Shopping Online
May 17th, 2006 | by Molly's Brother |My 5 Ways To Save: New Wave post the other day talked about reducing your debt by eliminating your dependence to online shopping. If you haven’t been able to break your shopping habit, you might as well save as much money as you can while doing it. Below are some excellent sites that might help you in your quest towards a newfound financial freedom.
Bargain Basement
My frugal friends out there will vow that eBay and CraigsList are the way to shop. And they are perfect…if you are a college student who needs a couch for less than $50 or if you’re looking for Ishtar movie memorabilia. (Seriously. Search for it on eBay.)
A Virtual Outlet Store
A recent favorite of mine has been Overstock.com As with any outlet-type store, the prices are incredibly attractive. A quick search of men’s watches showed savings of 48% to 80% off. Shipping and handling prices are incredibly inexpensive, too. Upon receiving the items, however, the results have been hit-and-miss. I’ve had wonderful experiences with this site, but friends of mine have vowed never to shop here again. Start with a few lower priced products to develop your own experiences with this site.
Comparison Shopping
Researching competitive prices when buying anything is a vital habit to develop, especially when you grow more conscious about sticking to your monthly budget. There are a ton of helpful comparison sites out there. Among my two favorites are Google’s site, Froogle.com, which provides a quite extensive array of products and sites to choose from. Epinions.com is also another wonderful site, although I have found they’ve made recent changes. It appears as they’ve moved from offering opinions on products to only offering price comparisons. In the end, thought, using any comparison site to do the research for you saves you valuable time and energy.
Your Traditional Stores
Many shopping is done using the online section of the traditional brick-and-mortar stores. If you are interested in getting that sweater you saw at J. Crew or that skirt you saw at the Banana Republic, first get online. Many times, the items are cheaper if you buy them online. Also, do a search on currentcodes.com. This site not only offers current codes that may save you on the price of shipping, but it also mentions current promotions that many businesses–from American Eagle Outfitters to .Mac–are now offering. Promotions that you might not know about. Furthermore, google for codes for free shipping. For example, if you are interested in buying a television from Best Buy, you might be successful in getting that itemed shipped for free by searching for the correct codes online.
Let’s be honest. If you’re not going to stop shopping online, you may as well do it in a way that saves money and protects your wallet.
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