Thrill of a bargain

With my finances a little stretched at the moment, last night I logged onto www.moneysavingexpert.com to see if I could get some advice on how to survive the Christmas period without completely bankrupting myself. Whilst I was looking at various threads, I came across one chatting about renovating old furniture which I thought could come in pretty useful to people at the moment. Although it’s not a particularly long thread there’s some great ideas thrown about – check out http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1259129.

There’s also an article and thread on haggling, which can be useful in some of the bigger furniture stores. Have a look at http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1263291 to read shoppers’ personal (and often amusing) experiences. There’s an interesting post at the top of the thread which asks shoppers not to apply the same haggling techniques in independent stores which are struggling more than major high-street retailers during the recession. It’s quite a valid point. On the home page of money saving expert there’s also a whole article on haggling, which throws loads of tips and tricks into the mix to help save you cash. Here’s the link http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/how-to-haggle-successfully.

Don't miss the table which includes some info specifically on furniture. A snippet of advice is as follows ‘Stores will often discount clearance or display stock, especially if it takes up a lot of space. They are also willing to cut the price flawed merchandise. Always ask for free delivery on bulky items’. Some of the major furniture stores which are talked about favourably in terms of giving discounts are John Lewis and Ikea.