Even as a reformed retail therapy abuser, this news makes me happy. Oh, and free money always helps too.

For years, our U.S. neighbours have been able to shop for groceries, housewares, books, music, toys, etc. on Amazon.com.  Up here in Canada, we’ve been stuck with books, movies and music, similar fare as Chapters/Indigo hocks.  At least that was true, until now.  This morning, I received an email from Amazon.ca that announced that Canadians can how shop online at Amazon.ca and purchase TONNES of grocery items, specialty food items, and more.

Now, for the most part, I abhor spending money online (or at all really, except for groceries, I like grocery shopping and stretching those grocery dollars to fill the bellies around me) – the convenience mark-up ticks me right off (irrational?  Maybe, but it does).  That, coupled with being tired of spending money on products that fall apart, are cheaply made but costly to purchase have turned me off of all but the most necessary purchases.  But Amazon.ca is a slightly different story because more often that not, I use gift cards earned through Swagbucks.  Free money is the best kind of money to spend.  I wrote more about Swagbucks here (tip #5).   I now usually earn $10 to $15 a month in Amazon gift cards through Swagbucks, and while that alone is not very much, over the course of a year (think Christmas or just pick-me-up gifts) it can equate to $120 to $180 to spend willy-nilly, and when you generally do not buy everything that you want or see, it’s a total treat to spend frivolously (very occasionally, of course). 😉  Use your free money and shop during sales and you can end up with a lot of nice new swag for $0 (watch for free Super Saver Shipping too!).

Not very funny, wordy or revolutionary, but the news of the expanding product lines brought a smile to my face today, so I thought that I would share.

Disclosure: The links are referral links, but I’m not killing it with referrals, so if you’d rather just go to the sites, click here for the Canadian Amazon grocery page and here for Swagbucks. 🙂