Feb 15th, 2008
Hunting for Discounts
I admit it freely: ever since I was a kid, I’ve been a fan of buying mail order. It’s not always feasible (if for no reason other than the price of shipping), but I love the discounted prices, greater selection, and just the thrill of getting something in the mail.
As I’ve gotten older and frugality has become an important value in my life, I’ve also become a fan of comparison shopping. I keep in my notebook a list of prices of things I commonly buy in certain stores I frequent; for instance, I know that between the two stores that carry 36 packs of Diet Pepsi locally–Costco and Foodland–Costco usually has the better price, but both occasionally have sales, so I scour the weekly advertisements and coupon books that come in the mail to see if I can find a better deal.
The Internet has made combining comparison shopping and mail order a lot easier. Not only are there so many great places to shop online, there are comparison sites and coupon sites, all of which can make for great ways to spend less money.
For instance, one of the earliest comparison sites I learned about was DealMac, which looked for deals on products related to the Macintosh; they also have related sites like DealRAM, DealNews, and DealCam. There are lots of sites like this on the Web; I’ve also frequented TechBargains and a newer site which I like a lot called DiscountCouponsGuide.
In combination with this are “coupon” sites; sites which direct you to online coupons or reveal codes to enter when you’re checking out of a site to get a discounted rate. FlamingoWorld, CouponMountain, CouponCabin, and many others exist to try to spread the word about discount codes.
Personally, I try to use these in combination whenever possible, and I also try to throw in use of a credit card that will give me some kind of reward, like the 5% Cashback bonus from Discover while shopping at Circuit City online (among many other retailers) or the free extended warranty offered on purchases made with certain kinds of Visa cards.
How do you use comparison shopping and coupons on the Internet to help you spend less?
You might also consider DealTaker.com for deals and coupons.
I use both comparison shopping sites and coupon sites when shopping online – it’s a great way to find the best prices. I also like CouponHeaven.com. The URL is http://www.couponheaven.com/
Don’t forget FreshBargains. I set up instant deal alerts on their site for stuff I’m looking for, and I have gotten at least a couple of best deals. Normally, I’m too late… either the deal expired, or they ran out of stocks. URL is http://www.FreshBargains.net – good luck!
[...] Comparisons Posted in February 16th, 2008 by admin in Ask the readers, Budgeting, Frugality In the first installment of Hunting for Discounts, I discussed my love of mail order shopping and comparison shopping and using the Internet to [...]
you should also take a look at http://www.whatsyourdeal.com we get many exclusive coupons that you can’t find anywhere else on the net
I think BradsDeals is the best!
http://www.bradsdeals.com
[...] We’ve discussed Internet coupon sites here in the past (and of course, we’ve had the fabulous Kyle of Rather-Be-Shopping.com do a bunch of guest posts!), so they’re not new to us. But there are other sites out there and other ways to spend less or get rebates, and I’m wondering which do you like? [...]