How to save $$$... |Frugal Front Porch

...you shop online!

Living over 7o miles from the nearest city of decent size, online shopping is a must for this frugalista! The benefits to online shopping are endless.

Infinite ability to shop around in a matter of minutes w/out spending a dime on gas or listening to "are we there yet" for the 50th time!
Wish lists, gift lists, registry lists, etc takes the guess work out of buying for others.
Items are saved in the shopping cart for purchase at a later time-the kids are climbing the walls or it's an impulse buy you want to think about!
One of my personal favorites: the convenience of shopping from the comfort of my favorite living room chair in my PJ's day or night. There are oodles of ways to save when shopping online. Stores are open 24/7.

The biggest problem with online shopping is when you manage to find that killer price, the cost of shipping breaks the bank! This defeats the purpose of online shopping but don't worry there's several solutions to this problem!

First, look for an online discount code. There's many sites out there who offer this service. Many of your favorite retailers offer an email newsletter to keep you informed of their current promotions. Many times they'll send you exclusive promotional discount codes to use during checkout. The service is usually free but I suggest you use a separate email account (not an ALIAS) for this unless you want to go through these emails daily. Another option is to google online discount codes, along with the name of the store you wish to shop, for a directory of sites who list discount codes for public use. My favorite is Retail Me Not. They have a thousands of codes submitted by their site's users. They also have a great little application you can install to work with your browser. Whenever you visit a site listed in their database, a notification bar appears at the top of the window with a "view codes" button designed to give you easy access to their discount codes. Another great site is freeshipping.org completely devoted to getting the most accurate free shipping codes. Unlike retail me not, freeshipping.org obtains their codes strictly from the retailer so you are guaranteed better odds of getting a successful code. Be sure to check out their blog for more savings ideas. Both sites offer success rates on individual codes and are worth checking out before any online purchases are finalized.

Second strategy, work the rebate sites. I use ebates and have racked up over $20 since Christmas. They have tons of coupon codes in addition to the rebate you earn through normal purchasing! To encourage shopping at particular stores, double points are offered and deals of the week are spotlighted on their main page. According to their website, they have over 900 participating stores, including well known chains like Best Buy, Walmart, Victoria Secret, KB Toys, Target-well you get the idea! They have a blog too which I think is really cool! Visit the site's FAQ's for more details on how their program works. I have heard good things about Mr. Rebates but have not used their services yet so you may want to check them out too.

My final strategy is to maximize the company's free shipping options. More companies are offering free shipping to their store so all you have to do is take your order number photo id to their customer service center (or other designated place) for pick up! I use this option quite a bit to cut down on the store to store traveling when I drive to the city. I like this for two reasons: 1-It keeps me out of the store's aisle's so I'm not tempted to make an unnecessary purchase 2-It keeps the kids happy-a shorter shopping trip means getting to McDonald's faster! Walmart, Best Buy, Cabela's, Snapfish (via Walgreens) all offer this free shipping method on many of their items.