It seems like there's a new deal site popping up on a regular basis now.  Are they worth it?  Are they legit?  How do you know?

First let me say that I only currently recommend Groupon (If you join Groupon after clicking on that link, I will earn a referral commission for your doing so.  I do appreciate this, but it is not required.  You can just go directly to the site to get more info or join should you so desire.) and Living Social.  They have been around for quite awhile and are, by far, the most reliable deal sites out there.  There are other sites out there, but they are newer and don't have the same track record that Groupon and Living Social do.  Are they bad?  Not necessarily.  They might even be better than the two I mentioned.  However, I won't spend my hard-earned money to find out until they're proven.  I'm cheap frugal like that.

How do they work? 

It's fairly easy.  They offer, for example, to give you 5 Netflix rentals for the price of 2.  The good deals are usually fairly cut & dry like that.  My favorite, by far, was a $50 gift card to US Cellular that I only paid $10 for.  I was able to gift that to my grandmother to help pay her cell phone bill.  I've gotten a $20 gift card to Amazon.com for only $10 (we buy some of our gluten-free products from there on a regular basis).  They've had a $20 gift card to Barnes & Noble for only $10.  I got a $20 gift card to our local health foods store for only $10.  We buy our honey there.  It never goes on sale; except now I get it for half price!

I'm sure you can see a pattern here.  Usually, what they offer is half off the retail price. 

Are they worth it?  

That depends.  Are you spending money that you weren't planning on something you don't really need and wouldn't normally buy?  If so, then you ARE wasting your money and they're really not worth it.  I only take advantage of ANY deal; whether an online one like this or one in the store if we would have already purchased that item.  (Unless, of course, the item is free or is a moneymaker.  But you won't find either of those in these deals.)  I would recommend you go into these with just as much caution as you do any other purchase.  It's a LOT easier to make an online purchase in your pj's at midnight than it is to take the time to go into the store to make the purchase.  Sometimes, it pays to plan ahead and know what you're going to buy BEFORE the offers even start coming in!

I included my referral link for Groupon above.  Be aware that if you DO join & then (for example) also have your husband join that you can get referral credit if he joins through your referral link.  The referral will give you $10 to spend on any Groupon which will give you an opportunity to try the site without spending any money.

What are your favorite deal sites?