Saving Money on Everything!

We sent out a survey to a large number of you a few weeks ago (maybe you were one of the recipients) asking some slightly nosy questions about what you use the Internet for and what kinds of things you were interested in. We got all kinds of great responses, and one of the things that people most consistently wanted to have information on was ways to save money on, well, everything. Since then I’ve been keeping an eye out for Internet sites that offer coupons, discounts, and deals. Here are some that I think are worth checking out:

Cut Them Coupons: This site is a great compendium of all kinds of deals. Discounts, free samples, cut-out coupons for grocery store items, stories from people telling how they saved by shopping special deals and knowing store policies, links to the “Groupon” type deals that are specific to your local area, a coupon database, and more.

Social media coupon sites: Groupon, Living Social, Dealmap, Yelp, offer daily deals on local products and services: everything from half off on local restaurant meals to discounts on clothing, spa services, picture framing, exercise packages, and more. These offers are provisional—a certain number of people have to buy them or the deal is cancelled —but most of the time that number has already been reached within an hour or two of the deal becoming available. You pay for the “coupon” in advance and then can print it to use at any time. Be aware that these deals expire after a certain time period – usually quite a generous one, up to a year or more from time of purchase.

Seniordiscounts.com: This is a site with deals specifically for seniors so it specializes in elder care services, drug and dental discounts, and discount travel. This site charges a small fee for membership – one of the few that cost anything at all. You can search on the site to see what kind of deals are offered in your area, so you can decide if it’s worthwhile before spending any money on membership.

Travel discounts: Some of the best travel discount deals can be found on Jetsetter.com and LivingSocial.com. Jetsetter specializes in high-end travel to luxurious resorts all over the world – definitely a good place to look if you’re planning a special, once-in-a-lifetime trip. Jetsetter requires registration to join but the service is free. LivingSocial has regular “LivingSocial Escapes” – deeply discounted weekend getaways and destination vacations.

Another great way to save on travel is to avoid hotels and use Vacation Rental by Owner. On VRBO owners of condos, apartments, townhouses, and homes all over the world offer their vacation property for rent. The site provides a wealth of detail about each property, along with reviews from renters who’ve stayed there. You’ll be able to contact the owner directly to make inquiries about the property before making any commitment.

I hope you find some of these sites useful! We’d love to hear from you about how YOU save money and any sites or resources you find useful that we can share with the rest of the community. You can leave a comment below if you have something you want to share. Thanks!