Shop 'til you ...

So as part of the fun of house ownership, I've been Appliance Comparison Shopping. Not as easy as you might think. Different shops stock different brands, and they all want to convince you to buy the expensive ones that don't work any better than the cheap ones. Then, just for a little extra variety, there are some new energy efficiency standards coming being introduced in five weeks for things such as fridges. The stores claim no knowledge of this, and until pressed, seemed quite happy to sell me the inefficient ones at full price.

I shan't slag off any stores in particular, but would like to point out that Arthur Barnett's (a full-service, up-market, department store), has some things quite a lot cheaper than certain high-profile 'discount' retailers.