Warehouse Sale @ Drake General Store

The Drake Hotel's General Store is having a holiday warehouse sale from December 4th to 6th + December 11th to 13th. It takes place at 344 Westmoreland Avenue (Dovercourt & Dupont). There will be up to 75% savings. RSVP for guaranteed access.

$119 Down Jackets @ Danier

Danier Leather's down jackets are on sale from $199+ as part of their Black Friday deals.

50% off Romeo & Juliet @ the Ballet

The National Ballet's performance of Romeo & Juliet is on sale until Friday at midnight. Premium seats in the orchestra are just $99, which is 50% off the regular price. Use the promo code INSTUDIO.

Secret Sale @ Leon's

Leon's is having a secret sale tomorrow, Thursday November 26. There's even a faux leather couch for $199. Check out their flyer here.

Direct From Source Prices @ Toronto Designers Market

Toronto Designers Market is a collective space in Parkdale where young designers and entrepreneurs can sell their works direct to the public without having to mark up their prices to pay store commission. There's 30 designers (from furniture to jewellery) featured in the 3,000-square-foot space.

Clearance Sale @ Casalife

Casalife has home décor items at clearance prices online and at their Etobicoke outlet on Evans Avenue. They sell charming modern furniture, lighting and art.

Last Minute Deals @ Hotel Tonight

Download the Hotel Tonight app and get great last-minute deals on hotel rooms around the world. You can book for tonight or up to 7 days in advance, and there's further savings if you stay more than one night.

Local Deals @ Shop The Neighbourhood

On November 28, Yellow Pages teams up with TABIA to celebrate local with Shop The Neighbourhood. There will be special events + deals at many BIAs around the city. It's a great excuse to get to know your hood's shops and shopkeepers while showing some local love! Check out these participants from the Parkdale Village BIA for inspiration.

Up to 50% Off @ Gravity Pope

Gravity Pope is having a pre-Christmas sale with 15% off regular priced items and up to 50% off Fall merchandise. Use the promo code PRECHRISTMAS. Sale runs Nov 20-Dec 6.

NOTE: The following brands are not included: Apothecary products, Blundstone, Canada Goose, Church's, Dr. Martens Wigan and Hogarth collections + UGG!

Energy Exchange @ Moksha Yoga Milton

Yoga is expensive. For an ancient art based on inclusion, actually practicing at a studio is not always accessible. One solution is to participate in an energy exchange. What you do is volunteer for 4 hours a week, every week, and in exchange you get unlimited access to classes. In fact, they WANT you to practice as often as possible - it's part of the energy. Most yoga studios offer this, but they might not have availability at any given time. Each Moksha studio has its own website, and they often advertise in their newsletters or on Twitter. The Milton studio is presently seeking volunteers. Apply using this form.

BLACK FRIDAY 50% Off @ the GAP

The GAP's Black Friday sale is on right now. If you sign up for their email list you get 50% off your purchase from November 20th to 22nd.

$2 Sale @ Dress For Success

Dress For Success is a great organization that helps women (and men) get back on their feet by providing them with clothing to wear to a job interview (and more if they get it). You can support them by donating BUSINESS clothes during their drop off times. But this is not just a second-hand store. Their clients get treated like royalty, with a full shopping experience including a stylist consultation, and walk away with a complete outfit. And a few times a year they hold $2 sales for the public in order to get rid of old stock. There's shoes, purses, accessories and, of course, clothes - all for $2 each. And because of the high quality they demand from donations, this is actually a great find!

The next sales are on Saturday December 12th and Saturday January 9th at The Walmer Centre, 188 Lowther Avenue 1st floor.

CASH ONLY. All sales are final and you have to bring your own bags.

Swedish Xmas Festival @ Harbourfront Centre

Every year, the Swedish Women's Educational Association (SWEA) puts on a traditional Swedish Christmas celebration at Harbourfront Centre. This year it's even bigger, and includes FREE screenings of Pippi Longstocking movies! November 21 + 22 from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. God Jul!

Paint Nite @ Baka Gallery Cafe

Every other Thursday, Paint Nite Toronto takes over Baka Gallery Café for a night of art and wine. The next event takes place on November 26th, 2015, and lasts about two hours. Check out Paint Nite's website for a list of other venues around the city. You can even pick based on the painting you'll create. Tickets are $45 and all supplies, including bevvies, are included.

Pizza Night @ Baka Gallery Cafe

Every Friday after 6:00 p.m., Baka Gallery Café in Bloor West Village offers a pizza deal for $14.50, including one beer or glass of wine.

A List of BYOB Corkage Restaurants

This blog lists the restaurants and bars in Toronto that offer BYOB corkage fees (and free nights). It's not a complete list, but it's pretty substantial!

Bloor Street Culture Corridor

Along the Bloor Street Culture Corridor, from Bay in the east to Bathurst in the west, you'll find a lovely foray of cultural institutions. Sure, the "Mink Mile" is great for window shopping too, but why feel bad about the things you can't afford when you could feel rich with culture?

Some of the places you can visit include:

Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir, The Toronto Consort, The Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre, The Native Canadian Centre of Toronto, Alliance Française de Toronto, The Istituto Italiano di Cultura, The Royal Ontario Museum, The Gardiner Museum, The Bata Shoe Museum, The Japan Foundation, The University of Toronto's Faculty of Music, Talisker Players and Koerner Hall at The Royal Conservatory - which has a really cool coffee shop inside that's worth a visit.

The BSCC website lists special events happening at the sites, as well as some events at the Toronto Reference Library at Bloor and Yonge.

$15 Concerts for 35 + Under @ Tafelmusik

Another great program to get youth hooked on our cultural institutions, Tafelmusik offers Tafelscene for patrons 35 and under. Tickets are $15, $20 or $25. There's also exclusive parties, such as the Taste of Tafelmusik at the Gladstone Hotel.

Free Lectures + Screenings @ Tafelmusik

Tafelmusik offers free lectures and screenings for the public in partnership with the Toronto Public Library and Campbell House Museum. The lectures (which run about once a month and are held at various library branches) include an introduction to Baroque music, the origins of the symphony orchestra, the influence of Bach, and more. The screenings include documentaries and concerts.

Free Concerts @ Tafelmusik

Baroque music specialists, Tafelmusik, offers free concerts now and then. The next one is The Orchestra in Baroque Germany, featuring participants from the Tafelmusik Winter Institute on Saturday January 9th, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. in the Jeanne Lamon Hall at Trinity-St. Paul's Centre.

$22 tickets for Under 30's @ the Opera

Like the TSO, the COC offers a free "Opera Under Thirty" (OUT) program. But unlike the TSO, the cheap COC tickets are usually in the top back corners. If you don't mind the heights, you can get opera tickets for $22. If you want to pay a little extra, you can get an OUT Plus ticket for $35 and they'll "move you to the best available seats on the day of the performance." They also offer package deals called NightsOUT where you can get tickets to four operas for $86. They offer six-packs for $117 too, but as of writing they are sold out for this season.

Free Concerts @ the Opera

The Canadian Opera Company (do we call it the COC? the C.O.C.? hehe) offers FREE concerts in their Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre. Concerts take place most Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12:00 p.m., and some Wednesdays at noon or 5:30 p.m. Admission is on a first-come, first-served basis and seating is limited (you sit on an oversized staircase, not chairs), so line-up early. Latecomers aren't admitted and there's no re-entry. Also, even though the concerts are at lunchtime, you can't eat in there.

Admission is FREE @ The Power Plant

Thanks to funding by BMO, admission to The Power Plant contemporary art gallery is free all day, every day! Yay! The hours are: Tuesday to Sunday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Thursdays they're open until 8:00 p.m. And although they're closed otherwise, they do open on holiday Mondays. Plus, its location beside the lake makes for such a lovely view.

Sun Life Financial Museum + Arts Pass @ the Library

This is really cool and such a great idea to help underprivileged families access city sites that would cost a fortune once you added two adults plus kids. The Sun Life Financial Museum + Arts Pass is available at all Toronto Public Library branches, however, each location has a different selection. They get new ones on Saturdays, but there are often line-ups for the high-value passes (like Toronto Zoo). Lower-income neighbourhoods have more of the high-value passes, which makes sense. How it works: you sign out a pass with your library card and then have three months in which to use it. You can only go once though, but you can bring another adult and up to 5 children per pass. You can also take out more than one pass - but not more than one a week. So this week get one to the ROM, next week get one to Black Creek Pioneer Village, etc. And don't forget to use them before they expire!

Friday Night Live @ the ROM

Due to the ROM's Friday Night Live parties, the museum closes for general admission at 6:30 p.m. on Fridays now (and there's no more discount). This is lame but on the positive side, FNL happens every week. A lively party of DJs, bands and food trucks, tickets cost $15 and are available online or at the door. They do sell out and the line-ups are long, so get there early. Doors open at 7:00 p.m.

No More Half-Price Fridays @ the ROM

This is disappointing. First they were free, then they were half price, but now it appears the ROM has done away with discount Fridays altogether! NOT COOL. General admission is $17. On Tuesdays, high school students can get in for free.

First Thursdays @ the AGO

The first Thursday of each month (except in the summer), the AGO presents First Thursdays. From 7:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., you can experience live music, DJ sets, artist installations, performances, special exhibits from the vault, plus a Night Market of eats from AGO chefs. There's also a cash bar. Admission is $12 and you should buy your tickets ASAP because they sell out. If you want to see the featured exhibit too, it's $22. These events are 19+ and you'd think it would be a mature lure, but apparently the crowd is getting younger and younger every year.

Friday Nights @ the AGO

New this year, the AGO offers adult activities every Friday night from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., included with the price of general admission. Their website describes it as thus: "Each month, programming will be themed around a major exhibition providing a unique approach to the Gallery experience. Enjoy the art in a whole new way – participate in hands on art making, learn from guest speakers, wine and dine, listen to music and take it all in." For example, alongside November's J.M.W. Turner: Painting Set Free exhibit, you'll find opera performances from Turner's time, a wine bar and tapas menu (fee), plus painting workshops. Admission costs $19.50 per person.

Free Nights @ the AGO

Wednesday nights from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. admission is FREE for the permanent collection at the AGO. It's always really busy and full of young people. The special exhibits are usually half price on Wednesday nights too. Teachers can register for the gallery's Teachers' Access Program (TAP) and go for free any day. High school students can get in for free after 3:00 p.m. from Tuesday to Friday (permanent collection only).

Free Christmas Movies @ Bloor Cinema

Bloor Hot Docs Cinema offers FREE Christmas movies in December. There's a selection of classics, both old and recent, but the Home Alone "Quote-a-long" costs extra.

$16 tickets for 35 + Under @ the TSO

If you're between the ages of 15 and 35, you can join the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO)'s "TSOundcheck" group and receive e-blasts noticing you about concert tickets for $16. Sometimes even the mezzanine will come available. And it's free to join.

$1 Corkage @ The Miller Tavern

The Miller Tavern, down on Bay Street south of the ACC, has $1 corkage fees after 7pm on Monday to Friday. Same price no matter what the value of the bottle. Sweet!