5 Best Sites for Online Shopping

Want to save money on Christmas gifts? Then shop early and shop online. Here are a few of the best deals going right now.

• Overstock.com-This is my go to site. Their shipping charges range from Free to 2.99. At the time of this post they have $1.00 shipping site wide. One of their best deals right now is a Wii Docking Station for 26.99 which is considerably less than the 109.98 list price. Make sure shop this site early. Quanitities are limited on many items.

• eBay.com-You can get virtually anything on eBay. When searching select the free shipping option or the lowest price item + shipping. Be careful here. Don't be afraid to email the seller with questions and check out their return policy. If their rating isn't 100% read the complaints. If it's just slow shipping I don't worry. If it's a refusal to refund or a bad product I think twice. Don't forget to price check. Some of this stuff is higher than you can get it elsewhere. Oh, and get yourself an auction sniper.

• Walmart.com-Did you know that you can order things from their site that they don't carry in the stores. Plus they'll deliver it to the store that you specify for free. If you're traveling out of town for Christmas you could order the gift and have it sent to your destination store. A family member or friend can pick it up for you and you don't have to worry about shipping it or lugging it on the plane.

• Abebooks.com-This is the place to go for any book you can imagine. They have a huge selection of both new and out of print books. Another plus, they have free shipping on many of their books with no minimum purchase. I found an out of print book here that I'd been in search of for twenty years.

• Zappos.com-It's not all about shoes anymore. Though you can certainly find plenty of them there. They now have electronics, jewelry, housewares etc. Plus, Zappos has free shipping both ways and a returns can be done up to a year later.

What are some of your favorite online shopping sites?

School House Rocks! Still Going Strong

Photo courtesy of sodahead

I made the decision to buy the School House Rocks! dvd for my daughter when she was in elementary school. She was learning her mulitplication tables and after a few frustrating sessions I thought If only she could watch School House Rocks!. That was how I learned my own multiplication tables since it was conveniently aired between my Saturday morning cartoons. So I found the dvd and bought it for her. She had lots of fun watching it and it helped her learn her multiplication tables as well.

Last week I was telling my daughter, who is now a teen that I was thinking of introducing a bill to Congress. This was directly after the little incident with the telemarketer. She asked if I knew how to do that. I can find out I replied. You can always watch School House Rocks! she suggested. And she's right. School House Rocks! will even tell you the stages a bill goes through to get to Congress.

So I was poking around the net today and came across some cool puzzles and games that are based on the School House Rocks! series and thought you might be interested. You can download them for free. I also found out that some kids are producing it as a play for their school programs. How fun is that?! I'm just glad that one of my childhood favorites hasn't gone the way of Heckle and Jeckle. Don't know who that is? Well it was this cartoon that aired back in . . . . . never mind.

Anyways, they have the School House Rocks! soundtrack on CD and I'm thinking it'll make a great Christmas gift for anyone with kids in elementary school. They can just pop it in and they'll learn without even realizing it. If you've moved on to iPods or MP3's I've yet to find a place to download the album. If you know of a site then leave it in comments.

In the meantime, ROCK ON!!