I’ve always been a bit cynical about the one-day-sale websites that have started popping up here there and everywhere. My first impression was that they were selling a lot of cheaply priced Tat that people didn’t need to buy. There’s certainly an element of people getting too excited over these sites. Grabone.co.nz has more than 50,000 people who “like” it on Facebook.

I have, however, seen the other side of them. I’ve noticed that some of the sites like DailyDo.co.nzoffer services (eg dental work and beauty therapy) and tourism days out at really cheap prices. I went on a Kayak Fishing expedition, which I have written about for the NZ Herald. The other customers had bought their tours from DailyDo.co.nz at half the face price.  If you want to do something like this it’s a great bargain.

My article from the Herald on Sunday:

Bargain Betty: Breadmaker adds to culinary mix

I love good bread. In fact, a great baguette or fresh Turkish pide pretty much top my list of favourite foods.

The trouble is that I get indigestion at the thought of spending $5 or more on a loaf, which in reality contains little more than flour, water, yeast and oil/fat.

If I acceded to my children’s demands I’d be buying MacKenzie bread at $5.11 a loaf – just for half of it to be left uneaten in their lunchboxes.

Read more:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10681061

I wrote this originally for my MSN column:

Does beauty care need to cost a fortune? And will a $500 moisturiser really make you look 10 years younger than a supermarket brand?

Some weeks ago I wrote about the phenomenal cost of fashion. This week I’ve got the beauty industry in my sights. But it’s going to be a difficult task. Many women would rather cut back on food than save money on their beauty regime.

Newsweek has just published some must-read research on the cost of a lifetime of cosmetic maintenance for the modern diva. The authors estimate that the average American woman spends $449,127 on hair and beauty over her lifetime. Ouch.

Keeping up good skincare is important. But it needn’t cost an arm and a leg. Once, in my early twenties, I asked a consultant dermatologist to advise the best moisturiser to buy — and I didn’t care what it cost. The answer, to my surprise, was E45 Cream — one of the cheapest on the market.

I wouldn’t deny any woman her $50 lippies, La Mer moisturiser, or a trip to the hairdresser for “the works”. If you budget, these can be included as special treats. What you shouldn’t be doing is treating them as everyday purchases if you want to get ahead financially. Try to use up what you have first and then decide which of these items you could save on and which you should splurge on.

Can you, for example, splurge on eye shadows and save money on supermarket-brand mascara, lip gloss and eye pencils?

One area of beauty care where you can save enormously is by doing your own beauty treatments. There’s nothing in a facial or pedicure, apart from the pampering, that you can’t do at home. Try checking out some of these DIY beauty treatments for more ideas.

And it’s possible to shop around and get your beauty treatments done for less. For example, where I live, in an expensive suburb of Auckland, eyebrow threading costs $18. Instead, I get it done for $5 a time when passing through modest Mount Roskill, which I do on a regular basis.

Even better, get your hair or beauty done cheaply or for free at a beauty school. There are heaps of listings in the Yellow Pages.

Thinking outside of the square can save you an awful lot of money over a lifetime. Just lately I’ve started making my own organic shampoo and conditioner thanks to the fact that my children developed mild allergies to soaps and shampoos, and my wallet is severely allergic to the cost of “eco products”. Making my own is both easy and satisfying and the raw ingredients are available over the Internet from websites such as Go Native.

Finally, remember that a big part of the cost of your miracle creams is the marketing, advertising and packaging. Can you do without them? Your wallet would be happier if you did.

Have your say: Do you save or splurge on beauty care?

I’m a great believer in repairing items rather than replacing them.  It’s often surprisingly easy.  Here are my thoughts on the subject, including strategies, as published in the Herald on Sunday:

Bargain Betty: Repair not replace a cost saving mantra

Arrgh. My keyboard has died, I bleated on Facebook a few weeks ago.

Immediately I hit pricespy.co.nz to find the cheapest replacement and started drooling at the sleek lines of the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 – the latest version of my “dead” one.

In my mind I’d almost made the purchase when my Bargain Betty alter ego kicked in. A cursory inspection of my old keyboard indicated one of the gaggle of 7-year-old boys who hijack my home office to play Mathletics had dropped something sticky between the keys. Nothing more than a nail file was needed to “fix” the 10-year-old keyboard.

From a consumer behaviour point of view, I was……..
www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?objectid=10674420

The spacebar on my Microsoft Natural Keyboard “died” yesterday.  After the initial problem of having to swap the kids’ keyboard with mine so I could continue working, I got to looking at replacements.

It was only after discovering that I’d have to shell out at least $100 to get a new one that I started questioning whether I really needed it. Lo and behold I found that one of the seven-year-old boys that hangs out in my office most afternoons had dropped something sticky down between the keys.  In a jiffy, I’d cleared it with my trusty nail file and now the keyboard, which has outlived three computers, is back in business. Not a cent spent.

STOP PRESS.  Someone commented below that you can put a keyboard in the dishwasher.  I didn’t believe this. But lo and behold there are lots of links:

http://www.google.co.nz/search?q=wash+a+keyboard+in+the+dishwasher&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

A couple of years back an old flame from my sophisticated London days appeared out of the blue in my inbox. We ended up chatting over the phone (Skype to be precise). Somewhere in the conversation I mentioned to  my sophisticate friend with the income to match that I needed a camera case for my new digital camera.  “Get a Lowe, they’re the best” was his reply. He’s a man who only ever buys the best quality of anything.  Having metamorphised into Bargain Betty since I last saw him I nearly replied: “I don’t buy anything new if I don’t have to”.  But I decided not to go there.

Being myself I popped down to the Devonport Op Shop to get something to do the job. Lo and behold there was a Lowe camera case there for $3 which I bought. Although I’m an op shopper I always buy the best brands as well. Just at much cheaper prices than new.

As an aside, I held a committee meeting for Toastmasters at my house one night. One of my fellow members who’d heard many a bargain hunting tale in my speeches was astounded to find that my house was minimalist and what there was, didn’t look like it came from a junk shop.

I was just over at Foodlovers.co.nz and saw a wonderful tip.  That was to use empty tuna tins, with both ends cut out, as crumpet rings.

So often there’s a free alternative to buying expensive equipment. This is a great one.  I’ve got some silicone rings that I picked up in a garage sale. But the tuna tin idea is even better, being free.

Standing on the side of the midgets soccer pitch last week I commented to another mother that her boy had new soccer boots. (Something to pass the time). Oh yes, she said.  She’d got a real “bargain” apparently. They were reduced to $100 she told me.  My eyebrow nearly popped through my hairline, but I said nothing.

I pay $2-$5 for a pair of soccer boots – the same Nike brand as her son’s.  They do exactly the same job.  I usually buy a couple of pairs in the same size so my son can choose between them.  The source? School fairs or garage sales. What’s more, I’m fussy. I only buy boots that are showing no wear.

One day my boy will demand new ones. But until then, I’m not spending any money unless I have to. He’s chuffed with the boots he gets.

My son’s soccer boots have lost yet another stud.  Replacement studs only cost $1.80. But now that my supply has run out, I have to go up to Takapuna again (read $3-$5 petrol + my time) to get some more.  Or do I?

Last night I went into the loft and got down a pair of boots I have in reserve for next year (that’s another blog posting) and simply removed a stud from one boot and put it on his existing boot.

That of course leaves me with a stud missing from next year’s boot. So today, I picked up a pair of second hand little kids soccer boots  for $1 – and have removed the studs.  So now I have 12 spares, for $1 in total, and less time/petrol that it would involve going to Stirling Sports.

DVD rental shops seem to be living much longer than the digerati predicted.  You’d think they’d be dead by now thanks to Sky movies, iPods and illegal downloads.

My friend Pip pointed out in another posting that she loves to sit down with a glass of wine and a DVD on the weekends.  I emailed back to check that she does get them out on $1 night.

Tuesday night is “video” night in our house.  We go down to Civic Video to get a $1 DVD out each. We’ve been doing this ever since I cancelled the Sky subscription and bought a Freeview box.  It’s really nice to have a good movie to watch on the weekends.  To get even better value out of my $1 DVDs, I often pass good ones over the road to my neighbour, who watches them before returning them.

Even if you can’t get to Civic Video on Tuesdays (or whatever day the half price day is in your area), there are some pretty useful discount vouchers on Vouchermate.co.nz.  The five weeklies for $5 is a good deal – albeit slightly more than the $3 a week we usually spend on DVDs.

I do love the idea of belonging to a postal DVD hire service such as Fatso.co.nz.  But I can’t justify the cost.