Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Tools for ¢H€AP $KAT€$


Reader's Digest recently published some money saving tips for dealing with the (to put it mildly) sagging economy.  Though I haven't tried any of these, here are some  websites/pointers I thought are interesting.

Online Sellers ask for coupon codes before checkout - retailmenotdealcatcher, and couponclipper have some of these coupon codes.

Groceries - mygrocerydeals

For product price comparisons - pricegrabber and shopzilla

Cheap flight tickets - kayak; try alternatives - e.g., fly into Milwaukee instead of Chicago.  Check farecast to determine if you should book right away, or wait.  Keep flying date options open - checkout airfarewatchdog to receive e-mails on deals to your destination every Thursday. 

For insurance quote comparisons - insweb

Sports shoes - holabirdsports

Shipping cost comparison - shipgooder

Electronics - newegg

Compare cell phone plans - letstalk

Free office software (basic) - openoffice

Restaurant coupons in your area - restaurant

Cheapest gas in your area - gasbuddy

Cars - Kelly's Blue Book and Edmunds - we recently bought one, and saved $600 (~ 3%) by bargaining; researching at these sites for about a couple of hours helped me in staying firm on the number I offered.

Tips

Best time to shop at departmental stores - late Thursday, as they mark down prices for the weekend.

Best time to get cheapest deals on flights (generally) is early Wednesday AM (past midnight hour).

4 comments:

ShastriX said...

Gopa, wrt the sagging economy, the OZs say that more than a handful is a waste ;-)

For free software, i recommend Google Pack as well.

Gopa said...

Thanks Raama. Re: OZs saying, a bit of a cushion wouldn't hurt;-)

Sas said...

Yo Mayya:
Useful Blog. Saves me $$$$$....
Sagging Economy implies abstaining from "desirable" and being frugal with "essential" - Time to stop eating out and start donating to charities..... ;-)

Gopa said...

Sas, good that you find it useful. The best way to donate for charities is through payroll deduction - we can't spend the money we don't see.