Best Money-Saving Websites

People have said that Bill Gates is so rich, if he saw a $100 bill on the ground, it wouldn’t be worth his time to stoop and pick it up. A couple of years ago, B., a management consultant in Chicago, was arguing that he was much like bill—it wasn’t worth the effort for him seek out sales or discounts. Oh, how things have changed; now B. feels like a patsy if he’s paying full price. Still, the point about time is a good one, so here are the websites that can help you cut costs in a flash.

Groceries
Coupons are basically a way to get you to buy stuff you might not otherwise consider— not so conducive to saving money. A better bet is to figure out what products you regularly purchase, then seek out discounts…

Recession Concessions: Lost the Business, Keeping the Cleaners

Ryan M. Salinetti, 33
Suffolk County, N.Y.

Keeping: Cleaners
I’ve kept my cleaning people because I love them and I don’t want to see them suffer the way I have.

Letting Go: Employees, childcare, extras
I have a graphic design business [Breakwater Design Studio] that works with locals and local businesses. They did not just go into hibernation for the off-season—I drive down Main Street and see For Rent signs in the windows. There was a wine merchant who was doing excellent; I worked with him for six months on a website project and now he’s gone. Landscapers—their clients were V.P.s for Lehman Bros., and they were the first to get chopped. I do their graphics and marketing, so I got chopped next. It happened in three weeks. I had to lay people off. I gave up the idea that I could have a business, I moved everything home. It was horrible…

Traveling Tight: Saving with Stopovers

Once upon a time, before airlines charged for pillows, they allowed travelers to make stopovers for free. That meant you could ski on your way to L.A., or overnight in Paris en route to Italy, without extra charge. For the most part those days are gone—especially on cheapo coach tickets. But the downturn has inspired a few major stopover deals to encourage tourism, and a number of airlines are dropping fees on stopovers.

Stopovers can be an economical way to drop extra destinations into a trip—especially places you might not otherwise hit, like Singapore. The tiny city-state is offering a bang-up deal, the Fabulous Singapore Stopover. Travel to Asia on Singapore Airlines, and get a super-discounted hotel rate…

When the Going Gets Tough, the French Sell Underwear

Charlott’ Lingerie, a French company that sells unmentionables door-to-door, is seeing the recession through rose-colored lace—uh, lenses. More women being laid off doesn’t mean less money for spending on frilly things, but a bigger pool of potential saleswomen.

That’s according to Eurosavant, an intelligent blog about the non-English-language press in Europe that summarized a recent series in Libération. The French newspaper explored how a number of companies are taking advantage of the downturn…

The Times Wants Your Tweets

As part of its Recession coverage, the New York Times is collecting survival tips from readers (for ordinary people, not for the newspaper itself). Some of the submissions we like:

Save on babysitting…start sleepover-pooling with other friends with kids. (sd, NYC)

Students: Don’t buy your textbooks on campus or even in a bookstore. You can easily find used copies online for much cheaper. Amazon, etc…

Recession Lexicon: Funemployment

A period of joblessness that you actually enjoy—maybe you get to lay out, sleep in, work out, read up. It helps to have savings, severance or an unemployment check to help pay the bills. We’re hearing this word used more and more, especially as people realize they may not be able to find a new job right away, so they might as well try to enjoy the time off…

More Frugal Fitness—Hit the Gym for Free

Our friends at the 405 Club point out that New York Underground Fitness, on West 57th Street, is offering free access to people who can prove they’ve been laid off.

“There’s more to this business than just counting how many memberships you can sell,” said owner Eric Slayton.

According to a Bloomberg story out last week, people are taking advantage of down time by going to the gym…

Best Blogs for the Recession

Why didn’t we think of the hilarious chart over at Unemploymentality.com? On notebook paper, it “graphs” the number of blogs against the unemployment rate. Jobs down = blogs up.

We don’t have numbers to back that up—as wordyard explains today, it’s hard enough to tell how many people are professionally blogging—but it at least feels true. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of new websites about budget living, job hunting, economic policy, layoffs and more. A Google search for “ unemployed and blog” turns up more than 3 million results. “Laid off and blog” gives you more than 7 million.

So how to distinguish the smart, funny and useful from blather about not having a job? Last week, we compiled a list of the Top Ten Blogs for Surviving the Recession for our friends at Blogs.com. Here’s an expanded version of that list to bookmark if you want to understand the latest news, cut your spending, or get a damn laugh.

Looking for the Work Afterlife?

Want the skinny on launching a media startup? Tomorrow night I’ll tell the tale of how Recessionwire started, at the first Life After Digital event in Soho. We’ll be discussing our experiences and the opportunities we see in the post-digital era. Admission is free—and so are the drinks.

Also, registration begins today for LaidOffCamp NYC (May 1-2, 2009)…

Downturn Deals: Price Cuts on Haircuts

Clothes go on sale, cars go on sale, even food goes on sale. But when was the last time your hairstylist offered you a discount?

Well, maybe now. As a way to serve their communities (and, of course, bring in business) salons around the country are offering recession specials. In Los Angeles, some are offering donation-only services, or complimentary bang trims for current customers. In New York, a few deals are specifically targeted at people who have lost their jobs. Here are a few high-end spots trimming prices: