Yesterday my wife and I went to Birkenhead Point, where we paid $200 for something that used to cost $420 at retail. It was from the designer’s winter range, but because her spring collection is already out it’s considered out of date, and winter isn’t even over yet! (Although we have been having some unusually warm weather in Sydney lately.)

If you’re not after the absolute latest styles (but without sacrificing fashionability!) then it pays to shop at factory outlets. You can get perfectly good stuff at significantly-less-than-retail prices. If you’re lucky you might even find something in one of the seconds shops that you can fix simply with a bit of glue, a quick bit of sewing, or even just a bit of a wash.

Here’s a couple of factory outlet franchises that have branches in most capital cities:

Harbourtown
DFO

For everywhere else, the Factory Outlet Directory site has a pretty comprehensive list of Factory Outlets in Australia.

Happy bargain hunting!

For discussion: what’s the best bargain that you’ve ever picked up at a factory outlet?

The American retail icon, Costco, recently launched a new store in the Melbourne docklands area, and will soon also open a store in the Sydney suburb of Auburn. While it could be considered similar to your Coles or Woolies in that they sell groceries, the Costco shopping experience differs from the traditional supermarket model.

Consider these two types of shoppers: “hoarders” (like me) who buy up big when things are cheap, and “grazers” (like my wife) who buy what’s needed when it’s needed.

The pro’s of being a hoarder are: convenience – when you run out of toothpaste, you just go to the cupboard and get another one; and not having to go shopping so often (but you spend more time there when you do). Being a hoarder is a good way to earn rewards too, since most schemes have a minimum spend before you receive the benefits – e.g. spend $30 to get a fuel voucher). The con’s are: it has a bigger up front cost (not good if you’re out of food, down to your last few dollars, and desperately waiting for the next payday); and finding room to put everything.

The pro’s of being a grazer are: flexibility – you pop down to the shops and get what you need – in and out – instead of spending hours trawling through every aisle; and being able to buy fresh – there are simply things that you can’t store, like fresh fruit and veg. The con’s include: being more expensive in the long run; and having to go shopping a lot, which can be very inconvenient if you don’t live close to the shops.

The Costco model tips the balance in favour of the hoarders by offering everything in bulk. That’s how they make money while still having lower prices than the supermarkets, by shifting a high volume of goods. You also have to sign up for their annual membership, which costs $60. Therefore Costco will be of most benefit to people who buy in bulk often (if only to get back the cost of membership in savings), particularly non-perishable goods: nappies, canned and/or processed foods (pet food, soft drinks, etc.), confectionery, and things that you can buy to freeze (e.g. meat).

What type of shopper are you, a hoarder, grazer, a combination of the two, or another kind that I’ve missed altogether? Post your thoughts in the comments!

My car’s overdue for a service, but I don’t want to take it in ‘coz I know they’re going to charge me some ridiculous sum of money for what probably amounts to having an apprentice do an oil change and checking that stuff is working OK. If I’m unlucky, they’ll find something wrong with the brakes, shocks or whatever, and I’ll be up for kidney on top of the arm-and-a-leg.

There are clever folks I know who can do their own minor services, but I’m not brave enough to do this myself, so I won’t recommend it to you (go and find yourself a trustworthy mechanic!) Instead, here are some ridiculously simple things that you can (and should) do yourself:

Changing light bulbs
If you find that one of the lights on your car has stopped working, it’s an easy fix. Have a look at your car’s manual if you have it (you can easily Google it if you don’t). There should be instructions that tell you how to replace the bulb. Use that to figure out how to remove the blown bulb, and then go down to your nearest car store and ask them for another one of the same. You should get change from a $20 for the average car, unless have some fancy BMW with Xenon lights (in which case what do you care about cost!)

Now the most important thing is: don’t touch the glass part of the bulb! The oils from your hands (even if your hands are completely clean) will cause the bulb to weaken and crack from the heat when it’s on.

Pop that in according to the instructions, and if you’re good, you won’t even get your hands dirty.

Topping up the windscreen wiper fluid
No, I’m not being daft. When was the last time you topped up your wiper fluid? Maybe it’s just me then, but it’s an unpleasant experience not having enough water, when you’re cruising down the freeway and the biggest, ugliest bug in God’s creation splats on your windscreen.

You can also buy additives such as Rainex, which claims to make your windscreen less sticky so that water runs off it or something, but it’s all bollocks from my experience. There’s also special detergent for car windscreens – don’t just use the Morning Fresh from the kitchen, ‘coz that’ll froth up coming out of the nozzle and stuff you up real good when you can’t see.

Changing windscreen wiper blades
You can buy these from KMart, but don’t get the cheapest rubber no-brand crap ones. Invest in some decent silicone ones, which won’t dry up and make the sound like an elephant’s fart when it stutters its way across the glass.

Most supermarkets will have a book or computer which tells you which size suits your car, but just in case, measure your old ones just in case. Most cars will use one of the standard sizes: 6mm or 8mm. If you’re stuck, you can get ones which will fit both. Installing the blades is usually a simple matter of unclipping the ends and sliding it out.

Three very easy car maintenance tasks, don’t you think? If there’s anything else that you regularly do yourself, or if you have a funny story about DIY car maintenance, leave a comment!

A quick addendum to my earlier post on thrifty cooking: yesterday I noticed that the “4 ingredients” book also has an iPhone App that you can buy for A$4.99. The advantage that the App has over the dead tree version is that you can search for recipes by scrolling through an alphabetical list of ingredients (and although it’s called “ingredients” the list also includes categories too, such as “Breakfast”).

It’s also a funny co-incidence is that the App is “rated 4+” (as in the age classification, not the customer ratings).

Buy now from

Australians suffers from Tall Poppy Syndrome – we love to back the underdog – and when it comes to the telecommunications market, they don’t come any taller than Telstra. A quick browse through the popular Whirlpool Forums will reveal the depth of hate over the vice-like monopoly grip that the company has over the Australian communications infrastructure. By most accounts, we’re paying more for our phone and internet services than should be.

Once again, technology comes to the rescue! Most people think of the Internet as just simply a vast hard disk full of music, porn, movies, porn, useless information, porn and porn. Actually, that’s just what’s on the Internet. The computers that support the Internet don’t actually care what kind of information they’re carrying, so one day some clever dudes thought “well why can’t it carry telephone calls too?” And Voice over Internet Protocol – more commonly known as VoIP – was born*.

So by now you’re probably thinking “if you can make phone calls on the Internet, I shouldn’t have to pay for both a phone line and the Internet, should I?” and you’d be spot on. Many Internet Service Providers (ISP) now offer what’s called “naked” broadband, meaning you don’t have to pay the “Telstra tax” (a.k.a. line rental). Some ISP’s includes a free VoIP service, and others offer it as an optional extra. The call rates are quite competitive compared to traditional phone plans as well.

Then of course, you could always just grab Skype. If both you and the person you want to talk to has Skype installed, then the call is completely free! (They make money by charging for calls made back to the old-fashioned telephone network).

Save money. Get naked now! Compare naked DSL plans (the site is not affilliated with THRIFTerrific).

* This is not a completely accurate historical account, so if you’re doing school work, go check something slightly less dodgy like Wikipedia :-)