The Art of Online Shopping

With so many people doing their Christmas shopping online this year, I was reminded whilst watching GMTV this morning, about a few things that I have mentioned on this blog in the past, but which are so easy to forget.

1. Firstly, compare prices on the items you wish to buy. You can do this by using a comparison site or Shopbot as they are called. Here is a link to a page on moneysavingexpert which lists various shopbots, but do remember to check more than one as they do not cover all retailers.

2. Secondly, once you have found the site which offers the item you wish to buy, use a cashbackwebsite. Cash Back websites are listed on this blog, scroll down the right hand panel. The most popular ones are Quidco and Cashbackking but again, check all of them and see which one offers a cashback deal for the retailer you are wishing to purchase your item from. Cashback can range from 1% to 10% and last year a friend of mine had earnt £98 in cashback for online purchases over the period of a year, which she withdraw for Christmas Shopping expenditure, so taking a little bit of time can really be worthwhile, you don't make or save money by not being bothered, it all takes time and effort. Always remember to check all the cashback sites as often a certain retailer many offer different percentages as cashback on different sites, whereas other retailers will offer the same percentage across all sites. Also remember you must enter the retailers site via the cashback site to get your cashback.
3. Voucher codes are a great way to save money even if you only get free delivery as this can save £3 - £5 alone, so check those sites out aswell, again there are voucher codes sites listed on this blog.
Happy Shopping

25% off at Nails Inc

In addition to the free Nails Inc nail polish on the June edition of Instyle, you can also get 25% off Nails inc online, by entering the discount code instyle25 at checkout. Grab yourself a great summer colour as sandal season is finally here!

New Discount Code website

Allow me to introduce (for those of you who haven't yet come across it), a new discount code website called Discount Hypermarket. It is an easy to use website with categories such as Fashion, you then click on, say, womens fashion and it will give you a list of retailers in your chosen sector who currently have discount codes available. In addition to this, on the homepage it has a list of random codes for you to check out, you can find them here.

HOF is new supplier of the new England Kit - get £10 off and free delivery with voucher code

Exclusive England Football Kit Offer

As an official supplier of the new England kit House of Fraser are proud to announce they now have an active voucher code where customers can receive £10 off and receive FREE delivery – this will make House of Fraser’s price the most competitive for the new England Kit especially with the delivery offer. This includes the new official England Kit, the limited edition white embossed logo jersey and also the official Umbro anthem jacket.

Voucher code info:

Voucher code: ENGLAND09
Start date: 15/04/2009
End date: 15/05/2009 (inclusive)
Don't forget to enter the site via cashbacking and receive 2.5% back on whatever you spend at House of Fraser.

What will happen to Recessionista's?

Experts believe that we should be getting out of the Recession by the end of the year, which got me thinking, what will happen to Recessionista's? Will Recessionista's revert back to being Fashionista's? What will be the point of Blogs such as mine?

Well guys I won't be giving up! Even though the research for this Blog takes up massive amounts of my time, I find it far too much fun than to just give it up when we hit the good times again. Lets face it, there will always be Students, Single Parents on benefits or just one income, or someone out of work, who wants to save a few quid and will be grateful of being pointed in the right direction to get a bargain or discount. We all need clothes, food, heat and water but are learning how to have these essential things as cheaply as possible.

As for the rest of us, my hope for the future is that the thrifty lifestyle we have adopted over the last year will stand us in good stead for the future. I will certainly squirrel away the cash for luxury purchases that I wouldn't be able to do if all the lights were constantly on in my house, or I was too lazy to walk to the washing line and instead stuck everything in the dryer. I think a thrifty way of living which originally started out of neccessity, has now become a way of life for me and I can only see benefits for the future from this.

There is nothing wrong with the "voucher culture" society we have become, afer all, what is the point of discount codes and cashback websites giving us something for nothing if we don't take advantage of it?

A few years ago we were bragging about how much we paid for a pair of Chanel pumps but now Fashionista's are bragging about how much they saved by grabbing a pair on Ebay! Which goes to show how much fun bargain hunting, clothes swapping etc can be!

Becoming a savvy sales shopper, eliminating debt and food waste, taking care of our water consumption and switching our utility suppliers can all bring about massive savings over time - you'd be a fool not to take advantage of it!

15% off at Cath Kidston - Wednesday 8th April - One day only!

Great Cath Kidson promotion for Wednesday 8th April only, a massive 15% off! See the link on the right for the code and use this to click on and enter the site direct from this blog. There are some gorgeous things for spring now you gardeners will be hard at it, lovely gardening gloves at only £6 (see picture on the right) and floral fabric lined baskets - take a peek, they make great presents too!

Talking of presents, I am going to take advice from my friend "Shoestring Alley" and start a gift box so that I am never without a present for a birthday or anniversary, that way there will be no last minute panic if I have overspent my weekly allowance and still need to buy a gift. I will also do the same with birthday cards, my girls are always asking me to buy cards for their friends birthdays so I will start to build up a stash of these aswell.

Dine out for £5 at All Bar One

Dine out at All Bar One for only £5! print off your voucher here.

Free Chocolates at Thorntons with Voucher Code

Thorntons have a great range of Easter Chocolate and Eggs on offer, with 3 for 2 on selected products and childrens Easter treats from just 75p. Spend over £25 then you'll get a free box of chocolates if you use the Thorntons Voucher Code: EAP4 at the checkout.

More Discount Codes

Antik Batik & Koodos Clothing, Benefit and L'occitane make-up and skincare.


20% off Antik Batik - ecommerce site for UK just opened, enter code KURTA at checkout.

10% off Benefit Cosmetics enter code BENEMDAY

Koodos the home of discounted designer clothing is offering 10% by using the code KOODOS.

Loccitane are offering a free shea butter discovery set worth £12.50 when you spend £25 or more enter code ASH9. Also free standard delivery when you spend over £45 code AFPP45.

Deals of the Day at Marks and Spencer & Mothers Day Bargains Part 3

Marks and Spencer are currently doing a "deal of the day" and todays deal are these mens shoes from the Autograph collection, usually £49.50 but by entering the code DOTDMW06 at checkout, you get them for £39.50. Check back each day to see what is on offer.

For Mothers Day M&S are offering £5 off when you spend £35 on womenswear, lingerie or beauty, by entering the code MUMOFFER at checkout.

This is how you do it! (buying onine with cash back sites and using voucher codes)

Friends of mine were in the process of buying a new computer and after all my talk of discount codes and cashbacksites on this blog, I was there to give a helping hand to save them as much cash as possible. The procedure went something like this:-
1. Clicked on to Cashbackkings and Topcashback to see which retailers selling computers gave the most cashback (everyone from Dixons to Comet to PC World, offers money back).
2. They eventually decided on a computer package from Tesco Direct, so we entered the Tesco website via Topcashback (obviously they had to register with the site before they were eligible for the cash back) and the deal was up to 5% with Tesco but with the Tesco Direct it was 3%.
3. Then we searched voucher code websites for ecoupons for Tesco and although some codes didn't work, there was one for £9 off purchase, from www.mfiles.co.uk.4. Finally they used their Tesco Clubcard and got 354 points!

The 3% equates to £10.47 which you get totally for nothing, just for using the cashbacksite. My hairdresser, who does a lot of online shopping told me that she had over £200 at Christmas! Your cashback money can be sent to you via cheque, BACS or paypal, it usually takes a few days to show in your account and is a great way of saving for a treat.

The £9 voucher code - again for nothing, except a few minutes of your time. There were lots of different codes on the site, you could have had free delivery, £7.50 off etc etc but the £9 looked like the best deal and didn't expire till April.
So as you can see, it is as easy as pie to make and save money.

Mothers Day Gifts on a Budget - Part 2

Thorntons has £5 off it’s Happy Mother’s Day Bouquet now £29.99 instead of £35 and comes delivered with a free box of chocolate caramel roses plus 20% off everything when quoting voucher code MAB2.

Order by 4pm on Friday 20th March for delivery in time for Mother’s Day.

Earn 5% Cashback with every purchase through Cashbacking.

Get 20% off at Asos

Get the celebrity look just like Lenny Kravitz daughter as seen at New York Fashion Week, at Asos with 20% off by entering the code ASOSLOOK at checkout. Buy here Asos.

Online Shopping Discounts and Printable Vouchers

Virtually every publication from The Independent to Womans Weekly, has recently ran an article singing the praises of another way to save on your online shopping by using a website called www.myvouchercodes.co.uk (link in right hand panel).

Basically, for those of you who are not familiar with this or any other voucher code site, it gives you voucher codes for certain online merchants that you can put in at the checkout stage (you will have noticed most have a box for a promotional code) and may give you various savings such as free p&p, 10 or even 20% off your order total.

Here is an example that I tested out this morning.
OK so you have seen a pair of jeans on www.urbanoutfitters.co.uk that you wish to buy, so
1. Check out the cashback sites to see if any offer a cashback for shopping at that particular merchant by typing their name in the search box.
2. After searching you find that www.cashbackkings.com is the only one and gives you 4%, remember you need to enter the retailer via their site to get your cashback.
3. At checkout stage, minimise your page and then search the voucher code websites by typing in urban outfitters in search box and you will get a list of codes relevant to that merchant., chose the one you want, copy and paste into the promotional box at checkout and hey presto! Not only do you have 4% cashback on your purchase but also free p&p or a percentage off your order!

Sounds good doesn't it? but there is a downside and that is that some of the codes may be outdated and no longer apply, in this case you have a thumbs up and a thumbs down button on the page that you can click on to let the website know that this code is no longer valid. There are usually more than one code for each retailer so you usually have a few to try (I told you saving money takes time, didn’t I?).

Printable Vouchers

The myvouchercode website also has a section of printable vouchers and the ones I looked at this morning include:-
1. A free Estee Lauder moisturiser when shopping at Selfridges, London valid till (unfortunately) today.
2. 50% off your bill at Pizza Hut valid till tomorrow, so if you can’t normally afford to eat out and fancy a cheap treat for the kids today or tomorrow, this one is great.
3. 5 Coffees for £5 at Krispy Kreme - sounds good to me for a girlie day out shopping at Bluewater.

The above information is taken from myvouchercodes but there are more sites listed in the right hand panel. You feel far less guilt ridden about shopping in a recession when you are also saving!