Thrifty Polished: New Website Obsessions!

Scouring the web for great bargains has become a huge passion of mine, right up there with shopping in actual stores. :) While few things can compare to the thrill of trying on a big find and realizing it fits perfectly, online shopping is almost as satisfying. Plus there's the added anticipation of waiting excitedly for your lovely scores to come in the mail. So here are four websites I discovered in the last couple days that are already having a profound impact on my freebie finding. They're truly awesome!

First let me tell you about http://www.makeupalley.com/ It is a new swapping website I discovered that deals exclusively in cosmetics! It is completely free to join and international, but the majority of the members are from America, so for those of us located in the USA, it really helps keep the cost of postage down. I only joined yesterday and have already set up swaps for 2 amazing items that I have long been dying to try: Organix Brazillian Keratin Therapy Conditioner, and Burt't Bees Natural Acne Solutions. Great quality products traded for items I no longer need. Soooo happy!

Whether you are single, married or have a family, I think we can all relate to trying to plan a delicious, tasty and INEXPENSIVE meal and not knowing where to begin. Problem solved! This fabulous blog: http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/ is all about how to plan wonderful dishes on a shoestring budget. It includes gorgeous step by step photos for each recipe and has a breakdown of the per ingredient costs that goes into the recipes. It could not be simpler to use, a perfect blog in every way! I recommend trying one of Beth's latest recipes for fall: http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/2011/10/sausage-kale-soup-845-recipe-105.html Sausage and Kale Soup, only $1.05 per serving!

Would you like to earn points towards getting fabulous prizes like gift cards, books, and electronics, just by doing everyday webvactivities like using a search engine, watching videos or taking polls and surveys? Of course you would! Introducing... Swagbucks! Swagbucks webiste is free and safe to join and you can complete dozens of activities every day to earn points. To learn more visit their website at: http://www.swagbucks.com/ Then follow the Official Swagbucks Blog to learn about promotions and free codes for scoring swagbucks! http://blog.swagbucks.com/category/swag-codes-2

For lots of tips on how to most effectively use the Swagbucks website visit: http://frugalfabulousfinds.com/category/swagbucks/ and http://bargainbriana.com/tag/swagbucks

I have only been a member for 4 days and have already earned over 100 Swagbucks! If I continue at the same rate, I will have over 600 swagbucks a month, and nearly 7,800 a year, enough to earn either the $50 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift cards I have on my wishlist. Pretty Fabulous! Here's some other prizes that also look great, from left to right, 399sb, 3,849sb, and 15,999sb.

Finally we come to the blog http://bargainbriana.com/ . A fellow blogger like myself Briana has an extremely well organized site jam packed with freebies, coupons, and tips! Just today she added several new freebie deals that are just extraordinary! A few links:

http://bargainbriana.com/free-sample-find-your-bliss-shower-gel-and-body-butter

Get a free sample of these amazing shower gels and body butters!