There are some amazing deals to be had through this site. For me, the problem is that I often forget to check the site everyday. It only takes a second and you never know when that must-have item is going to come up and you’ll finally be able to afford it! In trying to find some way to track W00t better, like a Google widget or desktop app, I stumbled across Wootalyzer. But beware, it is free, it is incredibly easy to use AND it tracks far more than W00t’s one day sales. There are other sites that do the same sort of thing – every day!

Let’s get started with Wootalyzer before I get into these other sites. Here’s how it’s done. Go on over and download the Wootalyzer installer. Install is a snap with an ordinary one-click type install. Here’s how it gets weird. It’s even easier to use than it is to install.

Once it’s installed you are presented with all the documentation that you will need to use this application effectively. I’m serious – take a look!

That’s all there is to it! Really, how else could I say that?

Next, you are given the option to choose basic user mode or a power-mode that people who have shopped the one-day-sale sites would find more useful perhaps. I wouldn’t know, since I don’t use them that often. That’s the point of getting the program.

I do know what a woot-off is, however I don’t know what a BOC is and I can only guess that they use the word monkey to mean something other than a real monkey. So I went with the regular mode.

Okay, so that’s a pretty sweet deal at W00t!. I don’t really need a recording studio (or do I?) so I’ll pass on that one. However, this shows you how the thing works. Clicking on the View Item button takes you to the page that has all the details about the equipment. The field that reads In Stock tells you whether they have more of the item or not. As you can see there are still some of these in stock. Clicking on the Buy Item button takes you directly to that item’s checkout page so you can seal the deal. The clock looking area is just that – a countdown clock to let you know how long the deal is valid for.

What I think is amazing is the button that reads Woot! When I clicked on it, my shopping universe expanded!

Did you see that? Under the General/Tech category there are all these other sites with timed deals as well! You should recognize at least 3 or 4 of them, such as eBay, Amazon, Buy.com, and Newegg. I went through and each one has a pretty decent deal on it. Maybe not something I need right now, but I’ll keep checking!

Under Other there are two categories that could really get me into trouble. One is DiamondShark and the other is ChronoShark. As you might guess, the former is for jewelry and the latter is for watches. I like to buy my wife jewelry and I have an unhealthy obsession with watches. Check this out:

See that? A Lucien Picard watch that retails elsewhere for around $900. Is it a knock off? I don’t know. But it would be worth checking out.

With Wootalyzer, you can set alarms with sound for different items, so you know when a new item is on, or when it’s about to run out. This is just a shopaholic’s dream.

At first I thought Wootalyzer would help me to save money, but if I keep spending on all these other great sites as well, it’s a less-than-zero sum game. I’m sure I would overspend. That doesn’t mean you will. You probably have a stronger will than I do. Or will you succumb to the world of low-priced products as well?

Wootalyzer

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• Top 10 Sites For Online Coupons & Promotional Codes (44)
• The Top 10 Grocery Coupon Websites for Cheapskates (61)
• Choosing A Laptop: 9 Great Review Sites (7)
• Browse Black Friday ads with BFads (5)
• Watch Online Products for Price Drops with ShoppingNotes (9)

Fortunately, the Internet has evolved since then. Today, not only do you not have to put scissors to newspaper anymore, but most of these online grocery coupon sites accumulate manufacturer offers from everywhere and provide them to you in a convenient list that you just select and print in minutes.

Selecting the Best Grocery Coupon Websites

Considering the volume of websites out there that tout themselves as the best money-saving website for groceries, I’ve decided to put together a simple list of sites that are truly the tried-and-true spots that you should check every week to save a fortune on your grocery bill. For starters, MakeUseOf has already covered a number of top coupon websites including:

• GroceryGuide, which lets you find the best grocery deals from stores and malls in your local area
• ShortCuts from AOL, with the convenience of electronically loading all coupons directly to your grocery store loyalty card (no need to carry coupons around!)
• CouponChief, with thousands of retail store coupons. Why buy baby products from a grocery store when you can save $5 off diapers or formula at Diapers.com?

Check out all of MakeUseOf’s grocery resources for other offers and tools for saving money on groceries.

While those resources are excellent, I wanted to put together a definitive guide of grocery coupon websites for other cheapskates out there like me. I no longer bother with using scissors on the Sunday paper – there are much better money-saving resources on line, and they take far less time.

The Big Three

Coupons.com

Every grocery coupon hound should know that currently there are three major resources for most of the coupon deals on the Internet. These are three of the earliest websites that started the online coupon craze, and they are now the three that “feed” most of the offers for other, smaller offshoot websites. If you want the access to all of the deals, it’s best to just go straight to the source. Coupons.com is the first major site you should always check for the best manufacturer coupons. These are mostly non-location specific, meaning they’re available nationally (U.S. only).

Coupons.com is the place anyone should begin their quest, since this is the site that feeds most others. One brief search just now turned up 112 offers to sort through and print.

SmartSource

The next major grocery coupon site that feeds data to other sites is SmartSource.com. The cool thing about SmartSource is that you can type in your zip code and get offers from the local “circulars” that are normally sent inside local newspapers.

It just doesn’t get much more convenient than that. If you click on the “Coupons” tab at the top, you can review nationally offered coupons as well, but the thing that really sets SmartSource apart from the other “big three” is the fact that you can get these offers from local circulars.

ValPak

The final major coupon site that’s been around for quite a while is ValPak. ValPak, like the other two, offers its own list of national manufacturer coupons customized by zip code.

Letting Others Do Your Research

So why don’t people just visit the big three coupon sites and call it good? Because the Internet is so filled with information now, no single website holds all of the best deals. To save the most on your groceries, you’d need to hunt through all three “source” coupon sites, as well as hunt the web for exclusive coupons and offers that are only offered at manufacturer websites and nowhere else. That can take a lot of time and effort. Luckily, there are people out there who love doing this kind of research so much, that they’re willing to do it for you and offer you the fruits of their research.

PPGazette

The Penny-Pincher Gazette is one of those resources. All data at the PPGazette are collected from the three major sites listed above. Membership is free, and every week you can quickly review the best deals (including from local circulars) without having to visit multiple websites to find them.

CouponMom

Another very popular website that I am not ashamed to admit that I visit very often is CouponMom.com. CouponMom is run by Stephanie Nelson who was featured on Oprah, The Today Show and other talk shows, because she offers the service for free as an effort to help stamp out world hunger. By helping people save money on groceries, she’s hoping to encourage people to donate to hunger organizations through her “Cut Out Hunger” initiative.

Her website is easily one of the most comprehensive collections of deals from not only “the big three,” but also many hard-to-find offers from all throughout the Internet. If you choose only one website to visit before you do your grocery shopping, this one should be it.

Unique Grocery Coupon Websites

Sometimes, the standard coupon sites don’t really offer what you’re looking for. Maybe you have different tastes than most people, or you’re more interested in natural products. There are specialized sites that offer coupons for you too, if you know where to look.

Mambo Sprouts

One of those is Mambo Sprouts, a website dedicated to offering you coupons on organic foods.

At last glance, Mambo Sprouts offered two pages of coupons, as well as some cool articles and an entire community section where you can hook up with other folks who are into natural and organic living.

RedPlum

A last site that deserves mention, simply because it’s giving “the big three” a run for their money, is RedPlum.com. RedPlum offers visitors with free exclusive offers based on your zip code.

In other words, if you can’t find it elsewhere, you might find it at RedPlum.  As you can see, the Internet now offers an abundance of opportunities to shave hundreds off of your grocery bill every month. It seems inconceivable that anyone would go grocery shopping without coupons when there are so many free offers out there (free money, basically) available for the taking.

Shop online? Be sure to check out a list of sites by Sharninder to help you save money while staying on your couch!

If you shop with coupons, do you know of any other great free grocery coupon websites? Share them in the comments section below.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• FreshBargains : All-in-one Deals Search Engine (5)
• Browse Black Friday ads with BFads (5)
• 5 Online Shopping Sites That Will Actually SAVE You Money (42)
• 13 Bargain Websites That are Cheaper than eBay (195)
• Wootalyzer – Alerts You Woot! Super Sales and Other Sites (6)

How do people do it? What’s their secret? How can they go into a store and know exactly what they want? The secret to success during the Black Friday Sale is planning. With limited time and multiple stores to hit, you need to plan beforehand exactly what stores you’re going to go to, and what you’re going to buy. The only problem is that most stores don’t release their black friday ads until the last minute. Luckily, websites like BFads.net can help us make the most of our Black Friday.

BFads is a website that is all about Black Friday ads. Leaked ads are posted on the website and organized in a fashion that is easily browsed by a viewer. Although these ads may not be official, most of them turn out to be accurate in the end. BFads updates several times a day, especially as it gets closer and closer Thanksgiving.

There are many features of BFads that anyone who is going to participate in the Black Fridays sales is going to benefit from. For one, there is a huge list of adscans that you can download in .ZIP or.PDF formats.

Although advertisement scans are all you really need to plan out your shopping experience, BFads makes things more convenient to browse by having a section dedicated to each store and includes all the ads in a typed, easy to search format. Click on the store you like, and browse through the ads. You can sort the advertisements by price; if you’re looking for the best deals.

Another great feature is the ability to add certain items into a ’shopping list’. This is extremely useful if you want a printout of all the things you want to buy, the store they are in, and how much the items cost. It’s also great that you can sent your shopping list with your friends The only downside to this is that you have to register, but that’s free and only takes a few seconds.

Other features BFads include:

• Access the BFads forums and get advice on what items you should or should not buy
• View the store hours of the stores participating in the Black Friday sales.
• Use your phone and view the mobile version so you can look while waiting in line.
• Read guides on what to buy this holiday season in the articles section

In all, BFads is a great website to get ready for the Black Friday rush by going through wide choice of Black Friday ads from different stores such Walmart, Best Buy, Sears, Staples, Toys R Us and many more.

View the ads early, and begin your planning as early as possible. Browse the ads of all the stores and keep track of the ones you like with the shopping list. Use BFads daily, plan what you’re going to do, and wake up early so you can ensure a pleasant Black Friday experience. No more wandering around the store for hours looking for something cheap that you might want. BFads does all the work for you.

So, how many of you are excited for Black Friday? Is anyone going to participate or are they only interested in Cyber Monday? Do you know of any other websites that can help you out on Black Friday? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• The Top 10 Grocery Coupon Websites for Cheapskates (61)
• Wootalyzer – Alerts You Woot! Super Sales and Other Sites (6)
• Watch Online Products for Price Drops with ShoppingNotes (9)
• Milo- Find Cheapest Local Store for the Item You Want to Buy (5)
• How To Become An Online Power Shopper With The Right Tools (7)

You might have heard about Woot, but there are others good ones as well. While none of these sites will give you an amazing deal every other day, once in a while there will be some awesome items at dirt cheap prices.

So here you go, one sale a day sites that don’t suck.

(1) Woot

In case you haven’t heard about Woot before, here is a quick recap.

Woot offers one product per day until the item is sold out or the product is replaced at midnight with the new offering. It is the pioneer of the “one deal a day” business model and so far the best one deal a day site on the web. It’s also the most popular one, so whenever it posts some nice item it sells out within the first few minutes.

More about Woot:

- usually sells some computer hardware or electronic gadgets
- charges a fixed $5.00 shipping fee
- very active forum where you can discuss the daily deal with others
- Bag Of Crap (BOC) : read below

In lieu of typical product sales, Woot occasionally offers a $1.00 fukubukuro-like blind grab bag officially called “Random Crap”. Its accompanying picture has lent it the name “Bag O’ Crap” (BOC). The BOC includes dollar store items and may also include significantly more expensive items such as large flat-screen televisions.[6] The BOC typically triggers the flooding of Woot’s servers with thousands and thousands of order requests. The available BOCs typically sell out within seconds

(2) Whiskey Militia

This one is for gear addicts. Whiskey Militia usually lists brand goods at heavily discounted prices, everything from sunglasses and backpacks to snowboards. I don’t have much experience with the site but everytime I compared their daily deal with the cheapest item on eBay their deal would be about 2 times cheaper. So they do offer a bargain deal here.

Some noteworthy features:

- shows item sellout rate and how many left (like on Woot)
- in most cases the item available in different sizes and colors
- multiple images
- max. 3 items per person
- ships internationally
- Whiskey Militia tracker / alert (get notified about new items)

(3) 1 Sale A Day

1 Sale A Day (the link was removed) is nowhere near the popularity of Woot, but that being sad they do post some good deals. Now one thing I really don’t like about it is that there is no indication of how many items were sold and how many are still left. So you can’t really see how fast the item is selling and how hot it is.

Another issue is customer feedback, many people complained that they have never received items or that they weren’t as advertised. You can check those reviews on ResellerRatings.

Update: the 1 Sale A Day site was delinked due to negative feedback from MakeUseOf readers.

(4) Shirt.Woot & ShirtsOnSale

These two are only for t-shirts, nothing else. If you’re a t-shirt guy then make sure you add these two websites to your bookmarks.

Shirt.Woot

The Shirt.Woot is a little sibling of Woot that sells only t-shirts. One item a day at a flat rate of $10 (free shipping).

Shirts On Sale

The Shirts On Sale gives you the straight dope on the best tshirt sales and discounts. They don’t sell anything but only collect bargain t-shirt deals from other sites like Shirt.Woot, Uneetee, The Ryde and Shirtaday.

We will never send you somewhere we aren’t willing to spend our own hard-earned cash — unless they’re offering a deal that’s too good to pass up of course.

Moreover, the site offers plenty of discount coupons (ranging from 5 to 30 %) for some of the most popular t-shirt printers on the market.

The other relatively good one sale a day websites you might want to check out are Steep And Cheap, Shnoop, Yugster and ThingFling

Are you aware of any other sites that should have been mentioned as well? Lets us know in comments!

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• The Top 10 Grocery Coupon Websites for Cheapskates (61)
• How To Become An Online Power Shopper With The Right Tools (7)
• Browse Black Friday ads with BFads (5)
• Wootalyzer – Alerts You Woot! Super Sales and Other Sites (6)
• Watch Online Products for Price Drops with ShoppingNotes (9)

Both retailers and resellers (as well as their affiliates) are getting more creative offering easy-to-use web-based tools that update their users of the company news and recent deals.

Here are the four common methods :

Getting Updated via Email

Offering their customers or readers a newsletter subscription option is the most popular way to keep them updated of the site news.

With email alerts you never miss a deal as it will come right into your email inbox. You don’t have to remember anything. All you need to do is just to check your email regularly – which you most probably do in any case.

Do you like receiving plenty of email messages daily? At some point you think you can control that but in reality you end up subscribing to anything that seems useful. Besides, the majority of services maintaining opt-in lists stuff their newsletters with ads and promotions you never agreed to receive.

With email subscriptions I tend to be rather picky choosing those services that either don’t bug me too often (e.g. FreeShipping sends email alerts once per week) or those that allow me to choose the update frequency (RessellerRatings offer to choose between daily and instant alerts).

Some online services go even further allowing their users to track only selected product(s). Both BeatThat and PriceGrabber offer to create watch lists monitoring certain product prices and availability:

This option allows for full control of what you want to track. You will never miss the best deal for the product you are most interested in (example: get alerted only once the product price matches your preferences (e.g. gets below some line)).

Again, that’s a great option only if you don’t mind receiving (multiple) updates to your email inbox. However in this case you of course have more power to control how many messages and how often you are going to receive them.

Getting Updated via RSS Feeds

Most coupon code directories and merchant rating communities maintain a blog where they post the hottest deals allowing you to subscribe via your preferred RSS reader.

With RSS readers your email inbox is kept free from heaps of mail. Besides, with RSS readers your subscriptions are more organized (either by category or based on your personal preferences).

Unlike email newsletters, with RSS readers, you need to always remember checking it out. However, if you’re in habit of checking your RSS subscriptions regularly, that’s no problem for you. Other potential disadvantages are directly connected to your favorite RSS reader: some of them, for example, allow for limited space (e.g. with PageFlakes you are limited to your screen size to avoid scrolling).

Getting Alerted by Your Browser

Some shopping resources develop FireFox extensions that alert you to current deals once you visit the merchant’s website.

The updates are limited to the addon provider’s website database. If you enter an online shop that is not included in the database, you will not see any coupons, offers or price comparisons.

You are only alerted once you enter the merchant’s site: no multiple notifications when you don’t need them, no full email inbox, etc.

Example: PriceAdvance’s FireFox add-on that shows other sellers’ prices for the product you are viewing:

Getting Updated via Twitter:

Twitter has been the hottest social networking service recently. From “What you are doing right now?” concept, it has evolved into the rapidly growing business tool all the potential of which is yet to be explored. Dell , for example, uses Twitter to update their customers of recent deals and limited time offers (see: Refurbished Dell computers).

Due to multiple Twitter clients, this type of offer-tracking is by far the most customizable. With Twitter you can get updates to Google Talk, Jabber, Livejournal, to your FireFox, right to your desktop, mobile phones (if you are in the US, Canada, or UK), etc.

The only disadvantage I can see here is that if you are a Twitter newbie, you will have to learn to use it and choose among hundreds of Twitter clients, the one that best suits your needs – that might take some time but is definitely worth the effort! On the other hand, if you are an active Twitter user, you can’t afford following everyone you would want to; as in the end you will end up receiving hundreds of updates every single minute.

So which alerting method is preferable?

There is no definitive answer, I would say. Here is my personal take:

• I hate receiving hundreds of email messages daily;
• I can’t afford subscribing to all the RSS feeds I would like to;
• I can’t follow more Twitter users as I am already unable to keep track of all the existing Tweets;
• I can’t add more extensions to my FireFox as I already have too many of them installed by now;

So what to do? First, I can choose to stick to only a few really valuable resources (the ones mentioned above) and refrain from tracking any new ones until I am persuaded they are really worth it.

Secondly, like I said, I can stick to customizable services that allow me to set the alert frequency, watched product or merchant.

Last of all, I can keep track of recent hacks to find more better easier solutions: for example, Twhirl allows me be logged in to several Twitter accounts simultaneously – so I can maintain a separate account that tracks online deals and shut it down once I don’t need that.

Which alerting method do you prefer?  Is there any online shopping tool I missed out?   How do YOU keep track of the best online shopping deals?  Share your tips and tricks with us in the comments.

Did you like the post? Please do share your thoughts in the comments section!

New on MakeUseOf ? Get cheat sheets and cool PDF guides @ www.makeuseof.com/makeuseof-downloads/

• The Top 10 Grocery Coupon Websites for Cheapskates (61)
• Browse Black Friday ads with BFads (5)
• 4 “One Deal A Day” Sites That Don’t Suck (30)
• Wootalyzer – Alerts You Woot! Super Sales and Other Sites (6)
• Watch Online Products for Price Drops with ShoppingNotes (9)