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Saving money while shopping online can be time-consuming and frustrating. Shopping online has become one of the easiest ways to purchase items that you need and want.
These days it is so much easier to shop online, you can shop wherever and whenever you want to. There is no need to leave your home, drive around town in traffic, you don’t even need to make yourself presentable.
You can shop in your PJ’s, shop at all hours of the day and get items that you might not be able to get in your corner of the world.
Shopping online has many benefits to make it easy and hassle-free. You can bookmark your favorite sites, you have the ability to add items to wish lists, your information is saved for you so you don’t have to go grab your wallet every time you want to make a purchase and there are so many more ways to save money by comparing prices, searching for coupon codes and getting cashback and rewards just for purchasing items you would have purchased anyway.
There are also some frustrations to trying to save money while shopping online like searching for coupon codes and entering them only to find out that they have expired or are not valid for the items you are buying.
Or getting ready to checkout of your favorite site only to realize you did not start shopping through a cashback site portal or forgetting to altogether and not getting the cashback you thought you would get. And going from site to site trying to find the best deals for your money.
Google Chrome Web Browser
First of all, I use Google Chrome for an internet browser. I’ve used all the most popular browsers out there and I just think that Chrome is the easiest to use. I am able to easily access my Gmail, calendar reminders, tasks as well as all my Google Docs from both my home and on my smartphone. It is just so functional. But one of the best reasons for Google Chrome, especially for online shopping is the ability to install extensions.
What are Extensions
If you have never used extensions then you are in for a real treat. Extensions are basically plugins that you add to your browser that give it more functionality.
Here is the Wikipedia Definition – A browser extension is a plug-in that extends the functionality of a web browser in some way. Some extensions are authored using web technologies such as HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. Browser extensions can change the user interface of the web browser without directly affecting the viewable content of a web page; for example, by adding a “toolbar.”
These extensions can save you a ton of time and frustration not only while shopping online but for all kinds of other online tasks.
How Do Extensions Work
Different extensions do different things but basically, they work in the background and just show up when you need them. You install your preferred extensions and they do the rest of the work for you. No more searching for coupon codes, no more having to remember to shop through your favorite cashback site, or even having to go to multiple sites to find the best prices. Your installed extensions will do all the work for you.
How Extensions Help Me Save Money
Installing the right extensions is my simple online shopping trick. I have three extensions installed for online shopping. You can install every shopping extension available but I do not recommend it (based on personal experience). Mainly because they end up “fighting” with each other and slow down your browser. This will not save you time and add more frustration.
Must-Have Extensions to Get the Most Savings
Because you do not want to install too many browser extension you must pick the best ones for your purpose which is saving money while online shopping. So here are my top three online shopping extensions that I use to save me a ton of money every year.
Ebates
I love Ebates to begin with but installing the extension has made my online shopping so much easier. If you do not have an Ebates account then you HAVE to get one now if you want to save the most money while online shopping, there is no way around it.
Ebates partners with thousands of online sites to help you save money no matter where you shop. Sign up now to get a $10 sign up bonus!
First, you need to install the extension which you can do here you will be prompted to sign in to your account and then after that, there is nothing else to do, the extension will do the rest.
When you visit a website that is partnered with Ebates you will receive a notification under your browser’s address bar. All you need to do is click the “ACTIVATE” prompt and you’re done, cashback with just a click.
PriceBlink
My next go-to extension is Priceblink. This searches the internet for the best prices on the product you are viewing. So let’s say you are shopping on Target.com and are viewing a Bedding Set, Priceblink is working behind the scenes searching the internet for that exact product that has a lower price.
When lower prices are found you will get an alert below your address bar which will give you the ability to go directly to that product on another site that has the lower price. Get your Priceblink extension here.
Honey
Lastly, I use the Honey browser extension. Honey is an extension that kicks into action at checkout. While you are getting ready to make your purchase, Honey searches their database for coupon codes, promos and deals. It will apply the best deal for you at checkout that will save you the most money.
Honey also has a cashback type program where you can also earn HoneyGold for purchasing product through certain online retailers. You can redeem your HoneyGold to get even more savings while shopping online. Get your Honey extension here.
That’s it, all you need are the right extensions for seamless savings while shopping online. As you can see, these three extensions can save you thousands of dollars for making online purchases that you would have made anyway. As a bonus, they will also save you more time and frustrations by doing the hard work for you.
Looking for more ways to make saving money easier? You need to read these posts.
Best Resources to Help You Save Money
Saving and Investing Made Easy
Free Tools to Maintain Your Financial Health
Try these extensions out and please leave a comment to share how easy they are to use.
Great tips. I haven’t tried the browser extensions yet. What percentage of the time do you figure they save money for you? Half?
For me, they save way more then half the time because I am always on a mission to save the most possible money. I won’t buy online (or off line) without making sure I am paying the lease possible price. But it does get frustrating to enter a coupon code only to find out that it doesn’t work, then start the search all over again. Or go from website to website trying to find the best deal. These extensions have made it so easy to get the most for my money.