This has been a hot topic in the past couple of months and I thought it would make an interesting discussion. As hubby and I are both business people we always like reading the business section in the newspaper or on news.com.au. In the past month the amount of big brands and businesses going into receivership is insane and I am sure is the result of a slump in domestic buying. Only in the past few weeks – Borders, Angus and Robinson and Colorado have all gone into receivership with major store closures for Angus and Robinson and the unknown fate of Colorado.

I have been buying overseas for many years, my first dabble in overseas buying was like most – Ebay. What a fabulous concept Ebay is not only for finding local bargains but also for opening up the world to consumers.

Over the years I have become more confident with buying overseas and recently was introduced to the world of parcel forwarding which I will touch on more later.

I found it interesting a couple of months ago that Gerry Harvey had teamed together with other big stores to try and stop or curb the amount of overseas buying, he was trying to push taxes to encourage people to buy locally. But lets look at why the average consumer, like me is buying overseas.

Let’s start with my most recent purchase, yesterday I purchased a Stokke Xplory. I am a bargain shopper so I did a lot of research and shopping around including a trip to my local baby store and a few Australian baby stores online. After all of this research I decided to buy from overseas and here is why ….

Cost of Stokke Xplory plus accessories in Australia (Prices from an extremely popular online store) -

Stokke Xplory in Beige – $1799
Carry Cot – $499
Mosquito Net – $21.99
Rain Cover – $52.20
Change Bag – $169.95
Toddler Rider Board – $169.95
Cup Holder – $44.95
Travel Bag – $189.95
Parasol – $94.95
Summer Kit – $349.95

Total – $3,561.84

Buying Stokke Xplory Overseas -

Stokke Xplory in Beige Complete (Includes Carry Cot, Mosquito net and rain cover) – $1089
Carry Cot – Included
Mosquito Net – Included
Rain Cover – Included
Change Bag – $124.70
Toddler Rider Board – $116.90
Cup Holder – $23.35
Travel Bag – $109.10
Parasol – $54.55
Summer Kit – $236.90

Sub total – $1754.50
Plus shipping – $550

Total Cost – $2,304.50

Total saving – $1,257.34

Why wouldn’t I buy overseas saving that amount of money?

This is just one example of how much money you can save shopping overseas. Many brands especially in the baby industry have placed limitations on international sellers and not allowing them to sell overseas. Thankfully I found a store that would ship directly to me, however even if they wouldn’t I would have used a parcel forwarding service. This example also shows that manufactures are taking advantage of the profits that can be made selling their products in Australia.

What is a parcel forwarding service?

There are companies such as www.borderlinx.com who will provide you with a USA or UK address to have your goods sent to you, once they receive the goods they will then forward them to you. It is a little more expensive to do it this way, but when you are saving thousands of dollars it’s well worth it!

So here is where the debate gets interesting. In bad economical times where petrol is almost $1.50 per litre, electricity and water costs have gone up by up to 30% and wages have not had a big shift in 10 years are we really meant to support local companies and shop locally or should they be meeting the market? Our dollar has never been stronger, so this should mean big companies importing from overseas are making more profit than they have in years, yet the consumer is seeing no price changes on the shelf.

I would love to support local business, but at the end of the day $1000 in my pocket is just too much money to give away even a saving of $50 or $60 is enough to make me shop overseas. Money is money and as my Dad has always said …. no one ever got rich giving it away!

Yesterday Gerry Harvey announced Harvey Norman would be entering the online shopping world. But will they be able to offer enough savings to entice customers to shop at home rather than abroad? It certainly will be interesting!

So how do you feel? I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic so comment below.

Jen xx

Times have certainly changed! When I first had Cooper, my Mum told me when I was born there was nothing available for parents. You would feed your baby sitting in the middle of the shopping centre, if it was acceptable or you would feed baby in the ladies room. She would change our nappies in the pram, trying to juggle shopping bags and people looking at her. If you needed a bottle or baby food heated you would have to hope that a cafe had a microwave and they would be willing to heat it for you.

Now life is so much easier! We now have wonderful parents rooms! A clean, safe and practical place to feed and change baby and even with play areas in some!

Our local shopping centre is excellent. It is brand new and has the best parents room I have seen. It has a fenced play area for the kids with a few things to climb on and some activities aswell as a flat screen tv. The change facilities are great with a sink right next to the change tables and bins within arms reach. There is also a little kitchen nook with a microwave and sink for heating bottles and food and 2 private rooms for breast feeding. Plus for the Mum’s with toilet training aged children there is 2 toilets in the restroom – 1 full sized toilet and a smaller kids toilet!

When we were there yesterday there was a new addition which I thought was photo worthy! A vending machine! Not your usual machine filled with your favourite drinks or snacks. But one filled with all of your parenting needs! Here are a few things that were in the machine:

* Sippy Cups
* Nappies of all sizes sold in a single pack
* Bottles
* Small toys – hot wheels cars and farm animals
* Sultanas
* Dummies
* Baby food
*Snacks
* Nappy cream

Those are just some! It was really a great idea and so handy if you have forgotten anything!

Parents rooms are really an amazing luxury we have and I really applaud the shopping centres for allowing us the space and facilities to make feeding and changing so easy!

Jen xx

This seems to be one area I have never been really satisfied in. I have had a few nappy bags, one of them very expensive and none of them have ever really done what I wanted.

Before Cooper was born I splashed out on and Isoki Nappy bag. I loved it (I still do). It came with 2 insert bags – insulated bottle holder and a 2 zip utility bag. It was a really big bag and big enough to hold everything ….. but still not very practical!

After Cooper was born I used to get so frustrated. The bag was so big and there were no useful pockets inside so everything was pretty much thrown in the bag with no real order to it and I always found myself digging and sifting through desperately trying to find something that usually had fallen to the very bottom. The other flaw is it had no sip to close it only a tie in the centre, so when (yes this happened a lot) I would drop the bag, the contents would spill everywhere!

A few month after I decided to find a bag with my pockets and compartments. The only bag I could find was a Ryco one from Target. It had a front zip pocket that folded out to reveal multiple clear pockets for all your bits n pieces, a bottle insulator pouch built into the side and a fold out change mat attached. The change mat is rather annoying, I prefer to have it seperate so ended up still packing my Isoki mat. The pouches in the front pocket are handy but I found there wasn’t enough and they were all the wrong size and the main part of the bag was just too small to carry everything.

By the time Cooper was 9 months old I gave up on nappy bags. He was now on solids almost fulltime and I found it easier to pack a change of clothes, 2 nappies, wipes and a bottle into an enviro bag and keep these at the bottom of the pram and put snacks and his sippy cup in my handbag that would hang off the handle.

My Ryco bag is now packed away in the cupboard and I am sure I will use it in the future for our next baby and my beautiful Isoki bag is now used for swimming, picnic’s and even as an overnight bag.

Finding the perfect nappy bag is never easy and it is sometimes impossible and I wish someone out there would make a nappy bag that is not only functional but also fashionable!