Love them or loathe them the Spice Girls are back! Not content with their
new single and forthcoming tour, they’re also on TV advertising Tesco.
I’m not entirely convinced they’ll be shopping there for Cashmere sweaters
for each other for Christmas as they’d have us believe!

I don’t know why, but Argos reminds me of the 1980s - I think it’s probably something to do with coveting the Elizabeth Duke jewellery on offer (these days I have slightly more expensive tastes when it comes to bling!) My memories are also of it being a slightly disorganised place. I have to admit, I don’t tend to think about shopping at Argos these days - it’s nothing personal - it’s just it doesn’t really figure on my radar. Today, therefore, I was pleasantly surprised. I was trying to track down a Bouncing Tigger for my youngest child’s first birthday next week and over the weekend I drew a blank at Toys R Us and Mother care (which surprised me), so today I decided to consult my catalogues. I’m a bit of a horder so I pulled out all the catalogues from my magazine rack and discovered an Argos catalogue. Bingo - there he was - the Bouncing Tigger. Ok, the catalogue was from last year, but I thought it was worth a try so this afternoon I headed off to my local Argos store. Do you know, the whole experience was stress-free and painless and I’d definitely try to remember to go back there. It helped that the store was relatively quiet, but even so, I walked in, found what I was looking for (although it’s now an updated version), went straight to the credit card payment post and easily paid for my purchase. Two minutes later Tigger was ready for me! Good old Argos - it’s not just there for cheap jewellery!

Have you seen those rather garish and over-enthusiast adverts on the TV for Brighthouse which tell you can furnish your home and pay later? So, if you’re struggling to find the money for the new sofa you need or if the washing machine’s just packed up but you can’t afford to replace it right now, Brighthouse could be the answer to your prayers. Basically they rely on people with poor or no credit histories who would be unable to buy these goods by any other means. It has even been said that there stores are often opened in the most deprived areas to maximise the opportunities of tempting in customers who would be refused credit elsewhere. I’m not against the chance to buy now, pay later, but watching the advert recently I was horrified by the extortionate interest rates. Now, I don’t claim to be a financial genius (in fact when it comes to budgeting and accounts I’m not too hot), but even I realise that paying almost 3 times the price for something just to get it on credit doesn’t represent value for money. The problem is, many of the potential customers wouldn’t realise just how much debt they were getting themselves into, which has to be real cause for concern. So, I don’t think Brighthouse is the brightest option for purchasing goods on credit, but I’d be interested to hear from anyone who has chosen to shop there.

We went for a quick trip to Mothercare World yesterday, which was a naïve thing to do. Basically, any parent of young children will know a trip to Mothercare is seldom anything but quick! It was total mayhem in there!

Staff were shouting across the store at each other that there was no one to man the tills, they were sending customers to the tills at the opposite side of the store assuring there would be someone to serve them there, but when I moved across it was just as busy and a lady just walked out because she couldn’t be bothered to wait any longer.

Kids were racing around with miniature shopping trolleys which could really do some damage to calves if you didn’t see them coming and there were all manner of other toy pushchairs, trikes and bikes whizzing around. Then on the floor need the customer service tills were yet more toddlers fighting to race the cars around the toy track whilst babies battled to find a pathway to crawl past and parents stood around looked harassed and done for! Luckily we only went in for a few items and while our trip mightn’t have been as quick as we’d have hoped, we emerged relatively unscathed!

So, what did I learn from the experience - well, Mothercare does have a very good online service, so maybe that’s worth bearing in mind next time!

I saw the strangest sight when I was out shopping the other day. There, almost gliding up and down the aisles with her shopping trolley was a woman decked out in an outfit that could only be described as Air Hostess meets Stepford Wife! I suppose what struck me about her was that she stood out like a sore thumb amongst all the other supermarket shoppers and I don’t think this was necessarily a good thing. Her outfit was in the style of an Air Hostess with a little blue cap plonked on top of the weirdest hairdo. There was obviously a whole lot of hair extensions going on, which were clipped to her head in the most haphazard manner. Now I’ve always been of the opinion that if you’re going to invest money in hair extensions (they’re not cheap), you don’t want people to be able to tell. Rather like a decent wig, I’d want my extensions to be in detectible. She was then wearing this huge blue overcoat that despite her solid (well-built) frame was swamping her. Her expression was vacant (hence the comparison to the Stepford Wives) and she almost looked like something you’d later think you imagined! Still, she made an otherwise mundane trip to the shops a little more interesting - it take all sorts!

Hey, everything you need for Christmas - if you’ve got guests coming to stay and you’re ashamed of the state of your 3 piece suite, there’s no need to splash out on a new sofa - you can simply update your old once and instantly rejuvenate your room! And, even better you’ll be able to stock up your Wine collection too. Happy Christmas!

Did you know it’s believed (I’d be interested if anyone could actually back up this claim), that if your waters break whilst you’re shopping at Tesco (I think) then they’ll let you have your trolley of shopping for free. But before you go shoving a big cushion and a water balloon under your coat, be warned it must be a genuine case. Which leads me to ponder all sorts of logistical questions such as who investigates to ensure it is in fact broken waters and how does your shopping get dealt with when surely the only thing on your mind is getting to the labour ward in double quick time. Let’s face it, it may be the most natural thing in the world, but your waters breaking in the middle of a supermarket aisle has to be a tad embarrassing, so I’m sure most people wouldn’t want to give birth amongst the tea bags too!

I’ve never seen it happen which is why I really want to know if this policy of giving you your trolley of shopping for free is genuine. Other people I talk to seem to think you get supplied with nappies for a year instead. In which case, what happens to your trolley of groceries? Do you have to go and ay for them before you can get in the ambulance or does a kind shop assistant put them back on the shelves. Oh, it’s such a mind field! If you have any experience of broken waters at the supermarket, I’d love to hear them. Maybe it will answer a few of my questions!

Do you ever observe other people’s grocery shopping when you’re at the checkout (maybe I’m just weird!) and make assumptions about them? I often guess at character traits simply by looking at what people pop on the conveyor belt (yes, I must be weird!)

So, you’ve got your frugal shopper who you can tell has gone around the supermarket and stuck fast to the items on their shopping list, not allowing themselves to be tempted by anything they didn’t go in for. They usually have several supermarket own economy items and may have the odd BOGOF, but only on items they need such as toilet roll. Then you’ve got your extravagant shopper, who is quite the opposite - they choose all the top notch supermarket brands and the most expensive brands and usually have the odd cashmere jumper that they’ve picked up impulsively (whoever would’ve guessed Tesco does Cashmere they remark to themselves). Then there’s your student on a budget - they have a mix of economy products, plenty of big packs of pasta, a few fish fingers and the obligatory alcohol of course! The bargain hunter picks up anything from the marked down section and gets all the promotions going (whether they need them or not). And me, I hear you ask? Well, I can fall into all many of the categories depending on my mood, but with my nappies, baby wipes, baby formula, nappy sacks and rusks being scanned through, there’s no denying I’m a Mum!

I know, I know, I must be coming across as the most impatient person in the world, but I’m not. I admit I have my moments (as does anyone), but it’s just that inconsiderate shoppers really get me riled! I’m talking about trolley abandoners! You know the sort (maybe you’re even guilty of doing it yourself). You get half way around the supermarket when you’re doing your weekly shop only to realise you’ve forgotten something from the first aisle. But, instead of taking your trolley back with you (that’s too much like hard work) you simply abandon it mid aisle while you go off to get your bananas which drives me bananas! Because, on the way for their forgotten item, trolley abandoners often stop to browse (well, why not - they are unencumbered by a trolley after all!)

So, my problem with the abandoned trolley is that more often than not it’s parked right in the was of the shelf or chiller that I need to get to and I don’t appreciate having to manoeuvre my trolley and someone else’s just to get to the cheese! This normally results in trolley rage and it’s not even my trolley! So, next time you need to go back for something from aisle one, spare a thought for your fellow shoppers and take your trolley with you!

Have you ever found your dream dress or perfect top in your favourite high street store only to have it taken from right under your nose? You know the scenario - you see the most gorgeous item of clothing, you’re just about to reach for the last one in your size when a hand comes out of nowhere and swipes it away before your eyes. If you’re anything like me, you spend the next 15 minutes ‘browsing’ whilst keeping the clothes snatcher under surreptitious surveillance. They walk around, picking up other items, putting them back and generally stringing out the tortuous process for you. Will they or won’t they take it to the till? Will it come back into the hands of the rightful owner. They go to the changing rooms and you hang around in the hope that they’ll come out, say to the assistant “this one’s no good” giving you the opportunity to pounce!

It happens to me all the time. Sometimes I have to admit defeat and go home empty handed, all the time building the item of clothing up and up in my mind until it reaches the status of being a top or dress that would’ve changed my life forever, led to me fulfilling my dreams and resulted in financial security for life! On occasions, I manage to return home triumphant, only for the ‘dream’ garment to spend the next 4 months at the back of my wardrobe because it doesn’t go with anything else or I simply don’t find the right occasion to wear it. Worse still, is when you get it home, still love it, feel fantastic in it, have the perfect opportunity to wear it and then someone else turns up wearing exactly the same - arrgghh! Has it ever happened to you?