The magic of online shopping (and saving)

I love online shopping.

Since I live an hour from my favorite places, being able to virtually browse and bag my favorites from the comfort of my own couch only to have it show up 5-7 business days later on my doorstep is an excellent alternative. Plus, my feet don't hurt as much afterward.

Most of the time, though, I just "imaginary" shop online — fill my bag up but don't check out in the end. On the off chance that I do click the "proceed to checkout" button, I visit a couple of other websites to make sure I'm saving as much as possible because, while it might start as imaginary shopping, it costs real money.

The first place I go is Ebates.com. Now, you've probably seen the commercials for Ebates with people holding up their big fat checks talking about how they made money shopping online and thought, "What's the catch?" I mean, there has to be a catch, right? Well, having used it a few months now, I've yet to find one. Once you set up an account, you just have to go to the Ebates site, find the site you're wanting to shop at (for instance, J.Crew). Beside the store name, you'll see what percentage cash back they're offering (6% at J.Crew right now). Click on the store, and that's it. Shop and check out as usual. Once your payment has gone through (about 2-3 days), you'll get an email from Ebates telling you how much cash you'll get back. They send you a check every three months with your savings.

As an added bonus, when you sign up and make your first purchase, you get a $10 gift card from one of a selection of various stores (Target being one of them). They'll also send you emails with coupon codes or when stores are running double cash back. It makes me feel especially frugal when I buy something at double cash back. If they sent the savings back in gold coins, I'd dive in them a la Scrooge McDuck. It'd be a shallow pool, but still.

My second stop is RetailMeNot.com. I do a quick search for where I'm shopping to see if they have any useful coupon codes or free shipping. (Continuing the example, with the code "SUMMER" at J.Crew, you save 25% site wide ... I think I need to do some J.Crew shopping now!) You don't even have to sign up with them. Other users provide feedback to let you know if the code works or not, so you're not left sifting through a bunch of duds.

While I'm not much of a couponer (although I'm working on it), this is definitely something I do every time I'm shopping online. I save money, and I get new clothes. It's a beautiful thing.

*Full discloser: If you follow the Ebates links, sign up, and make a purchase, Ebates will add $5 to my savings. It doesn't affect your savings or cost you anything, though.