Repeat after me, “I will never pay for rush shipping.”  So start your  pre-shopping now.  What I mean by pre-shopping is making  a list, checking  it twice, finding out whose been naughty or nice.  Preparing in advance allows you to avoid last minute decisions and last minute expenses.  Map out birthdays, shower gifts, and all every other gift giving occasion now and be way ahead when the holidays roll around.

Of course we all have have our favorite stores bookmarked. This post is for sites that cover many categories.  For things you need, gifts that can be sent without going to the post office, and stocking up on useful items, online buying is the perfect solution.  However you don’t want to wade through hundreds of sites with bad interface and expired offers.

This first site is so good you might never leave fatwallet.com.  Coupons, user forums, and gateways to all the sites you need to save on everything  including travel. They even have cash back with designated merchants.  Best things first – they let you know which coupons are expiring, the search feature is user friendly, and you can find your favorite companies quickly. Cash back is the most intriguing since who doesn’t like to save and get money back. Of course the payoff is not immediate, however down the line after a waiting period and the vendor pays them, fatwallet.com will send you a check. This is an above and beyond savings. For food coupons and everyday items plus other great features, fatwallet.com is one of the Frugal Diva faves.

A great site for price comparison is pricegrabber.com. They have been around for awhile and pricegrabber.com not only reviews the products, you will also get hundreds and sometimes thousands of reviews on the merchants. This is very reassuring particularly on more pricey items such as computers and digital cameras.

Overstock.com is another great resource. You are buying directly from them and they have a feature that allows you to do an instant price check with another merchant.

Do your own quality checking among consumer reviews and there is always Consumer Reports (subscribe or read it at the library) which is excellent for significant purchases and any electrical appliance.