Whether money is tight or not, everybody loves a good deal, and the deals you can get online are better than ever. Contaya.com (http://Contaya.com) put together this list of the top seven ways in which you can stop throwing money down the drain and save big by turning to online shopping:

1. You already know this - shop online whenever possible! Retail stores you can walk into with your own two feet cost money (rent, employees, etc.). Merchants who mail items from a warehouse instead can pass alot of savings along to you. Given that you can now buy anything from $1 toothpaste to a $20,000 diamond ring online, shopping online for most things is easy.

2. Plan ahead! This is closely related to 1 above. If you keep track of things you need regularly, you can order them online in advance before you run out and need them urgently.

3. Use sites like Contaya.com which carry details of coupon codes and promotions before you go online shopping. This can often save you alot of money if you do it before visiting the merchant site. On Contaya.com, for example, you can simply look up the merchant you were planning to shop from and see if there are any applicable deals, coupon codes, free shipping offers, sales, promotions, or other discounts available. (You can also browse the site via merchant category tags, or search by product instead of merchant, if you're not sure about what merchant you want to shop from yet.)

4. Make sure you understand how the coupon codes and promotions you found work. Coupon codes generally need to be entered manually on the merchant checkout page (sites like Contaya.com provide a convenient way of copying the code, so you can simply paste it later, and visiting the merchant site with a single click). Deals not involving coupon codes might instead require you to click on a specific link to activate the promotion. On Contaya.com, for example, that link would be the one in the "Deal Description" section of the coupon code/deal listing.

5. Think about sales taxes. If a merchant's shipping warehouse is located in the same state as you, they'll have to charge them. You could get around this by choosing a merchant in another state carrying the same or a similar product. Look carefully at your checkout page to see if sales taxes are being included in the total.

6. If an expiry date is listed on the coupon code or deal you found, as it usually will be, check it carefully. However, codes and deals sometimes work past their expiry date, or are reactivated later, so checking for that is also a good idea. (If you don't see the discount reflected clearly on your checkout page on the merchant site, however, it's safe to assume you won't be getting it!)

7. If you find a great deal and it's not listed online yet, share it with your follow shoppers! Karma spreads around. On Contaya.com, sharing a coupon code or deal for any merchant is very quick and easy (you can optionally also connect with your Facebook account to tell your friends about it).