Shopping online: Happy cheap Christmas - and an affordable New Year!

The newspapers have had a lot of articles recently about how the retail shops are finding it hard to keep going in this tough economic climate. And how so many people are buying items online.

I've stopped buying anything other than food from the local shops. Everything else, I get it online. And I'm saving heaps.

I want to talk about some new cosmetics I got recently, and the price difference between buying online and buying at the department store.

The shops are crying poor, but when they're not respecting their customers, do they deserve our custom? I'm not sure they do.

Retail is a two-way street, with respect from both sides of the equation. If stores shaft customers, we'll shop elsewhere. And that's precisely what is happening.


A study in makeup: Clinique

What really set this off was when my parents, who are Aussies, went to the USA for a holiday recently. I did my usual, and put in a request for some Clinique makeup.

Before I went, I dropped in at the local "Clinique counter" in Dunedin, and wrote down the colours of the cosmetics I wanted.

Then I went online to http://www.clinique.com, to check out the US retail prices, as well as http://www.clinique.com.au to check out the Australian retail prices. (There is currently no official New Zealand Clinique store online.)

And I got one hell of a shock.

Australians pay more than double the US retail price. Figure in currency conversions and shipping, and they're still paying twice as much.

And we Kiwis? We're paying more than three times the US retail price. Go to the websites above and check the prices out yourself, if you don't believe me.

Just one example was my foundation, which the New Zealand retail price at the "Clinique counter" is $78. In the US? $24.50. No wonder all around the world people are buying online and abandoning the retail shops.


Planned customer shafting

Mum posted all my items over from Australia for me (thanks Mum!). She just paid US retail prices in a store. I don't have to buy cosmetics for a long time now.

But I was curious about how and where to buy them online cheaply.

And you know what? US eBay sells brand new cosmetics even cheaper than the US retail outlets.

Not surprisingly, really.

So, for example, I can buy a Clinique "chubby stick" for $4.99 plus $2.99 postage from the USA eBay. Or I can pay $35 for the same thing in Australia. Or I can pay $48 for the same thing in New Zealand, at the local counter.

What do you think I'm going to do?

Here are a few more price comparisons in Clinique items that I found. Other brands are similar in their price difference.

"Colour surge stay matte" single eye shadows
US Price $14.50
AU Price AU$33.00
NZ Price $45
US eBay price: $5.99 (plus postage to NZ $3.50)

"High Impact lip colour SPF15"
US Price $14.50
AU Price $36.00
NZ Price $46.00
US eBay price: $4.99 (plus postage to NZ $2.99)

"Mild clarifying lotion"
US Price $12.50
AU Price $36.00
NZ Price $45.00
US eBay price: $11.49 (plus postage to NZ $4.99)

All of the above eBay comparisons were brand new, from reputable sellers.


We'd like to support our local stores, but...

I'd like to shop locally. I really would. I enjoy shopping (yeah, I'm a weirdo).

I'd be happy to pay US retail prices in a store here, with the appropriate cash conversion, plus maybe 10% markup for postage.

But a 300% plus markup? That's not on. I don't appreciate being shafted. So I won't buy makeup here in New Zealand, not even "supermarket brands" like Dove and Revlon at the supermarket. They're too rich for my blood.

When it is cheaper to ship stuff from halfway around the world than buy exactly the same product in your local supermarket even, something is wrong.


So why am I writing this post?

Firstly, to tell people that it is much, much cheaper to shop online.

Even if you only shop secondhand, give US eBay a go. The options are terrific. And if something doesn't fit, or you don't like it, sell it to someone who will like it at your own local eBay or TradeMe.

My second point is, the department stores have to lift their game.

The world has changed. People do not appreciate being ripped off, and now we have the ability to do something about it. The stores need to start respecting their customers again - or they will go out of business.

Thirdly, it pays to shop around. Really shop around. For example, I just bought myself a brand new beautiful black velvet blazer with 40% off and free international postage, by shopping around, and buying it from the designer's website.

Total cost? Less than $50. Over here in New Zealand I've seen the same thing for sale for over $400. Yes really. I couldn't even buy a top from the Warehouse (our local discount store) for that price!

I don't know where this will all end, but I do know that it pays to be clever. My days of "going shopping" by walking out the door are over.

Have a happy Christmas, and may your budget forever be in the black!

Have a lovely day!

Sheep, bees, trees, fruit, thistles - and an Ode to Weeds!

I realised the other day that I haven't posted for a good, long while. That's what happens when I'm very busy, I guess!


The sheeple

Farm work has been rolling along.

The lambs are all topping 30 kgs apiece now easy, and some of them are so fat they're wider than they are tall.

I should have named them more appropriately - "barrel" and "lardball" would have suited them better!


Some of our sheep, grazing peacefully.

We've found buyers for our four extra males, so they'll be going to various barbecues in and around Dunedin. Just don't tell them. But we're keeping our females, plus a wether as company for the new ram lamb when he arrives.


The orchard

Everything is going well. The huge pruning and winterizing I did in the orchard has started to pay off.

The orchard is absolutely laden with fruit. I don't know how we'll ever eat it all! I'll be preserving all summer, I think.


The orchard is dripping with fruit. I can't wait until it is ripe.

One of our recent jobs has been fencing off the new orchard trees. We thought we'd be okay letting the sheep in, now they were a bit bigger and there was plenty of grass to distract the animals.

Bad move! One of the new trees was badly damaged, and another suffered a bit too. So we've been busy working out how to fence the trees.


We've started fencing the new trees in the orchard extension. It's a priority job, as we can't let the sheep back in until it is done.

What we came up with was putting Y-posts (waratahs) around, then wire, then chicken wire around that. I'll do a post on the details of this operation once it is done, but it is keeping us busy!


Painting

On rainy days I've been inside, busy painting the upstairs bathroom. I'm making sure I do a good job of it, because I will not be in a rush to do it again!

It's hard work, working in such a confined space.

Conversion to organic: de-thistling

I've spoken about it before, but in our conversion to organic, we've been busy de-thistling the property the old-fashioned way - grubbing them up by the roots, and ripping them out!


This patch of thistles missed my eagle eye when I last did a round. Never mind - I'll get them tomorrow! The property is now organic and almost thistle-free.

It's been hard work, because what happens when you turn a conventional property organic is that everything that was poisoned before comes back with a vengeance, and you have three times as many weeds to deal with as every else.

When you go organic, you really begin to understand that chemical poisons really are a short-term fix that will just make the problem bigger in the end. They're a short term cop out, not a solution.

I even wrote an Ode To Weeds:

Oh Weeds!
Why dost thou growest faster than mine flowers?
I plantested thee not, yet reap thee do I, yea: thistle and vine both.
Tarry not do I, yet thy prickly scourge does taint my earth and shedests thine blight year beyond year, making beauty desolate...
Avaunt! scoundrel!
A weed whacker have I!
Avaunt! Avaunt!

You can kind of see how crazy the thistles have been making me!

The new woodlot

Other tasks I've been doing, apart from all this, is planning the new woodlot that will be going in in 2012. We'll be planting 200 trees, which will make us fuel independent for heating. The likely candidate for our woodlot is eucalyptus nitens, which can be coppiced.

Coppicing saves the tree a lot of energy. Not only do you not have to re-plant with new trees, but the trees grow faster, because they do not have to develop new root systems, which is literally half the energy expended by the tree as it develops.

Our estimate is that 200 trees will fuel our home and keep it toasty warm. It sounds like a lot, but did you know that the typical wood-heated home will burn through 25 trees a year?

Yes, really.


The beehive

This month, I was also busy completing my new beehive. It's ready, and now all I have to do is source some bees. The workshop was lots of fun, although I really didn't do well with the drill!


My top bar bee hive. Now all I need is the bees!

Our group of bee people now have a working group located on Facebook. Search for "Dunedin Working Bees" and you'll find us!


Christmas!

Between beehives, woodlots, fencing, de-thistling, planting tomatoes and salad veggies, general weeding, planting another 50 flower bulbs, writing a 50,000 word novel, and various other jobs I've not talked about, someone reminded me that Christmas is fast approaching!

Oh my - I forgot!

So I was glad that I did all my Christmas shopping back in the middle of the year when the sales were on. Everything is scarily under control, and the only thing that got forgotten was this blog!

I'll be back again more reliably once the silly season is over, but in the meanwhile, I guess I've done a lightning-fast update!


Have a lovely day!