Published: November 11, 2008 01:07 pm      

FINANCES: Web sites can offer big savings

I’m sure this is no surprise to anyone, but the economy stinks.

Watching the Dow Jones industrial average convulse like a gamer exposed to the sunlight for the first time in five days got me thinking about saving money.

Here are seven Web sites dedicated to the newly frugal:

1. COUPONCRAZE. COM: Ah, coupons. Found stuffed in the Sunday newspaper, clipping these colorful bits of paper is usually my first recourse when I’m trying to save a few bucks. By all means, you should keep buying the newspaper and doing that, but if you want to expand your collection, try this Web site.

Here, you can get discounts for mostly online stores, such as Overstock.com, and online versions of brick-and-mortar stores, such as Babies “R” Us. Most of the coupons are accessible through links on the site.

2. FREEGRABBER. COM: Who needs coupons when you can get stuff for free? That’s the motto of this site, which digs up all kinds of offers, like free frequent-flier miles from American Airlines, free Folgers coffee and free music. The offers are updated daily in a bloglike format.

3. DEALLOCKER.COM/ TOOL/SECRET-AMAZON-DISCOUNT: If you do a lot of shopping on mega-retail portal Amazon.com, this Web site is for you. It’s the “Secret Discount Finder” that locates “the secret (and not so secret)” price cuts on products from music to food to housewares. This finder exploits Amazon’s tracking of its products and their prices over time. Some prices drop because products get old. Others drop because of mistakes. Either way, you can go to this Web site and search for products by brand, keyword and by how much you want to save.

This should come in handy for holiday shopping.

4. FRUGALVILLAGE. COM: Being frugal isn’t always easy, especially if you’ve never really tried to do it before. At this blog, you can discover ideas on ways to cut spending and reduce debt. I’ll admit, some of the ideas sound weird (homemade baby wipes). Others are more doable. But at the very least, you’ll learn there are more appealing ways to save than eating Ramen noodles for every meal.

5. STARTSAMPLING. COM: Here’s another site for securing free samples of products that you use, such as shampoo, deodorant and nutritional supplements. But unlike other sites, StartSampling.com has social networking features that allow you to chat with other freebie seekers. You also can earn “Frequent Tryer Miles” for sampling products, reviewing them and participating in surveys. The more miles you get, the more free prizes you can win.

6. GOVLIQUIDATION. COM: If you’re an auction junkie and the local county tax sale wasn’t enough for you this week, go to this Web site to get access to auctions going on across the country. Auctions can be great opportunities to save money on things that you want and need. The site boasts 500 categories of government surplus, ranging from audio equipment to PCs to scrap metal. Thousands of items go up on the site weekly.

7. ANNUALCREDITREPORT.COM: This site isn’t so much about saving money as it is about ensuring you’re not losing the money you have to fraud or identity theft. Here, you can run your credit report from all three credit-reporting agencies — Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. And unlike other Web sites that promise free credit reports and don’t, this one is actually free.