I find something that I'd like to buy (or fly) and determine the cost to purchase this said object (or trip), let's call this price X. I then determine the number of airmiles it'll cost me to get a similar (or the same) item. Let's call the number of airmile, Y.

I then take X and divide by Y. This will give me a price per airmiles. If this price-per-airmiles is $7 or less then I'll consider buying the object through airmiles. Again, the $7 comes from the price-per-airmiles for a gift certificate with your airmiles.

Just to be clear when dealing with a trip you must calculate the price per airmiles of the trip BEFORE taxes. This is because you'll have to pay the taxes on the flight regardless. Therefore, if you're adding more costs to the flight and you're paying for these anyway your calculations will be skewed.

In the next post I'll discuss the places I personally use to find prices of stuff for my comparison shopping.

The first step is to go onto the airmiles.ca website and do some research. This has two main steps

1. Determine the item (or trip) that you want and determine the number of airmiles
2. Determine the price if you were to purchase it elsewhere ( Expedia.ca, Westjet, Air Canada, Travelocity.ca, etc...)

Now determine if using your airmiles is worth it. How do you do this? Good question. It's different for every person, however, I usually calculate based on a dollar value. If the airmiles that I'm spending are around $7.00 I'll purchase. Why $7? Because this is the lower value of airmiles gift cards.

That's the hard part. To actually book your airmiles trip or item you need to call airmiles at 1800airmiles. Warning, that it often takes a long time to get through so be ready to wait for a while.

Don't forget that you can collect airmiles WAY FASTER by simply following this website and having an airmiles credit card. Those two tips will have you not only redeeming faster but also flying further!

LG 15" LCD TV - Regular 3000 airmiles. This week only 2250 airmiles!

Chatelaine Magazine - 1 year subscription. Regular 100 airmiles. This week only 80 airmiles!

LCD / Plasma Mount - Regular 1,400 airmiles. This week only 900 airmiles!

Items are not exactly as shown. I'm using these pictures as examples of what you would actually get.

Watch this site for more deals next week!

For 625 airmiles you can add $100 to your child's New Registered Education Saving Plan (RESP). Redeem your reward miles today and help fund your child's post-secondary education.

Redeem for a $100 deposit - a minimum of $300 is required to initiate a plan. Multiple redemptions for a $100 deposit or a combination of cash and certificates can be used.

If you want more information then call Airmiles and ask one of their customer service agents.

Jean Coutu - Spend 160 airmiles and get a $20 giftcard. This is a pretty good deal and inline with most gift certificate offers.

DVD's - Most DVD's at the airmiles stores cost around 280 airmiles. This works out to a fairly bad deal. The better way to go is to simply order a chapters.indigo.ca gift card. These gift cards cost 185 airmiles and you get $25 towards Chapter, Indigo or Coles.

Cinneplex Movie Night Out - 175 airmiles and you get 2 free admissions, 2 regular sodas and 1 regular popcorn. This is actually quite a good deal considering that most movies are $12. This works out to an approximate value of $30 for 175 airmiles!

Magazine or Paper Subscription - Calgary Sun, Edmonton Sun, LouLou, Chatelaine, etc... From 65 airmiles up to 265 airmiles.

Charity Donations - Donate $20 to either Special Olympics or Kids Help Phone charity for 170 airmiles.

The products are updated every Monday so I'll try and post some of the deals for every TUESDAY if I see that they're pretty good deal. So, here are this weeks deals.

• 11 popular Canadian Magazines (Flare, Canadian Business, Macleans) - between 55 - 210 airmile (normally between 75-275 air miles)
• LG 15" LCD TV - 2250 airmiles normally 3,000 air miles!

Offers expire March 23rd, 2008.

5) Priviledge Play Silver Golf Membership - For 200 airmiles, you can save on regular prices of golf green fees.  This is available at over 150 golf courses.

4) Travel America Spa Gift Certificate - For 650 airmiles you can get a two of the following entry level treatments: Manicure, Pedicure or/and haircut.  Over 170 locations nationally!

3) Toronto Raptors Ticket - For 375 airmiles you can get a ticket to the lower bowl, endzone tickets.  You can see the Toronto Raptors in game.  Don't forget your Toronto Raptors Jersey when you go to the game.

2) Ice Hotel Guided Tour and Cocktail - For only 120 airmiles you get a guided tour of the world famous Canadian Ice Hotel.  You can visit the guest rooms, lounge, art galleries, etc.  Sounds pretty neat! Find the best hotel deal

1) Hot Air Ballon Ride - This is with the Sundance Balloons and is a Scenic Champagne Hot Air Ballon Ride.  It costs 1,000 airmiles per person.   Apparently it's a romantic, relaxing way to enjoy the day.  I've heard that these hot air balloons are super quiet and relaxing when you're in them.    Talk about actual "airmiles".

Flights are available all year round and you must book at least two weeks in advance.  More information please visit the sundance balloons website.

 To find more great airmiles deals simply login to your airmiles.ca account.  Then click on Rewards.  Remember, if none of these what you desired you can always book a flight through Westjet.