One of the great things about the Internet is the ability to research great deals on everything you need. The trick is to sort through thousands of resources to find the deals you want and need. Over at Wise Bread, they have made the deal finding a little bit easier. On its Deals Roundup page, Wise Bread lists the day’s best deals, coupons and freebies from the best bargain sites on the web.

In my attempts to save money, meal planning and grocery shopping has become more complex. I’m clipping coupons, shopping multiple stores to get the best prices, and planning meals around what’s on sale. Being domestically and organizationally challenged, this new way of cooking and shopping has been difficult for me to manage.

But I’ve just come across a great new web and phone app that can make it easier. Ziplist offers lots of great features to create a shopping list and plan meals. The shopping list can be organized by aisle or store. It can be shared with other members of the family so that they can add items.

Not sure what to make for dinner? Ziplist has tons of recipes and with a single click all the ingredients can be added to your list. It will even show you items that you may already have at home so that they aren’t added to the list. And if you find a recipe on another website, you can save it to your Ziplist recipe box.

When you’re ready to shop, you can print out your list or access it by through your SmartPhone (iPhone app coming soon).

To learn more or to create your own list, visit Ziplist.

Most people seem to get upset at how early Christmas and holiday promotions start. I don’t mind so much because I love the holiday season; the sights, smells, great food…what’s not to like.

But now I appreciate the several months heads up because with economy as it is, I can’t afford to buy all gifts in the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Not only that, but this year my family will need to be more frugal in gift giving. Thank goodness for the Internet and all the great  deals  on it.

I’ll be sharing resources over the coming weeks that can be used at anytime, but will be particularly helpful during the gift giving season. This week I want you to know about UWantSavings.com.

Like many discount resources, UWantSavings.com gets overstock from stores and manufacturerers and sells them at a discount. They have a variety of items to fit every room of the house. Today I found a Hamilton Beach 14 cup food processor for over half off…its only $45. A Sony Cyber Shot digital camera just sold out … it was only $145 instead of $299. I’ve seen Wii/Xbox games for less than $20.

It may not have as much stuff as similar sites, but there is a lot good stuff at a good price that makes it work a visit. Visit  UWantSavings.com

40-80% off discount retail prices.

Guest Blog:

How To Get Coupon Codes On pretty much every Online Purchase

Clients are purchasing more online and just as there are cash back visa cards where you get money back on each acquisition you make with the Mastercard, there are money back shopping sites where you get money back on each acquisition you make thru their sites.

Things you may need : PC Net Access the will to save cash on your web purchases Instructions :

STEP 1 : Find a cash back shopping site by either doing a search in your favourite search engine or go to my personal favorite which is Amazon Coupon Code.

STEP 2 : Join free membership sites. These sites help you earn money on your purchases, so there’s no need for them to charge you a fee for their services. That means you can avoid any site that charges you for similar services.

STEP 3 : Search for the store you want to purchase from ( most cash back shopping sites have 800 or more stores ) or by the category you want to purchase like flowers or men’s attire. The cash back rate for each online store will be listed and usually range between 2-25%.

STEP 4 : Shop as you routinely would online.

STEP 5 : If you had clicked a reduction with a voucher code then enter it during checkout.

STEP 6 : The cash back from your purchase should be reflected in your shopping site account within a week or so.

STEP 7 : Your cash back will accrue in your account until payday. Typically shopping sites send out a check once every couple of months.

Overall Tips & Alerts : Choose a cash back shopping site (like Coupons for Amazon.com) that also provides good online refunds that could be used along with money back discounts. Quality trumps quantity. Many sites never remove expired coupons. Choose a cash back shopping site that has a good referral program. Some sites offer $5 to enroll or refer member, but you get that money after you make more purchases and you just get it once.

To get money back you have to purchase from the browser window that opened when you clicked the link on the money back shopping site. Many times they can add them and you can save on your purchase.

Maintain a record of the purchases you make to be sure you are credited for the right amount of money on each purchase. It can take anywhere from one to ninety days for cash back to show up in your account depending on the store’s policy for reporting commissions as well as the cash back shopping site you are using.

Phone service has changed a lot over the last few years. Unlimited long-distance calling for one fee made a huge impact on my business. I went from paying over $100 a month just in long distance to one low fee  ($25). But now things have gotten even better. I can call anyone, anywhere in the world for free using Skype.

Skype has been around for awhile, but I hadn’t really seen the value in it. No one I knew had Skype so it didn’t seem worth it to figure it out. But recently I’ve noticed more and more podcasters and small business owners had Skype so I wanted to learn the advantages.

The biggest advantage is that its free. Its free to download and its free to call others who also have Skype.  For the business crowd, Skype offers conference and video calls, mobile Skype and instant messaging. Through Skype applications you can have a virtual receptionist and even record your calls (which is great for podcasts!).

But Skype isn’t limited to internet calling. You can call landlines and cell phone for a fee. The cost is extremely affordable using Skype Credit in a pay-as-you go manner or through a subscription. SkypeOut calls are about 2.1 cents per minute or for $3.00 a month you can have unlimited calls throughout the United Stats and Canada ($10 worldwide).  For about $60 a year you can get a SkypeIn number whereby people can call you from landlines or cell phones.

Skype is very easy to use. In fact, the program walks you through a test call to make sure its working correctly.

I’m not sure Skype will replace other services the way cell phones are replacing landlines, but there’s no doubt that there is a place for Internet calling especially when its so affordable.

Visit Skype to learn more.

The Coupon Mom is offering 3 free ebooks that can help you save big at the grocery and drug stores. And you don’t need to register or give your email to get them!

I recently saw the Coupon Mom on a re-run of Oprah. She bought $125 worth of groceries for about $37. I was impressed! So I visited her site to get the low down on grocery shopping. The ebooks offer some great tips to get you started. However, I think discount grocery shopping is a skill that is developed over time. I ended up spending 25% over my normal budget and spent over 5 hours (3 of them grocery shopping) in the process. I can only hope that the 6 boxes of cereal, 8 cans of diced tomatoes and other items I stockpiled will last long enough to have the end result be a lower monthly grocery bill.

To learn more about the Coupon Mom and to get the free ebooks, visit CouponMom.com

Hotels.com is my go-to resource if I’m traveling and need to stay overnight. We’ve been able to stay in top-notch hotels such as the Hilton for less than $80 a night… and that was right outside of Washington D.C. Right now Hotels.com is offering lots of great deals some of which are listed below!

Nine Day Sale: Hundreds of Hotels $99 or less! Book by 09/09/09.

Nine Day Sale: Las Vegas Hotels from $19! Book by 09/09/09.

Nine Day Sale: Orlando Hotels from $39! Book by 09/09/09.

Grocery shopping is one of those tedious tasks that has to be done, but it can become less tedious by using Amazon.com’s Subscribe and Save program that will ship items to you on a schedule you choose. The eligible items include household supplies, food and snacks, health and wellness products, baby items and nutritional foods. Aside from reducing your trips to the grocery store, other benefits include:

* automatically receive a new shipment of the item in intervals you select–every one, two, three, or six months
* get a discount on Amazon.com’s everyday price
* get free shipping on every Subscribe & Save shipment
* pay for each order only when the item is shipped
* have the option to cancel at any time
* get an email when the subscription process is started so you can update your order if needed.

To learn more, visit Amazon.com’s Subscribe and Save program.

Do you ever wonder how to get those discount codes you see when you check out during an online shop? Sometimes you’ll find them in magazines or direct mail pieces that are sent to you. But you don’t have to wait to come across coupons codes. Instead you can visit a place like RetailMeNot.com where you can find coupons and codes for more than 13,000 stores including JC Penny’s, Victoria Secret, Amazon.com, and Papa Johns Pizza!

Sign up for Kolhs’ email alerts to get news on big savings plus get $5 off your next in-store purchase and 10% off an online purchase. To learn more and sign up, visit Kolhs.