The holiday season is always a crunch on people’s wallets. You go from Halloween candy and costumes to Thanksgiving feast to Christmas gifts, food and decoration to New Year’s fireworks and alcohol. This year is especially tight with economic and financial woes.
I often visit the coupons section of my favorite forum, keeping an eye out for a great deal, and there are plenty of Web sites that are willing to help.
Bantler.com
Many of you have heard of the deal-a-day savings on Web sites like woot.com, which offers a different product each day at a severely discounted price. It now includes sub-sites such as shirt.woot.com that has a different shirt every day for just $10.
I found Bantler.com, which very conveniently compiles these deal-a-day sites onto one page. Bookmarking that page, I check it daily for great savings on sites like the various Woot! pages, Amazon, Yugster, and SteepandCheap. Deals include clothing, electronics, jewelry, wine and cheeses, DVDs, mystery boxes, outdoors equipment and much more. On Bantler, you can sort by category or site, and you can add them to your Facebook for updates.
DealMeIn.net
Another great Web site I found is DealMeIn. Like Bantler, it updates daily with great deals across the web. DealMeIn goes a step further, compiling not only deal-a-day sales but ongoing sales, store coupons and freebie offers. Many of your favorite stores, such as KMart, Best Buy, Circuit City and Aeropostale, etc., have daily deal offers. Popular Web sites like Newegg, Dell, Amazon, TigerDirect, Travelocity and iTunes are also common bargain features.
If it’s a hot deal online, DealMeIn will have it. Laptops, games, kitchen supplies, movies, music, travel, accessories. There’s no limit to the money you can save on gifts. The site also offers Facebook, an email mailing list, a RSS feed and a search option. You can search by store index, look for free give-aways or check out deals ending today. Be sure to customize your email alerts to keywords if you’re looking for a specific item on sale.
BlackFriday.info
For those like me, who will be braving the crowds on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) hoping for some great bargains, don’t go without a plan! BlackFriday.info is the place to find a list of all the ads for Black Friday shopping at the most popular stores. The Web site compiles the ads as soon as they appear online, a task that would take a person quite some time. Easily compare CircuitCity’s deals to BestBuy’s, Walmart to Walgreens to Target, or The Home Depot to Lowe’s. You’ll have the ultimate game plan once midnight hits on Nov. 28.
Conveniently, BlackFriday.info allows you to register and create a shopping list in order to keep track of your favorite sales. You can click on the Hot Deals tab and look at the best prices on popular items. And don’t forget to click on Coupons to print out special offers and codes for the big day.
Some stores will have Black Friday deals that coincide with their Web site for those who want to sleep in.
Enjoy
I hope this list gives you a good start for the holiday shopping. The countdown to Christmas has begun. But remember, it truly is the thought that counts. Christmas is a time for family, friends, faith and reflection.
