As I was raised on the absolute epitome of the Bread Line, growing up on waffles and tinned spagetti hoops, I've never quite been able to bring myself to pay full price for anything. I've gotten some great bargins over the last few weeks and here are my top picks:
Shelbourne Dental Clinic, Ringsend
In June 2010, following a check up in Smiles Dental Clinic (also very cheap for the basics) I was informed that I had one of the most nasty infections ever seen in my Lower Left 6 Molar. Treatment would cost upwards of 2grand and if it wasn't seen to immediately, I risked losing not only the infected tooth but the surrounding teeth as well. Roll forward to December 2011 and I'm a grown up with a Dental Plan. The catch is that I've to pay 30% of any invasive treatment. I did my shopping and sure enough the quotes came in at about 1000euro. No thank you. Last Friday I found myself in absolute agony and decided that an emergency dental visit was needed. I phoned the dentists around the City Centre and I got 2 quotes back of 900euro (a significant reduction apparently). I did not have 900euro up front in the middle of January. I asked around the office and everyone recommended the Shelbourne Dental clinic - the 2 dentists & dental nurse had been invited in by staff for lunch on a number of occasions - so they must be good! Low and behold - 600euro and an emergency appointment with 150e payable up front for full Root Canal Treatment and a crown to support the Molar. The lady I spoke to told me that there may be an additional 80euro for x-rays but I'd be able to claim bits and pieces back through my PRSI.
I arrived in for my appointment to be told, again, that this was one of the worst ones he'd seen and it would require 3 appointments rather than 2. The price remained the same & they threw in a free polish while we were waiting for the anesthetic to kick in. I now understand why there are miscellaneous email threads in work discussing how good these guys are. The service was top notch, the clinic was clean, the staff were lovely and the price was cheapest I'd been quoted including quotes obtained from up North.
Awesome A+
Zenergy Day Spa, Fade St
I bought a couples detox package on LivingSocial which included a back massage and a facial for two for 65euro. Now I'd heard bad reviews of this place, so I was a little warey. However, they're complete bullshit. The staff were lovely, the place was clean and the massage therapist absolutely beat the crap out of me - exactly what I needed. Now, I did ask her to apply pressure so if sadism isn't your thing, I imagine they'll go lightly. I also learned that they don't like the term 'masseuse!' While sitting in their relaxation room sipping Green Tea I had a ponder over their price list and wow is it cheap. A lot of massage can also be expensed through the VHI. Happy days! They even have a loyalty card. I will be back :)
You can get fucked if you think I'm paying 200quid for a new pair of glasses in specpecsavers. Buy a par for a tenner in Topshop, send them + your prescription off to Ciliary Blue and hey presto you've got a new pair of prescription glasses. £35. I got mine back yesterday. From application to final delivery, the whole process took about 10 days. Yes please.
Pretty Woman, Finglas
I was watching Xposé there like an idiot one of the days and yer wan with the fake everything was banging on about Micro-Needling. As usual they had a civilian but not so civilian on and she preached wonders about the thing so I decided to look into it myself. A few Google searches later I'd learned that it was damn expensive and that I absolutely had to have it done. I looked around to see if anywhere had offers on but no dice. Then I came across this little website prettywoman.ie Your first treatment is E150 and each treatment is E75 thereafter. The first one is more expensive because it includes the cost of the roller. As the roller has needles on it, it cannot be transferred between clients.
Oh, I just checked their website and it's under construction. But they are good. Very good. There was none of this soft talking, candles, "we're a day spa" shite. It was in, out, friendly smiles, hello, goodbye, job done. Just as it should be. I'm a busy girl and Finglas is yonks away. I'm going back next week for my second treatment... but that's a whole other post.
Books
Forget Amazon. Go to Tesco.
Make Up Pro Card
I recently received my pro card for a rather large make-up brand that I and every other girl loves. These are rather easily obtained. All you need is a letter to say you're a make up student. Simples. Take a certain make up colleges logo from their website, stick it into a Word Document, write a 'Welcome to our Make Up School' letter including start dates and student registration number.
If you want the full pro card all you need to do is prove that you're a make-up artist. Things like a Call Sheet for a photoshoot, a website, photos of your mates acting as models... All of these things are incredibly easy to forge obtain :) 10%-40% discount. Boom.
The White Door
They've a load of overpriced crap int hat shop but their make up is damn good. The Eyeshadow single palettes are under a 5er and fit into MAC cases. Very good quality make up too with lots of quirky golds :)
Meteor
I don't understand why people would choose any other phone network. My bill is 15e/month on a 30 day contract that I can cancel at any time. It includes 200 mins, 200 texts, free Meteor calls & texts & 1 GB of data. Meteor also have free roaming in Europe, which I though everyone had but apparently not! As I'm on a 30 day contract, I can change plans anytime I like. Each time a better deal comes up, I switch to it. You just have to threaten to move to the 3 Network unless they change your plan. I've done this 3 times now.
Also on a similar note, never ever ever pay full price for a phone plan! I rang Meteor and got my dad an iPhone 4 on a 24month contrat. He has the same inclusions as me but he's paying 20e a month for the first 6 months, 30e per month for the following 6 months and 40e a month thereafter. They can't sell these deals in the shop, but ring the Bill Pay team and the'll sort you out.
And remember the number one rule when buying online: When you get to the checkout do a Google search for "Shop Discount Voucher Code Month Year" or "Valid Student Discount Code UK shop 2012." Never fails. It's take you about 15minutes to find one, but it'll save you 20 quid or so. If you look at that in the context of wages, that's 2 hours wages. So effectively you've also saved 1 hour 45 minutes of your working life :)
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