Holiday shopping in the digital age: Spend a little time online, don’t spend a lot of money

 This is a guest post from BeFrugal.com

Holiday shopping in the digital age: Spend a little time online, don’t spend a lot of money

By Jon Lal, Founder of frugal living and money saving/deals website BeFrugal.com. Jon is offering moms and other shoppers who sign-up for Cash Back by December 31, 2011 a $10 credit to their cash back account balance.

It’s common knowledge that there are good deals on the internet, but it’s easy to wonder if you are really getting a bargain. Though many people find online shopping easier than going to the store then dealing with crowds, shopping online can sometimes mean spending quite a bit of time or spending too much.

You don’t have to be an expert or shop online on a regular basis to get great deals and save big.  There are simple steps you can take, and I’ll show you how to use the internet, and even use social media, for holiday shopping and how to find the best deals to stretch your dollars even further. 

Click for Coupons and Cash Back

• Take advantage of printable coupons. For everything from beauty and food items to luxury gifts, electronics and clothes, coupons are available for free on savings sites like BeFrugal.com. They can be searched and printed on demand any time as you plan your gift-giving and create your lists.
• Weekly ads for local locations of stores you want to shop at are also posted on many savings sites. This is extremely helpful and timesaving: You can combine cruising the weekly ad circular for deals and searching for free printable grocery coupons. For holiday shopping, think beyond food shopping. Pharmacies’ weekly sales can include fragrances and other gift items you can also find coupons for.
• If you prefer shopping online, you can use the same site for:
• online promo codes
• free shipping codes

When you are looking to buy from a specific store, you can search by store and view all the available offers. Another way of searching is by category. This type of search is great when you aren’t completely sure what to give a friend or relative. Viewing the electronics category, for example, lists excellent cash back rates and popular stores with great deals.

• Get free money by earning cash back on your eligible online orders (there’s an average of 5% on BeFrugal.com and there are over 1600 stores). Cash Back costs you nothing, and without it, you miss out on free money.

Get Social to Save

• If you like to tweet, follow your favorite brands and savings providers for discounts. For example, BeFrugal (@BeFrugal) on Twitter, tweets about 8 deals per day. You can also search Twitter for deals by typing in what you are looking for.
• Be a fan on Facebook for freebies and more. Many of your favorite deals providers and stores have exclusive offers ranging from free stuff to contests to special discounts only for Facebook fans. Just click “Like” on the pages you want to be a fan of and you’ll get updates in your stream when you sign in.

Whether you have a lot of shopping to do or just a few items to get, you can save big this holiday season with a few simple tricks. And remember, you don’t need to be a pro to save like one!

This article is a guest post from BeFrugal.com. The opinions contained in this article represent the author.