Budget tools • Thrive (justthrive.com) and Mint (mint.com) allow you to pool all your accounts in one place to get a full financial picture, offer budgeting and saving tools, along with reminders and alerts when you are charged fees or have low banking balances. Want to create a budget? PearBudget (pearbudget.com) offers a simple web-based budgeting tool that takes just 10 minutes to set up and offers a free 30-day trial — after that, it’s a budget-friendly $3 a month.
Discounts and coupons • FatWallet.com and RetailMeNot.com offer updates on best deals and coupon codes for purchases. CheapTweet (cheaptweet.com) finds thousands of deals being talked about on Twitter and you don’t have to have a Twitter account to use it. CouponPrintster.com allows you to print out grocery coupons from home. Finally, don’t forget group-buying sites: Groupon, LivingSocial, and locally-produced Inside Scoop and Skirkle, are sites which email discounted savings on services and restaurants.
Other ways to save online • Pay credit card bills online and avoid late charges. Use email or video chat services like Skype (skype.com) to save on phone service. Watch free tv and movies on Hulu (hulu.com) or network websites.