1. www.couponcraze.com: Ah, coupons. Found stuffed in the Sunday Star, clipping these colorful bits of paper is usually my first recourse when I’m trying to save a few bucks. By all means, you should keep buying the newspaper and doing that, but if you want to expand your collection, try this Web site. Here, you can get discounts for mostly online stores, such as Overstock.com, and online versions of brick-and-mortar stores, such as Babies ‘R Us. Most of the coupons are accessible through links on the site.

2. www.freegrabber.com: Who needs coupons when you can get stuff for free? That’s the motto of this site, which digs up all kinds of offers, like free frequent flyer miles from American Airlines, free Folgers Coffee and free music. The offers are updated daily in a bloglike format.

3. http://deallocker.com/tool/secret-amazon-discount: If you do a lot of shopping on mega-retail portal Amazon.com, this Web site is for you. It’s the “Secret Discount Finder” that locates “the secret (and not so secret)” price cuts on products from music to food to housewares. This finder exploits Amazon’s tracking of its products and their prices over time. Some prices drop because products get old. Others drop because  of mistakes. Either way, you can go to this Web site and search for products by brand, keyword and by how much you want to save.

4. www.frugalvillage.com: Being frugal isn’t always easy, especially if you’ve never really tried to do it before. Here on this blog, you can discover ideas on ways to cut spending and reduce debt. I’ll admit, some of the ideas sound weird (“Homemade baby wipes”). Others are more doable (“Budget-friendly Halloween costumes”). But at the very least, you’ll learn there are more appealing ways to save than eating Ramen noodles for every meal.

5. www.startsampling.com: Here’s another Web site for securing free samples of products that you use, such as shampoo, deodorant and nutritional supplements. But unlike other sites, StartSampling.com has social networking features that allow you to chat with other freebie seekers. You also can earn “Frequent Tryer Miles” for sampling products, reviewing them and participating in surveys. The more miles you get, the more free prizes you can win.

6. www.govliquidation.com: If you’re an auction junkie go to this Web site to get access to auctions going on across the country. Auctions can be great opportunities to save money on things that you want and need. The site boasts 500 categories of government surplus, ranging from audio equipment to PCs to scrap metal. Thousands of items go up on the Web site weekly.

7. www.annualcreditreport.com: This Web site isn’t so much about saving money as it is about ensuring you’re not losing the money you have to fraud or identity theft. Here, you can run your credit report from all three credit reporting agencies — Equifax, TransUnion and Experian. And unlike other Web sites that promise free credit reports and don’t, this one is actually free.

8. www.freebirthdaytreats.com: This isn’t a financial site, but can save you some finances. It’s my birthday today and I’m going to dinner for free from a coupon on www.FreeBirthdayTreats.com. Thanks Julie and your team at FBT!

So, girlfriends – what other financial, freebie, coupon or other helpful site can you share with our girlfriends?