I just came across Local.com, and thought it would be a perfect addition to Fantabulously Frugal Friday.

Why? Local.com looks very similar to Yelp.com, one of my favorite websites when it comes to finding new restaurants to try. And indeed, Local.com has copious restaurant reviews for restaurants in the area for where you are conducting your search.

So let’s back up. On the homepage of the site you type in your location. Maybe it’s where you live, or maybe you want to try dinner in a neighboring city, or maybe you’re even on vacation and looking for a shop/restaurant/etc. Type that city into the Local.com homepage, and then choose what you’re looking for. In my case, I’m going to be looking for a local restaurant. After hitting the “Search” button, the page will be updated to reflect your new location, and exactly what it is you’re looking for.

For my Chicago restaurant search, I had a box containing the local weather. Another one told me the local traffic report (bad traffic everywhere)! Another box told me the restaurants that are near my location, and yet another showed me the restaurants that are the most reviewed (and gave me a link to the review). But here’s my favorite feature, and why this website is being included on Fantabulously Frugal Friday. There’s another box showcasing any restaurants that are offering coupons that I could take advantage of! How awesome is that?

Saving money … that’s what we like to do around here! Local.com may be a great tool in helping to find area discounts, and may definitely be worth checking out.

Half.com has been one of my favorite websites since college, when I refused to pay full-price for textbooks. 9 times out of 10 I could find those books listed on Half.com, but for a fraction of the price. Since college I have continued to be a fan of Half.com when I’ve wanted to purchase books and/or DVDs, but have not wanted to pay full price.

Half.com is a subsidiary of Ebay, and as such, most items on the site are used and listed by individual people. (Sort of similar to the “Buy it Now” function on Ebay, except that you can list items on the site until they sell.) While items are used, you can decided what level of wear and tear you are willing to tolerate. Maybe you only like things that are in “Like New” condition. Or maybe you just want the cheapest price and are willing to just take an item in “Acceptable” condition.

The site finds every item that’s available that matches your search, and then provides you with the various buying options.

What I love to do is stroll through Borders, finding lots of books I would love to read. And then I’ll go on Half.com and buy them for a fraction of the price. I suppose it takes away some of the instant gratification, but it also keeps some money in my wallet, which I definitely enjoy!

(And again – I cannot stress this enough – if you are in college now, this site should be your best friend.)

Heavenly Couture has been one of my favorite online stores for a couple of years now, because everything they sell is bona fide cheap! (Price-wise, not quality-wise.)

I bought a dress from Heavenly Couture last summer for $13.99, thinking it would just be a cheap little dress that I could wear around a couple of times and think nothing of trashing at the end of the summer. Man, was I wrong. I still have that dress and it still looks as good as new! While I can’t vouch for all of the clothes, the dress that I received looked and felt like something I would have bought from the Gap. But for much less money.

Heavenly Couture, while they used to sell EVERYTHING for less than $13.99, has sadly risen that price point to $17.99. But still – a steal of a deal, IMO. If I had to closely compare this store to another retailer it would be Forever 21. Heavenly Couture doesn’t quite have the selection of Forever 21, but it’s also cheaper.

Heavenly Couture is a great steal of a shop, and definitely worth keeping on your radar if you’re shopping for budget-priced seasonal clothing. (i.e. Right now you can only find summer clothes on the site.)

Shipping is free on all purchases over $75. Exchanges are free for 365 days.

And hey, this just in: Heavenly Couture is now selling their “summer basics” (tanks & t’s) for just 3 for $15. Click here to check out the selection of basics. (BTW – I do not see this sale advertised on the website. But if you put 3 items in your cart you will see the price drop!)

I’ve been doing almost all of my shopping online for the past couple of years. There’s a couple of reasons I made this switch: 1. I despise the sales tax in Chicago and you can sometimes avoid sales tax when shopping online. 2. There are so many more coupons and promo codes to be found online than there are coupons to be used in stores.

When shopping online you can almost always find the same sales, discounts, etc. that you can find if you actually go shopping in-person. But I would say a good 80% of the time I can find an additional discount code that is only available for my online purchase.

Obviously I share a few of my personal favorites on this site, but let’s be honest – there are so many more to be found! Coupons, coupons everywhere, really. And one of the sites I consult most often when I need a promo code in a pinch is FindSavings.com.

If I’ve decided to purchase a book but haven’t received an email with any discounts, I just search for any Borders codes they may have.

Recently I had wanted to send a friend a bottle of wine, so I did a Wine.com search to find a discount.

I cannot stand paying full price for anything I purchase online and this FindSavings.com makes it that much easier to keep a little bit of extra cash in your pocket!

I came across this site literally last night and thought it was so cute that it would make a perfect Fantabulously Frugal Friday. Well, kind of. I guess this site is stretching it, but I’m so enamored that I’m going to make it work.

I’m sure many of you have participated in some swaps that various bloggers have posted, right? I LOVE blog swaps – finding the perfect small gifts to send to a complete stranger is really fun, in my opinion. I enjoy the shopping and wrapping just as much as I enjoy getting a surprise gift in the mail.

This website, swap-bot.com, makes it easy to host swaps on your blog OR you can find swaps that people are hosting and for which you would like to participate!

There are so many different swaps posted on this site: postcard swaps, friendship book (?) swaps, homemade bookmark swaps, birthday swaps, heck, even cigarette swaps (I am not suggesting you participate in this one, for obvious reasons, just pointing out that it exists)!

And here’s a little twist – based on the items you send your swap partner, they leave you a rating on swap-bot.com. Some swaps won’t even let you participate if your rating is too low! (Now that’s one heck of a discouragement to half a$$ing your swap package if I’ve ever heard one.)

So how is this site Fantabulously Frugal? Well, maybe you have postcards sitting around your house from previous trips that you’ll never use. This site hooks you up with people so you can mail them out AND get some postcards in return. Or maybe you have some old gifts sitting around that you’ll never use. Maybe there’s a giveaway for white elephant gifts or something like that.

But really, when it comes down to it, is there anything better than both sending mail and getting mail in return?

The way groupon works is that each day the site lists a deal. Previously they’ve had offerings such as cheap gift certificates to various restaurants, tickets to a Cubs game (here in Chicago), or personal assistant services. A fairly wide assortment, I’d say, and the deal changes every 24 hours.

People sign up to commit themselves to whatever the deal of the day is. But here’s the thing – this deal only actually becomes available if enough people sign up to take advantage of it. Tricky, eh? Hence the name “Group”on. The peeps in charge have worked out deals with those companies to offer discounted products if and when enough people sign up to make it worthwhile. If enough people don’t sign up, you don’t get charged anything (but you also don’t get the special deal you wanted.)

I haven’t yet taken advantage of this site, but believe me, were there something I couldn’t live without, you better bet I would!