In this down economy, we all need to save money any way we can. Every day I hear that this will be a frugal Christmas or a budget Hanukkah. The good news is, there are many ways to save money on your online purchases and gifts, allowing you to keep some extra funds tucked away for emergencies or perhaps, the heating bill.

Any shopper who can use Google or Yahoo search, can get access to online discounts at many of the top names on the web from The Gap, to Ann Taylor, to Dell to Home Depot. Here are five easy steps you can use today to get discounts and/or free shipping off many of your online purchases.

Step One: Determine which websites or brand names you are interested in

Step Two: Go to Google or Yahoo and search for the Brand/Store Name and online coupon. Ex: "Ann Taylor Online Coupon". The key is including the words "online" and "coupon" with your search.

Step Three: Click on the highest listed or most relevant Links on Google or Yahoo. For example, if you search for "Ann Taylor Coupon Codes" , one of the first links you will see states " Ann Taylor Coupon Codes - all coupons, discounts and promo code". .www.retailmenot.com/view/anntaylor.com" This is very relevant to what you want.

Step Four: Visit the Coupon website and write down the coupon or discount codes shown. For example: Code: 89300003, Discount: 20% Off entire purchase. Expires 12/1/2008

Step Five: Go to your desired website, add items to the shopping cart and check-out. During the process you will have the opportunity to enter a promotional code. Do so, and update your cart. The total purchase should now reflect the discount.

Bonus Tips

One of the hardest websites to find discounts for is J Crew. The five steps above won’t likely help you, so try this site instead: http://jcrewaficionada.blogspot.com/ Here, other J Crew fans post coupon codes in the upper right hand corner of this website. Considering that the average J Crew order costs over $150, this visit is worth your time.

Are you a Discover Card member signed up for Cash Back? If yes, on the Discover Card website you can increase both your cash-back percentage and the value of your cash-back dollars by following a few easy steps. First, go to the ShopDiscover link and access some of your favorite sites from there. As shown, by starting within the Discover site, your online purchase cash-back bonus can jump to 5% to 20% on the featured retailers. In addition, certain retailers allow you to turbo charge your cash back balances to purchase items. For example, CVS Pharmacy currently allows Discover Card holders to convert $40 cash-back into a $45 credit towards purchases. LL Bean, $40 to $50 and Brookstone $40 to $60, If you have a Discover Card, visit their online site to save money.

Heading to the Mall and looking for “in person” discounts? Do you have a printer? Go to Google and search under the term “printable coupons”. Some of the more popular, relevant sites are: http://www.couponcabin.com/printable-coupons/index.htm http://wow-coupons.com/all-printable-retail-coupons.php

Go to one of these sites, look for the stores that interest you, click on the links and print out your coupons. Top retailers including Target, Yankee Candle and Home Depot PLUS many top restaurant chains have printable coupons available.

Investing an extra five minutes to find coupon codes could save you hundreds of dollars off your upcoming online and in person purchases. In this economy we all need to be more frugal. Good luck!