Frugal Living: Free Shipping & Finding Coupon Codes

As I mentioned in a previous article, I love to shop online. I’m a big fan of shopping online. In order to make shopping on line feasible, there are two things that are must haves for me: one is free shipping and the other is a discount.

1) Never pay for shipping. You should almost never pay for shipping when you buy online. Honestly, it’s not worth it to shop online if you have to pay shipping costs. Many merchants offer free shipping year round on a minimum order or they offer free shipping codes throughout the year. Check FreeShipping.org or go to the Free Shipping page at ShopATHome.com to find free shipping codes and offers available at thousands of stores online.

Two great sites are available to assist you.When I order online, I pretty much refuse to pay for shipping. It's just not worth it to me to have to pay high shipping prices--even if the online deal is spectacular. On Decembmer 17, 2009 dozens many sites will be participating in Free Shipping Day and they guarantee they will deliver to you by Christmas Eve. To find out which stores are participating, click HERE.

2) Find coupon codes. Coupon codes are all over the internet. You should ve able to find a coupon code for any purchase you want to make. One good site to look at is RetailMeNot.com. You only need to go to their site, search for the store you want to shop at and you will get a list of coupon codes.

Between getting free shipping and coupon codes you should be able to get significant discount on the item purchased.

Frugal Living: Using Cashback Sites To Stretch Your Dollars

The holidays are right around the corner and with it comes a good deal of shopping. Unless money doesn’t matter, there is never a reason to buy anything for full price. Between cashback sites and coupons you can always get a discount. The way cashback sites work are they pay you a rebate-usually between 2% and 6%- to shop a specific retailer through their site. These sites are “must use” if you shop online because they don’t cost anything to use and you may as well get paid to purchase the items you were already going to purchase.

I use several sites and each one has a different rebate percentage. I recommend that you sign up for each of them and then when you’re ready to shop compare who is offering the best rebate with the particular retailer you are planning to shop with. The ones I use most often are:

Ebates. Ebates is the site I’ve used the longest. They pay you $5 upon sign-up and you can cash out when your account reaches $5.01 so only one purchase is required. Payment is sent out on a quarterly basis. The list of retailers is extensive. Sign up at: http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=rW6YfCjMfgU%3D

Cashbaq. Cashbaq also offers a $5 bonus for signing up. Payments are made on the 20th of each month to all members whose accounts have accrued at least $10. Also, Cashbaq offers the deal of the day, which is a bargain deal that’s 50-90% off the retail price after the bargain price and cashback. Sign up at http://www.cashbaq.com/?refer=487680

Mr. Rebates. This site has to be one of the best ways to make money. In addition to giving you a rebate for your purchase, you can also earn 20% of your referred friend's cash-back rebates on every purchase they make through Mr. Rebates (at no cost to them). You get that extra 20% for every purchase your referred friend makes. You just can't lose on a deal like this! Sign up at: http://www.mrrebates.com?refid=266494

Blastoff. This is one of the newest cashback sites. It actually combines cashback with multilevel marketing but without any sign up cost. You get a rebate not only when you shop at merchants through their online mall but you also get paid when the 20 people in your circle shop through the online mall. Click here for sign up.

To make certain that you receive credit for your purchase, you must find the store on the cashback site you’re using and click through to the store from the link provided by the cash back site.