Frugal Friday - 26 November 2010

by Chiara Cavaglieri on 25 November 2010  |  1 comment
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Highlights this week include secret VIP shopping discounts in London, 40% off at House of Fraser, 20% off at Asos, a special offer on Taste Christmas tickets, better than half-price No7 goodies at Boots, £26 off Nintendo DS game Where the Wild Things Are, £10 tickets to Here Come the Girls and a massive £46 off the three-season box set of Arrested Development!

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It’s cold, dark and miserable outside and if you’re immune system is anything like mine you’ll have a stinking cold. But it’s not all doom and gloom…there are sales galore in the shops and we’ve put together the very best of them for you!

Frugal fashion

First up dive into these new or extended sales which all expire at midnight tonight:

• House of Fraser: Two day brand event with up to 40% off.
• Coast: Get 20% off ALL items.
• Planet: Save an extra 20% on ALL items.
• Oasis: Get 20% off Oasis collections with the code 20EARLY.

Now browse the rest of the new sales:

• Ann Summers: Spend £35 and get £5 off with code GIFT until midnight Saturday.
• Hobbs: Get 25% off this weekend.
• Republic: Get 15% off dresses with code DRESS15 until midnight on Sunday.
• Warehouse: Save £10 when you spend £50 or more with code SHOP10HP.
• Barratts: Get 20% off everything with the code SPECIAL.
• BooHoo: Save 20% on ALL items with code DEAL.
• Espirit: Get your second item half-price until 5 December.
• Miss Selfridge: New lines added to 50% off sale and 25% off jewellery.
• Laura Ashley: Get 25% off selected knitwear and coats.
• Whistles: Get 20% this weekend.
• Jaegar: Christmas event save 20% on ALL items until Sunday.
• Alexon: Get 20% off full-price items until Sunday.
• New Look: This weekend only the code VIPX10 will get you 20% off full-price items!
• All Saints: Get 25% off online and in store excluding vintage.
• Asos: Save 20% on Asos brand with code ASOS20.
• M&S: Get 20% off all jewellery here.
• Wallis: Get up to 30% off party dresses.
• Mybag: Save 15% on winter warmers.

And see what’s left in the ongoing sales:

• BHS: Save up to 30% across the store.
• Clarks: Get up to 50% off in sale.
• Dorothy Perkins: Get 30% off selected lines here.
• Fashion Union: Get up to 40% off in mid season reductions.
• Gap: Last chance to get 30% off with this voucher.
• H&M: Get 50% off in sale and get 25% off one item when you sign up to the newsletter here.
• Jane Norman: Save up to 50% in the ongoing sale.
• Jones: Final week to get £20 off all adult boots.
• John Lewis: Get 20% off in a price match promo.
• Joules: Save up to 50% in the sale.
• Karen Millen: Plenty left in the 50% off sale.
• La Redoute: Sale on with up to 50% off.
• Mybag: Get up to 75% off in the sale.
• Peacocks: Get up to 30% off partywear and £5 off knitwear.
• Shudoo: Up to 70% off brands.
• Urban Outfitters: Up to 50% off in the sale.

Secret VIP shopping discounts

This weekend only, Oxford Street and Regent Street in London will be closed to traffic, and shoppers using American Express cards can get exclusive discounts and rewards, including:

• £50 off when you spend over £200 at Jaeger
• 10% off at Divertimenti
• Complimentary glasses of champagne at Nicole Farhi

You get double rewards on everything you spend, including double cashback - so potentially up to 10% off everything you buy using an American Express Platinum Card.

Christmas gifts for less

Here are my frugal finds for top gifts this Christmas:

• If you have a friend who can’t cook, get them the Taste Card which will save them 50% at thousands of restaurants. Annual membership normally costs £69.95 but if you enter the promo code MERRY at the checkout it will cost just £29.95.
• The Victoria & Albert Museum’s online shop online is crammed full of unusual bits and bobs, perfect for something a bit different this Crimbo. A few things caught my eye including this pear memo pad for £4.50, a Love Birds stretched canvas print for £75 and for the little ones, this V&A Art Box for £16.
• Get your hands on the best Boots Christmas Gift of the Week to date – the No7 Protect & Perfect gift set for £45 (was £91) only until 2 December. This also comes with a free No7 clutch purseworth £37, while stocks last.
• Finally, save 50% on selected beauty gifts (great for stocking fillers) this weekend at M&S such as these Floral Collection shower creams (now £2.50) or this Fruity Beauty lip balm (now just £1).

Exclusive offer for lovemoney.com readers

To celebrate the launch of our sister site lovefood.com, we have got a special offer for readers of Frugal Food and Frugal Friday this week.

You can get two tickets to Taste Christmas at the Excel centre in London for £28 - a saving of £16. Fill your stockings early at the boutique market and source essential ingredients for your festive Christmas lunch before settling down to a fine wine, rich coffee, quality cheese or chocolate tasting. Mmmmm.

Alternatively, visit the Taste Theatres, where top chefs like Heston Blumenthal, Antony Worrall Thompson and Jean-Christophe Novelli share their kitchen secrets!

Plus, 12 of London’s top restaurants will be serving up seasonal menus of everything from traditional classics to cutting-edge cuisine - plenty to fire up the imagination, and your tastebuds.

And if you like the sound of that, head over to lovefood.com to get free recipes from top chefs like Jamie Oliver and Rene Redzepi.

Books & Games

Browse through the top deals for book worms this week:

• Amazon has the best price for both A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil Macgregor at £16.05, saving you £13.95, and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage Every Day at £13.40 (RRP £25).
• For an icy thriller, Lee Child’s 61 Hours will hit the spot and it is half-price at The Book Depository, now only £3.95, and stay where you are for Waiting for Columbus by Thomas Trofimuk, which is £4.24 (RRP £7.99).
• Head to ASDA to get your mitts on Blood Brothers by Josephine Cox for only £3.96 (RRP £12.99) and you can get J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for the lowest price of £5 (RRP £8.99).

And check out the best buys for gamers:

• Newly released Assassins Creed Brotherhood (PS3) is £31.85 at Simply Games, saving you £18.14, and the latest Sonic the Hedgehog Nintendo Wii game Sonic Colours is only £24.73 at The Hut, saving you 38%.
• Star Wars fans can get The Force Unleashed 2 for the Xbox at Amazon for just £24.99 (RRP £49.99).
• If you want to stock up on Nintendo DS games stick with Amazon to get Where the Wild Things Are for just £3.99, a massive £26 off the retail price, and Art Academy for the lowest price of £14.91 (RRP £29.99).

DVDs & boxsets

Now on to the best DVD deals this week:

Frugal find of the week

Viagogo is offering four tickets to see show Here Come the Girls (starring Lulu, Heather Small and Anastasia) for just £40 – these usually costs around £50 for one ticket so you’ll be saving roughly £160! This offer is only valid for the following shows; Hammersmith Apollo on 29 and 30 November, MEN arena on 6 December and Trent FM arena on 10 December.

Freebie of the week

Sign up with Vichy Consult to become a Vichy VIP which means you’ll be given a free online skin health consultation and a free sample starter kit (based on the results of your consultation).

Mobile phone deal of the week 

O2 is offering the stylish Blackberry Curve 8520 smartphone with 500 minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB internet all for just £25 per month on a 24 month contract. Get the deal here, or, if all that doesn’t float your boat, you can compare other top mobile deals at Recombu.

Competition of the week

Woman & Home is giving away products from the Jamie Oliver Kitchen Kit range worth over £250. All you have to do is answer the question here and fill out your details.

Eating out

If you don’t fancy cooking for yourself this weekend, you can check out all the latest restaurant bargains in lovemoney.com’s Frugal Food blog. Read more

Eating in

If you'd prefer to stay in and cook up a delicious meal without blowing the budget, check out the original Frugal Recipes blog for some inspiration! Read more

Don’t forget: although all prices and discounts were correct on the day this article was published, offers this good are subject to change and often sell out quickly.

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