If you’ve noticed your electricity bill creeping up over winter, you’ve probably considered shopping around to compare electricity suppliers and cut costs.

Now that New Zealanders have the option to compare electricity prices online, reducing your power bill has never been easier.

Forget donning several layers to keep warm around the house if you’re conscious of your budget, because you can now choose the cheapest power products and options at the click of your mouse.

By being able to compare electricity prices and suppliers online, households can now reduce their power bills without having to cut down on winter essentials like the heating.

Just like browsing the ‘specials’ aisle in the supermarket, shopping around for electricity online means consumers now have the power to select the most cost effective options, shop for electricity specials, and purchase products that spread their bill payments out over time, so your power bill doesn’t skyrocket over winter.

To learn more about comparing electricity prices online check out the NZS.com directory.

When you’re trying to find cheap flights, when should you start? Should you book months ahead to ensure the dates you want? Or should you wait until last minute bargains come up?

Usually, it’s best to find a good median point. Three months before you start to travel, start to keep an eye out on deals. They’re a dime a dozen these days, so make sure you get e-mail alerts and keep your preferred travel websites in your favourites. This will ensure you always know about the deals as they arise - and have the greatest chance of snapping them up.

Choose early morning or late evening flight bookings and you’ll save even more, and don’t forget the option of travelling with one airline to your destination, and another airline on the way back. Saving your hard earned cash and jetting off on holiday is still doable when you know all the tricks!

Image from Flickr.

Flicking through the latest design magazines is a popular pastime for Kiwis, we’re obsessed with our homes and continually want to improve them. If you’ve been browsing publications like Wallpaper for some time you’ve probably got a real yearning for beautiful objects - many of which are from international designers and are extravagantly expensive.

Luckily, our little country has many emerging New Zealand designers of homeware and giftware which are fun, funky, and of international quality and innovation, but at down to earth prices. There are some great NZ design websites out there offering these products online, some of the hottest designers including F3, Cina, Ataahua and Kinoo. For the best objects of desire for the home for yourself or someone you love, buy NZ design gifts online and get them shipped straight to your door.

With the autumn leaves starting to fall, it’s time to think about preparing your body for winter this year. Are you normally prone to colds, infections, dry skin and nails, or a lack of energy during the colder months? These are just some of the many ailments which can affect Kiwis from now until spring. Have you thought about going down the natural health products line this year?

There are health supplements out there to fight every winter woe naturally, all of which are easily accessible online from anywhere in the country. From Propolis for sore throats to Vitamin B for stress, herbal and natural health products are available at an international health pharmacy with just a few clicks of your mouse.

Looking for a new mobile phone? If you never got on the iPhone NZ bandwagon (or your blackberry needs and update), you’re in luck.

Google Phone has been confirmed for release in New Zealand within the first half of this year. The phone, which uses Google’s open source operating system Android, will be available on the Vodafone network.

The Google Phone, a second generation version of the T-Mobile G1, will feature WiFi, a 3.2 megapixel camera, GPS capabilities and a touch keyboard.

Online shopping website Ferrit.co.nz, who you’ll probably know from their extensive advertising campaigns that have been just about everywhere in recent years, have decided to close.

Owned by Telecom, the shopping website has never returned a profit since its launch in 2005. It started with around 150 online stores and toted itself as a true online mall. The number of stores has since decreased to 90.

Ferrit employs 24 permanent staff and 13 contractors, and while Telecom will try to place them in other parts throughout the company, they can’t guarantee that there won’t be any job losses.

Debit cards are a reasonably new thing in New Zealand and are being pitched quite strongly as the answer to shopping online this holiday season. If you’re concerned about going over budget on the credit card, or you don’t yet have a credit card (and tend to borrow one off a parent or flatmate), a debit card may be the solution for you.

The Visa debit card from Westpac (called the DebitPlus Card) has been introduced as the best way to shop online and overseas when attaching to a New Zealand bank account.

Also launched this year is the Loaded Card, again from Visa and available through New Zealand Post’s new website, loadedcard.co.nz which is a re-loadable pre-paid Visa card. This card provides roughly the same benefits in shopping online as the DebitPlus, however it is not attached to a standard bank account.

Debit cards that can purchase online are the standard option in many countries overseas (e.g. in the UK with Maestro and Solo cards) although in New Zealand it was EFTPOS that took off from an early stage (which could not easily transact online).

Constant reminders of the current world economic state may be hard to dodge in our media-filled lives, but that doesn’t mean scrimping on luxuries - just a change in the kind of luxuries we consume.

The entertainment industry believes that sectors like video games and DVDs will be buffered from the effects of the financial crisis that are hitting many other industries. When the film Iron Man hit DVD stores on September 30 in the US, the same week that the $700 million bailout bill was in proposition, the movie sold a record 500,000 copies on Blu-Ray for the first week. Similarly, the new James Bond film Quantum of Solace, which opens in New Zealand today, pulled in nearly US$30 million more on its opening weekend in the US in mid-November than its predecessor, Casino Royale.

While there is no question many are tightening their belts on luxuries, it seems lower-priced entertainment is taking a bit shift to replace the luxuries of the past. While parents may have taken their children on a waterskiing holiday over Christmas in previous years, the trend this year may be buying a gift in the form of a Nintendo Wii console and a few supplementing Wii Fit games to virtually ride the waters.

With options for NZ shopping online just a click away, consumers are expected to buy up larger this year on in-home entertainment. Instead of buying a new car or taking a trip, consumers are moving to a more cost-conscious way of enjoying their disposable incomes, so don’t be surprised when you find yourself with more video games and high-def entertainment than you can shake a stick at this Christmas!

Image from Flickr.

The festive calendar really ticked over yesterday: just five weeks until Christmas. While shopping malls have had decorations up and yuletide tunes playing since the start of November, consumers throughout New Zealand can really now starting thinking about managing their Christmas this year.

Planning your Christmas needs to start early, so it’s a good idea to start a list now. Cook a Christmas meal, or order everything from the deli the day before? Decorate the Christmas tree with last year’s ornaments, or take advantage of the many stores already offering discounted Christmas products? Buy New Zealand made products, or imported gifts? Decisions, decisions! NZS.com is here to help you out with many of your common Christmas queries, and we’ll be regularly featuring tips and articles on the blog in the lead up to Santa’s visit.

While we’re five weeks out, you should get onto planning your Christmas party and start putting together your Christmas cards list. More tips to come next week!

Image from Flickr.

Do you have a No Circulars sign on your letterbox? I don’t, and for good reason. I’m always eager to snap up a bargain, and revel in clipping coupons for half price dinners, free DVD rentals and cheap lawn mowing services.

There are certain days of the week when my mailbox is full of circulars, and some days it gets a bit much. Sure, one of them will have a bunch of great deals, but the rest of it is just physical spam. The pre-digital version of what we can reasonably easily keep out of our inboxes in the online world.

Being a truly ‘green’ country, it is surprising that there aren’t more regulations on circulars production and distribution - we’ve all seen hundreds of ad campaigns focusing on recycling, but never think about cutting waste off at the source.

The good news, times have changed and I don’t even need to scour the circulars and clip coupons anymore - online voucher companies now offer printable vouchers (and for the super eco-friendly, TXT voucher downloads). They’re simple to search for in your region, and you can print off as many as you like on one page - so you’ll never have to pay full price for pizzas, DVDs, haircuts and car regos again! Saving money doesn’t get easier when it’s on demand like that.

I’m off to buy one of those No Circulars signs…