NEVER EVER pay retail

So, on the advice of my son I did not purchase Office software for the new computer from Dell at a price of around $400.  Or from Microsoft at $499.

No, instead we used one of his favourite sites http://www.ozbargain.com.au/  This is a site where lots of people post bargains they find online.  Anything from cheap soft drinks to pedestal fans, to buffet lunches!  Its quite a site, and you can search, which we did.  (I just saw a trip to Bali for less than $300 on ozbargain)

We found an offer that was put on a couple of months ago for Microsoft Office for $15!  Yes, a saving of over $400.  To take up the offer, you needed an email address at one of the participating companies, so I used my old company, and a friends email address.  When I rang him to tell he was about to receive an email, he could not believe the price.  I only left the company a short time ago, and I knew nothing about the offer, neither had he heard of it.  Yet it must be available to all staff.

Anyway, the moral of the story is SHOP AROUND and NEVER PAY RETAIL.

I found the full kit my husband needed for taking photos at $600 less than he was able to get it, simply by using some nifty searching.  I usually search "buy XYZ online" as the first choice, then look for the shopping engines like http://www.myshopping.com.au/ who do the hard work for you, and list a whole lot of companies selling the one thing.

This is how I found the light box kit, pictured below and bought from http://www.fotogenic.com.au/index.php?route=common/home  they seem to have some great photogrphy stuff.

Thanks Will for the good advice, and thanks Nemia for the use of the email.

Thanks to Cynthia Nelms for the final word :
 “If men liked shopping, they'd call it research.”