Received my dealsdirect’s order today. I ordered on Wednesday, arrives on friday. Very fast! I’ve checked the mattress protector, looks like a good quality. I haven’t tried the vacuum bags yet.

Pretty happy so far.

Argh, I’ve been shopping a lot lately.

I just bought these space saving vacuum bags from dealsdirect.com.au and this waterproof mattress protector. I have mixed feelings about Deals Direct. Once upon a time I bought something from them and wasn’t impressed with the quality. But these two products seem to have good reviews so I’m giving them a go. I really need these two items and they will be a lot more expensive if I buy them from the shop.

I find the shipping fee very annoying. I paid $13.90 for shipping, that’s already with $5 off. I wish they have capped shipping. Also their price fluctuate a lot so it’s really annoying to find out the item you bought yesterday is now few dollars cheaper. They ship really fast though. I think my order has been dispatched.

Will write more once I receive the items.

I also bought this first aid kit from catchoftheday.com.au. Again, another shop I have mixed feelings about. I’ve bought from them before and wasn’t impressed with the quality and the slowness of the process. It takes them few days to mail the goods.

I’ve checked around online for first aid kit, I can’t find anywhere cheaper. Let’s hope the quality is good.

I’ve been itching to buy stuffs online ever since USD dropped against AUD but because I’m in saving-money-for-baby mode, I tried really hard not to buy useless stuffs. A couple of days ago, hubby mentioned he was running out of perfume. He loves his Acqua Di Gio perfume and will not use anything else. Also partly because I love him using it as well hehe. Acqua Di Gio is very expensive when I buy from department store or even duty free shops when we go overseas. Strawberry NET has really good price and now with AUD being so high, it’s even better. I ended up buying other stuffs with it because I’m running out of my Clinique soap and moisturiser. The Clinique Moisturiser was unbelievably cheap at Strawberry NET. It’s only US$38. I usually have to pay $75 in department store!

I also bought Pretty by Elizabeth Arden perfume along with everything else. That’s a bit of indulgence, but I really love that perfume,  I recently ran out of mine and have been using whatever perfume I have at home because I refuse to spend so much on it. Strawberry NET has it for $50 for 100ml! I couldn’t resist.

A little tip with buying on StrawberryNET, after your first purchase, they often send you this “We Miss You” email with special discount (on top of the loyalty discount). I’m not sure what triggers this email, but I suspect, if you have items saved in your cart, go through the checkout (entering your email address) and stop there and wait a few days, they may send you a “We Miss You” email. A frew days ago, I was putting stuffs in the cart but decided not to proceed because I was waiting for a better bonus item (they often has bonus item for purchase above certain amount). Just today, I received a “We Miss You” email offering 10% off my order. Or it could just be a coincidence. I don’t know.

My order totalled to $187 minus 3% off for ordering more than 3 items, 1% off loyalty discount (this is my second purchase), and 10% off “We Miss You” discount, it came down to $160.82. If I bought all of these from local department store at RRP price, it would have costed me over $350!!! I wish I did this a lot earlier. I’ve always bought my skincare from David Jones or Myer! Ah the beauty of online shopping. Also shows how overpriced things are in Australia.

Ahh, I’m so happy! I finally decided which pram/stroller to buy. I’ve done so much research, changed my mind a million times, finally I came to a decision. And the final choice is………..Peg Perego Pliko P3!

I didn’t want something too big so I stayed away from outdoor prams. I can’t see myself going cross-country with a baby and I’m not an outdoor person. We also have a small car so it needs to be compact enough. My initial choice was MacLaren Techno XLR but after seeing the pram, there are a couple of things that made me uneasy about it. I love how it’s so light and so easy to steer but it didn’t seem very stable and easily tilted to the back. The cushioning also didn’t seem very comfortable and the basket is inaccessible when the seat is flat. It also doesn’t have front bumper. I’d like my baby to have something to hold on to when he wants.

I liked the cuteness of combi strollers and how the handle can be reversed but it was so hard to steer when it’s reversed so it defeats the purpose. Combi strollers feel tiny and low which I didn’t really like.

I also looked at Peg Perego Uno which has bigger wheels and reversible handle. It was a lot more expensive though and the folding mechanism is not as simple as Pliko. I guess Pliko P3 was ‘in between’. It’s not too small and not too big. I’ll be using it for newborn so I wanted something small but stable. There was nothing about it that made me uneasy. My husband was also happy with it. The best thing is, it was on special in Baby Zone Wollongong so I got it for 499.95, down from 699.95! It was even cheaper than Baby Zone’s online shop. I’ve looked around online, I think it was the cheapest deal there is considering it’s going to be brand new (not floor stock) and the latest model.

We also bought Boori Four Drawer Chest. It was a splurge buy. It was expensive and not on special. I initially wanted kingparrot drawers for $100 cheaper but my husband insisted we may as well buy boori to match the cot. Then we found out that Baby Zone would give us 15% off on full price items because we basically bought everything from them. So the price came down to the same price as Kingparrot drawers so I went for it. We also bought the tray to make it a change table but didn’t realise we will also need the pelmet as the tray would stick to the pelmet.

We got the drawers from 594.96 (down from 699.95). I couldn’t find anywhere that sells the drawers for less than 699.95. Initially I was happy to settle with any drawers but after checking furniture shops, the good ones cost almost the same. I may as well buy boori to match the cot and use it as change table. I paid $42.46 (down from $49.99) for the tray. I think I will have to buy the pelmet as well which costs around $40.

So, big purchases today but I’m happy I finally made decisions and the price I paid was less that I initially expected.

Shop: Borders Australia

Coupon Code: BAU-111010

Condition: 25% online order

Validity: until midnight Wednesday 20 October 2010

Comments: Borders already has free shipping and usually has good prices and fast delivery for in-stock items. With this extra 25% off, it’s a bargain!

We bought this bath stand + tub package from Baby Zone Wollongong today for $79.95. It felt really steady compared to other ones in the shop, the price is very reasonable, too. I like the fact that the top is like a basket and it’s big so it can fit most tub if I ever decide to get anything fancier. The tub that comes with it is good enough though. It’s big, stable, and has the drain feautre. It also has space to put soap/shampoo bottles.

The stand is collapsible comes with anti-slip mat. The ‘basket’ has a rail where you can hang towels. Oh the ‘basket’ and stand’ can be used to store things once it’s not used for the bath.

You can check more of the range here.

I thought that was a good buy compared to the fancy bath + change table in one that I wanted before but refused by my husband because i’s not collapsible and taking too much space. Most of the fancy ones may come with storage but have a lot smaller tub which I’m sure the baby will grow out in few months (and much more expensive!).

Products: 2.6kW Panasonic Inverter Reverse Cycle Air Conditioner (CS/CU-E9LKR)
Price: $940 + $550 installation
Shop: The Good Guys Warrawong. Installed by a local installer called Tim Rogers.
Rating:  *****

Comments:

We have this air conditioner for our main bedroom and although I haven’t had it for long, I love it. I haven’t had chance to use the heating feature so this review is about the cooling feature.

We took a gamble with choosing this model because Panasonic has good reputation and it seems to have the highest energy rating among similar models from other brand. In addition, it also has most features.

I have not had any complain so far, except maybe the price suddenly went down! We got ours a month ago for $940 but now it has dropped to $849 from the same shop. Ah well. I still love it all the same.

2.6kW is the smallest model in the range. I initially worry it won’t be strong enough. Although it was just for a bedroom, our bedroom is really hot! When I get back from work on a hot day, it’s like an oven. The bedroom is upstairs and our whole second level has low ceiling so we really feel the heat there. Today was quite warm, although not the warmest day of the year yet, I came home and turned it on. It cools the room really quickly so I’m very happy about it.

The first thing I notice about it is how quiet it is! You can hardly hear it. It has a lot of feature, you can see them here. All the features work as expected. I don’t really know exactly how the ‘Mild Dry Cooling’ works exactly but by reading a manual I have the impression that it’s simply about having the flap pointed in an angle that it’s not on your face which makes it feels like a sales pitch since you can adjust the flap manually anyway.

The remote is pretty easy to use and understand. It looks really neat, too. Only the main buttons are outside, the rest is hidden under a flip that you can slide.  So you don’t feel overwhelmed with unnecessary buttons you don’t really need.

Overall I love my aircon, it works well so far and serves its purpose. The unit looks simple and modern and not a sore in the eyes.

Products: LG 42″ LCD TV 42LD560
Price: $1160
Shop: The Good Guys Warrawong
Rating:  * * * *
Comments:

It’s a bit hard to write a fair review about this TV because I have never owned an LCD TV before.

When we were researching which TV to buy, LG seems to have the best value for money compared to other brands.

So far this TV serves us well. It may not have the best picture quality compared to pricier brand but the difference is barely noticeable. The refresh rate is 100Hz which is much better than the cheaper model (50Hz)  so it’s worth paying the difference.

I was initially excited about the netcast feature which allow you to connect to youtube that we also bought a wi-fi dongle. I’m a bit disappointed with netcast now. Searching youtube using the remote is a pain and eventhough I can log in to my youtube account, it doesn’t display list of videos from my subscribed channels. It only shows the videos I favourited which is rather useless because I want to watch new videos, not old ones. I hope this will improve overtime. I notice everytime I go to netcast, it checks for software update so fingers cross for some improvement.

You can plug external harddrive to the TV’s USB and it will play music, pictures, and video. The format of video it can play is limited though. It doesn’t play flv or vob or ts which is pretty annoying and there’s no way to update the codecs. It displays avi best. When the video is high quality, it looks really good. It almost feels like the scene is alive in front of you. We still use our media player to play videos that the TV can’t play directly and I must admit playing it directly through USB gives better quality picture eventhough we connect the media player using HDMI cable.

You can also plug your computer and it will work like a giant monitor.

The sound system is pretty standard. But I guess that’s to be expected. We plan to get separate speaker systems for better sound in the future.

Overall I’m very happy with this TV for the price we pay. There’s room for improvement but I’m not sure if any other model or brands would do it any better.

This is playing avi video directly from my external HD. The picture taken with my phone so the quality doesn’t do the TV justice. The colour is vibrant and picture is very clear.

We finally installed an air condition in our bedroom. Yay! We bought the unit from The Good Guys Warrawong for $960 and was installed by this person called Tim Rogers who was recommended by a friend for $550  (second level brick house). We’re very happy with him and highly recommend him. He was easy going and easy to talk to.

We initially also contacted this company called Rapid Cool and was quoted $1800 for an old Panasonic model + installation. When asked to break down the unit and installation cost, they refused saying that they only do package and they didn’t want us to buy the unit somewhere else. I didn’t like not knowing what I’m paying for so we decided to look somewhere else.

The weather has been pretty cool so we haven’t tested the unit much. When we turned it on this afternoon it was very quiet which we’re really happy about. I will write more detailed review when I have used it extensively.

I love Sophie Kinsella’s books. I’ve read and owned every single one of them. They’re light, funny, silly at times, but never fail to make me laugh and put me in a good mood.

I recently bought the latest release of the Shopaholic series, Mini Shopaholic, from borders.com.au which is the cheapest around. It’s $22.95 paperback version with free shipping. The best thing about buying a new release book is the fast shipping. I ordered on Thursday and got it on Tuesday (would have gotten it on Monday if it wasn’t a public holiday).

I’ve read a couple of chapters, so far I’m loving it just like any other books in the series.