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Nowadays, shopping online has become a way of life even for those frugal folks who shudder at the thought of paying $10 for shipping.
Exorbitant shipping costs have been mitigated in recent
years by the proliferation of online coupons and promotions, and
Web sites that exist solely to keep track of them. These secondary
sites catalog discounts, codes and expiration dates putting big
savings just a click away.
This month's frugal tip comes just in time for the
holidays and is brought to you by the winner of the Frugal $ense
contest for the month of November: Stephanie Zukerman. Congratulations,
Stephanie!
Bankrate: How did you
find out about searching for coupons and promotion codes?
Stephanie: I thought since there were regular coupons in the paper there must be something online, so I tried searching for the word "coupon" or the store name. I think the first one was Target and it came up with a free shipping promo.
Searching for coupons has proved very useful. Sometimes,
you can get free samples with a code or just by typing in the store
name -- free samples, free shipping and a certain percent off, so
it's always worth trying.
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| November's Frugal $ense winner: Stephanie Zukerman |
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Stephanie Zukerman,
of Schaumburg, Ill., won $100 for submitting
the following tip:
Always check for
a coupon before checking out
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Bankrate: Do you do a lot of shopping online?
Stephanie: Yes, I've been
shopping online for a while now. For security there are some other
things I do when shopping online. I don't know if you'd want to
call them tips, but I always look for the lock on the top corner
of the Web site that I'm shopping on to show that the page is encrypted
when paying for something. I also use PayPal to pay for items. I
use my credit card if it's not a PayPal site.
Bankrate: Do you consider yourself frugal in general? If so have you always been that way?
Stephanie: Actually, I've
been a longtime user of coupons in the Sunday newspaper and pretty
much have to contribute the saving ideas from growing up with my
parents and certainly my grandma, too, who even went as far as sending
me coupons when I was in college just so I could save an extra penny
or so. My family instilled the values of always paying off cars
as soon as you can and certainly any type of loan. So, I've always
tried to glean hints and such from my parents. There were four kids
in the family -- they certainly needed to do what they could.
Bankrate: Do you have any offline money saving tips?
Stephanie: Sure,
I got this actually from Rachel Ray -- use zip-top bags to
collect receipts throughout the year. It's probably more beneficial
for business travelers, but you just keep a zip-top baggie in your
car and store them each month in one bag. You can have separate
ones for each area, home, office, car and you combine them all into
a big baggie. Then each month you already have all your receipts
in one place and then at the end of the year you can take them to
your accountant.
I also go to a children's consignment-type store where
you can bring in used clothes in good condition in exchange for
points which can be used toward the purchase of new or used clothes
or items in the store. You can never save too much money on kids'
clothes. I didn't realize how fast they grow!
Bankrate: Why did you
enter the Frugal $ense contest?
Stephanie: I was intrigued by other tips; I recognize some and write down others for my own use. I thought this was a better tip to give now during the holidays rather than some other time of year.
We agree. Happy shopping!
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