Finding the perfect gift for your Valentine is always a challenge, especially on a limited budget. With this year’s grim economic outlook, putting together the money for dinner and a gift is an extravagance that many simply cannot afford. Consumers are expected to spend about around $102.50 this year on Valentine’s Day, which is down about $20 from last year according to the National Retail Federation. CouponChief.com wants to make sure that everyone is still able to enjoy Valentine’s Day and can help consumers save some extra cash so they can make all the purchases on their list. To get you started on your shopping, CouponChief.com has put together its best deals to help you save on all your purchases this holiday:

For her –
• Flowers – Save 25% off your purchase at Teleflora
• Chocolate – Check out Godiva Chocolate’s sale up to 60% off
• Cookies – Get 10% off your entire order at Mrs. Fields Cookies
• Jewelry – Get $50 off your purchase of $200 or more at Zales
• Restaurant – Get an extra 60% off any order at Restaurant.com

For him –
• Sports – Get 15% off your order on MLB.com
• Outdoor – Check out the Cabelas.com site for online exclusive deals
• Games – Get free shipping or a percentage off any used games at GameStop.com
• Electronics – Get 5 – 15% off TVs, software and more at BestBuy.com

Single this year? Valentine’s Day is a great time to show all the people you love how much you care. Take the time to give your friends and family a little something. Cards are a fast and easy way to show you care and customizable gifts take gift-giving a step further. Here are a few discount codes to help you give the perfect gift without breaking the bank:

• Save 20% off your purchase at Hallmark
• Save $10 of your $25 purchase at Snapfish.com

It’s important in tough economic times to watch spending but coupon sites helps users enjoy holidays like Valentine’s Day by offering simple ways to save. Make sure to visit CouponChief’s special Valentine’s Day page before making all your purchases this holiday.

2009 is almost here and it’s time to wipe your slate clean, start over and set goals and resolutions for the New Year. One resolution that should be at the top of everyone’s list is to save money and stick to a budget in 2009. Now that the economy is in a full-blown recession it is important to plan ahead and stay on track with your money.

CouponChief.com offers these easy tips to stay on budget in 2009:

- Write down your budget goals: It has been proven that people who write down their goals are much more likely to achieve them. Spend some time at the beginning of the year planning a monthly budget. If there is a month where you know you will spend more money, perhaps due to an important birthday or vacation, be sure to spend less in a different month.

- Find a “Budget Buddy”: After you have written down your budget goals for 2009 share them with a Budget Buddy. Encourage them to share their budget as well so you can hold each other accountable. A Budget Buddy can be anyone from a spouse to a trusted friend. At the end of each month, check in with your Budget Buddy and tell them if you have stayed on track. If you are not comfortable sharing actual numbers, you can share percentages, for example, “I was under budget by 4% this month.” By working together and keeping each other in check, you will be more likely to stay on course.

- Write out a list before you shop: Before heading to the mall write out a list of items you need to purchase and the stores you need to visit to buy these products. Making a list of exactly what you need before you shop is a great way to keep your spending in check and prevent impulse purchases. Train yourself to NOT buy anything that’s not on your list. You will also be able to shop more quickly by going to only the stores you need to visit, saving money and valuable time.

- Don’t buy anything at full price unless it’s absolutely necessary: With the current economy and slowdown in consumer spending, retailers are doing everything in their power to get you to open your wallet by offering great deals and promotions. Take the time to comparison shop before you make a purchase. Use the internet to research prices before you head to the store so you know you are getting the best deal out there. With so many discounts and promotions, there is no reason to pay full price.

- Clip coupons and use online coupon codes: Along with cutting back prices, more and more retailers are offering coupons and online discount codes. There are several ways to find these coupons including searching in the Sunday paper, signing up for email newsletters from your favorite retailers and searching online coupon sites.

The start of the New Year is a great motivator to get your spending in check. Be sure to check out CouponChief.com before making any online purchases for the best discount codes that will help you stay on budget through the year.

The Friday after Thanksgiving kicks off the official start to the holiday shopping season. Black Friday, as it’s called, is the day when a number of brick and mortar retailers open their doors early and draw crowds of people to their stores by offering the best deals and discounts of the year. However, a lesser known shopping holiday is Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the year. Cyber Monday falls on the first Monday after Thanksgiving and retailers once again offer great deals, this time at their online stores.

Despite the recent economic crisis, both Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are expected to grow 1.2% and 2.4%, respectively, according to a new study conducted by BDO Seidman, LLP. While this growth is not as large as the last few years, consumers will be looking for the best deals both in-the-store and online to try to cut their holiday expenditures while still fulfilling their holiday wish lists.

While every shopper’s needs differ, the National Retail Federation predicts personal and practical gifts will top holiday shopping lists, including clothing, accessories, books, CDs, DVDs and video games. Other popular categories include toys, electronics, jewelry and gift cards.

Consumers looking for great deals and an easy way to avoid the crowds and long lines will surely take advantage of Cyber Monday offerings. Savvy online shoppers will take their savings a step further by using coupon sites. CouponChief.com offers online discount codes that can help save additional money on top of Cyber Monday discounts. To make Black Friday and Cyber Monday deal searching easier, CouponChief.com has created special sections of its site to showcase relevant coupons for each day:

Black Friday: http://www.couponchief.com/tags/black_friday
Cyber Monday: http://www.couponchief.com/tags/cyber_monday

Be sure to check out CouponChief.com before making any online purchases this holiday season to keep on budget while buying all the things to make this holiday special. Users can search the site to find deals on a variety of items including apparel, toys, furniture, home décor, and much more.

Nowadays, you can’t turn on the TV without hearing about the plunging economy, government bailouts, drop in consumer confidence and the economic recession. With all this worrying talk it’s hard for consumers to get excited about the upcoming holiday shopping season. Between Halloween candy and costumes, the Thanksgiving feast and Christmas and Chanukah gifts, many families are concerned about making all their holiday purchases within a shrinking budget.

(Photo: WPA: unemployed shown at Volunteers of America Soup Kitchen: Washington, D.C. (Circa 1936); from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.)

CouponChief.com would like to take a break from the doom and gloom news and offer some solutions to surviving the economic crisis throughout the upcoming holiday season. The following tips from CouponChief.com can help online holiday shoppers save time and money this season while still ensuring their family and friends enjoy all the joys the holidays bring.

• Shop online: Online shopping creates many new opportunities for savings, as items are often on sale online, but not in the store. With sites dedicated to providing consumers online deals and coupons, shoppers can find discount codes for hundreds of items online, potentially saving them thousands of dollars. Shopping online is also very convenient as purchases can be made 24 hours a day and there are no crowded parking lots or long check out lines.

• Shop often: Online stores will change prices more often than in-store items, so it’s a good idea to check back often to see if prices have dropped. It’s widely known that some of the best deals all season begin the day after Thanksgiving, otherwise known as “Black Friday,” and on “Cyber Monday,” the first Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday. If possible, carve out some time to explore all that these great shopping days have to offer. Also be sure to keep shopping as the season progresses, the end of the extended Thanksgiving weekend doesn’t mean the end of great deals. Retailers typically offer super deals online throughout the holiday gift buying season so keep your eyes peeled for these savings.

• Comparison shop: In addition to comparing the prices offered by different retailers, comparison shopping now entails checking an item’s price online versus the in-store price. Many times, an item is cheaper online than in-store, or vice versa. In addition, items purchased online can often be picked up in-store, saving you the cost of shipping.

• Hunt down discounts: Paying full price around the holidays is almost unheard of among smart shoppers. Retailers are especially likely to offer deals in the current economy in the hopes of encouraging shoppers to spend despite an uncertain economic outlook. Diligent shoppers can find discounts on anything from big-ticket items to stocking stuffers.

• Peruse the clearance section and the “sale” section online: Some great deals can be found in the clearance aisle, both the physical one and the virtual one online. Retailers often do their spring cleaning during the holiday season in an effort to clean out their warehouses for new products. Be it an aisle in the store itself, or a link marked “Sale Items” on a Web site, these are often great places to save some money.

Implementing these easy tips will help alleviate many of the stresses of holiday shopping, including the high prices! Be sure to visit CouponChief.com before making any online purchases to save money on all your holiday purchases this season.

During economic slowdowns, everyone is looking for new and immediate ways to save money. Whether it’s clipping coupons, buying sale items or cutting out extra purchases all together, there are many ways families can curb their spending. But what about MAKING some extra money in a time of need?

There are several ways to make additional money from the comfort of your own home simply by doing a little research on the Internet to find programs that give you cash for your time. Many of these are affiliate marketing programs and are a great way to make some extra money while giving you the flexibility to regulate how much or little you do. You can find time for these programs when the baby is down for nap, when the kids are at after-school activities or an hour each night after the kids have gone to sleep. This is a great way to make some extra money that will help cover the rising price of food, gas and everything else these days.

So what can you do to make money online? CouponChief.com recently launched a program called Pays-2-Share, where users make money simply by uploading coupon codes to the site. Consumers sign up and upload new online coupons and CouponChief.com pays them 2% cash back on all purchases made from coupons they submit. Consumers can make up to $25 per month for each store, so if you upload coupons from a number of stores, you can make some serious cash!

The top user has made around $1,000 in just one month since starting the program and has been able to find hundreds of online coupon codes to use Pays-2-Share effectively by making the most of each coupon she uploads. Following are some tips for using this program to get as much cash back as possible:

o Search the Internet - There are literally thousands of coupon codes floating around online. A simple search will give you access to more coupon codes than you could ever dream of.

o Upload smart coupons - To make money with the program you must upload coupons that people will actually use when shopping online. Remember that 2% of $0 in purchases is $0!!! Try to vary the type of coupons you upload. Coupons from mainstream retailers like Target, Macys and Best Buy are great because many people are constantly searching for deals at these stores. However, finding coupons from smaller stores is good too since it’s less likely the coupon is already on the site. Regardless of retailer, make sure it’s a good deal, like free shipping, or 10% or more off the entire purchase. If it’s a coupon that you would use yourself, other people are more likely to make a purchase with it too.

o Sign up to receive emails from retailers - Many retailers will send emails to their customers with upcoming discounts, sales and deals. Many of these emails include their new online discount codes, this is a great way to have coupon codes come to you! The next time you are shopping online and you are asked if you want to receive email updates, be sure to sign up.

o Track your progress - CouponChief.com allows you to easily track you progress online. You can see which coupons are being used and making you money! This will help you determine which coupons are most popular, so you can upload similar discounts or more codes from the same or similar retailer. It will also help to motivate you to make more money!

o Use your online presence - If you have a blog or social profile that accepts javascript you can tell your friends about the coupons you upload using a CouponChief widget. You can pick up to five coupons and display them on your widget. Each time someone makes a purchase by clicking through your widget, you receive 2% cash back of the purchase price.

I encourage you to take advantage of this unique new way to make money online, as well as search for other money-making solutions. While online cash programs won’t allow you to quit your day job, it’s a pain-free way to supplement your base income with some extra spending money.

Summer is practically over and it’s back to school for the kids. Parents are you dreading that trip to the overcrowded stores where you can’t even get a cart down the aisle? Or what about sitting in traffic and wasting precious gas? Your bank account has already been stretched this summer due to the record high gas prices and the lack of that “disposable income.” Purchasing new supplies and new clothes for the kids isn’t going to relieve much of that pressure, is it?

The Nielson Ratings have reported a new trend to help alleviate these money worries and stretch every dollar – coupon clipping. But instead of spending hours cutting out all the clippings from newspapers like our grandparents did, the new wave of the Internet has made life that much simpler for us and CouponChief.com is helping make it a convenient reality.

CouponChief.com is a web site featuring coupons, deals and discount codes to help the everyday consumer save money, gas and time with just the click of a mouse. Coupons are sorted by category and by store, making it easy to quickly find what you are looking for.

Simply visit CouponChief.com, and copy the coupon code you need. Visit the stores’ online site and proceed to buy the product you want.

Whether your child is 8 or 18, CouponChief.com can help and here’s how:

• Elementary and junior high students need new clothes thanks to the growth spurt over the summer, lunchboxes to replace their lost one, and a new backpack, because a JanSport was “so last year.” K-mart is a great one-stop-shop for these needs and a quick visit to CouponChief.com will save you 25% off your purchase of $100 or more.
• College students easily spend over $1,000 on just a laptop and printer. But you’ll save $150 on your laptop purchase from Best Buy if you first stop by CouponChief.com.
• Out of state shipping fees or fitting everything in your car a concern? Target offers free shipping on select bedding, electronics, storage and bath items.

Don’t let the stress of back to school get you (or your wallet) down and out. CouponChief.com will help conserve your money and time so you can enjoy the remaining days of summer.