I would say that a majority of the purchases I make (outside of groceries) are made online. Why? Because I am almost always able to find what I’m looking for cheaper than any store offers it. I’m going to show you how. It’s a pretty simple strategy, but one I can almost guarantee you’re not using right now.

This strategy will save you a great deal of money for years to come! After you give it a read, try following the steps before you make your next purchase. Then share a comment about how much it saved you!

1. Do some price comparison.

• I hope that it is common sense that you should shop around for the lowest price before you buy something. I suggest you use sites like Bing Shopping or Google Product Search. Both sites do a good job of gathering the prices for pretty much anything you might be buying. They even throw in reviews and information about the product to keep you informed!

2. Find and use coupons.

• I’ve already written about some places you can find coupons online here and here. You should spend a good amount of time checking these sites to see if you can find a coupon for the site you’re shopping at. Many times, you can also find coupons just by doing a simple search in a search engine. You may also find coupons being sold on eBay which you can purchase, but this obviously will cost you some money.

3. Utilize “cashback” websites.

• Not familiar with these? Take a look at my post about cashback websites first. Basically, these sites will help you to save an extra 2-8% on your purchase. In exchange, those sites get a cut of your purchase as well. Everybody wins!

4. Utilize your credit card’s reward program.

• In general, I’d say that most college students probably shouldn’t be using credit cards. That is only because they’re usually not used responsibly. For those of you that use a credit card, you more than likely get a certain percentage back on most purchases. Use that credit card and this will help save you maybe an extra 1-2% off the total purchase.

If you follow those four steps, I can almost guarantee you are going to make your purchase for the lowest price possible at that time. This does ignore the possibility of sales going on at different times throughout the year. If you’re not in a hurry to make a purchase, make sure you follow the deal sites I have mentioned before and wait for a great deal! Happy shopping!