MONEY COMMENT
Websites That Save You Thousands!

By Cliff D'Arcy
September 30, 2004

One thing that always brings me great pleasure is buying goods at a considerable discount to their Recommended Retail Price (RRP).

To me, paying full price for any significant purchase is lunacy! For example, last month I bought my wife a nearly new car (an ex-demonstrator with only a few thousand miles on the clock) for £5,000 less than the list price of a new model. Luckily, Mrs D isn't too fussy, but had she absolutely insisted on a new model, I found several websites willing to reduce its RRP by as much as £3,000!

Obviously, when it comes to major spending decisions, I do a lot of research to find low prices or great value-for-money, usually by shopping online. However, you'd be amused by how low I'm prepared to go to save money – I'll even shop around for something costing less than a tenner!

For instance, I bought a new vacuum cleaner recently (saving £40 off the RRP, naturally!), only to discover that replacement bags were rather pricey. Happily, a local electrical warehouse sells a generic version for a fraction of the price, so Mrs D bought a large supply. Sad but true!

Anyway, onwards and upwards. Here are some of my favourite money-saving websites (for financial products, start with this site!):

Everyday treats (if this isn't a contradiction in terms!)

• Bookbrain compares prices of – you guessed it – books from around thirteen different booksellers, including big names such as Amazon. One online bookseller that is consistently competitive is Swotbooks. For Motley Fool books and merchandise, pay a visit to our Fool Shop!
  
• CD Wow! sells most CDs at £8.99 with no delivery charge, a saving of a fiver or so on high-street prices.
  
• DVD Price Check is a mighty fine price-comparison website that searches dozens of UK and overseas websites to find you a better deal on DVDs.

Big purchases and electrical goods

• You'll find a huge selection of household, electrical, computer equipment and other goods listed on these popular shopbots (price-comparison websites): Kelkoo, Amazon, DealTime and Pricerunner.

Travel and leisure

• For cheaper holidays, flights, hotels and hire cars, check out ebookers, Expedia, Lastminute and Travelocity.

Supermarket savings

• Fixture Ferrets lists all the bargains at seven leading supermarket chains. You can view offers by store, product type and promotional category, plus there's a handy search facility. Fantastic for buying in bulk!
  
• Another site for serious supermarket savings is TrollyDolly, which list prices for almost every grocery item under the sun.

Finally, put the money you save towards paying off expensive debts, or stash it in a top-notch savings account. And remember: the less you spend, the more you can save, so go easy in those shops, kids!

More: Visit our Get Out of Debt and Savings centres | The Seven Deadly Spending Sins.