How to Save Money on Christmas Gifts Without Being a Scrooge

Let's face it. Christmas shopping can get expensive - especially if you have a large circle of family and friends. But there are things you can do to save money and still get everyone what's on their list.

One of the first things to do before you do anything else is to visit the price comparison web sites to find the lowest posted prices for the items on your list. This not only saves time, it saves gas and money too.

There are over 50 major price comparison web sites and new ones popping up all the time. Yahoo, AOL and MSN each have "Shopping" locations on their sites offering cost comparisons on most products. Google has it's price comparison web site called Froogle. Go directly to any of the sites listed above and look for their shopping connection.

Other top sites to check out include Shopzilla, PriceScan, PriceWatch, and DealTime. Just add "www" and ". com " to these names to begin your online shopping comparison.

In most cases, you simply enter the product category and specific brand you're shopping for. That's it. Usually within a split second, you'll get a listing of online and offline merchants who sell the product, along with side by side price comparisons. You'll be amazed at the price differences between some of the "brick and mortar" and online merchants.

Price comparison sites make it easy to shop electronic gifts like digital or 35mm cameras, video cams, computers, cell phones or personal desk assistants where there are usually different makes or models. Some sites even contain complete product information and quality ratings on these and other products. There are also s price comparison sites that specialize in electronics, photography, videos, books and other merchandise - even gifts for your pet.