Today I wanted to write about some of the things I see going on today in the US economy and give you some pointers on ways to make your hard earned money stretch as far as possible.

Obviously gas prices are a budget killer right now. Most of us are cutting back on our daily trips, or mapping our commute, or carpooling, or even using public transportation to try to stretch that dollar. These are all great ideas, but when it comes to shopping there are other things you can do to save money without even leaving your home.

We all want to get the best deal when we are shopping online and there are a few things you can do immediately to save money.

Compare prices, there are many sites out there that let you compare prices against online retailers, the problem with these sites is that they overcharge the retailers for the advertising, so the retailers have to jack up their prices on the product to cover the cost of advertising. So, what I recommend is using sites like Google shopping: http://www.google.com/prdhp?hl=en&tab=wf Google offers this service for free to retailers, so you will find that there are a lot more retailers using it and you will have a better chance of finding the best price.

You can also save by purchasing more than 1 item at a time from a single retailer. Most online retailers will package as many products as possible into a single shipping box, so the more you buy the cheaper it is for you. You need to be careful here, since some retailers like to take advantage of you as much as possible and will charge you full shipping rates regardless of how many boxes they have to use to ship.

Finally, the last thing I recommend is joining saver programs offered by some retailers. For instance at MoGiZ.com you can buy a Membership which gives you a lot of member benefits as well as lets you save an additional 10% off all your purchases. You can find more details about MoGiZ.com memberships by clicking here: http://www.mogiz.com/Pages/UserMembershipInfo.aspx

Remember, driving to your local store to shop costs the average American an average of $13.40 with today’s gas prices, so you really can save a lot by being smart and shopping online.