming in a trout stream with my polarized fishing glasses, but not with the HD Vision Ultras.
HD Vision glasses boast "Euro-Style Design." But, I'll warn you, the 24/7 fashion paraders in Rome and Paris will laugh you off the streets in these graceless glasses with black or tortoise shell frames. Whose "Euro" are they talking about anyway? The bottom line on HD Vision glasses: Put on a pair during the hazy days of summer. But when the light's bright, you will see clearer with standard-definition dark sunglasses.
The Price: HD Vision Ultra, online $10 plus $6.99 shipping and handling: $9.99 in some retail stores: HD Vision WrapAround, online $14.99 plus $7.95 shipping and handling: $9.99 in some retail stores.
The Claims: Reduces glare; enhances color and clarity
Buy-O-Meter Rating: 3 out of 5
HD Vision glasses are making hay from the current "high definition" craze. In TV land, high definition means employing a couple of million pixels to make television look more like life. In the world of sunglasses, HD means ... well, who the heck knows what it means? Making life look more like life?
HD sounds impressive. And the line of HD Vision glasses by Idea Village -- including HD Ultra Sunglasses worn alone, and HD WrapArounds worn over prescription glasses -- does change the way we see things in certain lighting and settings.
On low-light days, these plastic glasses with amber lenses do make colors seem more vivid. Greens look greener, blues bluer. On hazy days, when everything looks washed out, HD Vision glasses make everything pop.
Amber lenses, which increase contrast and clarity during low-light conditions, do not represent cutting-edge technology. Skiers have always used amber to help them see moguls on cloudy days, and Ducks Unlimited puts its logo on amber shooting glasses that help hunters blow birds from the skies at dawn and dusk.
Although HD Vision glasses do protect eyes from damaging ultra violet rays, they do not block the sun on bright days as well as dark-lens sunglasses. And they do not cut water glare as well as polarized lenses. For instance, I can see fish swimming in a trout stream with my polarized fishing glasses, but not with the HD Vision Ultras.
HD Vision glasses boast "Euro-Style Design." But, I'll warn you, the 24/7 fashion paraders in Rome and Paris will laugh you off the streets in these graceless glasses with black or tortoise shell frames. Whose "Euro" are they talking about anyway? The bottom line on HD Vision glasses: Put on a pair during the hazy days of summer. But when the light's bright, you will see clearer with standard-definition dark sunglasses.
Saving Money as a Blood Sport
WalletPop Editor
Jul 27th 2010
Filed under: Budgeting & Planning, Economizer, Saving
While WalletPop advocates saving money whenever and wherever you can, we don't want anyone to go too far in their dogged pursuit of frugality. Which is why we hesitate to praise the singlemindedness of these zealots, who practice a form of extreme saving that might even be hazardous to their health (we're looking at you, Road Kill Cafe).
So rather like those Victorian cautionary tales, we present these examples of scrimping for your reading and gawking pleasure - not as a model of what we Walletpoppers aspire to.
So rather like those Victorian cautionary tales, we present these examples of scrimping for your reading and gawking pleasure - not as a model of what we Walletpoppers aspire to.
Hedge Fund Sends Cocoa Prices Soaring. Should You Invest?
Alia McMullen
Jul 27th 2010
Filed under: Financial Crisis, Food & Drink, Investing
Two years ago when the recession hit and hedge funds needed a place to stash their money they looked to commodities such as oil, corn and rice. Prices rose and then jumped even higher as fears of shortages spread. Then, as the global economy improved, commodity prices eased back to more sustainable levels.
Now economic jitters have returned and hedge funds need a new investment. For one London-based fund, that commodity is cocoa, and chocolate lovers are not impressed.
Cocoa prices on the London market rose to a 33-year high of £2,732 ($4,379) a tonne last week, and it's not because there was a sudden shortage in supply. Anthony Ward, a hedge fund manager at London-based Armajaro, has bought up almost Europe's entire supply of cocoa - or 7% of the world's crop - enough to manipulate market prices, according to media reports in The New York Times and the Financial Times.
So is there going to be a shortage of cocoa beans, and should you invest in cocoa?
Friends Visiting This Summer? Basic Info on Canadian Financial Services
Terry Fong
Jul 26th 2010
Filed under: Travel
Recently I enjoyed hosting or helping around town several friends from several countries, including (mostly Americans, but including residents of the United Kingdom, Israel, the Czech Republic, Australia). There was one thing that struck me – since most had never been to Canada, they were unfamiliar with Canadian banking practices. They had to ask about how to get money, and how to pay for things without cash. This was true even of my American friends.To aid others in preparing for a trip to our fair country, I have put together this primer. If you're expecting visitors from elsewhere, you may want to help them prepare by forwarding it to them before they arrive.
Credit cards
The most commonly used general purpose credit cards in Canada are Visa and MasterCard. They are generally accepted, and big enough they vie for sponsorships in Canada -- Visa just sponsored the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Both are issued by large Canadian bank, so you can get cash advances with either one.
American Express is also relatively easy to use. But two American friends who wanted to use their Discover cards were out of luck – they no longer have much presence, if any, in Canada.
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