How to Save Money » Frugal Living

10 ways to save money by using the internet

The internet is a great source of information on how to save money. Whether you’re looking to get a discount on online purchases, car rentals, or even groceries, these tips should provide you with some great ways to get the best price.

  1. Research the item you are planning to purchase. The first step to truly saving money is getting the best value for your dollar.
  2. Look for deals at sites like Red Flag Deals, Smart Canucks, and Bargain Moose. They all offer a great source for finding the best deals either online or in stores. I saved over $1,000 on a TV from a price matching strategy I found in the Red Flag Deals forum.
  3. If you’re shopping online, look to save on shipping. Even better, get free shipping. Many sites will offer shipping after your total order is passed a certain dollar amount, others may offer a “free shipping” promotion.
  4. Use Google to find discounts. Google the name of the website you are shopping at plus terms like “promo code”, “coupon code”, or “discount code”. To know what term any particular site uses, look for a box during the checkout process.
  5. If you collect Air Miles or Aeroplan points, get special discounts by shopping from Air Miles Shops and Aeroplan eStore.
  6. Shopping with a Visa? Visit the Visa Perks site and get promotion codes for huge discounts of 10%-75%.
  7. To get more discounts direct from the online store, sign up for their email list. Whether it’s called a newsletter or email alert, many retailers will try to entice their contacts with special offers.
  8. A newer way for stores to promote themselves is with Twitter and Facebook. Similar to the email lists, retailers will often post special deals to get you to come to their website and shop.
  9. Check out store flyers online. Most store web sites include their flyer, plus you can find flyers on Flyerland and Grocery Alerts. Using online flyers can help you stay organized and you won’t have to deal with all the paper!
  10. While looking to save money on groceries, head over to Save.ca to pick out coupons that they will mail to you. And these coupons save you more than just a few cents here and there, many are worth $1.00 or $2.00.

Do you have any other ways that you use the internet to save money?

Comments

  1. Steve Z

    Thanks for the mention.

    I also recommend looking on EBay.

    I was going to purchase a Skype phone for a gift at Future Shop but even with duties it was cheaper on Ebay.com

  2. FabulousSavings.ca

    Absolutely do searches before shopping, as you mentioned. “brand + coupons,” “merchant + coupons” and “product + coupons” all result in a tonne of free discounts.

    You can also follow coupon and deal sites on Twitter for a stream of coupons.

    We Canadians have been pretty reserved when it comes to shopping online (duty tax — need I say more?), but the selection of stores shipping -within- Canada is improving quickly. It’s time to get smart about shopping online! 🙂

    – Shayna from FabulousSavings.ca

  3. Rudy

    I didn’t know about Bargain Moose! Sweet find! Thanks for sharing. Also, I agree with Shayna about doing some targeted keyword searches for “coupons” or “promo codes” before buying online. Quick way to save some big money. – Rudy

  4. Money Reasons

    I like the name Bargain Moose! It’s definitely something that is easy to remember! 🙂

    I’ll be sure to check out company twitter and facebook web pages! Thanks for the tip!

  5. Theresa

    Why pay for it all, if you might get it for free?

  6. Edwin

    Aha, that’s interesting. I never thought that internet could be used to save money. Great!

  7. priceinjector

    For enhancing eBay shopping experience try eBay spy add-on:
    https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/192507/

    This extension automatically get the best eBay deals shipped to your country for every product you’re buying on Amazon, Buy.com and more retailers.

    Also available for chrome and safari browsers

  8. Vernon Groston

    I wonder if the savings from the internet make up for the cost? The one thing I’d add to the list is sending emails instead of paying for posted or paying bills online.

  9. Bargainmoose

    Thanks very much for the mention above Tom!

    Anna

  10. Cassie

    Don’t forget to check out sites like CardSwap.ca for cheap gift cards! I order cards from them often, especially around the holidays.

    And Fiverr.com is awesome as well!

  11. Tyler

    I tend not to comment, however I browsed some responses on this page Save
    Money By Using The Internet. I actually do have a few questions for
    you if it’s allright. Could it be just me or does it give the impression like a few of the responses come across like they are left by brain dead visitors? 😛 And, if you are writing at other social sites, I’d
    like to keep up with everything fresh you have to post.
    Could you post a list of every one of all your social sites like your twitter feed, Facebook page or linkedin profile?

  12. Tim

    Great Canadian Rebates http://www.greatcanadianrebates.ca is a site that offers discounts from various retailers.

  13. Cheri

    Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on
    the video to make your point. You obviously know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just posting videos
    to your weblog when you could be giving us something enlightening to read?

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