EOFY Sales

Here, the end of financial year (EOFY) is a major event.  This is the big sale season when every retailer will do their best to clear out their stock and make as many sales as they can before the end of the year.

My plan had been to use this time to get a new phone, but having now got myself an apartment, there are some more important things I need to buy... a bed, a tv, a vacuum cleaner (how mundane!), as well as a computer and phone.

It is only when you start really looking around at what you like that you realise how expensive things are over here.  In particular beds... if you're emigrating to Oz and like a decent bed (eg. Sealy Posturepedic), I strongly recommend buying yourself a new bed just over a year before you come out.  You will be exempt from any import tax as long as its more than 12 months old and you will pay around £800-900 for a mid-range bed instead of$3,000-$4,000.  Having said that, I don't think you get Queen beds in the UK, which are the standard size here and which I prefer.  It's also difficult to compare prices because both countries don't sell the same ranges.

Anyway, after staying over with friends on the Northern Beaches Friday night (celebrating signing my lease!), I headed to Manly Vale/Balgowlah on my way back to the city to check out bed places.  I hadn't realised Harvey Norman was such a big player in the furniture market as I'm normally only visiting their stores in town which do electrical goods,not big stuff.  I'd already decided I wanted to get a wooden bed frame as it would give me space to store things under it (like skis) as I won't have a loft and I also hate dealing with valences, so this way I won't need any!  I found a lovely wooden frame which look vaguely art decline style and had 20% off... not a huge discount, but better than nothing.  The decision on the mattress was much harder.  There was the budget Sealy option (because after having a wonderful Sealy bed for over 15 years and counting, I wouldn't buy any other bed) at $999 in the sale, the middle of the road one at just above $2,000 and then the really good one with all the latest mattress technology and features at just under $2,400.  I spent ages trying out all of them, but try as I might to persuade myself I could just get the cheap one for now, or there really wasn't much difference in them all, it was the expensive one that made me feel like I was floating on air whilst I led on it!  I tried it out laying down and sitting up, the left and went to check out other bed places... just in case there was something better and cheaper!

There was actually nowhere else with the range that Harvey Norman had and not a single bed that felt anywhere near as comfortable.  So after sleeping on it (excuse the pun!) Saturday night, I made my way back across the Harbour Bridge to go and work out how I was going to get it.  My lovely sales guy I saw yesterday (Juliano) was there and remembered me (is that a good sign?!!) and after a bit more humming and haahing, I told him to work out what price he could offer me.  He came back with a further $300 off the sale price, so I agreed and put down a $500 deposit to guarantee the order.  How nice that I don't have to pay the remainder until they deliver it, which is likely to be around 4 weeks, because of the bed frame needing to be imported.

Having secured my beautiful new bed,it was time to decide what else I wanted to buy.  I definitely had to get a vacuum cleaner, but didn't want to spend much, so got a cute bag less one for $49... lightweight and should store quite easily in a little cupboard.  Then I came across a Sony docking station, DAB radio & CD player with nearly 30% off.  I duly got my iPad out, docked it and checked out the sound.  It was great and would solve the issue that I currently have no means of playing a CD other than in my hire car, which will be going back in a couple of weeks!  Next I was looking at DVD players, but only one of them (the one which was out of stock!) was guaranteed to play all region DVDs (very important if you want to be able to play your discs from the UK as well as new ones you buy in Oz), so I decided I'd wait until my stuff arrived from the UK so I could bring a DVD in and try it out on the actual machine I wanted.  The the question on whether to buy a TV?  In theory, once I get a computer I can play DVDs on that, but it's going to be a smaller screen than my 17" Vaio I had in the UK.  In addition, I have really enjoyed having a TV in the apartment in Canberra and over here it doesn't cost you anything for free-to-air TV (no licence fee), so there's no ongoing cost to owning a TV.  They had a lovely Samsung one in the sale with 20% off which was a 32" full HD one... then I had the bright idea of asking whether I would be able to link a computer to it to play a DVD and the answer was yes!  So, I don't have to get a separate DVD player, but I can still use my beautiful HD TV to watch my movies!  Sold!!!

By the time I emerged from Harvey Norman, the rain had stopped (it's been torrential and relentless here for over a week!), the sun was shining and I headed down the road to Queenscliff and Manly beaches for a walk and a hearty brunch!