Life

Regardless of the size of your bank account, nobody likes to pay more than they have to. And visiting store after store to compare prices can be extremely time consuming regardless of when you go — let alone during the crowded Christmas season.

However, thanks to the Internet, there are more ways than ever to find out how to get the best price for just about any item you seek — and you won't even have to set one foot inside an overpopulated mall.

The quickest way to comparison shop online is to go to a site devoted to that ideal.

Three sites I found that are easy to navigate and offer substantial deals are Newegg.com, Slickdeals.net and Dealcatcher.com. They all have the same premise, but they approach the idea in slightly different ways.

Dealcatcher.com has multiple offers and searches jumping out at you right from the home page, including a list of the top online coupons, links to printable coupons and prices from multiple vendors to compare. You can get "Deal Alerts" and have offers delivered to you via e-mail.

Slickdeals also has coupons and the latest deals, and the site offers extensive "Store Ratings" that are helpful. When you don't see an item in person before you buy, it helps to hear from others who have.

Newegg branches out from strictly deals a bit more than the other two. It offers gift ideas, a holiday shipping guide and a more specific item search from the navigation bar.

Newegg also has "Daily Deals" and notes the customer ratings as well right below the offer.

Another way to get the best price is to really research an item online before buying. I posted an entry on the Here's the Deal blog (DaytonDailyNews.com/bargains) last week that's a great personal example of why this lesson is so valuable.

While searching on Amazon.com for a marble track for my 7-year-old, my husband and I found a track we liked, but it was $49.95. On the next page, there was another track for $25.99 — and it had the same picture as the one that was twice its price.

After looking up the toy by its manufacturer, it appears that it is the same toy with the same description — it's just that one company makes it cheaper. So, with just a few clicks of the mouse, we were able to get the same toy at half the price.

If you don't have a computer at home, stop by your local library.

Shopper of the Week

There is a brave new world out there in bargain shopping that I am just beginning to discover. Thanks to a few of my new consumer buddies, I have found out about a whole network out there that is devoted to getting the best deals using multiple Web sites, coupons and related information.

One such consumer guru is Andrea Deckard, an area mother of three who has turned her ability to save money for her family into a blog that offers help for all families trying to cut costs.

Deckard started "couponing," which also involves matching store advertisements and coupons to get the greatest savings, about two years ago. But her efforts multiplied in the fall of 2007.

"We were expecting our third son and found out he was going to need surgery," Deckard said, "so we needed to find money and cut our costs.

"He had his surgery in October 2007 and by October 2008, I had saved more than our out-of-pocket expenses for his surgery — and that was a lot of money."

She started her own Web site, www.mommysnacks.net, in February.

"I first started (the blog) for my friends because they didn't like some of the other sites. I used to e-mail them deals, then I put them on MySpace and then I started the blog."

Deckard said the first site she used to help her save money was The Grocery Game, but the site she prefers is hotcouponworld.com because there are no fees.

She said she tries to break down the deals into manageable pieces for folks, and even has an extremely helpful beginner's guide on her site that lists seven steps to shopping with coupons.

Her tips include setting a budget, finding your sources of coupons and organizing them, focusing in on one store you like and stockpiling items that you will use in the future.

Deckard also offers a "Snack Summary" tab on her site that highlights specific ads from area stores for that week and offers coupon matches for those items, often with links to printable coupons.

For instance, on the week of Dec. 7 list of Meijer coupons was the following item: "$4.50 Bic Soleil Razor. Coupon Match: $3 in the Nov. 2 Smart Source insert (expiration

Dec. 14). Net Price: $1.50."

She also offers a menu plan that employs some of the deals, a list of freebies and samples available at various Web sites, a link to printable coupon sites and even some valuable information about how to complete surveys at home to earn extra cash.

Deckard said she spends about 20 to 30 hours a week on the site and has saved $6,500 for her family this year by couponing.

She also gives boxes of items she has stockpiled to charity, and has started to work with nonprofits to try to teach them how to get the most for their money.

She has been working with the Bridge of Hope, a national group that supports women on the verge of homelessness.

"I try to use what I've learned along the way to help others," Deckard said.

Shopper of

Who: Andrea Deckard, 30, creator of www.mommy

snacks.net

Home: Deckard lives in Monroe with her husband, Paul, and three sons

Work/education: The stay-at-home mom earned her bachelor's degree in communications from Ohio University

Response to our topic of the week about comparison shopping for Christmas: "I have used the slickdeals.net site," Deckard said. "Last year, I wanted to get my son a laptop. I was able to find out about a sale at Best Buy that was going to start the following Sunday, but didn't know if I could get to the store before they ran out. So I bought the laptop on Saturday for full price and went back later in the week with my receipt and got an adjustment for the sale price."

Contact this columnist at (937) 225-7325 or jikelley@DaytonDailyNews.com.