By: Jenny Zhang, Quizzle.com
There are the people who love to shop because they love the stuff and then there are the people who love a good bargain. Me? I love the bargain. I can buy anything full price anytime, but a real bargain is rare - and perhaps it's the challenge that makes shopping more interesting for me.
So, here are five great money saving websites every shopper should know about, because let's face it: our busy lives often make running to brick and mortar stores difficult at times.
1. Slickdeals
While this forum often features geeky computer stuff like duo processors and monitors, it also has some great finds. With the holidays right around the corner, watch Slickdeals for great sales on digital cameras, HD flat screens and even cooking ware.
2. Travelzoo
Love to travel? Check out this site's weekly deals. While Slickdeals has a lot of great vacation packages that are on sale (just type it into their search bar), Travelzoo offers the week's top 20 that are worth checking into.
3. Woot
This site made it to the list because there are four of them:
- Deals.woot competes with Slickdeals;
- Wine.woot offers wine at a great discount;
- Kids.woot for children's clothing, tools, etc.;
- Sellout.woot, which is Woot's partnership with Yahoo!
If you haven't already heard about Woot's philosophy, they sell one thing a day. And when that thing is sold out, then you have to wait until tomorrow for the next thing. Usually, that item is 40 percent to 50 percent off what the original price is.
Then, about once a month (we never know the date) Woot has a "Wootoff." This is when they sell one thing after another continuously for 24 to 72 hours. While it may be nice to have something new posted every 5 to 10 minutes (a new item is brought on as soon as the previous one is sold out), the true significance of this site is its "Bag of Crap." The Bag of Crap is this random item that is a mystery as to what's inside. You spend $3 for 3 items and $5 for shipping, and get three random items. This could be flat screen TVs or little toy soldiers shipped to you, we'll never know, and they sell out within seconds.
4. PriceGrabber
How do you know if something is really a good deal? Go to this site to find out how much all the retailers are selling that item for. This way you can compare pricing before deciding where to buy it.
5. RetailMeNot
Let's say you found some clothes online, wouldn't it be nice to get an additional 20 percent off before checking out? Retail Me Not is a site where religious shoppers like us post the coupon codes we get for signing up for their promotions in-store, so that other people can enjoy the discount too.
Looking for more helpful money saving tips? Check out:
- Is Your Car Ready for Winter?
- 45 Ways to Save Money and Live Well
- Save like Scrooge: Money Saving Ideas for the Holidays
- Home Energy Saving Tips
- Does Peer Pressure and Saving Money Mix?
For free tools and information about your home, money and credit, visit Quizzle.com. You'll get a free credit report and free credit score, plus other great freebies to help you make smart decisions about your life.
Jenny Zhang is an experienced personal finance writer with a knack for taking complex money issues and making them clear and simple. By day, she's a home loan expert at Quicken Loans, America's #1 online lender, where she specializes in writing about home buying, refinancing and money saving tips.
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