Tesco has been ordered to pay £74,000 in fines after mice were found in one of its stores. Members of the public had reported seeing mice running around the aisles at the store in Martlesham near Ipswich. Poor cleaning and inadequate procedures were blamed for the failings. Tesco was convicted of eight hygiene related offences following a trial. Magistrates in Ipswich fined the store £17,000 and ordered it to pay £57,000 towards the council's costs.

According to this article less people appear to be eating marmalade. It seems younger generations have lost their taste for marmalade with around 80% of sales being to shoppers over the age of 45. Overall sales were down 3% last year. The rise of eating on the move has been blamed for the decline as it appears less people take the time to sit down to toast for breakfast. Production has also been hit by price rises in ingredients such as fresh fruit and sugar. Personally I do buy marmalade but find I use it more in recipes rather than eating it on toast.

According to this article scientists have created a tomato that can stay fresh for up to six weeks. The tomato which is the result of genetic engineering will stay fresh for around 45 days, three times longer than a normal tomato. Researchers believe the process could also be applied to other fruits including bananas and mangos. It has been created by researcher in India who have managed to stop the production of ripening enzymes in the fruit. The increased firmness stops the fruit going soft for longer. The one problem may be that no one has yet tested the tomato for taste. It would also need to undergo extensive safety testing before it would be allowed to go on sale. I’m not convinced myself, I find fruit and vegetables at their best when they are fresh and am a little dubious at something that can be kept so long.

According to this article Kellogg’s will change the recipes of their brands of cereals in order to cut the salt content. The Move comes after a health watchdog criticised the salt content in brands such as Corn Flakes and rice Krispies. The salt content in these brands will be cut by 30%. The new recipe Rice Krispies are already on sale and the new recipe Corn Flakes are expected to be available in March.

If you are tempted by the by one get one free offers when you go shopping but often find you can’t use the products before they go off, then you might find this article interesting. It seems Tesco are looking to reduce food waste by offering a buy one get one free later deal. Under the offer customers will be able to take advantage of the deal but instead of having to take both products at the same time, they will be given a coupon to redeem against the second product at a later date. It seems like a good idea to me and would certainly encourage me to take advantage of the offers on perishable items which I would usually bypass.

If this article is correct then online food shopping is set to double within the next five years. That’s according to new estimates from the Institute of Grocery Distribution. Their research shows that customers will spend nearly £7.2bn on grocery shopping online by 2014, that’s nearly double the figure spent last year. Personally I do most of food shopping online. It allows me to shop for the whole month without worrying about getting it in my small car and I find I budget better and am less likely to overspend.

According to this article women’s handbags are getting lighter. The average weight of a woman’s handbag is now 1.5kg, that’s down 57% from last year when the average weight was 3.5kg. The research carried out by Debenhams  in order to help them to design suitable bags. It seems the change is not down to the fact that we are carrying less in our handbags but more the fact  that popular gadgets such as mobile phones and PDAs are simply getting smaller and lighter.

If you need another excuse to go shopping then you might find this article interesting. It claims that the average woman burns off around 48,000 calories a year just by shopping. According to the article most women burn off around 385 calories walking around the shops every week. In fact this amounts to around 154 a miles a year, the same as walking from London to Nottingham. The figures are based on the assumption that the average woman covers 2.96 miles on a shopping trip and spends about 2.5 hours browsing in stores every week. So next time you don’t feel like heading down the gym you might be justified in hitting the shops instead.

If you have put on a few extra pounds over Christmas then you might be interested in this new dress from Asda. It is designed to hide all of those lumps and bumps that you would rather you didn’t have. It works in a similar way to hold it in pants, having built in control panels in all the right places. At £28 for the dress and £16 for a skirt it claims it can take as much as inch and half off the waist. It certainly looks interesting but I feel the article would be better illustrated by using a model who has some lumps and bumps herself, that way it would be easier to see the effects of the garment.

According to this article you could soon be paying a bit more for your pint. Many of the country’s biggest brewers are likely to increase their prices in a move that will mean an increase of around 10p on popular beers. Guinness are putting up the recommend retail price to £3.03 per pint from February 1st. InBev who make Stella Artois, Becks and Budweiser are increasing the wholesale price of all its drinks by 4p a pint from the same date. Heineken UK have also announced a price rise and Carlsberg and Moulson Coors are yet to make an announcement.

If you want to pop the question but don’t have a very big budget, then Asda might have the answer. They are selling engagement rings for just £397. The average amount spent on an engagement ring is £1,800 according to the wedding site Confetti.co.uk but it is traditional to spend at least one month’s salary on the ring. The Asda ring, then seems something of a bargain. The ring is the best selling one on offer at the store and is an 18ct gold ring with 1 caret 7 stone diamonds and looks quite good for the price.

If this article is correct we could soon expect to pay a little more for a carton of orange juice. According to the article cold weather and disease have hit the citrus groves in Florida which produce much of the world’s orange juice. This has already led to the price of concentrated juice doubling in the past year. As yet this has not affected the prices we pay in the supermarket because stores usually fix their prices a long time in advance, however, we should expect prices to rise by between 10 and 30 per cent when contracts are renegotiated.

According to this article some British sausages are made up of as much as a third fat and only 32 per cent meat. The rest of the sausage is usually made up of ground wheat rusk which is used as a bulking agent to cut costs and improve the texture of the sausage. A study has been carried out on 36 brands of sausages including the country’s biggest sellers to find out exactly what goes into them. Researchers for the journal Meat Science looked at the packaging for information on meat fat and salt content. On average the sausages contained 62 per cent meat but four of the sausages that were looked at had less than 50 per cent and the worst one had less than a third pork. The study did not identify the different brands but did reveal that the two sausages with the lowest meat content were Asda Smart Price with 34% pork and Sainsbury’s Chipolatas with 32% pork.

According to this article online retailer Amazon is considering a move into the high street. The move comes as Amazon has started to stock larger products which can be problematic and expensive to deliver. If it goes ahead Amazon would have outlets where customers could pick up purchases that they have ordered online. The article suggests that Amazon is currently looking for high profile sites across the UK to pilot the scheme. The move would not only allow Amazon to supply those larger items but also allow customers to pick up their purchases at a time to suit them rather than relying on being in to sign for a delivery.

Kit Kat has recently achieved Fairtrade certification for its four finger Kit Kats. They are now able to display the blue and green logo of the Fairtrade Foundation on their wrappers. The logo is likely to start appearing on Kit Kats from January. The certification will later also be extended to include the smaller bars.

I dread having to go Christmas shopping, because the shops seem to be so hot at this time of year. I also have a tendency to pass out when I am standing for a long time in hot conditions, so as you can imagine I have embarrassed myself ending up in a heap on a number of shop floors. I have wondered whether the tropical conditions are all in my mind but this article now makes me think otherwise. It claims that some shops are as hot as tropical holiday destinations. A survey of the major chains on Oxford Street found that Topshop had a temperature of 80.9F (27.2C). Other shops such as the Bodyshop, Debenhams, Esprit, HMV, Clinton Cards, Boots and Monsoon all had temperatures above 77F (25C) with the average temperature being 74.5F (23.6C). It’s no wonder then when I am dressed in my winter coat for the cold conditions outside that when I enter these sorts of conditions I overheat and pass out on the floor. It would certainly be more comfortable to have the temperature a little lower in department stores and would also waste a lot less energy.

According to this article many energy saving lighting bulbs have a design flaw which means they start to become dimmer over time. Whilst it is advertised that the bulbs can last as long as five or six years, it appears that many will need replacing long before that. A good quality bulb is likely to lose about 20 per cent of its light over its estimated 8,000 hour lifespan with cheaper alternatives emitting just 60 per cent as much light as a new bulb. The problem is with CFL bulbs which give off light when a current is passed through a gas filled tube. The gas glows with ultraviolet radiation which lights up a coating of white phosphor on the inside of the tube, over time, however, this coating starts to lose its ability to light up. Other low energy bulbs such as halogen lights and LED bulbs are more reliable and more likely to stay bright throughout their life. With conventional bulbs being withdrawn from sale it appears we will soon have little alternative but to purchase the slightly dimmer alternative.

This article suggests that some supermarkets are misleading customers with bargains that are not all they seem. The main focus of the article is a half price deal being offered by Tesco on Bernard Matthews turkeys. The turkeys are being offered at £20 which Tesco claims is half price, however, the turkeys have only been on sale for the full price of £40 for a short period of time. Tesco began selling the turkeys on the 3rd of September and made the price cut on the 1st of October allowing the birds to be at half price in the run up to Christmas. The chains rivals, however, say that the product should retail at just £20, the price they are all charging. It seems then, this particular deal is not such a great one. I wonder how many other offers are real reductions.

According to this article a bottle of champagne from Sainsbury’s that costs just £16 has performed better than some brands which cost twice as much. The champagne beat Moet and Chandon and 11 other champagnes to come second in a blind tasting. A total of 14 champagnes were tested, nine from major supermarket chains and three from big champagne houses. The Sainsbury’s Blanc de Noirs champagne was only beaten by Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label which received 90 points whilst the Sainsbury’s champagne received 89. At half the price though you can’t help thinking you might be better off going to Sainsbury's. The cheapest champagne tested was Aldi’s Veuve Monsiny which costs £9.99. It managed 10th place with a score of 84 points.

According to this article nearly half of cheddar sold in Tesco is actually imported despite the pack implying that it is British. The packaging may say that the cheddar is packaged in Britain but it means just that. It is actually made elsewhere and imported. Nearly half of it is made in Latvia, Ireland and New Zealand and is simply packed in Britain. Whilst this might not seem like a big deal, people have different reasons for buying British and in this case it seems they are led to believe a product is British when it clearly isn’t. Personally I prefer to buy British produce where possible because I would rather support British farmers especially during the recession when times are tough. I also believe that the less distance my food has to travel the fresher it is likely is to be and of course the impact on the environment is less. I will certainly be checking the labels much more closely and will steer clear of anything marked “packed in Britain” in favour of “made in Britain” in the future. 

If this article is correct the recession is responsible for a rise in middle class shoplifters. Rather than stealing goods to sell them on it appears more people are stealing to maintain the lifestyle they have become accustomed to. It seems when people have less money rather than cutting back, some decide to simply steal what they can no longer afford.

According to this article Aldi and Lidl are both selling a bottle of champagne for just £9.99. Aldi’s Vue Monsigny and Lidl’s Comte de Brismand both sell for just under £10. They get mixed reviews from critics with some experts suggesting the taste is not that great but others calling it elegant and fruity. Unfortunately I don’t have an Aldi or a Lidl near me otherwise I would buy some and post a review. Have you tried either of these bottles of champagne and if so what were they like?

If you fancy doing some shopping on Boxing Day then its looks like you might in luck this year as a record number of supermarkets will be open. More than 300 large supermarkets are due to open this Boxing Day  compared with only a handful two years ago. Both Tesco and Sainsbury’s are doubling the amount of stores that will open in response to customer demand. Tesco will open 252 stores and Sainsbury will open 94. Supermarkets will also open later on Christmas Eve with some stores being open until 10pm meaning some stores will be closed for less than 24 hours over the Christmas period.

Marks and Spencer have announced that they will hold a Penny Bazaar on Friday. The sale which will last one day only will see 15 different items going on sale at just 1p each. Items include socks, card games, puzzles, handkerchiefs, money boxes, tea towels, mugs, notebooks, ties, knickers, keyrings and chocolates. Marks and Spencer have previously hosted a similar event which saw people queued outside stores trying to pick up a bargain. If you want to get your hands on some of the cheap items customers are limited to five purchases each and you can check which stores are offering the promotion on the website.

According to this article it is possible to cook Christmas dinner for eight people for just £2.78 a head. The Good Housekeeping Institute priced 11 ingredients mainly from Lidl and Morrisons and some from Tesco and Sainsbury’s. It found that it is possible to buy a turkey from Lidl and Morrisons for just £9.99. Lidl also came out best for some of the trimmings such as sprouts, carrots and parsnips whereas Tesco had the best value Christmas pudding at just £1. If the article is correct it appears that you can find a bargain if you shop around.

According to this article Marks and Spencer are now selling more British cheeses than they are French cheeses. They are now selling two British cheeses for every French one with sales of British cheese increasing by 30%. The figures were considerably different five years ago with French cheese being much more popular. It appears the rise in popularity may be down to the fact that during the recession consumers are more inclined to buy British to support British businesses and farmers. However, British cheeses such as cheddar and stilton are also becoming more popular abroad with Neal’s Yard Dairy now exporting about 35 tons of cheese every year to France.

According to this article 65% of supermarket chickens contains a bug called campylobacter. The bacteria causes around 55,000 people a year to fall ill every year and causes symptoms such as diarrhoea, cramping and stomach pain which usually last for about a week. People with weakened immune symptoms can be at risk of the bacteria spreading to the bloodstream and causing a life threatening infection. The illness can however, be prevented by properly cooking food. Surprisingly Free range and organic chicken are actually more likely to carry the bug than battery birds.

According to this article sales of quality beers are on the rise and it is claimed that beer could be the new wine. It appears that sales of quality bottled beer are up as is keg and cask beer. One brewery Hepworth and Co has seen an 18% rise in sales on last year. If the article is to believed beer especially the quality varieties is also becoming more popular with women. If this is the case and beer is experiencing something of a revival I wonder why so many pubs are closing down. Personally I like beer but prefer to sample real ales rather than drinking lager which is many peoples first impression of beer and perhaps what puts them off trying others.

According to this article the Jaffa Cake could be changing shape. For the first time is also available in an oblong shape rather than the traditional round one. The makers claim that the new shape is better because of its edge to edge filling. The new shape is on sale alongside the round ones so its up to you which you prefer. Personally I can’t bring myself to eat Jaffa Cakes after an incident when I ate too many and was very sick.

According to this article some high street chains are starting to see an increase in sales and profits. Four of Britain’s largest retailers have seen rising earnings suggesting that consumer spending night be starting to improve. Sports Direct, House of Fraser, Laura Ashley and Thorntons have all seen and increase in half year sales. Industry experts are still cautious about the outlook for Christmas and the new year due to the VAT rise in January and rising unemployment but perhaps we are starting to see those elusive “green shoots”.

Waitrose has come to the rescue of the Duchy Originals brand which has been struggling during the recession. The brand which was founded by Prince Charles in 1990 to promote organic food and farming has seen a slump in profits during the last two years. It is thought that customers have been put off buying the brand due its high prices. Waitrose is the biggest stockist of the brand and have now struck a new licensing agreement which will give them the exclusive right to make and distribute the product across its 214 branches. Waitrose will also sell the products wholesale but will only allow independent stores and restaurants to stock them. They also have plans to extend the range from 200 to 500 products.

I have been aware for some time that Christmas displays in shops are getting ludicrously early. This article, however, suggests that some stores are starting to sell their Christmas range now and are even considering offering Christmas items all year around. Debenhams, for example will start stocking Christmas products before the end of the month. The move comes partly to try and take advantage of the summer tourist trade but also because it is thought people are more likely to want to stagger their Christmas purchases because of the recession.

Having just moved house I have been having a look at some furniture websites with a view to replacing some of our old furniture with items that fit better in our new home. One of the websites I came across is Spacify who have a good range of contemporary Dining Tables and coffee tables. I quite liked this Vincent Extendible Dining Table which has a walnut finish and is made in  Italy. It is available with free delivery within the US and Spacify offer a 100% price match so if you should find a lower online price they will give you 100% of the difference.

Tesco are now offering double the amount of loyalty card points in a bid to tempt more customers. According to the article sales growth at Tesco has been outpaced by its main rivals in the past year prompting the supermarket to look at new ways of retaining customers. All Clubcard holders will now receive double the amount of rewards every time they shop meaning you will now get two point for every pound you spend in store or online. I do have a Tesco Clubcard but personally I find I currently receive very little rewards and that I frequently forget to use the vouchers I receive. I wonder why Tesco don’t go the same way as Sainsbury’s and simply allow you to take the money off your shopping bill at the checkout. I find this works a lot better and means that I can save my points up for an expensive event such as Christmas to buy a few luxury items that we wouldn’t usually be able to afford.

If this article is to be believed eating junk food does not only cause you to gain weight, it can also make you less intelligent. Research was carried out at Oxford University on a group of rats. The rats were fed a high fat diet over ten days. It was found that the rodents short term memory was damaged and that they were less mentally alert. The high fat diet also decreased the rats ability to exercise in turn making them more likely to gain weight.

It appears its all change for the Oxo cube as the traditional cube gets a new shape. Rather than being a simple cube it will now have grooves cut into it making it into a X shape. The reason for the change is that the new shape is supposed to be easier to crumble than the traditional cube alternative.

According to this article the average British family throw away £610 of food every year. The figure is based on a household with children and amounts to 6.5 million tonnes of rubbish. Based on this ministers want supermarkets to replace buy one get one free offers in favour of half price deals as well as introducing a larger range of pack sizes. They also want supermarkets to use clearer labels so that customers are sure of the difference between the use by date and the best before date. The article made me wonder how much of our household waste is food waste. I am certainly getting better at reducing the amount of rubbish we produce and try to make as much use of leftovers as possible mainly to try and save a bit of money but we still seem to have several sacks of rubbish every week.

Several major shoe brands have demanded a moratorium on the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. Clark, Adidas, Nike and Timberland are among the brands that are putting pressure on suppliers to make changes. According to this article around 65 to 75% of deforestation is linked to the growth of ranching. As well as the moratorium on leather from newly deforested areas the footwear makers want suppliers to bring in a traceability system which will guarantee the source of all leather. Currently some Brazilian companies linked to rainforest destruction export products to blue chip companies across the world. The three major processors Bertin, JBS and Marfrig have now agreed to reject cattle from illegally deforested land. The footwear companies will also refuse to buy leather which is sourced from farms on both legally and illegally deforested land.

According to this article Asda has actually increased the price of one one in five of its products despite its pledge to roll back prices. Trade magazine The Grocer has found that in many cases the supermarket has been rounding price up rather than down. It checked 969 products and found that 173 actually cost more in July than they did in March. A third of the products were the same price that they had been in March and 477 products were cheaper in July than in March. The Grocer found that one in five of the round pound lines which are heavily publicised has been sold for less than pound in recent months. Often customers often see the items priced at a £1.00 and fail to realise that they were actually previously on sale at a cheaper price.

According to this article a report has concluded that organic food is no better for you. The report which was commissioned by the Food Standards Agency found that organic food contained no more nutritional value than factory farmed meat or fruit and vegetables grown using chemical fertilisers. I think the report might be missing the point. I don’t necessarily buy organic produce because I think its better for me but I do like to know that what I am eating has been farmed in a responsible way and I do like to know where my food comes from. I don’t necessarily purchase organic produce but I am aware that organic farming has stricter animal welfare rules and that it bans artificial chemical fertilisers so am more likely to choose it if the price is not a consideration.

According to this article chocolate bars could be made smaller in a bid to try and fight obesity. The food standards agency wants the average chocolate bar to be reduced by a fifth to reduce the calorie intake and is trying to get chocolate makers to make voluntary changes to the size of their snacks. By 2012 the watchdog wants all confectionary to weigh no more than 50g. Manufacturers are also being asked to sell bite size bars as single items instead as part of a multipack. Under the plans fizzy drinks would also be sold in smaller containers. I’m guessing the pack size will go down and the price will not, meaning you get less for your money.

If you fancy driving something a little unusual, then you might be interested in purchasing this van. It is one of the six yellow Reliants which was used in the filming of Only Fools and Horses. The van is for sale on autotrader for £6,995 and it comes with a sheepskin coat, a flat cap, a market keepers suitcase and a bottle of Peckham spring water.

Coca Cola are trialling a new drink that contains fizzy milk. Called Vio it comes in several flavours including cherry, lime and lemon and costs £1.50. It is made from skimmed milk mixed with sparkling water and is flavoured with fruit and cane sugar. The drinks have gone on sale in New York but there are currently no plans to launch it in Europe.

If you don’t have the time to boil an egg then you can now buy them ready boiled at the supermarket. The eggs are produced by The Happy Egg Company. They are peeled boiled and peeled by machine before being packed and have a shelf life of nine to ten days. The eggs will be on sale at Waitrose, Asda, One Stop and Ocado at 89p for a pack of two or £1.49 for four. The Happy Egg Company is marketing the eggs as an ideal snack for picnics and a tasty snack that can be prepared in minutes. Personally I would rather just boil them myself.

According to this article Marks and Spencer is the worst supermarket for packaging waste. A study found that the supermarket is worse than Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Waitrose and Morrisons when it comes to packaging. Which? found that its packs of bacon, punnets for mushrooms and tubs for ice cream were all heavier than similar packaging from their rivals. Which? brought 27 own brand items from leading supermarkets including fresh and frozen food and washing up liquid and fizzy drinks. In each case the total packaging including the labels was weighed. The total weight of Marks and Spencer’s packaging was 415g, Sainsbury’s was the lightest at 369g and Tesco was just slightly more at 370g. Marks and Spencer said the study was flawed because it failed to take into account the amount of recycled material that was included in the packaging. They claim that in many cases their packaging may weigh more but is actually more environmentally friends because it is made from more recycled content.

According to this article some supermarket salads contain more fat and calories than you would find in a Big Mac and fries. The consumer group Which? looked at a number of salads on sale in supermarkets. It founds that a Smedleys Atlantic prawn marie rose salad from Morrisons contained 855 calories and 66.3g of fat. A Sainsbury’s tomato and basil chicken salad also had a high fat content with 27.7g of fat and 595 calories. In comparison a Big Mac and medium fries contains 820 calories and 40g of fat. The reason for the high fat content of most of the salads was the fact that they contained a large amount of mayonnaise, creamy sauces or pasta all of which are high in fat.

For those who thought they had seen the end of Woolworths the good news is that is back but in an online form. The new website has recently been launched and is proving to be popular according to this article which says nearly 100,000 people logged on in the first few hours. Much loved brands such as Ladybird clothing and pic ’n’ mix sweets can still be found on the site. The new owner Shop Direct brought the brand name in February and has kept the red logo that customers will recognise from the stores. The online stores will sell much the same things that you would expect to have found in a Woolworths shop but they will also sell some larger items that were to big to sell in store.

Sainsbury’s will be the first of the major supermarkets to scrap cereal boxes on its own brands. The supermarket will stop using cereal boxes and will instead use recyclable plastic bags. Sainsbury’s have already started selling milk in polythene bags in an attempt to cut down on packaging. Scrapping cereal boxes should mean that they cut down on packaging by a third. They have already started stocking basics Rice Pops in the new packaging and eventually hope to scrap boxes for all of their own brand cereals. They have also reduced packaging on soft fruit by replacing the plastic punnet with a lid with a heat seal wrap and are looking at reducing packaging on meat.

One lady got a shock when she opened a jar of tikka masala sauce from her local Asda and found that it contained something extra. Along with the curry sauce she found a dead mouse which it seems had fallen into the jar before it was sealed. The jar of sauce has since been sent away for analysis in order to establish where it came from.

This is interesting, its an idea that is being tried by Sainsbury's to make their stores greener. Under the scheme the checkout would be powered by energy which is created by the shoppers. Kinetic road plates will be installed at a new branch in Gloucester. The plates will generate energy when customers drive over them when entering and leaving the car park. The device will then convert enough energy to power the tills inside the store reducing the amount of energy taken from the National Grid. The devices are already being tried at distribution warehouses but this will be the first time they will be used at a supermarket. If the scheme is successful in Gloucester it could soon be put into place at more stores across the country.

This is interesting, its what has been dubbed the anti stab knife. The knife is designed so that it works as normal in the kitchen but it has a rounded tip which makes it harder to stab someone. The rounded edge will snag on clothing or skin and should make it almost impossible to use it to stab someone to death as well as cutting down the risk of accidental injuries. It has been invented by industrial designer John Cornock and is likely to cost between £40 and £50 when it goes on sale. 

According to this article wine sales in Britain have fallen for the first time in ten years. Figures show that the average British household does still drink more than a bottle of wine a week, however, it appears that people are cutting back. 1.16 billion litres of wine were sold in Britain in 2008, a two per cent fall on the previous year and the first time there has been an annual fall since 1995. One factor that might be behind the fall is the increase in wine duty last year which means a duty of £1.61 on a standard bottle. It might also be that people are spending their money more wisely in the current economic climate. What do you think? Are you buying less wine?

According to this article online fraud is at its highest ever level with seven out of ten internet users regularly seeing so called e-scams in their inboxes over the last twelve months. Around 80 per cent of users have received fake banking emails or fake online shopping emails. 70 per cent have been targeted by fake requests for money and 67 per cent have been told they have won a competition only to find out it is a scam. Personally I get so many of all of these types of emails that I automatically assume they are all fraudulent. If I ever did receive a genuine email from my bank or informing me I had won something it would be deleted along with the rest.

One man got an added extra with his loaf of bread when he found a dead mouse embedded in the bottom of the loaf. He had purchased the loaf from a supermarket in Ballymoney and found the mouse when he unwrapped the bread. The company who made the loaf have since been fined £1,000 for putting unsafe goods on the market.

Sony have released two new phones that are made from recycled plastic. The phone are made from old CD cases and water bottles and have been launched as an eco friendly option for customers. The GreenHeart C901 and Naite both feature a camera, video streaming, bluetooth and WAP and work as a conventional phone would. The only difference is that the casing is made from 50 per cent recycled plastic. Both phones also include a low power charger and an in phone e-manual which reduces paper usage by 90 per cent. They also include an application that allows you to work out how much greenhouse gas emissions you can save by choosing to walk somewhere rather than using your car.

Asda is selling a school uniform priced at just £4.75. The uniform includes a cotton polo shirt or easy iron shirt, a cotton sweatshirt and Teflon coated trousers. It is available for all ages from three up to sixteen. Asda have said that the same uniform would cost around £15.25 at Tesco and £21.50 and Marks and Spencer so it seems this is a really good deal.

Royal Mail has launched a tamper proof stamp which should stop people pealing off old stamps and reusing them. The problem whilst it might seem minor costs Royal Mail tens of thousands of pounds every year. Although stamps are franked when they go through the sorting office, the markings on them are not always noticeable and often stamps with little markings on them are peeled off and used again. The new stamps, however, should make it impossible to reuse them. They have two oblong strips on either side of the stamp so that when the stamp is peeled off the strips are left behind. This leaves a useless stamp with two holes in it which should now be unusable.

This article claims that some chocolate bars have shrunk whilst the prices remain the same. Apparently the size of Mars and Snickers bars have shrunk by more than 7 per cent as the company tries to reduce costs. The chocolate bars which previously weighed 62.5g now weigh just 58g. The change happened in the second half of last year and the smaller version are now on sale in the shops. The price of the smaller bar remains the same at 37p for a Mars bar and 41p for a Snickers, so it appears customers are getting a little less for their money. Mars at first claimed the move was to help tackle the nation’s obesity problem but later admitted that it was as a result of rising costs.

A TV advert for Tetley tea has been banned after the advertising watchdog decided it could mislead viewers. The advert for green tea shows a woman who decides to drink a cup of green tea rather than go out jogging with the voiceover saying 'For an easy way to help look after yourself, pick up Tetley Green Tea. It's full of antioxidants.' The advertising watchdog has ruled that this claim is misleading as there are no proven health benefits to drinking green tea. Four viewers had complained that the adverts suggested drinking green tea would have the same benefits as exercising. The advert will not be broadcast again in its current form. Tetley have said that the tea was promoted as part of a healthy lifestyle.

Stinking Bishop has been voted Britain’s smelliest cheese. The cheese which is made by Charles Martell and Son in Gloucestershire has been described as smelling like a rugby club changing room. It was voted as the winner at the Britain’s Smelliest Cheese Championships beating Driftwood by Whitelake Cheeses which came second and St Oswald by Gorsehill Abbey which took third place. I haven't tried Stinking Bishop but I might have to get some to see what its like. Watch this space for the review.

I was looking around at bedroom furniture and found some nice Bedroom Sets at spacify.com. In particular I quite liked this Sterling Park Regents bedroom suite (pictured left). It includes the bed, headboard and a one drawer nightstand and you can also purchase a 7 drawer dresser and mirror to match as an optional extra. The website offers free shipping to the US and also a quick ship option on items that are in stock. They also have a 100% price match guarantee so that if you find the same product somewhere else at a cheaper price they will refund the difference.

It appears that as the credit crunch starts to make an impact on people’s spending habits they are increasingly turning to hire purchase rather than buying goods. under a hire purchase scheme the customer pays a fee every month with the appliance remaining the property of the lender until the last payment has been made giving the lender extra security. This article reports a ten per cent rise in the value of goods brought on hire purchase in the last 12 months compared with the same period in the previous year.

If you are looking around for an unusual gift then you might want to have a look at these Crystal Singing Bowls. Imported from the Himalayas they are used for meditation music and healing. The importer Silver Sky Imports travels to the region several times a year and handpicks their selection of singing bowls from Tibet and Nepal. Each bowl is individually catalogued and includes a recorded sound file and individual pictures so you know you are receiving the product you are looking for. Their latest range also includes fountain singing bowls which cause water to spout like a fountain when your hands are rubbed on the handles.

According to this article a £3 sun lotion from Asda was among the best is a test carried out by Which? The low priced lotion offered a better defence than some other brands which cost three times as much. In the survey 14 products were tested, all of which claimed to offer a protection factor of 15. However, only five of the products actually met this standard. In fact the sun cream from Asda was found to offer a protection level of 24, more than was stated on the bottle. Some the creams which failed to make the standard were sold by Tesco, Marks and Spencer and Wilkinsons. It just goes to show you don’t always have to spend a lot of money to get a good product.

Next has recalled a range of men’s underwear after a complaints that it featured an image of Adolf Hitler. A customer had complained that the underwear featured an image that resembled Hitler saluting as planes flew overhead. Next have since investigated the claims and found that the image was actually from a cartoon inspired by a picture of Lenin. The range of underwear, however, will still be withdrawn from sale.

Having just sold our house I have been looking around at some furniture ideas for our new home. I came across some really nice rustic furniture that I think will fit the room quite well. I like the fact that is individually handcrafted, for me it is much more appealing than something that you can buy from most high street furniture shops.

According to this article around half of people who buy their groceries online receive the wrong items. A questionnaire found that 45% had at least one of their items substituted for another product and 15% received something they had not ordered. I have used the Sainsbury’s Online for about five years now and whilst it did used to be fairly unreliable with missed deliveries and broken down vans over the past couple years it has been quite good. I usually receive the correct items with few substitutes and can only ever remember receiving items I haven't ordered once. On that occasion I received a bag of cigarettes (I don’t smoke) but the situation was quickly resolved when I called the store and upon realising the mistake they collected them and brought my bag of shopping in its place.

It could be bad news for tea drinkers if this article is to believed. It suggests that the price of a a cup of tea could rise by as much as 15%. The price rise comes as a combination of rising demand, crop failures and the weak pound. It could mean that leading brands such as PG Tips will increase their prices as much as 50p on a pack of 160 tea bags. Unilever which makes PG Tips has said that it can no longer absorb the extra cost of making tea bags due to increases in commodity costs and that it will need to pass the rises onto consumers.

It appears that proms are rapidly becoming big business in the UK but it doesn’t come cheap with parents spending an estimated £258 on tickets, transport and outfits. With this in mind Asda have launched a budget prom dress with a price tag on just £30. It comes in two colours green and pink and you includes matching shoes. The supermarket have also launched a £35 tuxedo for the boys so if you are on a budget the prom doesn’t need to break the bank.

If you are looking for a bargain then you might want to check the Penny Bazaar promotion which starts today at M&S to celebrate their 125th birthday. The promotion runs from today for three days and during that time they are offering a range of products at only a penny each. The promotion runs in store only and customers can choose up to five products each. Every penny donated will go to the M&S 125 charity challenge which aims to raise £125 million for charities between May and September.

Sainsbury’s have posted better than expected profits with a 11.3% rise to £543 million. The supermarket has said that like for like sales rose by 4.5% in the year to the 21st of March. The rise is put down to the increasing population of their Basics range and the Jamie Oliver Feed Your Family For a Fiver campaign which has been running on TV. The profits mean that Sainsbury’s staff will share a bonus pot of £60 million, compared to last year’s £47 million.

According to this article Sales of beer in the UK have fallen at their fastest rate since the recession of the early 1990s. The British Beer and Pub Association have said that off trade beer sales fell by 11 per cent in the first quarter of 2009 contributing to a total decline of 8.2 per cent in total beer sales. On trade beer sales (those in bars and restaurants) also fell by 6.3 per cent that’s around 753,000 fewer pints every day over the first three months of 2009. The message here is clear, your local pub needs you to drink more beer.

According to this article a new type of tomato has been produced that won’t make your sandwiches go soggy. It has been produced by Tesco who claim it is the world’s first non leaking tomato. The tomatoes have been grown in Holland under a seed breeding programme that began in 1986. Unlike normal tomatoes which lose 8 per of their weight when sliced the non leaking variety loses less than one per cent of moisture meaning less juice ends up seeping into the bread of the sandwich. At 99p for four they are not cheap but if you are sick of eating soggy sandwiches then this might be the answer.

This article suggests that shoppers are using their debit cards and cash rather than relying on credit cards. Spending on debit cards increased 6.8 per cent last year from £108.7 billion to £116.1 billion whilst spending on credit cards dropped to £61.1 billion. Cash purchases also increased in the same period. The news comes as credit card companies are being accused of making it harder for people to pay back their debts as well as increasing their rates.

It appears that one company at least is still doing well despite the recession. Tesco have recently announced record profits of £3 billion, that’s a rise of 10% since last year. It is estimated that the company currently takes more than £1 billion a weeks and profits are around £8.6 million a day. Tesco bosses say that the company is thriving because Tesco attracts customers with price cuts and discounts. Despite this claim research by mysupermarket.co.uk has shown that a basket of staple food costs 9% more than it did this time last year. As prices go up there appears to be evidence that stores are taking an large percentage of shoppers money. The big supermarkets are also accused of boosting their profits by squeezing suppliers.

According to this article a £16 hi-fi from Tesco has been voted the best on the market. In the online survey carried our by Reevoo the Tesco hi-fi (pictured left) beat more expensive products made by Roberts and Sony to take the gold award in the hi-fi category. The winners were chosen by half a million consumers who submitted reviews to the website about products they owned. The £16 Tesco stereo came first with the Roberts Sound MP43 which costs £186 coming second and the Sony MHC-EC78PI costing £100 taking the bronze award. For your £16 the Tesco hi-fi has a CD player and two speakers. It was praised for it good sound quality and easy to use controls. At £16 I might just get one.

According to this article wine sales have plummeted as people begin to feel the effect of the recession. The article says that the amount of win brought in pubs and clubs has shrunk by 1%, that's the equivalent of around 12 million bottles. The figures from The Grocer also show that supermarkets, convenience stores and garage forecourts are also selling less wine, whilst off licenses have recorded a drop of 6% in sales value. Personally I haven't been buying less wine to drink at home but I do tend to drink less if I go out to a pub or restaurant as prices are usually overinflated.

It appears that despite the credit crunch some people are still prepared to pay for luxury items. This wedding dress costs $1.5million and is made from peacock feathers. It took eight workers 40 days to sew together. Its certainly interesting but I think it might be a bit too much as a wedding dress.

This is interesting its a suit made from recycled plastic bottles. It has been made by the Designers at Debenhams and costs £55. It is made entirely out of plastic bottles which were destined for landfill sites. The bottles are cleaned, their labels are removed and then they are ground down into chips which are melted down. The mixture is then refined and woven into a type of polyester. Around 50 bottles are used in each suit. The jacket costs £35 and the trousers £20. In contrast to the peacock feather wedding dress it is hoped that it might appeal to people who are seeking a bargain in the current difficult economic conditions. It is available in sizes 10-22 and can be purchased in Debenhams stores countrywide.

If you have a bit of spare cash then you might be interested in this swimsuit. At £2,000 its not cheap but it is hand embroidered with 5,000 Swarovski crystals in various shades of ruby, sapphire, emerald and gold. If you want one you can get it at Selfridges but they are expecting a lot of interest in the product, so there is likely to be a waiting list.

With people suffering during the credit crunch some firms are coming up with cut price products. This article highlights a bikini that that costs just 99p. It is made by the budget chain the 99p Store who say it can help you to create the Cheryl Cole look. To complete the look you can also get a cowboy hat, aviator sunglasses and flipflops, all for under a fiver.

In a rather bizarre attempt to sell more pollack Sainsbury’s have renamed it Colin. Apparently people do not want to ask for pollack when they are shopping and many find the name rather ugly. Colin is what the French call the fish once it has been cooked. It is hoped that the name change will make British shoppers choose pollack as an alternative to cod or haddock. Personally I love pollack and often find that it is nicer than cod. It also has the advantage of being slightly cheaper.

Until now I thought it was just me that can’t seem to find that jeans that fit properly but if this article is anything to go by it might just be that finding a perfect pair of jeans is hard. The article looks at three different women who are a size 8 a size 12 and a size 16 and shows them trying various different brands of jeans with varying degrees of success. Personally I find the same thing when I am looking for jeans. It seems impossible to simply buy a size 12 knowing it will fit. Some fit at the waist and not at the leg, some are too long, others too short and some fit badly around the bottom or crotch area. Through the process of elimination I have many pairs of jeans but none that I would describe as a perfect fit, all have minor flaws. I was beginning to think that perhaps I am funny shape, but this article has made me realise that this is a common problem.

This article suggests that low energy light bulbs can cause rashes and swelling in some people with sensitive skin. The warning comes as many large supermarkets have started phasing out traditional light bulbs in favour of the energy saving variety. Currently people do still have the choice of whether to buy traditional or energy saving bulbs, however from September 2012 traditional light bulbs will be banned and only the energy saving bulbs or halogen bulbs will be available. Medical charities say that low energy light bulbs trigger migraines, epilepsy and rashes and in some cases lupus, a disease of the immune system which causes skin to become hypersensitive to sunlight. Based on this some doctors are now calling on the government to give medical exemptions for those affected when the ban comes into place. In my opinion if there is evidence that low energy light bulbs can affect people in this way, then the traditional alternative needs to remain on sale as an alternative although personally I do buy energy saving bulbs and don’t find that they affect me.

Supermarket chain Morrisons appears to be doing rather well despite the credit crunch and has announced plans for 40 new supermarkets. Most of the new supermarkets are likely to be in South where they hope to lure customers away from more expensive rivals. The chain has recently announced a £43million increase in profits, a rise of around 7%. The new stores are part of a strategy to have a store just 15 minutes drive away for most of the population.

If you are too busy to crack an egg then you might interested in this product. Called Egg in a Instant it contains liquid egg. The product is 100% pasteurised British Lion eggs and contains about ten whole eggs per half litre. It can be stored for up to 21 days unopened and needs to be used within three days once you open it. It’s an interesting idea but personally I think I will just stick to using regular eggs.

The Co-operative Group will complete it's takeover of the grocery chain Somerfield next week. Under the £1.6bn takeover the Co-op will close Somerfield's Bristol head quarters and move the staff to Manchester. The Co-op has said that it hopes to relocate as many as possible of the 750 employees that will be affected by the move. The takeover means that the Co-op will take on more than 650 Somerfield stores across the UK making it the fifth largest food retailer behind Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisions.

As someone who is rather fond of red wine, I do find myself cleaning up rather a lot of spillages, so a stain remover is an important product to have in the cupboard.  I found this article quite interesting, it looks at a test carried out by the consumer watchdog Which? They tested various stain removers to see which ones performed best. 17 different stain removers were tested on red wine, coffee, blood, Ribena and chocolate. What is interesting, however, is that budget washing up liquid was used as a comparison alongside the products. Surprisingly the washing up liquid was better than half of the branded cleaners, so it appears you might be wasting your money buying an expensive stain remover. The product that performed best overall was Sainsbury's carpet and upholstery cleaner which costs £2.43.

It appears that one company at least is yet to feel the effects of the recession. Whilst many other businesses are struggling business is booming at Domino's Pizza. Profits for the last 12 months were up 25% to £23 million with like for like sales rising by 10%. There were also 52 new store openings last year. The company appears to benefiting not only from the fact that people are choosing to eat in rather than go out but also from the recent bad weather which has kept many people at home.

It appears that Woolworth's is not completely dead. This article suggests that the name will live again but as an online only brand. The brand has been purchased by Sir David and Frederick Barclay who specialise in buying up home delivery retail groups. They already own Littlewoods and some home delivery divisions of Argos including Kays, Marshall Wards and Great Universal and expect woolworths.co.uk to be running by the summer. It's good to see the Woolworths name will not disappear completely, and will be interesting to see what the online version is like.

Tesco are planning to launch an online clothing store to sell it own labels. The website would offer thousands of item including the Florence and Fred, Cherokee and My Favourite Things ranges. It is expected to be launched in the autumn and is part of Tesco plan to try and grab a slice of the internet clothing business which currently accounts for around 4% of the total clothing market. Although Tesco enjoys strong sales of its clothing ranges instore, it is currently not possible to purchase these online, but it looks like this is soon going to change.

Police in Hampshire have opened a police station with a difference, it is inside a supermarket. The facility has been opened at the Sainsbury's supermarket in Lordshill Southampton. It will be staffed three afternoons a week and is designed to be used just like a normal police station giving people greater access to the service.

I think you will find that's legal tender is a phase usually heard in England when businesses refuse to accept Scottish banknotes. Although the tender is indeed legal, traders south of the border can refuse to accept Scottish banknotes. However, they may soon have to accept them if a private member's bill is successful. The bill is being launched by Shadow Scottish Secretary David Mundell, it would require all providers of goods or services in the UK which accept Bank of England notes to also accept Scottish banknotes on an equal basis.  Three Scottish banks retain the right to print their own money - the Royal Bank of Scotland, the Bank of Scotland and the Clydesdale Bank but currently these notes are not backed by force of law anywhere in the UK.

Iceland have brought 51 of the former Woolworths stores that closed recently after Woolworths went into administration. The announcement comes only a few days after the last 200 Woolworths stores closed. The move will add to Iceland's existing 682 outlets and is likely to create 2,500 new jobs. A full list of the 51 stores is below.

Alton, Barnsley, Belper, Bethnal Green, Bexhill On Sea, Bicester, Billericay, Blandford Forum, Bodmin, Boreham Wood, Bow, Braintree, Broadstairs, Devizes, Exmouth, Fraserburgh, Frome, Greenford, Hackney, Hailsham, Harold Hill, Haverhill, Herne Bay, Hexham, Highgate, Honiton, Kilburn High Road, Leyton, Malvern, Matlock, Mill Hill, Minehead, Monmouth, Morpeth, Morriston, Newtownards, Palmers Green, Pinner (Rayner's Lane), Palmers Green, Plumstead, Pontypool, Poplar, Portslade, Ringwood, St Neots, Stoke Newington, Strood, Sudbury, Swaffham, Wakefield, Wallington, Whitstable

Woolworths went into administration yesterday after negotiations to try to avert the collapse failed. The chain which opened its first shop in Britain nearly 100 years ago, now has debts of £385 million. The chain has 800 outlets employing almost 30,000 people, most of whom are likely to lose their jobs. Negotiations are now under way to try and ensure that the stores stay open over the Christmas trading period. The administration of Woolworths includes its shops and EUK a DVD distribution business. Many companies including Asda, Sainsbury's and Zavi rely upon Woolworths' Entertainment arm for stock of CDs, DVDs and games, deliveries of these have now collapsed, hitting the entertainment sector.

Asda has recalled 60,000 DVD players after a fault was found in the item. The retailer has estimated that around a third of the DVD players have a hole in the outer casing that could put users at a risk of electrocution. The affected product is model DVD1072UK which retails at £17.97. Asda have not said how many have been sold to customers but have asked people who have purchased one to return it to their nearest store. Customers will be able to obtain a refund if they return the DVD player even if they no longer have the box or a receipt.

Marks and Spencer will cut the price of many of its products in a bid to take on discount grocery and fashion stores. The price cutting drive has been announced at a time when their half year profits have fallen by 34%. M&S chairman Sir Stuart Rose said that the store group was planning to reduce costs to match the publics desire for cheaper goods. The group have also been running promotions such as their "dine in for £10" and weekend promotions which appear to be tempting customers back to their stores.

Tesco will expand its discount range to try and entice budget conscious customers. Increasingly customers have been moving towards discount stores like Aldi, Netto and Lidl to try and cut costs as the credit crunch hits. Tesco has already discounted hundreds of everyday groceries but will cut the cost of hundreds more in the next few weeks. They claim that customers are already choosing less well known discount brands instead of costlier versions of products such as tomato ketchup, beef burgers, washing up liquid and lettuce. Personally I have been choosing more supermarket own brands as prices keep creeping up.

The ticket website paperticket.co.uk has been closed by the Metropolitan Police due to fraud fears. The site sold tickets for a number of shows including Barry Manilow and The Killers. It was closed last Friday on suspicion of fraud. Customers who have purchased tickets from the website have been advised to contact the Consumer Direct advice service  on 08454 04 05 06 for more information. People that brought ticket with a credit or debit card may be able to obtain a refund from their card issuer.

Some of the leading supermarkets have announced more petrol cuts in a second week of fuel cuts. Morrisons cut 2p from the price of a litre of unleaded and diesel making the prices 97.9p and 109.9p. Asda introduced the same prices for its fuel yesterday morning. Tesco have cut prices to less than £1 a litre and have said it will knock a further 2p off prices at most of its filling stations. Sainsbury's have said that they will reduce their costs of unleaded petrol to 97.9p a litre and diesel to 109.9p a litre. Total, BP and Shell have also announced cuts.

Production of White Rabbit candy products has resumed after the China milk scare. The vanilla flavoured sweets which are exported across the world were withdrawn during the Chinese milk scare after fears that they contained melamine. Chinese officials have accused milk suppliers of adding the chemical to batches of milk to artificially boost its protein content. Four babies have dies and more than 54,000 children fell sick as a result. China's state council made an announcement yesterday that they will overhaul the dairy industry and punish companies that have put profit above safety. The manufacturer of White Rabbit candy will now undergo government quality testing as checks are carried out on milk products in China. The company have not yet said when the product will be back on sale.

BHS has reported a fall in pre tax profits for the year end of March. Profits are down from 34% to £32.6m from £49.4m 12 months earlier. Total sales at BHS were down 1.4% to £860m. Mr Green who owns the chain said the results were "a solid performance in an exceptionally challenging market". Other retailers such as Marks and Spencer have also recently reported its worst quarterly sales performance for more than three years.

Sales are up at Domino's Pizza as more customers choose to eat in. Sales across 535 UK Domino outlets in the UK and Ireland rose by 17.8% to £83.3m in the last 13 weeks. Over the past 39 weeks sales have increased by 18.9% to £253.5m. During the last recession in the 1990's Dominos eventually saw its sales flatten out but this time the company appears to be showing reliance leading analysts to increase their profit forecasts for the company.

A Cornish cheese has beaten more than 100 cheeses from around the UK to win a prestigious award. Sue Proudfoot makes Cornish Crumbly, a cheese which is handmade in small batches at her farm near Bude. The chief judge at the British Cheese Awards in Cardiff described it as having "a mildly acidic yet fresh taste with a delightful zing on the finish". Mrs Proudfoot also makes three other cheeses at her dairy.

Some scientists have said that energy drinks should carry warnings. The so called "performance drinks" can often contain as much caffeine as at least ten cans of coke. Recently there have been concerned that caffeine dependency is causing disruption and concentration among school children in the classroom. A drink such as Relentless made by Coca Cola contains 160mg of caffeine in a 500ml can whilst a 248ml can of Spike Shooter contains 300mg of caffeine, nearly ten times the amount in cola. Scientists have said that consumers need more information about what is in the drinks and that they should also be warned about the potential health risks such as caffeine intoxication.

Tesco has recalled its White Rabbit Creamy Candies after they were found to contain melamine. Melamine has recently been found in formula milk in China and is thought to have caused the death of four babies and made around 53,000 children ill. Although the sweets are not thought to have made anyone ill, Tesco are withdrawing them as a precaution.

This is interesting, its a firm that allows companies to produce pictures of their advertising in space. What the company called JP Aerospace does, is launch a billboard into space that contains the advertisers logo and message and then take pictures of it. They use specially constructed balloons to send the billboard 20 miles into the air. Then they take hundreds of pictures of it and return it to Earth by parachute. The result is something like the picture on the left.

A dental surgery has opened in a supermarket in Manchester. The surgery has been opened at the Sale branch of Sainsbury's becoming the first dentist clinic to open in a UK supermarket. It will be open seven days a week and follows a similar initiative to open a GP surgery in a supermarket. The dental surgery will charge £16 for a check up which is slightly less than the current NHS charge of £16. It is hoped that it will make dental treatment more accessible and convenient for the patients. 

I have noticed recently that the economy bin bags I usually buy in Sainsbury's seem thinner. Whilst they look the same I have found that they appear to more prone to spitting and tearing often resulting in my rubbish ending up all over the floor. To combat the problem I have stopped buying the economy bags and have now started to buy premium sacks which cost more. Whilst I have no proof that the sacks have been made thinner this article made me wonder whether I am right. It highlights the fact that Sevenoaks District Council have started using thinner bags because of rising oil costs. They have reduced the thickness of the bags by one micron in order to save £17,000 from their budget.

A rise in the sales of canned food has been put down to the fact that that consumers are looking for cheaper options as food costs go up. Sales of baked beans increased by 12% over the past year with sales of other canned foods also booming. Figures also show that shoppers are starting to buy cheaper cuts of meat such as choosing chicken thighs rather than breast meat.

Tesco are to open a supermarket that is built to be pensioner friendly. The supermarket which is planned for Newcastle would supermarket feature extra wide aisles, anti-slip flooring and trolleys with locking wheels and built in chairs. The plans are still is the early stages but follow a similar idea that has been implemented at a supermarket in Germany.

The online ticket company Xclusive Tickets is about to go into liquidation. Around 4,329 people who brought tickets from the company are likely to be left out of pocket. However, those who paid by credit card should get a refund. The company hit problems after 18,000 tickets for the Reading, Leeds and V Festivals and the Beijing Olympics did not arrive. A creditors meeting has been called for next month and a helpline will be set up offering advice and information for customer.

Boots has opened its first drive through chemist on the site of a former McDonald's outlet. The chemist aims to fill prescriptions in under two minutes whilst customers wait at the window. It is targeting busy mothers and commuters who need to pick up their drugs quickly. Whilst drive through chemists are common in the US, they are relatively new here in the UK. This branch in Colchester will run as a pilot. If it is successful Boots are likely to  open other branches across the UK.

This article suggests that customers are losing out as some supermarket brands are reducing the pack size but are still charging the same price. Effectively this tactic means customers are paying more for their goods without realising it. Many brands are reluctant to put up prices but instead appear to using this rather underhand method to protect their profits. Some examples include Pampers which have reduced the amount of nappies in some packs whilst keeping the price the same. Dairylea, Pringles, Strongbow and Rolo has all also cut pack sizes without cutting prices.

A Government advisor has said that fatty foods should carry health warnings. Professor David Hunter has said that the NHS could become unaffordable within decades because of the cost of treating conditions linked to obesity. He said that ministers should force manufacturers put warnings on food which contain high amounts of fat, sugar or salt. He also said that warning labels could help to phase unhealthy foods and eventually lead to their withdrawal from the supermarket shelf. Its an interesting idea but personally if I saw a warning on a big chocolate cake, I would still buy the cake. I know it might not be very good for me but I will be off to the gym to work it off after I have eaten it.

The wedding list company Wrapit has called in the administrators leaving 2,000 couples without their wedding gifts. The company which is based in Wandsworth was set up in 2000 and allowed wedding guests to buy presents from an online list. It handled up to 3,000 wedding list a year but has made a loss for the last six years and has failed to honour orders worth £3.5m. HSBC has said it will ensure any guests that used their credit cards will receive a refund but an estimated 20,000 people who brought gifts using switch and Maestro debit or who paid by cheque are unlikely to receive their money back.

A Cornish creamery has become the first cheese maker to become supreme champion for two years in a row at The Nantwich International Cheese Show. The Davidstow Creamery has been making cheese for more than 50 years using a traditional Cornish recipe and milk produced in Devon and Cornwall. The Nantwich International Cheese Show has over 2,700 entries from 30 countries. Despite this Davidstow won the supreme champion, Champion UK, Reserve Champion UK and a further seven trophies and cups. This cheese sounds really good, I must get some.

Some of the leading supermarkets have recently cut their fuel prices. The cuts are as a result of the recent drop in oil prices. Asda has dropped its prices by 3p a litre, Morrisons cut prices by 4p and Sainsbury's have said they will offer a 5p a litre reduction for customers who spend £50 or more in store.

Nike has withdrawn its range of Air Stab trainers due to the recent spat of knife crime. The trainers which sell for £90 will be taken off the shelves due to the current regarding knife crime. A spokesman for Nike said 'The shoe was first launched in 1988 as a stability running shoe, hence the name Air Stab. It has nothing to do with knives or knife crime."

This article suggests that some fast food meal contain a whole days' intake of fat or salt. The National Consumer Council criticised the country's seven biggest fast food chains for not making it clear to customers what is in its food. It is calling for restaurants to print nutritional information on menus. The report was particularly critical of Pizza Express which shows no information of the levels of fat, sugar and salt that is in its dishes. Meals from KFC and McDonalds were also revealed to have high levels of ingredients linked to obesity and heart disease. A KFC Tower Burger meal contained nearly a days intake of salt whilst a McDonalds quarter pounder meal had 90% of the the recommended daily calorie intake for a woman. Personally I don't find this is surprisingly. We all know fast food is bad for us and many people only eat it every now and again. The problem comes if you eat food like this everyday.

The Co-Operative Group has become the country's fifth largest food retailer after agreeing a £1.6billion takeover of Somerfield. The takeover will mean that the Co-op will acquire 3,000 outlets across the country and an eight per cent market share.

If you are looking for a new pair of glasses you might want to check out these incredible stylish new frames from zenni. The company that makes them Zenni Optical was on FOX news a few weeks ago and received a favourable review based on their claim that they can have you seeing 20-20 for only $20. The website has a huge range of prescription glasses online including their Zenni Optical $8 Rx Eyeglasses which are great if you are on a budget. They also have tinted sunglasses, potochromic lenses and progressive lenses and because they sell their own frames directly to the customer with no middle man you can get a really low price.

This article suggests that supermarket price cuts have helped to stem the increase in grocery bills. Although the increase is still running at 17.8% it has fallen from 19.8% and this has been attributed to special offers and reductions on a number of products including broccoli and sausages. Supermarkets have been slashing prices on some products in an effort to become the cheapest store at a time where customers appear to be becoming more price aware.

Sainsbury's has started putting electronic tags on chickens in its Eastbourne store. They have introduced the measures after an increasing amount of people have been stealing chickens. Previously tags were only used on high value goods such as alcohol but with the increasingly high costs of meat it appears that chicken is now much sought after. Anyone who tries to steal a chicken from the Eastbourne store will now set off an alarm.

If you are looking for a new pair of prescription glasses you might want to check out zennioptical.com. They have a wide range of frames includes tinted sunglasses, bifocal and progressive frames and even goggles. Personally I quite liked their range of rimless frames. Most of their frames come in a choice of colours and once you have selected one you can also select the lens size and shape, add an anti reflection coating, choose whether you want a lens tint and also add a clip on sunshade. You also need to enter your prescription. They currently ship within the US at a cost of $4.95 per order and most orders are received within two weeks of ordering. 

eBay have been ordered to pay 40 million Euros in fines for selling fakes. The company will have to pay the money to LVMH, a French luxury goods group because they have allowed fake versions of their products to be sold on the eBay website. LVMH demanded 50 million Euros in damages after claiming that eBay's French business has not done enough to prevent users selling counterfeit items. LVMH also told the court that in 2006 90% of the LVMH branded goods for sale on eBay were fakes. eBay plans to appeal against the decision and says it quickly removes any goods that are found to be counterfeit.

I found this website the other day that sells a range of personalised jewellery. One thing that they have which is slightly unusual is a section devoted to medical ID jewellery. The nice thing about this site is that you can pick a medical id bracelet and then customise it. You start off by selecting the bracelet type from a traditional design or a charm bracelet. You can then select what sort of chain you would like to have on your bracelet and you can even select which clasp you would like. You can also choose the length of the bracelet and can add an alert charm. The next stage of the process allows you to choose what you want engraved onto to your bracelet. Once you have entered the text to be engraved you can run it through the spell check and preview it before checking out. Despite the fact that all the items are made to order you can still get them fairly quickly, the standard service takes approx 3 weeks or the rush service costs £5 extra and items are made with 3-5 days. Shipping to the UK costs an additional £4.00 by Royal Mail first class or just £8 on the DHL express option.

It appears that real ale is enjoying something of a revival as shoppers cut back on lager in favour of the more traditional British beer. That's according to this article which says lager sales fell by 5.7 per cent last year whereas ale sales increased by 3.3 per cent. One reason for the change could be that's supermarkets have started to stock a bigger range of premium bottled beers. Tesco for example now stock 300 bottles ales instead of only 50 two years ago. All Hail the ale.

Some of the leading supermarkets have announced cut price promotions as customers start to move to discount stores to save money. Stores like Aldi and Lidl have seen strong growth as they sell items such as bread and eggs for as little as 50p. In response Tesco has said it will cut the cost of 3,000 items on Monday with some items being cut by as much as 50%. Sainsbury's has also responded with temporary price cuts on summer items such as strawberries.

Sales of frozen food have risen by 4.2% in the past year. The rise has been put down to the fact that food costs have soared leading shoppers to look for cheaper alternatives. After five years of little growth, the frozen food sector appears to be enjoying a growth spurt with fish products seeing an 11% increase in sales and frozen vegetables a 5.5% increase.

Concerns have been raised about the safety of microwave heat packs after an elderly died whilst using one. Doreen Ghiloni had used a heat pack called a Hottie rather than a traditional hot water bottle. Heat packs are heated in the microwave and are made to slowly release heat over a period of time. In this case the item caught fire in her bed and it is thought she was overcome by the fumes. Firs investigators in West Yorkshire have dealt with six other incidents involving heat packs in the past year and Mrs Ghiloni's family are now campaigning for the instructions of the packs to be changed to try and prevent any further accidents.

I tried a new shampoo from Lush the other day. It is called Curly Wurly and according to the lush website it is meant to "calm curls and tame tangles. It has quite favourable reviews on their site but I hated pretty much everything about it. Firstly the smell and texture of the shampoo is fairly awful. It contains lots of pieces of coconut and after applying the shampoo it took me over an hour and half to try and remove these from my hair. I can only think that it is meant for people with thin hair, but if you have thick hair, be warned that coconut will take a long time to wash out. Secondly rather than removing tangles it seemed to add them to my hair, it also dried it out leaving it more fluffy and if possible thicker than usual. The only thing I liked about the shampoo was that the next day my hair smelt really nice but I will not be using this again.

I was looking around for some gift ideas and found this website that sells silver jewellery. They are based in the UK but can ship items all over the world. The interesting thing about their range of jewellery is that the items are not available on the high street. They are sourced directly from the jewellery makers in Thailand and sold through the keysilver website. As they are not available at any larger retailers and are not produced in large quantities  you can you can find something a little more unusual and exclusive.

Their range includes silver bracelets and bangles, silver necklaces and silver pendants. All of their items are stamped with a quality mark of 925 to indicate the purity of the silver and most items are available for shipping within 24 hours. I particularly liked their range of silver bracelets especially the silver star bracelet (pictured) which costs £15.00. Many of the items also have matching necklaces and all items are sent packaged in an organza jewel bag so are great to send as gifts. They currently offer free shipping within the UK on orders of £10.00 or more and they offer a 14 day money back guarantee. Its certainly worth bookmarking this website for future use especially as they are adding new products all the time.

This article suggests that supermarkets are profiteering from the huge rise in the price of eggs by taking the greatest share of the 47.4% increase in prices. Although supermarkets claim to be protecting shoppers from the rising prices of food, they have taken the bulk of the profits made from the rise in egg prices. Eggs have gone up by 47.4% or 83p since last May but farmers have seen only 12p of this which is barely above the cost of production. In contrast the supermarkets and packers get 71p of the rise.

Carphone Warehouse will offer a free laptop with broadband. Customers will be able to choose from six different models of laptop when they buy a broadband package from one of seven providers. Customers will be able pay more if they want a higher spec laptop. The offer is currently available at 100 of their stores but will be rolled out across all 800 stores this summer.

This article suggests that the CD single might have had its day. It is based on the fact that the leading high street chain Woolworths plans to stop selling them and instead concentrate on music downloads. The store will not sell CD singles from August although it will stock some one off event singles that are guaranteed to be large sellers. It has launched its own website for music, video and games to offer downloads. I wonder whether other high street stores will follow their lead.

Diet Coke will drop the additive known as Sodium benzoate or E211 in response to customers demands for a more natural product. The additive has been linked to damage to DNA and hyperactivity in children. It is used to stop fizzy drinks going mouldy. By the end of year no can or bottle will contain the additive. It will also be replaced in some other products once a suitable alternative has been found.

This article suggests that some brands of vegetarian sausages and burgers contain more salt than the meat equivalent. Researchers found that some vegetarian burgers contain six times more salt than a meat burger with others containing as much salt as five packets of crisps. Fry's Vegetarian Traditional Sausage contained 2.8g of salt, more than four times the pork equivalent meaning that just two sausages would provide the recommended daily intake for an adult. Other leading brands also fared quite badly in the test.

According to this article music can enhance the way a wine tastes. Research by psychologists has shown that people perceive a change in taste when different music is played. Researchers found that cabernet sauvignon was most affected by powerful and heavy music whereas chardonnay was affected by zingy and refreshing sounds.

Tesco has recently spent nearly £1 billion to acquire stores in South Korea. It has owned stores in Korea for nine years but is now buying 36 Homever discount hypermarkets. Tesco already runs the Homeplus chain in South Korea which comprises of 66 hypermarkets and 72 Homeplus Express stores but the new stores will put Tesco neck and neck with Shinsegae who are the current market leader in the country.

Waitrose has been experiencing a pasta shortage after it ran out of suppliers of its own brand dried pasta at the start of April. The problem was caused by a row between the supermarket group and its supplier in Italy over quality issues. Waitrose customers have for the last few weeks only been able to buy other branded pasta from the store, most of which costs more than the own brand alternative. The supermarket chain has now said that the issue has been resolved and that the shelves would be fully stocked within two weeks.

A man in Suffolk has found a baby tarantula in a bunch of grapes he brought from Asda. He caught the spider which was later rehomed at a local reptile centre. I hate stories like this, they always make me a little wary when buying fruit.

Tesco is currently having talks about selling its property website. The website was launched in June last year with a view to undercutting traditional home sellers. At the time some estate agents took legal action to stop properties they were marketing appearing on Tesco's website. Now one of those who originally criticised the website are having talks regarding buying the business. Spicerhaart is the UK's largest independently owned estate agency network. They would own and operate the business with Tesco marketing it.

Well, maybe not world domination but lots more coffee shops. Whitbread plans to double the number of Costa coffee shops and increase the number of Premier Inn rooms by 50%. The company announced the plans after it unveiled better than expected profits. There are currently 992 Costa coffee outlets worldwide but Whitbread will increase this to 2,000 in the next five years with half of the new shops being in Britain.

Tesco will scrap its online florist service from the beginning of May. The decision was taken after Valentine's Day sales were disappointing. The move comes despite the fact that Tesco revealed record profits earlier this month. It is thought, however, that they are reviewing costs ahead of what is likely to be a competitive time for the sector.

Asda have launched a mobile phone that costs just £5 making it Britain's cheapest pay as you go mobile phone. The available models including the Nokia 1112, Sagem My212x, Sagem My220x and Sagem My150x on a number of tariffs from Virgin, T Mobile and Orange. Over 50,000 handsets went on sale last Friday at Asda stores across the UK.

This is an interesting idea, a suit that can be worn and washed in the shower. It is made from fast drying Australian merino wool and is designed for the Asian market. It is aimed primarily at businessmen who are required to wear a suit in the humidity of an Asian summer. At the end of the day all you need to do is hose the suit down in the shower and hang it up to dry. It regains its shape and is ready to wear again the next morning without the need for dry cleaning.

JJB Sports has announced that it is shutting 72 stores with the loss of 800 jobs. JJB currently has around 400 outlets in the UK. The closure plan comes after a business review by the new management which found the stores are unlikely to make a contribution to profits and that many are close to newer and larger stores. The stores will close by the end of this month.

Tesco are due to announce record profits. They have managed to make a £5,300 profit for every minute of last year, a total profit of around £2.8bn. This is 6% more that their profits for the previous year and about the same as the combined profits of Sainsbury’s and Asda. They have benefitted from growth within the UK and the expansion into international businesses in Poland, Hungary and South Korea.

Without our Dyson vacuum cleaner our house would just be completely covered in pet hair all the time. It’s great for cleaning all the fur off the sofas, and an invaluable piece of kit to have around the house if you, like us have four cats. It can, however, be a little bulky for carrying up the stairs and cleaning the car so I was interested to see that Dyson now do a compact version called the Dyson DC16. It is designed to be handheld and easily portable and is also bagless and like the bigger version is well suited to picking up pet hair. The advantage with this smaller version, however is that it can easily fit into all the gaps that its bigger brother can’t quite reach and is also great for cleaning the car as you don’t need to worry about trailing wires outside.

An environmental study has found that some bottles of wine from France are contaminated with pesticides. The survey analysed 40 bottles of wine and found that 34 bottles contained pesticides, some of which are classified by the EU as health threatening. Among the affected wines were three Bordeaux cru classé wines and a Burgundy Santenay. On average the bottles tested contained more than four different pesticides but they were found to exceed EU pesticide limits.

Just five months after putting 200 lines of clothing on its Tesco Direct website the group has abandoned the service. Tesco say that they only intended to sell clothing online for a trial period but will not say whether the service will resume.

The Italian government has recalled buffalo mozzarella that has been linked to a dioxin contamination. The affected cheese comes from 25 producers in the Campania region near Naples. They have traced the farms at the source of the contamination and have destroyed their milk as a precaution.

It appears there are procedures for cleaning up an energy saving light bulb if it breaks. A Government department has said that if you do break one you should leave the room for at least 15 minutes. Apparently this is because the mercury inside the bulb can cause problems such as migraines and dizziness. The Department for Environment has said that a broken bulb should not be vacuumed up but should be swept up by someone wearing rubber gloves. It should also be put in a sealed bag and disposed of at a council dump rather than in a household bin. Is this an example of extreme government regulations or are these light bulbs actually toxic?

The fashion chain Morgan will close all 40 of its UK stores because of losses. The chain has suffered because of competition from cheaper rivals and the slowdown in consumer spending.

Banana Republic have opened a three storey store in Regent Street. The chain which is owned by Gap is a success in America and Japan and is now expanding into Europe. However, the opening of the store was overshadowed by claims that they pay their Indian workers just 15p an hour. The chain plans to open a further four shops in the UK.

Eight buffalo herds in the Naples area have been quarantined on the suspicion that their milk could be contaminated. The animals have been grazing on land where toxic industrial waste has been dumped illegally by criminals. The milk produced by the buffalo herds is now being tested for dangerous levels of dioxin. Although only a fraction of the herds in the region have been affected sales of Neapolitan mozzarella have declined by nearly 50% following the scare. The Government says consumers would need to eat large quantities of mozzarella over a period of several months for their health to be affected.

The Sat Nav trolley could soon be coming to Britain. The device will help shoppers by guiding them around the store to the items they want to buy. It will also suggest recipe ideas based on the food that you put into them. The trolley is made by Media Cart in conjunction with Microsoft and could be in UK supermarkets by 2009. It will also be able to download your shopping list and plot the quickest route around the store, depending on what you want to purchase. The trolleys are fitted with a location device so they know where in the store, they can they work out what the best route is from the current location to the product the customer requires. It seems like an interesting idea, I wonder how well they work in practice.

Woolworths will introduce charges for plastic bags from May. They will charge 1p per bag in all of their high street stores and if the trial is a success it will be rolled out nationally. All the money raised from the bags will go to the charity Woolworths Kids First.

Sainsbury’s have withdrawn a promotion that put the price of a pint of cider as 26p. The special deal started two weeks ago and offered the own brand Basics cider for just £1.20 for two litres. MP John Pugh had criticised Sainsbury’s for lacking social responsibility. There have also been concerns that cheap supermarket deals are fuelling a binge drinking culture.

Nintendo have sold more then 5 million Wii consoles in Japan. The console has reached the 5 million mark six weeks earlier than it took the PS2 to sell the same amount although surprisingly not as quickly as the Nintendo DS which sold 5 million in just 56 weeks, as opposed to the Wii taking 60 weeks. Figures are currently not available for the PS3 and the Xbox 360

The Dixons group which includes Currys and PC World are to stop selling analogue TV sets. They have stopped placing orders for more analogue TVs making it the first electrical retailer in the UK to do so. The company will also stop selling DVD recorders that only have analogue tuners. The company will also step up its campaign to inform people about the digital switchover.

If you need a new suit but are a bit short of cash then you might want to head down to your nearest Asda. They are currently selling a pair of black boot leg trousers and a classic women’s white shirt for just £5. The outfit will be on sale until the 26 February. Asda also sell a men’s suit for only £15. At that price there is no excuse not to wear a suit, although personally I wonder how well made the items are at this price. I would be interested to hear from anyone who has purchased one.

I was looking around at some Valentines Day gifts and came across a nice website that not only offers valentine day flower delivery but also has an extensive range of gifts. They sell gourmet food gifts and cookies as well as wine and cheese gifts. Whereas women are usually easy to by for on Valentines Day, I mean what woman doesn’t like flowers, it is nice to see a website that offers a bit more choice. I often look at valentines gifts for my husband and find I am restricted to chocolates but he would love one of these gourmet cookie baskets or perhaps a luxury cheese selection.

Asda is to introduce fines for customers who park in disabled or family bays when they are not meant to be using them. The fines were rolled out yesterday across all of its stores. Any profits made from the scheme will be donated to the charity Tommy’s and to the Motability car scheme for the disabled.

Despite it being well publicised that McDonalds food is unhealthy sales are up in Britain. They are now selling more burgers than at any time since they arrived in Britain 34 years ago. Last month there were an amazing 88 million visits to McDonalds. This figure is up nearly 10 million on the previous year.  Although the McDonald’s menu has changed to include healthier options such as smoothies and wraps the most popular choices are still the traditional products such as burgers, fries and ice creams.

Land of Leather shares have lost 48% of their value after the retailer’s biggest new year sale failed to tempt customers. The results meant they had to issue a profits warning. Within minutes of issuing the announcement to the London Stock Exchange revealing a 25.5% drop in sales orders shares in the company plummeted by almost 50%.

Marks and Spencer have managed to turn the business around and are now on track to burst though the billion pound profit mark. This is despite recent poor sales. The performance means that the business is likely to announce landmark profit figures when they issue a financial statement in May.

Several of the UK’s supermarkets have announced they will phase out the sale of battery eggs. The decision has come because of consumer concerns over the impact of cheap food on animal welfare. Sainsbury, Morrisons and the Co-op will phase out the sale of eggs from battery hens. Marks and Spencer and Waitrose have already stopped selling eggs from battery hens. Sainsbury expect to end the sale of eggs from battery hens by next year. The Co-op has similar plans and Morrisons will phase them out by 2010. Tesco are reducing the shelf space for eggs from caged hens but have not yet announced a ban.

Peterborough council will start charging supermarkets for recovering abandoned shopping trolleys. Officials will fine the stores for any trolleys that their staff have to collect. They believe that this new scheme will encourage supermarkets to improve security for their trolleys and provide a better collection system.

I read this article the other day that suggests the chicken you buy from the supermarket could actually be months old. It suggests that a lot of poultry sold in supermarkets is actually imported from places like Brazil and Thailand and can often be weeks or even months old. The article also suggests that meat in products like ready meals could have been thawed and frozen several times. I find this particularly worrying as I tend to buy meat and then freeze it to use later in the month thinking it is fresh. I am starting to wonder if I am putting my health at risk through relying on the supermarkets to provide me with food that is fresh. The Food and Farming Minister is now backing a campaign to clarify the labelling rules so that customers do not buy a product made from thawed meat that they think is fresh.

It appears that there is no longer a demand for angel tree toppers with people preferring to put a star at the top of their Christmas tree. That’s according to this article which says Woolworths have stopped selling angel tree toppers this year. Ten years ago angels were the most popular tree topper but stars now outsell angels more than ten fold.

An investigation has found that some major high street stores have been selling real fur labelled as acrylic. One mystery shopper brought a coat from TK Maxx which has a no fur policy. It was later found that the coat had a real fur collar trim. The RSPCA has urged shoppers to double check any items that have a fur trim. As a guide if skin or leather can be seen between the hairs at the base when they are pulled apart, the fur is real. If a weave, or material, can be seen at the base, then it is fake.

Tesco are about to expand in the US with the opening of 1,000 stores. They have already opened 15 of its Fresh & Easy stores and plans to open another 200 outlets by 2009 before expanding even further.

If you like cranberry sauce with your turkey you might find you have to pay more this year. That is because the price of cranberries has gone up as a result of a poor harvest and rising demand. Although there is not likely to be shortage of cranberry products prices are now likely to much more.

I have been trying to get all my Christmas shopping done early this year so I don’t have a last minute rush. So far I have done most of it online which saves quite a bit of time. One website that I came across that has a really good range of gift ideas is Optics Planet. They sell cameras, binoculars, Ray Ban sunglasses, microscopes and MP3 player, just to name a few items. They have a useful gift guide where you can filter by price, category and occasion which is great if you want some ideas. They also offer free shipping within the US on an order of more than $29.95.

I read this article that suggests some parents are so desperate to get a Wii console before Christmas that they are paying up to £500 for the console on ebay. The console is priced at £179 but is currently unavailable in most UK stores. When stock does become available it has been selling out as soon as it hits the store. The Wii is a great console but I don’t think I would pay £500 for one.

I came across this website the other day that sells fine jewellery. They have an extensive range from diamond engagement rings and wedding rings to coloured stones jewellery and loose diamonds. One feature I really liked on the website is the ability to design your own ring. You can choose the setting and the shape of the stone and what type of gold you require before selecting your ring size and purchasing the item. The nice thing about this feature is that the picture on the website updates as you change the options so you can see exactly how the finished ring will look. The earring section of the website has another nice feature where you not only have a good clear picture of the earring but also a 3D view of the earring when you click on it. Many websites are let down by small or unclear pictures of items but here you can see every detail of the item before purchasing.

With Christmas only a few weeks away I have been trying to get the last of my Christmas shopping done. So far I have tried to do the bulk of it online and have been taking advantage of some online coupons from coupon chief. They have quite a few new offers including Swiss Army coupons which give you 10% off your order and Staples coupons that give you 20% off, perfect for stocking up on all your Christmas stationary.

I read this article about some really expensive turkeys. The turkeys have been fed on the finest organically produced cereals and roam free in maize fields. The birds are raised to 25 weeks instead of the usual 10-12 weeks so that they have extra fat which apparently helps to tenderise the meat. They are also slaughtered humanely and hand plucked. All of this contributes to the £100 price tag.

There seems to be a new demand for wooden toys caused by nostalgic parents who remember playing with a dolls house or a wooden train set when they were younger. John Lewis has seen an increased turn over of 24% on its wooden train set and best sellers at Hamleys include a tub of wooden building blocks.

I read this article that suggests that groceries ordered online have a shorter shelf life than those brought in store. A survey conducted by Which? found that on average the best before date was a day earlier for good brought online. They tested four different supermarkets buying the same 10 items in store as they did online. The researchers brought goods from Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda and Waitrose. They found little difference between the four supermarkets.  The supermarkets have questioned the accuracy of the research. Personally I purchase my shopping online every month and have noticed that some items have a short shelf life.

I buy and sell items on ebay on a regular basis and so far have not had any major problems, other than a few items being lost in the post, which have always been promptly replaced. I do however; tend to assume that most ebay users are honest. This article made me rethink that. Sheryl Johnson sold items on ebay that she did not actually own and managed to make £800 from the exercise. Police traced her because she had given her victims her name and address so they could send her cheques. She admitted to two counts of fraud and has been given a twelve month supervision order.

In his first major speech on the environment Gordon Brown has suggested introducing cash incentives for retailers who offer green alternatives to plastic carrier bags. One idea is to cut the VAT on long-life carrier bags to give retailers a financial reason to switch. He hopes that this would encourage to the elimination of single use bags in favour of longer lasting alternatives.

If you need a new tuxedo but don’t have a great deal of cash you might want to head down to Asda. They have recently introduced a tuxedo that retails at £35. It is pre Christmas special and is on sale as part of the supermarkets George range. If you need a shirt and bow tie you can purchase those separately for an additional £8. Bargain.

If you still haven’t managed to get your hands on a Wii and were hoping for one for Christmas you may be disappointed. Nintendo has warned that there is a chronic shortage of consoles. High street retailers have been struggling to keep up with demand of the ever popular console which has been in short supply since it was released. Websites such as wii-consoles.co.uk have even been set up to let people know when stock does become available. Without sounding too smug, I am very happy with my Wii.

The price of bread has hit an all time high with experts warning that the era of cheap food could be coming to an end. Bad weather such as the flooding in August has contributed to the rises. The average bread price is now £1.12 per loaf.

More than 90% of Londoners back a plastic bag ban. During a consultation carried out by London Councils around 60% of people supported a complete ban with proposals to introduce a 10p charge on bags also being popular. The survey ran for six weeks and covered 2,000 people. 58% of people wanted a ban on disposable shopping bags, whilst 65% thought the action should only apply to plastic bags.

I found this website the other day that specialises in natural skincare. They specialise in skincare and beauty products that are usually found in spas, department stores and doctors offices. As well as offering well know brands they also offer their own product line which includes their exclusive skin dimensions products. The products include acne care, anti aging products and moisturisers. They also have a range of gift ideas including a great coffeeberry antioxidant kit which would be great for that post Christmas detox programme. They offer free ground shipping within the US and you also get free samples with every order. 

Marks and Spencer are going to introduce a 5p charge for plastic carrier bags. The move follows a trial in Northern Ireland which led to a 66% reduction in the number of plastic bags used. It will begin with a trial in the South West of England starting from February and will include the company giving a free bag for life with each transaction for three weeks before the trial starts.

Sony is going to launch a third generation model of its PS2. The new model will be a lighter version of the current design. It will be the same size but will weigh only 720g compared to the current model which weighs 850g. The new version will also include the AC power brick. The launch appears to be part of Sony’s plan to sell 12 million PS2 consoles by March 2008. The new version will come in a choice of white, silver or black and will cost the same as the current model.

I read this article about a new Stilton milkshake. The milk shake is made of blue cheese mixed with other flavours including peanut butter or ginger cake. It is made by milk shake specialist Moo Juce who experimented with several flavours before deciding on Stilton. I’m not sure I will be trying it.

I read this article the other day about a new chocolate that is meant to be good for you. The chocolate is called Choxi and is made by Prestat, the chocolatiers to the Queen. It is packed full of antioxidants and contains more per pound than 5lbs of apples. The chocolate is available in dark and milk varieties and mint and orange flavours. At only £1.99 a bar I will certainly be trying it.

I found this website that offers discount designer upholstery fabric. They search worldwide for some of the more unusual fabrics and trims and make them available for you on their website. Their range includes hand embroidered silk from the far east and velvet from Belgium. Some of their range is usually only available to designers so you are sure to find something special. They also have a weekly specials section where you can pick up a bargain at a reduced price. They currently ship within the US at a cost of $3.99 per item. Orders usually arrive within 4 to 7 business days.

Its bad news for pizza lovers as pizza costs are set to rise. The cost is due to the rising cost of mozzarella which has soared by 50% this year. It is likely to add around 50p to the cost of a standard £10 pizza. The rising cost is not just limited to mozzarella but also affects other cheese including cheddar.

There are lots of ways that you can cut your energy bills. Small things like loft insulation and insulated glass windows can amount to real savings over the course of the year. I was reading about double pane glass the other day called Heat Mirror Insulating glass. What it does is combine two air spaces to help block heat flow and provide higher insulation than ordinary glass. This helps cut down on emissions and helps reduce heating and cooling loads, saving energy. It also helps to block around 99% of the suns UV radiation so can help prevent furniture from fading and sun damage.

It was my Dads birthday a few days ago and as I wasn’t able to see him on the day I sent him a gift. I used this website called realbeerbox.com. They carry a range of beers and real ales from some of the smaller, lesser known breweries. My Dad is always keen to try new ales so I ordered a case of mixed bottles. It’s the second time I have used them and I have been impressed both times. They delivered when they said they would and according to my Dad the bottles were wrapped securely in a large box. He seemed very impressed. I will definitely be using them again.

I was thinking of redecorating the upstairs bathroom and came across this website that sells a wide range of Bathroom Accessories & Suites. I found a nice whirlpool bath and shower tower that has an eight jet whirlpool system and a bath filling system. They also have a good range of kitchen units and appliances including integrated units for fitted kitchens. They offer same day despatch on most items if you place your order before 2pm and orders of £50 or more qualify for free delivery within the UK. They can also ship some items outside the UK at an additional cost.

If you want some new clothes but don’t want to spend a great deal then you might want to head down to Primark. They are now the most popular value clothing retailer in the UK overtaking Asda. Their success seems to be based on the fact they provide fashionable clothes at a reasonable price.

Dell is to start selling computers at 1,400 Staples stores in the US. Dell seem to be moving away from their policy of selling directly to the customer are making their products more widely available. Dell has also struck deals to sell their products in Wal-Mart and the Carphone Warehouse in the UK.

Asda and Makro have issued a recall of lamb because of fears it might contain traces of drugs. The affected meat was distributed by Welsh County Foods based in Anglesey. The affected meat could cause sickness if eaten.

If your garage is anything like ours, then you could really use some better storage solutions. I came across this website called Car Guy Garage that specialises in just that. They have a good range of garage shelving and also have a lot of different storage cabinets including hanging cabinets and rolling cabinets. They also sell sets that including seven or ten cabinets so whatever you are looking for, they are sure to have just thing for you.

Sainsbury’s are to give away one million energy saving lightbulbs on Saturday. The giveaway is timed to coincide with the clocks going back and so encourage people to save energy this winter. To get a bulb you have to take an energy saving pledge to help save energy by measures such as recycle bags and switching from baths to showers.

If you are looking around for an unusual gift you might want to have a look at this site that sells Funny Vanity Plates. They have a large range of plates to suit almost anyone. You can choose a design from some of their more popular plates and customise it with your own text or alternatively you can use the novelty and picture builder to create your own design. You can also add badges, slogans, surrounds and backgrounds to the plate.

If you want to customise your own plate then you can do that do. You can choose which background you want from a number of popular designs including popular football clubs such as Tottenham Hotspur and less popular football clubs like West Ham, or if you prefer you can simply leave the background blank. You can also customise the font by selecting a typeface, colour and size and entering your own text. If after you have customised the plate you can’t get it quite how you want it then you can also upload an image of your design with your order and describe which parts of your design you want to appear on the plate. They guarantee to dispatch your order within 1 working day and delivery is either next working day by courier or Royal Mail Recorded Delivery.

Boots have added a new product to their range of “miracle creams”. The new body serum will be part of the same range as its already successful anti-aging face cream. The Protect and Perfect Body Serum is designed for the neck, arms and legs and has the same base as the face serum which has been proven to actually reduce wrinkles and is expected to sell out quickly.

I’m always looking around for good offers and came across this website that offers Online Coupon Codes. They currently have some Amazon coupons that can save you money on selected products as well as Wine coupons where you can get a discount on gift baskets and some reductions on cases of wine. They also have some 4inkjets coupons which are great for stocking up on ink. The site is updated on a daily basis with offers from hundreds of merchants so it’s really worth checking back to see what new codes are available especially in the run up to Christmas which always seems to be a very expensive time.

Boots have started selling a product called Expert Sensitive Facial Spritz. The product costs £3.99 for a 125ml can. The can contains only one ingredient, water. It claims that it can protect the skin from dryness. It appears though that you could create the same effect for nothing by simply putting some tap water into a spray bottle.

John Lewis is branching out into the grocery business with the opening of a food hall in the basement of their Oxford Street store. It is designed to cater for local workers and shoppers and is part of the stores £64m makeover. John Lewis has linked with Waitrose to launch the new department, which if successful could also be extended to other locations around the country. The store targets the increasing market for premium food and will have an in-store bakery with 40 different types of bread, over 109 lines of fish on its fish counter and 115 cheeses half of which are British. And if you fancy a bottle of champagne you will have more than 80 to choose from. It sounds great.

I read this article about a computerised pillow designed to stop snoring. The pillow is attached to a computer which analyses snoring noises, it then reduces or enlarges compartments within the pillow to help nasal airflow and minimise snoring. I wonder what it does with a really bad case of snoring that it can’t stop; maybe it gives up and suffocates the user…Job done.

I seem to be running out of most of stationary at the moment, so thought it might be a good time to stock before things get busy at Christmas. As usual I thought it might be an idea to head down to couponchief.com to see if there were any special offers I could take advantage of. They currently have some Dell coupons which should help save a bit of cash, especially as I seem to get through toner at an alarming rate these days. I also found some Staples coupons that offer amongst other things free shipping and some cheap deals on paper.

The Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn has said that he wants to see traditional lightbulbs phased out by 2011. He wants to see 150 watt bulbs withdrawn from sale from next January, with a plan to phase out less powerful bulbs in stages. It is estimated this would save five million tonnes of CO2 a year.

Following the launch of the Barclaycard OnePulse card, other banks are also going to offer tap and go payment cards. The cards allow you pay for cheap items with a tap of a card rather than having to look for loose change. Halifax and Barclays are expected to launch tap and go debit cards next month, followed closely by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

You might find the price of your Christmas dinner will be more like year after turkey farmers have announced they will need to increase their prices. The move comes because there has been a huge increase in costs recently, with the price of poultry feed going up from £181 a tonne to £240 a tonne. This increase is likely to put around 10 to 20% extra on the cost of your Christmas turkey.

If you are trying to eat healthier food but feel you need a bit of help you might want to try mysupermarket.co.uk In addition to their price comparison service they have now launched a service that allows you see nutritional information about your shop including the calories and fat and salt content. It then asks you if you want to switch any of the foods that are high in calories for a lower calorie alternative. They claim that using the service could knock around 4,000 calories off a families consumption.

Tesco are to launch a comparison website called tescocompare.com. The website will allow users to compare insurance from a range of providers. Whilst initially geared towards car insurance, the website will also cover other financial services such as mortgages, homes loans and credit cards in the future.

There have been a number of incidents regarding Crocs shoes and escalators. The shoes which are known for their flexibility and grip can become caught in the teeth at the bottom or top of an escalator. In one incident mentioned in this article a young boy’s shoes became caught causing the name on his big toe to be nearly ripped off. The Washington Metro has even posted adverts warning riders about wearing such shoes on its moving stairways. In Japan, the government warned consumers last week that it has received 39 reports of sandals mostly Crocs or similar products getting stuck in escalators from late August through early September. There have other reports from other countries of similar incidents most of which have involved young children. It might be better not to let your children wear their Crocs when using the escalator.

A new payment card has been launched that combines an Oyster travel card with a payment card. It is called the Barclaycard OnePulse and can be used to pay for items that cost less than £10 without the need to input a pin number. It can also be used for purchases over £10 but these transactions will require a number or a signature to be authorised.

A textiles company that supplied three high street chains has been accused of using slave labour. The company CMT makes garments for Topman, Next and George. They currently pay staff in their Bangladeshi factories only £70 a month for up to 70 hours work a week. In many cases workers were promised a good wage from a union official but actually received much less when they paid.

It’s getting to that time of year when I start thinking about buying Christmas presents. I usually find it’s less stressful to do all my Christmas shopping online to avoid the crowded shops. I was having a look on the Coupon Chief website the other day to see whether I could save a bit of money on my purchases. I came across some Only Natural Pet Store deals, after all pets’ need Christmas presents too. In their gift range I found a peek and play toy box and some gourmet meals that should  make the cats happy. I also found some My Wines Direct coupons. They do some nice wine baskets which are perfect for Christmas gifts.

Primark have been fined £15,000 for selling tops that breached safety regulations. The hooded tops have cords that run through the neck. Tops that have free running neck cords were banned in 1976 after several fatal accidents involving the cords getting caught in play equipment. The judge also ordered the seized tops to be destroyed.

Toymaker Mattel has issued another recall of some of its products. Around 850,000 toys are being recalled due to fears the paint contains dangerous levels of lead. The toys include seven Barbie products and three toys from the Fisher Price range. The full details of the recalled items are listed below.

J9485 Barbie Dream Puppy House
J9486 Barbie Dream Kitty Condo
K8606 Barbie Table & Chairs Kitchen Playset
K8607 Barbie Bathtub & Toilet Playset
K8609 Barbie Desk & Chair Bedroom Playset

Mars has issued a recall of some of its products after small pieces of rubber were found in them. The affected sweets include milk chocolate Maltesers with best before dates between 16 December 2007 and 6 January 2008 and revels in bags pouches and pots with dates between 16 December 2007 and 13 January 2008. Customers are being asked to return the packs for a full refund. Packs should be returned to: Maltesers Consumer Care, Unit 1, Hudson Road, Melton Mowbray LE13 1BS.

A new report has discovered a potential link between deodorants and breast cancer. The research comes because high levels of aluminium have been found in the breast tissue of cancer patients who have had mastectomies. There have been previous warnings that aluminium from deodorants can be absorbed through the skin, especially through shaved armpits. Once it has been absorbed through the body aluminium can mimic the hormone oestrogen and can be involved in the development of breast cancer.

Nokia are to launch a new handset which they hope will rival the iPhone. The N81 will allow people to download music directly onto their phones. In addition Nokia have also launched a new web music service which should make it easier for its customers to use their Nokia handsets as music players.

Tesco has just started selling a digital set top box for £10. They claim it is the cheapest model on the high street. The box is manufactured by Techwood and offers 40 Freeview digital terrestrial TV channels and some radio stations.

If you are planning your wedding you might want to visit Visit Wedding Bitz r Us Ltd. They have a wide range of products including napkins, confetti, cake serving sets, toasting sets, guest books and party favours. The website makes is easy to choose matching products, for example when you click on a guest book, you also see recommended co-ordinating items. The prices are quite reasonable and they also offer venue decorations, so you can buy everything in one place. The site is based in the UK, so all orders are sent via recorded delivery and they have a 14 day money back guarantee.

The custard cream has been voted Britain's favourite biscuit in a recent poll. Nine out of ten people named it as their favourite. Secons place was the bourbon, with the cookie and ginger biscuit coming much further down the list. Personally I have never liked custard creams, what are people thinking?

Sony is going to launch a new add-on to the Playstation 3 which will allow people to watch digital channels and record TV. The service is similar to the current Sky + service and is called PlayTV. It is due to go on sale early next year. It will include the current freeview channels and well as the high definition channels when they become available. Users will be able to store programmes on the hard drive and watch them via Sony’s PSP portable games console. It is not yet known how much the service will cost, but Sony have said there will not be a monthly fee.

I came across this website called webbyplanet.co.uk. It’s basically an online community that is designed to help shoppers save money. The website has product reviews which are updated by the staff and other members of the forum. It also has a voucher search so that you can download internet vouchers for stores that you already use. I have seen a lot of similar websites out there that are aimed at US users but it is really nice to see someone has come up with one for people in the UK. Among some the retailers they currently have vouchers for are the Body Shop, Woolworths, Currys, Comet and Flying Flowers. I will certainly be visiting this site in the future to try and save myself a bit of money.

If you are thinking of buying a new car you might want to read this article first. It suggests that new cars lose half their value within the first year and that after three years it will only be worth two thirds of the purchase price. A typical example is a Ford Focus Style 1.8 which would lose 48% of its value in the first year, 58% in the first two years and 65% after three years. Personally I think I will save a bit of cash and get a used car that’s a few years old.

TCA is a company that specialises in computer cables, network cabling and power cords. They have USB cables, Firewire cables, DVI and HDMI cables and also have a range of peripherals including keyboards, mice and graphics tablets. All items are shipped the same day by UPS as long as you order before Noon, otherwise they are shipped the next business day.

Its bad news for all chocolate lovers, you could soon be paying a lot more for your chocolate fix. One of the largest chocolate makers has warned that prices will soon rise. Lindt and Sprungli have said the rise is due to the increased cost of materials including milk, cocoa and cocoa butter. Cadbury has also warned they will need to raise the prices of their products.

Waitrose has issued a recall of some of their smoked salmon products because they contain high levels of listeria. The products affected are Waitrose Smokes Salmon Parcels and Waitrose Poached Salmon Terrines dated up to the 28th August. It was found during routine testing that the levels of listeria in the products were above the permitted levels. It is thought the problem is isolated to a few hundred products. Customers have been advised to return them for a refund.

Tesco is to enter into the garden centre business after winning a bid for Dobbies. The Scottish based chain currently has 21 outlets. The Dobbies brand will be retained but it is likely the garden centres will start selling some Tesco products.

Ashop offer ecommerce software so you can create your own online store. They provide a shopping cart that is fully integrated with all most major banks as well as Paypal. This includes built in SSL protection so you can make sure your customer’s details are secure. The software allows you to customise your storefront with your company information and sales information through a website interface which requires no knowledge of HTML. They host the online store for you and provide a daily backup as part of the service. They also provide free unlimited tech support. You can look at a demo store on their website to see exactly how it all works but even better then that, they offer a ten day free trial. There are four different packages available depending on how much storage space you require. Prices start at £19.95 for the light package which gives you 50MB of web space and go up to £99.95 a month for 300MB of space with no limit on the number of products.

I remember seeing the Trunki on Dragons Den a while ago. The idea is that is a kind of ride on suitcase for children. At the time the Dragons described the idea as worthless but the inventor has gone on to make his product a success without their help. He has now sold 85,000 of his suitcases. It is marketed in 22 countries and is a top seller at John Lewis, Mothercare, Fenwick and Debenhams. It is nice to see that that sometimes the small business man can make it even without the Dragon's help.

Nokia may have to replace around 46 million batteries in their phones due to reports of them overheating. The problem affects BL-5C batteries made by Matsushita between December 2005 and November 2006. Batteries made by other manufacturers are not affected. The problem is caused by a short circuit in the battery which causes it to overheat.

Mattel has issued recalls for around nine million of its Chinese made toys. The toys are being recalled for two reasons. There are fears that magnets contained in toys could be swallowed and some toys could contain lead paint. The recall affects Polly Pocket dolls and Batman action figures. You can see a list of the recalled toys here.

Two Morrisons stores could be responsible for an E coli outbreak in Scotland which has left one person dead and two seriously ill. It is thought the outbreak is linked to meat brought from the cold meat counter of two Morrisons shops in Paisley. The health board has warned people not to eat meat brought from the Lonend and Falside Road store in the past few weeks.

It has recently been reported that the Top Shop chain is profiting from Asian workers who are paid less than £4 a day. The factories that supply Sir Philips Green’s stores employ hundreds of Sri Lankan, Indian and Bangladeshi workers who work 12 hours a day up to six days a week. The workers receive as little as 22p an hour, that’s around 40% less than the local average wage. Sir Philip Green is currently ranked seventh in The Sunday Times Rich List.

Japanese researchers have developed a table and chairs set that can change colour. The furniture has sensors embedded in and can work out the colour of items that are placed on it. They work by bouncing red, green and blue off of objects and recording which hues are reflected. An Apple Mac inside the table then sends wireless messages to the stool which project light to match the colour of the object on top.

MyWeigh sell weighing scales including pocket scales, shipping scales and bathroom scales. They have scales that handle weights from a fraction of a gram right up to hundreds of pounds. I found the site because I was looking for some new parcel scales. Their digital postal scales weigh things up to 75lbs and also weigh in pounds, ounces, kilograms and grams. The scales have a detachable face so that you can weigh even large boxes and still read the screen. You can even meet the face on a wall for easy access. All their scales come with a lifetime warranty in the US.

A tearoom in Brighton has taken a firm line on biscuit dunkers. The Tea Cosy has started throwing customers out if they are silly enough to dunk their biscuits in their cup. Resting elbows on the table, clinking your spoon on the side of the cup and using a mobile phone are also likely to get you thrown out.

Dieselpowermag.com is currently running a competition where you can win a T-Shirt and you could also be featured in an article about your ride. All you need to do id submit a photo and entry about your ride to diesel power and they will choose the top three entries to be featured. You can view the current entries on the website and can participate in the online voting from 17.30 on the 22nd August till 17.00 on the 31st August. 

It’s interesting that wrapping something in a different wrapper can make it more appealing and can even make you think it tastes better. Researchers have found that children find food wrapped in McDonald’s packaging than an identical snack wrapped in another wrapper. The study was carried out to try and gauge the power that advertising has on children. In the study which was carried out in the US children were given two identical samples of food, one in McDonalds packaging and one in a plain wrapper. Despite the snacks being identical the ones wrapped in the McDonalds packaging were found to be the tastiest by six times as many children as found the plain snacks most tasty. This study certainly shows the power of advertising.

Shop4Silver are a UK based jewellery store specialising in silver jewellery. They have a very nice range of silver Celtic jewellery including bangles, bracelets, necklaces, earrings and pendants. I found a lovely pair of amethyst Celtic knot earrings for a very reasonable £26.95 and a pair of Lavender shell drop earrings for £17.95 (see below), this is a website I could quite easily spend a lot of money on. After I had found the earrings I noticed they also have matching necklaces. Luckily they offer free delivery within the UK on orders over £60 and with such great products you are very likely to spend that amount.

 

Pilgrim Shoe and Sewing Machine Co., Inc manufacture and distribute high quality parts and supplies to the shoe industry. They have been in the business for over 50 years and have built up a trusted reputation. They offer shoe repair machines and parts, buffing machines, polishing machines, stitching oil and brushes. A small range of their products is on the website but because they stock so many products they can only show a limited amount. You can request a catalogue to see the full range. They ship both within the US and internationally and offer a 30 day money back on all their products, so if for any reason you are unhappy with a product you can return it.

The price of a pint of milk is set to rise by 3p because of shortages. The shortages have been caused by the recent floods in the UK. Cattle have been affected because farmers have been forced to keep them indoors. This reduces the milk yield because it means the cows have to be fed on silage rather than on grass. Supermarkets are likely to pass the cost onto the consumer.

Deal locker is a website which is dedicated to helping you find a great deal. The website contains deals and coupons from most well known retailers including Dell coupons, Best Buy deals and Avon coupons. They cover thousands of stores and the website contains tens of thousands of coupons. You can find the coupon codes by browsing by the type of store you are interested in, for example looking at all the deals under the beauty category. Alternatively if you know the name of the store you want to shop at you can simply enter this into the search box to check if there are any coupons for that particular store. You can also browse the site by the most popular deals.

Once you have located a coupon you can also vote on how useful it was using the voting buttons on the website. This in turn helps other users to locate the best and most current deals. Browsing by the recommended coupons means that you will only see current offers that have already been tried and tested and that other users have voted as a good deal. If you come across a good deal that you think is simply too good to miss out on, you can also add a coupon to the website. Doing this means that the coupon is shared on the website, so that all your friends can also take advantage of the offer.
 
The website also has a handy tool called the Deal Locker Bookmarklet. When you are shopping on a website it allows you to simply on to click a button to check whether there are any coupon codes that you can use for that particular site. That way there is no need to go searching around for coupons. All you need to do is add the Bookmarklet as a favourite.

The Treasury Department is considering new labelling for alcohol in the US. The new rules would require companies to put the alcohol content, serving sizes and nutritional information on all alcoholic drinks. Everything from beer cans to wine bottles would have the new labelling. This kind of labelling is already widely used here in the UK, although it is currently not on every alcoholic drink.

Terrys Fabrics are a fabric wholesaler based in the UK. They have an extensive range of curtains and curtain poles. Their range of curtain fabrics includes chenille and woven, children’s fabrics, jacquards, silk and natural fabrics as well as curtain linings. One of the useful things I found about this website is that you can search by colour by clicking on the colour of your choice. You can view all the fabrics that are available in the colour you are looking for. This is certainly much easier than having to look through the whole range to see if they have the colour you are looking for. Orders are usually shipped within 48 hours and if you spend over £100 shipping is free.

The Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Base has come up with a new way to dispose of panda poo. The waste will now be turned into souvenirs. The pandas currently produce around a ton of poo every day which costs around $770 a month to dispose of. It will now be sent to a local handicraft company that will process it and turn it into products such as photo frames and notepads. There are already companies that make products from animal waste. PC2Paper has a range of African cards that contain paper made from elephant, zebra or rhino dung.

Now this is an interesting idea, a sock vending machine. I’m not quite sure why you would use it; personally I have never forgotten to leave the house without first putting on a pair of socks. Still, it quite cool and stripy too.

Retailers in Manchester are to be trained how to deal with terrorist attacks. The training will involve simulations carried out by the fire service so that should the worst happen shop staff can be prepared.

The recent floods here in the UK are likely to have an effect on food prices. The prices of milk, vegetables and other food stuffs are set to soar as farmers struggle to cope with the floods which have ruined many crops. The pea harvest this year has been hit badly with more than two fifths of the crop being completely wiped out, that’s about 61 million bags of peas. Among other crops that are badly affected are potatoes which have seen the worst cases of potato blight for around 40 years.

Sainsbury’s will sell wine in recyclable plastic bottles as part of a trial to try and cut carbon emissions. The trial will include two of its label wines which will be bottled in the UK. I wonder where you recycle the plastic bottles. At the moment we have no plastic recycling facilities at all in our area and this makes up the bulk of our rubbish.

The boyfriend pillow has gone on sale in Japan. The pillow is shaped like a man’s arm and is designed to keep the body balanced. It also has the advantage that it doesn’t snore.

Plymouth and South West Co-op have been running a trial ban on carrier bags in some of its stores in Devon and Cornwall. The initiative is proving to be successful with plastic bag use being cut by 90%. Shoppers can reuse bags or purchase a corn starch bag for 5p. The scheme will now be extended to more shops.

The rain here in the UK is bad news for so many people who have already had their homes damaged by floods or find they are without drinking water. There are however, always some companies that benefit from adverse weather. Domino’s pizza have seen a 35% rise in profits which is more than they managed even during the world cup. I can see why, with weather like this I don’t want to go out either, and find rather than eat out, it’s easier to order in.

It appears the British public is no longer so discerning in their quest for a designer label. A recent report has shown that two thirds of consumers are now just as happy to buy a fake product as they are to purchase the real thing. I'm not that bothered about labels myself as long as I get a good deal on a product, that's good enough for me.

I found this website SendMeScent.com that offers a wide range of perfume and aftershave. Personally I wear perfume every day and tend to have seven or eight different bottles open at any one time, so I’m always looking to try new fragrances. My favourite at the moment is Be Delicious by DKNY on sale here for only £34.50 which is quite a saving from the RRP of £48.95. Other favourites of mine are Cool Water by Davidoff and Rush by Gucci both available here at cheaper prices than you would find on the high street. If you are in no hurry for your purchase you can get free second class delivery or alternatively pay an extra £5.95 for next day delivery within the UK. You can also add gift wrapping at the checkout if it’s for a present.

I found this website opticsplanet.com that has a wide range of gadgets and unusual gifts including telescopes, microscopes, binoculars and star spotting scopes. One item that I found particularly interesting was the Meade MySky, a device which is basically a personal planetarium, similar to the skyscout. It is hand-held devices that has a point and shoot identification system to guide you through the night sky so you know exactly what it is you are looking at. Basically you just point it at a celestial object, pull the trigger and the device will till you what it is. It also has a full colour LCD screen and a computerised telescope. It hasn’t been released yet but you can pre-order the item online with free delivery.

Warm Biscuit specialise in ideas for ideas for children’s bedrooms. They have a wide range of bedding, furniture and curtains that can help you to customise your child’s room. Their range of vintage fabrics includes a variety of looks, from the plainer candy cane striped designs to more decorative William Morris style fabrics depicting flowers fruit and birds.

If you are designing a boy’s bedroom they also have fabrics with trains, fish or truck designs. They also sell accessories such as desks and toy boxes to add the finishing touches to your room. What’s more you can fully customise their range of furniture to fit with the theme of your room with most items being available in eight or nine different colours.

HomeandLiving.com has a range of home furniture for bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms and the home office. They also have a wide variety of entertainment systems, baby furniture, lamps, mattresses, framed artwork and outdoor furniture. They offer free shipping within the USA and delivery is within seven days or less. All items delivered within the Los Angeles area will also be fully assembled at your home and for orders outside of this area you can purchase optional assembly services when you check out. The website also has a useful section with tips and guidelines such as how to choose a good office chair and Feng Shui solutions for your home.

If there is one thing it’s impossible to do without these days it’s got to be batteries. LCB specialise in all sorts of different batteries. Their range includes laptop batteries, digital camera batteries, Camcorder Batteries, power tool batteries, cell phone batteries and notebook batteries as well as regular alkaline batteries.

They also stock batteries for more unusual items such as dog collars, door locks, hearing aids and medical equipment. If you are looking for batteries that are discontinued or hard to find, then LCB offer a battery rebuild service.

They offer free shipping if you spend over $99 and if you need an item quickly you can upgrade to a next day delivery service. 

If you are looking you promote a small business it’s useful to carry business cards with you. I came across this website that provides professional looking business cards. You can either design your business card online or alternatively if you already have a design that you want to use you can simply upload it.

If you choose to design a business card online you are provided with several options. You can choose whether you require glossy or raised print cards. You can then choose what printing method you require, whether you want both sides of the card to be printed or just the front of the card. The site then allows you a background from a range of designs and allows you to fully customise the business card with the text and font of your choice. You can also change the layout of the text and upload your business logo before being directed going on to choose the paper type.

The website also offers other items such as card holders, letterheads and envelopes which can also be fully customised online with your own design and logo.

I still haven’t decided on where to go on holiday and with the constant rain here in the UK my thoughts keep turning to sunny climates and sandy beaches. I came across this site called weneedavacation.com. They specialise in holiday rentals within the Florida and Cape Cod regions. Their range of Cape Cod vacation rental homes includes a range of areas from the more sedate resorts where you can enjoy quaint villages and shopping to more lively rentals suited to teenagers and sports enthusiasts where you can try surfing or boogie boarding. There is also wide range of rentals in the Florida area including rental ideally located for access to beaches as well as vacation homes close to Disney World ideal for the whole family.

I came across this website called Just Blinds They sell a variety of blinds and shutters including real wood blinds, aluminium blinds, natural wood shades, roller shades and much more. The website includes a handy guide for measuring your windows to ensure you get the best fit when purchasing a blind or shutter as well as measuring videos. If you are ensure whether you like the colour you have selected then you can order as many as 10 free samples so you can match the colour to your room at home before purchasing. They also offer a 30 day satisfaction guarantee so if you are not completely satisfied with your purchase you can return it for a refund.

I came across this website which offers international flower delivery. As someone who sends a lot of flowers to friends and relatives both in the United Kingdom and overseas, I particularly liked the fact that this website allows you to send flowers to over 100 countries worldwide. Most other websites tend to be rather limited in the destinations you can send to but these guys cover pretty much everywhere.

Simply choose a country that you want to send to from the drop down box for example flowers USA. You can then see all the flower arrangements available to your chosen destination. Another good feature of this website is that you can choose to view the prices in your own currency, so there is no need to use a separate currency converter to see the prices in pounds.

Because the flowers are all hand delivered by a local florist you know they will be fresh on arrival. The website also gives you the option to add extras such as a box of chocolates, a teddy bear or a bottle of wine, so you can make the gift that little bit more special. The flowers are available for next day delivery Monday through to Saturday, so its perfect for if you have left it a bit late to buy a birthday present or simply if you want to surprise someone with an unexpected gift. It’s certainly a good way to send gifts to relatives overseas without having to worry about items getting damaged in the post. 

I went shopping for some new trainers this weekend and ended up purchasing two pairs of trainers in two different stores. Whilst I am happy with both of my purchases the experience of shopping in the two stores was entirely different. One of the stores has left me a positive experience and the other quite the opposite.

The first store I went to was JJB. The store was well laid out and it was relatively easy to locate the section containing the trainers. I selected two different pairs to try and after a short wait a sales assistant went to find the shoes in my size. Returning with both pairs of trainers he proceeded to unlace them for me before asking me what the trainers were to be used for. On hearing that I would be using them in the gym the sales assistant then recommended which pair was most appropriate. Based on his advice and after trying both pairs on, I selected one pair. After queuing for a short time I paid for the trainers and left the store, feeing satisfied with my purchase and very happy with the customer service I had received.

The second store I visited was Sports World. On entering the store I was immediately struck by the fact that they had tried to cram too many items into too small a space. It was not immediately apparent where to locate different items in the store. In fact it was hard to walk around in the store due to the fact that there was barely any room to move around between the different racks of clothes. Other customers were also commenting on how packed and uncomfortable the store was. After locating a pair of trainers I looked around for somewhere to try them on and finding nowhere I decided to take a chance and just buy them. Fighting my way to the till, I then queued for around 20 minutes before reaching the checkout. All of the sales assistants looked thoroughly fed up and demoralised. Although judging by the fact that the store was packed to bursting with stock and there was no air conditioning I could understand why. I was served by a sales assistant who was more interested in talking to his fellow workers about the football score than he was serving a customer. After purchasing the shoes and fighting my way out of the store I left with the intention of not shopping in this store again.

Apparently this seasons must have bag is a £5 cotton bag sold by Sainsbury’s. The bag went on sale on Wednesday and was sold out within an hour. I find it hard to see what all the fuss is about. Still, people must really want this bag, a quick search on ebay shows prices of up to £195.

I came across this post about a magnetic clothes hanger. It seems like an interesting idea for light weight clothes but I find it difficult to see how it would handle heavy items such as outdoor coats or jeans. I also find it easy with conventional coat hangers to slide the items along the rail, presumably with this device you would need to detach the device and then reattach it in its new position. Interesting idea but not for me.

It’s easy to assume when shopping with a well known company that your credit card details are kept safe. However the theft of 46 million credit card details from TK Maxx shows that even large companies may not keep your details secure. Personally when shopping online I prefer to use my Paypal account, if I am using a website for the first time, so that I don’t actually have to expose my card details. Like many people though I don’t think twice about using my credit card when shopping on the high street. It makes me wonder whether I should go back to withdrawing cash and avoid paying with my card altogether, or perhaps I am just getting paranoid about the whole thing?

I saw this article in The Metro about a pillow that apparently helps prevent hangovers. The pillow is stuffed with various plant extracts including fennel, juniper, mustard and peppermint, all of which are meant to counter the effects of a hangover. Personally I frequently sprinkle lavender oil on my pillow when I am having trouble sleeping and use peppermint or eucalyptus if I have a blocked up nose. I find that when doing this I awake felling much more rested the following morning. At only £7.50 even if it doesn’t cure your hangover this pillow is likely to help you have a restful nights sleep.

I read an interesting article in the Daily Mail about some of the tricks supermarkets use to make customer think they are getting a bargain. It has already been publicised that when Tesco recently ran a promotion on half price fruit and vegetables they had in fact raised their prices before reducing them. In fact they nearly doubled some prices before cutting them back to half price and advertising a huge 50 per cent discount prompting an investigation by trading standards. I wonder how many customers monitor prices so closely that they would have noticed this sneaky tactic. It’s very easy to pick up a product with a half price tag and just assume you are getting a great deal.
Tesco price link

Other tricks that supermarkets use to try and confuse the customer are things like reducing the pack size on items when they are running “buy one get one free” promotions. In other words you may get two packs of strawberries each of 225g but the normal pack size when the items are not on promotion could be 500g.

Many supermarkets also offer special offers or low prices on a few staple goods such as bread and milk. By making prices of everyday items cheaper customers may naturally assume that the supermarket will also have cheap prices on other groceries. Often the reality is that these cheap prices on staple goods are subsidized elsewhere by putting up the prices of other goods.

“Buy one get one free” deals may also seem like a really good deal and perhaps they are for the customer. However, the supplier often loses out here. Most of the large supermarkets have agreements with their suppliers that they have to cover the costs of these special deals rather than the supermarket themselves. Unfortunately this means that smaller suppliers are often squeezed out the market as they cannot afford the low profit margins often associated with getting their products into the supermarket.