As seasons change, retailers and manufacturers use sales as a way of shift old stock and a fraction of the original price. Here we take a look at what you should keep an eye out for in Spring.

Spring Sales

Spring is a great time to pick up a new digital camera. Specialist stores like Warehouse Express, Camera World and Park Cameras launch their new products in spring so prices are slashed on previous or end of line models.

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Package Holidays

Heres our top tip on how to get a great deal on a package holiday in the sales;

We’ve fallen back in love with the package holidays and in the current climate they offer great value for money. Companies such as Thomas Cook, Jet2 and LowCostHolidays offer sales throughout the year.

You can find these sales in January, after easter or once the kids have gone back to school in September.

For a family of four going to Turkey for 7 nights you can save as much as £300 simply by being careful when you book, not when you fly!

We’ve been asked by many people what some of the acronyms used by online stores actually mean. We’ve compiled a small list of the most common ones you find while shopping online, especially when it comes to online deals and offers;

BOGOF = Buy One, Get One Free
BOGOHP = Buy One Get One Half Price
BTGTF = Buy Two, Get Third Free
BTGCF = Buy Three, Get The Cheapest Free
FD = Free Delivery
FreeDel = Free Delivery
FreeP&P = Free Delivery
FreeNDD = Free Next Day Delivery
GC = Gift Card
NC = New Customers

If you can think of any more, please feel free to add a comment and let us know!

Wrong size… wrong colour… wrong everything!

Ever wonder why you or your man fails every single Valentines Day?

Our partners over at Boux Avenue have put together a very handy InfoGraphic helping explain where men go wrong and how to make the perfect lingerie purchase this Valentines Day.

There’s still time to purchase online with Boux Avenue and make use of their Free Next Day Delivery promo code, so why not point your man in this direction

British Gas has announced increases to the gas and electricity prices it charges customers – just in time for winter and Christmas.

British Gas has raised its charges for both types of fuel by about 6%, adding £80 a year to the average dual fuel bill following SSE decision to push prices up 9%, and Npower increasing gas prices by an average of 8.8% and electricity by 9.1%.

As usual, the companies are putting the blame for most of the increase down to rising costs largely outside the company’s control. Despite this, British Gas managed to increase profits by 25% to £345m over the first half of 2012!

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Did you know…

• Consumers using a free delivery code, on average, spend 30% more
• During the olympic, online electrical sales went up 30%
• £5.3 billion was spent online in May 2011
• £34.9 billion was spent online in the first 6 months of 2012

View our InfoGraphic for more shopping statistics.

As you may have heard, The Royal Mail is rolling out a new ‘neighbour delivery scheme’ across the UK, a major boost to online shopping.

Under the new scheme, post will be delivered to a neighbour if no-one is at home. Delivery has always been the ‘Achilles heel’ of online shopping, with failed deliveries proving to be a major bugbear for buyers and sellers alike.

A three-month trial of the initiative, involving around 750,000 households, saw less than 1 per cent of households requesting that their neighbours not be given their mail. It will not be possible for people to select which neighbour receives their parcel. Nor will postmen be obliged to try different neighbours willing to accept the item.

Whilst we’re all making final preparations to our gardens for what hopefully will be a summer to remember (for the right reasons), more and more people are starting to think about the wildlife that surrounds them.

Upon deciding a small bug box was required in our gardens, we spent 5 minutes online checking prices, and were extremely shocked to see the huge range for what tantamounts to being the same item.

The general descritpion of what we were after;
A small, dual chamber insect hotel to attached to a fence or a wall, that will provide a habitat for insects like ladybirds and bees during the summer months.

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As LED Bulb prices are dropping in price, more and more people are switching to LED Bulbs after seeing a simple price comparison. Gone are the myths that energy efficient light bulbs cost more, due to the initial outlay.

The LED Bulb technology is now so energy efficient, it uses up to 90% less energy than incandescent bulbs and can also save you over 80% when compared to less energy efficient halogen GU10 bulbs.

The long lifespans and low energy use make LEDs economically attractive because even though the fittings cost more, the running and maintenance bills are lower as can be seen in our comparison table below;

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It’s estimated every UK household has over 60 unloved CD’s sitting, untouched, in a rack for the past 18 months. Most people have converted their favourites to MP3 and loaded on to computers and MP3 players meaning there’s no real need to have them cluttering up your house.

First thought of most is to list each CD individually on eBay however many are put off because of the amount of time it takes to list each individual CD, the fee’s incurred and postage costs. There is also the worry that after all your time, effort and costs, there’s no guarantee of shifting them.

A number of companies now offer a quick solution that will pay you cash for your old CDs, DVDs, computer games and Blu-rays. Music Magpie is one site that’s easy to use and gives instant quotes.

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