With the launch of both the Sony PlayStation 4 and the Microsoft Xbox One pencilled in for the holiday season, 2013 could well go down as the biggest year in console gaming history. But which one should you go for, and where can Australian gamers get the best pre-order deals? Let’s take a look.

Compared to other areas of consumer technology, the games console market has been relatively static for a good few years now, dominated almost entirely by the Big Three of the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii.

The Nintendo Wii U was the first next-generation console to break the status quo, launching at the end of last year. But it’s the PS4 and Xbox One that most gamers are looking forward to, and the recent E3 gaming expo in Los Angeles saw both shown off in full for the first time.

For two machines billed as competing ecosystems, they’re surprisingly similar on the inside. In both cases you get an 8-core CPU, 500GB of internal storage and a Blu-ray drive. They’re also pretty similar looks-wise too. Read the rest of this entry »

With all the news going on about Nigella Lawson’s recent throat-grabbing “tiff” in public by her husband, Charles Saatchi, Google is showing a surge in Australian searches related to the “Domestic Goddess”. Sales of her cookbooks showed a marked decline back home in the UK towards the end of 2012, according to an article published last December by The Telegraph. However, we wondered whether all this hype would have any effect on her book orders this side of the pond. As often these kinds of high profile incidents with celebrities result in a resurgence of demand for their merchandise.

In case you’re one of those people now considering buying one of Nigella’s books, then at least make sure you don’t overspend. Read the rest of this entry »

Paying full price for the latest games can put a strain on anyone’s pocket. Buying online is one solution, but often your savings are swallowed up by shipping costs only to be kept waiting for the package to arrive.

It’s easy to see, then, why a site like Green Man Gaming is so popular. The concept is simple: instead of paying for a physical product that has to be physically packed up and shipped to you, GMG lets you download games straight to your PC.

It’s a UK-based site, too, so you don’t have to settle for those inflated prices you’re so used to seeing new games tagged with when they appear on the shelves here.

That’s enough to warrant a closer look in itself, but Green Man Gaming isn’t just about buying games – it also allows you to trade in titles you’re happy to get rid of for credits towards future purchases.

Sounds great, right? Let’s look a little closer at how it all works. Read the rest of this entry »

Online retailer The Iconic has been popping up a lot on Buckscoop recently, with some specific offers, and voucher codes that work together to bring items already reduced by up to 50% down a further $10 or 20% depending on the initial spend. The Iconic sell men, women and children’s clothing as well as hair and skin care and fragrances.

What makes the offer special, and worth taking note of, is the fact that the voucher codes can be used on already reduced items. There’s also a really low threshold for free shipping – $20 – so you’d have to basically be doing something wrong to end up paying for delivery!

The two coupons we’re dealing with here are:

• DGM20BN - gives 20% off orders over $59
• DGM10OP – gives $10 off orders over $49.

Both expire on the 10th of June 2013, and unfortunately, but understandably, don’t work together.

So what does this mean in practice?

Let’s look at a fragrance - The Iconic has Kenzo Flower Essentielle 75ml fragrance on sale for $69.95. The next best price I can find it for was $75.90 including shipping. The Iconic’s offer has free shipping included as it’s over $20.

With the 20% off orders over $59 code, you can take another $13.90 off, bringing your total to $55.60, which is by a long way the cheapest I can find this fragrance.

Say you want to add something else, like the Enchanted Bodycon Dress which is reduced from $69.95 to $48.97, you can add it on the same code, and you get $23 off the total price, saving an additional $9.79 off the dress – a discount you wouldn’t get otherwise, because you’re just shy of the $10 off discount.

Another great product for taking advantage of discounts on discounts is the Burberry London New 100ml EDT which they list with a retail price of $125, however there are plenty places that have it for sale for upwards of $45. The Iconic do too, selling it now at $49.95 – not the cheapest online price. However, add the second voucher code and you immediately drop the price to $39.95, including shipping, making it the cheapest I could find by at least $15.

While the sale has ‘up to 50% off’, there’s actually very little that goes that high. Two exceptions are the Sprint Short Sleeve Sun Top in sizes 10, 12 and 14, reduced from $50 to $25, therefore not qualifying for any additional discounts, except for the free shipping. The other is actually more than 50%, The Esprit Maui Shirting Skirt was $59.95, and is now $21.58. Put the two together – in your shopping basket, not on your body, necessarily! and you’re looking at more than $63 in savings.

Of course, these are just a handful of the items on sale at The Iconic, and the coupon codes also work on full priced items, so your combinations and saving options are endless.

Happy shopping!

Coles has reduced bars of 100g Lindt Excellence chocolate to $1.88 reduced from $3.77, offering you $1.89 off per bar. For ‘regular’ chocolate that might not seem awesome, but for Lindt? Well, it is just a cut above the rest, quite frankly, so I think this is a fabulous offer!

• Grab a sweet treat

I walked into a store in Germany once, looking for some chocolate, and was shocked at the hundreds of flavour combinations Lindt comes, in, but alas, here we have only five options to choose from, most of the time. My favourite is the 80% cocoa, but you can also go for the lighter flavours.

The brochure says this offer starts at 7am today, 5 June, but some places seem to be selling at that price already. Remember chocolate does go off and get worms in it, so don’t go overboard, but nothing wrong with keeping a few bars in the fridge.

Woolworths is selling the same stuff for $4.88, and over $6 at the German shop.

Click and collect is free of charge, and home delivery is around $7 – $10 depending on your area and when you schedule delivery for.

White Glo are offering the first 50 people who sign up for their newsletter a free sample pack valued at just over $12.

Subscriber to their mailing list will receive a White Glo Professional Choice whitening toothpaste, White Glo Anti-Stain Toothbrush and a pack of Flexible Dental Flosser Toothpicks.

The slightly deceptive part is that if you register and you’re no longer one of the top 50, you still go into a draw to win a three month’s supply of White Glo products valued at $50 – however there’s no way to know if there are still samples available without registering first. But it’s a newsletter, they come with unsubscribe buttons. If you don’t want to receive news from them, you can unsubscribe.

“White Glo Flexible Dental Flosser Toothpicks are specially developed to clear food particles and plaque between teeth effectively. Use it after every meal to ensure best oral hygiene. Used regularly, you and your dentist will notice your improved oral health, potentially saving you costly and unpleasant dental procedures.

White Glo Deep-Cleaner Toothbrush is developed to cleaner deeper into teeth and gum lines to provide a superior cleaning action. White Glo Deep-Cleaner Toothbrush uses high quality USA Du-Clean Nylex Bristles for an exceptional clean and long lasting performance. 

Incorporating the White Glo Anti-Stain technology into the toothbrush, the Extra-Condensed Bristles on the brush head improves stain-lifting results and whitens teeth better than conventional toothbrushes.

Rated most effective whitening Toothpaste by a leading consumer trial. This formulation was originally developed for actors and models.”

Do feel free to leave a comment below if you find they’ve given away all fifty, please!

With thanks to rizzi!

I love hotels. Oh my. There’s little as nice as those clean, crisp sheets, and getting a hotel at a discount? Yes please!

Lastminute.com.au offer Secret Hotels whereby you select a destination, book it, pay, and then find out where you’re going. My husband and I did this in the UK once, and ended up at a beachfront hotel with a fabulous view. The other upshot of Secret Hotel Sales is that they’re running them because the hotel is quiet – when we arrived we were upgraded to their top suites. We paid less than budget hotel rates for an incredible weekend break.

With this offer you can book a luxury hotel room from as little as $47

The sale applies to selected hotels across Australia (starting from $88), NZ (starting from $58), Asia (starting from $47), Europe (starting from $60) and the USA (starting from $106). It’s a fabulous way to throw some spontaneity into your week, or if you’re travelling, to throw a destination you wouldn’t necessarily have considered into the mix.

While the idea is quite fun, there are ways of finding out which hotel it’s likely to be. Take for example the Secret Hotels Deal: 5* Luxury in central Perth… Wow! Secret King? from $135 offer. Googling that just brings you back to lastminute.com, so it’s not much help. But if you look at the features – in this case: Air conditioning, Alarm clock, Bath, Bathrobes, Broadband, Desk, Hairdryer, Iron & ironing board, Mini bar, Non-smoking only, Opening windows, Pay-per-view movies, Radio, Satellite / Cable, Shower, Tea/Coffee Making, TV, Wireless / WiFi. – and copy that into Google along with the first bit, it brings up two possibilities for Perth, Hilton and Hyatt.

The cheapest option available on the Hyatt website is $600 for tonight, while on the Hilton option, which also opened on lastminute.com is $359.

Of course, this system is still subject to mistakes, but either way $210 is a better offer.

If you find the same hotel cheaper elsewhere within 24 hours of booking lastminute.com will price match. The only real down side is that you pay up front, so should you change your mind, or find the hotel wasn’t where you thought or the description was misleading, there’s not much you can do about it immediately.

Thanks to captainjack

Hello Fresh have a “$30 off on orders over $30″ coupon which allows you to order a classic box of delicious recipes and all the necessary ingredients (enough for 5 meals for two people) costing just $69.

Every week Hello Fresh chefs create amazing recipes that are easy to prepare. The recipes ensure that your diet is balanced and varied, assuming you eat only what they give you – if you add your own junk food during the week, it’s less balanced!

They then source “only the highest-quality and freshest produce”, which they deliver along with the recipes to your door every Tuesday.

In your box you’ll find everything you need to cook the meals, with recipes typically taking 30 minutes or less to prepare.

The ‘point’ of the service is that you ‘re cooking good quality, healthy, fresh meals in very little time, without trips to the supermarket. These are especially ideal if you live alone or cook for one only, or even for mums or dads who get home from work and then start thinking about what to cook for dinner.  By the time you’ve browsed the fridge, opted for a takeaway menu, got everyone’s orders, and had food delivered, you could have had a fresh, healthy meal for the same price or less.

As a comparison, I visited the Hello Fresh website and selected their “Classic Box” with enough food for two people over five days. I then looked at one of the basic recipes that they would deliver for this week (Fresh Tomato Pasta). The ingredients are:

• spaghetti
• garlic
• red onion
• chilli (optional)
• tomato
• basil

Doing an online shop at Coles, and going for everything in the smallest quantities, this shop would cost me $10.72.

Using this coupon, you’ll be paying $6.90 per meal. It works out maybe a $1 or $2 more expensive than Coles – but you still have to drive and use time and energy on the shop, not to mention the random off-shopping-list things we all pick up every time you walk into a shopping centre.

Also, this was a vegetarian meal. There was no meat or dairy, which you can be sure would bring the price difference up somewhat.

Realistically $6.90 is a very good price for minimal effort!

The Coupon Code you need to pop in at the Hello Fresh checkout is: FRESHX3772. I’m not sure how long the offer will be available, so don’t miss out!

There are literally hours left on this offer, so I’m jumping up and down and using capital letters to get your attention!

• BUY IT NOW if you have an occasion coming up and you might want to go for dinner, but at half the price. 

Book a table TODAY – 30 May – and you’ll get 50% off your food bill. This doesn’t apply to drinks or for bookings made on public holidays, so choose carefully, and have a good meal at half the price.

SYDNEY:
- Boronia Tea Room (Mosman)
- Kobe Jones
- At Fernando’s (Leichhardt)

MELBOURNE:
- Virginia Plain
- Society Restaurant
- Zio’s Restaurant (East Melbourne)

BRISBANE:
- Va Bene Restaurant (Windsor)
- Hong Depot (South Brisbane)

PERTH:
- Chapter One Brasserie (Subiaco)
- That Little Mexican Place (South Fremantle)

Thanks to CaptainJack!

This deal was worth a blog post as there’s a double offer you can stack up on Trend Micro’s Titanium Internet Security 2013 (3 user, 12 months) software from Shopping Express. What this double stack effectively does is allow you to get paid to use their software. This is how it works.

Shopping Express have Trend Mirco’s software in their list of weekly specials together with a coupon code (MONEYBACK) which can be applied bringing the list price of $55.94 down to $40. Along side this, Trend Micro are running a $50 cash back promo meaning that after purchasing the software and applying the cash back you’ll receive $10 essentially making a profit on your purchase. It’s not everyday somebody pays you 10 bucks to buy their software, making this a hot deal!

To claim your cash back simply follow these steps:

• Fill out the form here.
• Identify the store you bought from : Other
• Select product purchased: 9342003001211 Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security 3U 12mo
• Complete the rest of the form and click submit.

You need to apply for your cash back before the 31st of July 2013 and be aware that stocks are limited. Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security 2013 includes anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam, anti-phishing, web threat protection and protection for your children online with advanced parental control features.

Did you ever see that episode of the sitcom ‘Friends’ where Joey eats jam out of a really huge jar? Well, Costco always makes me think of particularly large jars of food, but bulk buying at wholesale prices has come a long way since the ’90′s.

Costco is a membership warehouse club, where they buy in bulk, at reduced rates, and then pass those rates on to their members.

Products at Costco include a wide selection of merchandise, plus the convenience of specialty departments and exclusive member services. It’s essentially a huge warehouse with a bit of everything, from groceries to electronics to the Costco pharmacy.

Rather than just being discounted stuff, Costco products are branded items, in many cases, but the Costco price list is a lot more pocket friendly, because of the volumes they buy in increasing their ‘buying power’.

Costco stores are member only, meaning you have to sign up to be a member, which will cost you $55 – $60 a year, depending on your  membership type. You then receive a Costco Card, with which you can visit any of the Costco stores in Australia. There aren’t actually that many around yet, but they’re working on it, with stores in Auburn and Canberra following soon after the first Costco in Melbourne.

Members can visit any stores and can bring children and two guests with them, but only card carrying members can actually make any purchases and take advantage of shopping at Costco’s wholesale prices.

Additionally, around twice a year, members receive Costco coupons to further reduce prices, which is never a bad thing.

So how do Costco prices compare with regular supermarkets and shops?

Well, you have to be a member to access the prices, or receive the coupons, but a quick Google for current Costco coupons brings up some results you can view for information:

KidKraft Soho Townhouse Dollhouse recently sold for $129.97 at Costo Auburn, and while I can’t find many online, there’s one selling on Gumtree, second hand for $159.

The same Costco are/were selling the Roald Dahl Phizz-whizzing Collection for $28.99, while this comparison from Booko shows it for sale starting at $73.34, so that’s a pretty huge saving.

If you’re thinking along more survivalist lines, like food, you’ll often – although not always – score here too. For example, a kg of minced garlic at Costco will cost you $2.93, while the same at Coles will be $6.04 and at Woolworths, $5.56.  Skinless Free Range Chicken Breast at Costco will cost you $12.95 per kilo while, Coles and Woolies are $18.29 and $15.99 respectively.

Like with everything, it’s not a bad idea to do a bit of price comparison if you’re able to, and with some clever shopping you should be able to take quite a chunk off your regular shop, assuming you do it often enough to justify the membership fee. We recently joined a wholesale food cooperative with a group of friends, and I’ve been surprised how quickly the savings have added up. It really just boils down to planning ahead and giving up a little of the convenience of popping to your local shops.

iTunes card offers seem to be quite thin on the ground at the moment, which is why the $40 for $30 offer at Target, which starts tomorrow, is about the best deal out there at the moment. 

• Grab 25% off iTunes at Target

This offer starts on the 30th of May – tomorrow – and runs until 12 June.

I’d say these make great birthday or Christmas gifts, but it may be a bit early to mention the “C” word – that said, if you’re able to save some money why not? Just double check that they wont expire before then, but they definitely shouldn’t!

There’s not a huge amount more information about this offer, but what more do you want to know? It’s iTunes gift cards. There’s 25% off. It starts tomorrow.

Happy shopping!

There’s a new movie out called A Place For Me. Apparently it’s a is a clever and touching tale of family, love (lost and found), and how endings can make new beginnings.

From what I can gather, there are a few real life novels referenced or featured in the film, all of which Booktopia have put together in a special offer – buy one of these books, and get two tickets to see the movie free.

There are 27 books available, ranging from $6.50 for Dear Mr Henshaw, by Beverly Cleary to the classic A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess at $31.95, so you can see the savings available. Bare in mind the $6.50 shipping fee per order, but it’s still cheaper than our local cinema, two tickets and book.

What I can’t seem to find is any information on participating cinemas or other restrictions, like when you can use the passes, but what they do tell us is that these are available to the first 500 customers, and there’s a limit of one per customer.

Am posting this as a blog because this is a screaming bargain for Telstra data recharges but you will have to be quick. Posted over in our forum – Officeworks have a Telstra Telstra Pre-Paid 3G USB + WiFi (MF 70) on sale for $24.50. The device comes with 2Gb of data. The deal write up is here and the page on Officeworks is here.

Looking at the Telstra mobile broadband top up charges your paying 3.91c a meg for a 1gig top up, 1.63c for a 3gig top up, 1.95c for a 4Gb top up, 1.63 for a 6 gig one and 1.46 for a 12 gig one.

When you do the sums on this offer from Officeworks your paying an effective 1.2c per meg – thats a bargain. To boot if you buy multiple of these units they only activate when you call telstra. That means you could stock up and use the sim cards progressively with the only restriction being that once activated you would need to use the 2gig within 30 days.

The only downside is that you will be changing SIM cards regularly but thats not a big hassle.