If you’re upset because you missed the slew of holiday sales, are frustrated that you didn’t get what you wanted this past holiday season, or you’re just getting a jump start on resort wear / Spring attire, I’m sure you’ve realized: online shopping is now your best friend. Whether you have limited time to shop or you live in an area that doesn’t offer many retail stores that tickle your fancy, e-commerce can broaden your horizons. From designers you’ve never heard of to styles your town has never seen, the glorious land of Internet Shopping has helped (or plagued) women for years. Online shopping isn’t just simply shopping online. It allows you to bounce from site to site to hunt for a deal, whereas doing the same while shopping in person takes hours bouncing from store to store.You’re able to save time (theoretically) and money after a little practice.

Price hunting online is a skill to acquire. But it can easily be achieved with the help of a few particular websites. Everyone has their favorites, but here are a few of mine:

∞  ShopStyle: Browse top name brands on the site itself, or click on SALEAlerts where you’re able to 1. Enter your email address, 2. Designate which brands you care about most, and 3. Choose the frequency of which you would like to receive sale alert emails: multiple times daily, daily, or weekly. It all depends: How much do you like to shop? Or, even better: How full does your inbox get on a daily basis?

∞  Shop It To Me: 1. Designate your favorite brands, 2. Choose your size, 3. Let the Shop It To Me team do their work! As your chosen brands begin to put items on sale, you will receive email notifications about items that are actually in your size! This page gives you the full low down about their system. NOTE: Again, make sure you set the frequency that you would like to receive emails: daily, weekly, or twice weekly.

∞  Hukkster: The rookie on the scene, I fell in love with Hukkster and the Hukking team almost instantly. After signing in with either Facebook or Gmail, you’re able to drag their “Hukk It” button to live up in your browser bar. As you’re online shopping, click the button: your item is now saved to your “Hukks” in your account. Once the item goes on sale you will receive an email notification telling you so! Maybe it was out of your price range at full price, but sale price is on point 😉 Since the site was launched fairly recently (2012, I believe) not all sites are fully enabled (i.e. You’re able to designate desired color & size on Victoriassecret.com, but not on Nordstrom.com). Nearly all items are Hukk-able, but some offer further specification for what you’re looking for. I love this because my inbox is ALWAYS too full—this tells me about the items I actually want to buy, not just the brands I like. What’s not to love about that? (Stay tuned, I’ll be tweeting updates about more available sites as I see them!)

Another glorious trick to knocking off a few additional dollars to most of your online purchases: Online Couponing! I have finagled my way into getting 1. Free shipping, 2. Employee discounts (once, accidentally!), and 3. 10% off or more. While some people may be loyalists to a particular site for this, I simply type into Google such phrases as “[store name] coupon code” or “[store name] discount code.” Within seconds a slew of sites come up. NOTE: Not all coupon codes are created equal. Many are expired, but after quickly clicking and skimming the first 3-4 search results often times at least one of them works. Consistent sites that pop up are:

• ∞  RetailMeNot
• ∞  Bargainist
• ∞  CouponCabin

And remember ladies:

Shop smart, Shop confidently 🙂

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