The Best of Money-Saving Firefox Extensions

Photo by focusoft
Times are tough, and we could all stand to save a little money. Some folks find themselves resorting to more creative methods of setting a few dollars aside for a rainy day — using cheaper “mystery ingredients” in their cooking, stealing the neighbor’s paper for extra coupons, and even not bathing, to name a few.
Thankfully, you don’t have to resort to such extreme tactics to save yourself a few dollars. In fact, you can practice frugality while you browse the Internet, thanks to the many money-saving extensions you can download for Firefox. These amazing add-ons do the little things that save you some extra cash, and as we all know, those little things add up. Here are 22 of the best money-saving extensions available for Firefox:

1. InvisibleHand — This handy extension will act like its namesake and point you to better deals whenever you shop online. A discreet notification will pop up if the InvisibleHand extension finds a lower price in its database of over 100 different online retailers from the US, UK, and Germany. With information from major shopping sites like Amazon, Wal-Mart and Sears, InvisibleHand will help you find the best deals and save a ton of money in the process.
   
2. Save Money on eBay — This extension is perfect for the adventurous auction shopper. Doing a search on eBay won’t always give you the biggest deals; a lot of times, the cheapest prices are listed with typographical errors. This nifty extension works with a sophisticated search algorithm to help you find those poorly-listed bargains. You never know what amazing deals you might discover!
   
3. Offer Assistant — Tired of hunting down those discount and coupon codes when you shop online? The Offer Assistant is here to bring the offers to you! The extension helpfully includes any promo information regarding your item in your Google, Bing, and Yahoo! search results. Could it be any more convenient?
   
4. Vouchers.Im Indicator — The Vouchers.Im Indicator saves you both time and money whenever you go shopping online. When you visit an online store that’s known for giving out discount vouchers and other promos, the extension will search for any active offers available for that store. When it finds one, the Indicator will then inform you of the bargain, complete with details.
   
5. Advanced Travel — Traveling can get really expensive, and so people spend hours upon hours trying to find the best travel deals online. Advanced Travel makes things a lot simpler by displaying search results for the most popular travel websites. The extension’s engine reads your IP address to find out what area you’re in, and will alter the search results accordingly.
   
6. Ookong — Have you ever found yourself burning the midnight oil looking for the best prices for your Amazon.com item? Get some sleep and let the Ookong extension do the work for you. Ookong takes a look at an item’s price history, tracks any price changes, and tells you when the price drops. It’s like having a broker telling you exactly when the best time to buy is!
   
7. Compare Hotel Rates — Heading out of town and looking for an affordable place to stay? The Compare Hotel Rates extension will help you find the accommodations that are best suited to your preferences and budget. All you have to do is type in what city you’ll be staying in, and you’ll find a full list of hotels, along with their room rates. As if that wasn’t enough, you can read independent reviews from other travelers to make sure that you won’t be coming home with any hotel horror stories.
   
8. RetailMeNot — Popular coupon-sharing website RetailMeNot.com is a bustling online community in which avid shoppers share discount codes, promos and other bargains with each other. The site’s official Firefox extension takes that information and tells you if the website you’ve just visited has any promos shared on the site. All you have to do is shop like you normally do, and the extension will do the rest.
   
9. Woot Watcher — Woot.com is a quirky website that allows for major savings. The catch is, the site sells only one product for each day, in limited quantities. If you’d really like to get something you want at Woot’s rock-bottom prices, then, you need to watch the site religiously. This great extension does the watching for you, alerting you on the day’s product, price, and stock left.
   
10. Buy It Online — Ever found an item online you couldn’t wait to get your hands on? Didn’t want to waste any time browsing around for sites that might offer it at lower prices? This extension allows you to do that within seconds. All you have to do it right-click on the product, click “Buy it online”, and the extension will display several sites that sell it, too!
    
11. Savvy Circle Plugin — The Savvy Circle Plugin sends you an email whenever an item you have your eye on goes on sale. All you need to do is add the item to your Savvy Circle wishlist, and everything else will follow. With support for over 100 different online stores, you’re sure to save money with this extension.
    
12. ReminderFox — The fees on unpaid bills can add up, making your unnecessary expenses pile up into astronomical amounts. Do yourself (and your wallet) a favor by installing this extension. It acts like a to-do list in your browser, reminding you when important matters need to attending.
    
13. Lonely Planet — Looking for the best possible way to enjoy your trip? Save a few bucks by installing this extension. It’ll give you access to the Lonely Planet travel guides without having to buy the guides themselves. You can even plan a budget trip with the helpful information contained in the guide.
    
14. World Travel Guide — Are the Lonely Planet guides not enough for you? Blow your options wide-open as this Firefox extension gives you access to even more travel guides. It’s easy, convenient, and best of all, free!
    
15. Biet-O-Zilla — Did you ever find an incredible bargain on eBay, bid on it, only to have it stolen away from you just before the auction closes? This amazing extension helps you make last minute bids with ease. You’ll end up saving a ton of cash on your eBay purchases when you have the speed to get the best deals.
    
16. UpName Expired Domains Search — Working on an online business? The right domain name can have a significant effect on the traffic to your site. You can find top-ranked domain names for cheap by purchasing expired or deleted domain names. This handy extension searches all major domain sellers for these discount online gold mines, saving you the effort of tracking them down, and saving you money on a worthwhile investment.
    
17. Product Seeker Search — This Firefox search bar add-on is a boon to online shoppers. Simply enter a product into Product Seeker Search, and it’ll give you results for all the major retailers that handle that item. You can then organize results by price, product rating, and store rating to make sure you get the most bang for your buck.
    
18. PriceTrace Toolbar — Smart shoppers and bargain hunters alike will be drooling over this money-saving extension. The add-on gives you one-click access to price histories and price comparisons for over 40 major online retailers. The “Find Fillers” function will alert you of any special offers that you might qualify for while making your purchases. Best of all, the extension will inform you if an item you’ve had it track drops in price. What more could you want?
    
19. PriceBlink — If you like your Firefox extensions a little more discreet, then PriceBlink is for you. This browser plug-in works in the background, so you probably won’t even notice it’s there. Unless, of course, it can save you money. Whenever you go online shopping, PriceBlink will pop up if it’s found the same item at a lower price, or if it’s included in any special offers.
    
20. listia — Listia.com is making a reputation as the “free eBay”. While items here are auctioned off, they aren’t sold for money. Instead, users spend credits, which are earned by signing up for a listia account, referring a friend, or putting items up for auction. This extension for Firefox adds listia into your search bar options, so you can easily find out if something you want can be yours for free.
    
21. Dympol Discount Entertainment — Music-lovers can now keep their wallets nice and full with the discount offerings of dympol. Install the toolbar on your browser, and discount prices pop up in third-party music retailers like AmazonMP3. When you make your purchase at full price, cash-back rebates equal to the discount will automatically be sent to your dympol account. These funds can then be easily transferred to your PayPal or Amazon Payments account. You can use them to avail of discounts with dympol’s sponsors.
    
22. TimeTracker — As the old adage goes, “Time is Money”. The time you spend leisure browsing could be costing you, especially if it’s decreasing your productivity at work. Hold yourself accountable with the TimeTracker extension. It records how much time you spend leisure surfing, and can be set to ignore the time spent at work-related sites. Once you see how much time you’ve wasted on YouTube, Facebook and the like, you’ll find yourself actually doing some work for a change.
    

success is...

At age 4, success is...not peeing in your pants.
   At age 12, success is...having friends.
     At age 16, success is...having a driver's license.
       At age 20, success is...having sex.
        At age 35, success is...having money.
        At age 50, success is...having money.
       At age 60, success is...having sex.
     At age 70, success is...having a driver's license.
   At age 75, success is...having friends.
At age 90, success is...not peeing in your pants.

The Best Of Bad TImeings

We all wish we could have done something differently at some point in our lives. Perhaps you invested in stocks at the height of the internet bubble, or maybe you purchased a used car only to have it break down on you the next day. Well, don't feel so down because your bad timing is probably nothing compared to the examples we're about to show you.
Some of these bad-timing decisions have cost their owners billions of dollars. Some have cost them their reputation. We encourage you to add to the list in the comments section below.

#10. Inktomi Headquarters

At the height of the dot-com boom, Inktomi decided it needed fancy new headquarters so they had Legacy Partners construct a $200 million office building in Foster City, CA. Problem was, by the time it was finished, the dot-com boom had fizzled and Inktomi couldn't afford to move in. The building sat totally vacant for months and Inktomi had to pay a $50 million termination fee to get out of the agreement. They actually got lucky since they could have been legally forced to purchase the building.

#9. Excite Purchase of Blue Mountain Arts

Back in October of 1999, Excite@Home paid $780 million for one of the ugliest web sites in history - Blue Mountain Arts. They issued approximately 11 million shares worth $430 million and paid the remaining $350 million in cash. They purchased the site not because it made lots of money, but because it received lots of traffic.
The internet bubble burst just 2 months later. It's one thing if they had issued just stock, but they gave up $350 million of much needed cash. On September 13, 2001, Excite@Home sold Blue Mountain Arts to American Greetings for less than 5% of what it had paid less than two years earlier.

#8. Smart Money Magazine October Issue

On the cover of their October 2008 issue, Smart Money Magazine declared:
DOUBLE YOUR NEST EGG: Now is the Time to Jump Into Cheap Stocks, Funds and Real Estate
Only problem: The issue came out September 16, 2008, the day the stock market started its worst drop since the Great Depression. The Dow Jones, which was 11,500 when the issue came out, has since dropped to as low as 8,200 (nearly a 30% drop).

#7. Westfield Mall in London

Just as the worst global meltdown since the great depression is starting, the Westfield's $2 billion mall opened its doors in London. This is the largest mall Europe has ever seen and is considered to be the worst timing in the history of shopping.

#6. Flood 30 Minutes After Moving In

This past summer, a young couple moved into their $300,000 two-bedroom house in Kingsteignton, England, excited about owning their first home. 30 minutes after moving in, a freak flood destroyed their house and all their belongings.
"I looked out the window and I saw these giant puddles starting to merge and drift towards our gate. Within minutes we had six inches of water through the house. Everything was ruined and there was nothing we could do to stop it. We had sat down for half an hour to enjoy our new place. That's all we ever got and then we had to move out straight away."

#5. Republicans Issue Heartless Press Release

In what has to be one of the worst-timed press releases in political history, the Republican National Committe issued a statement on November 3rd complaining about Obama visiting his sick grandmother in Hawaii. At issue was whether the trip should have been paid for with campaign funds.
The bad timing: The press release was issued at 1:30 PM. That same afternoon, Obama and his sister released a statement announcing their granmother had just passed away.

#4. AIG Luxury Retreat Following Bailout

Less than one week after the US government committed $85 billion to bail out AIG, company executives headed for a week-long retreat at a luxury resort and spa where rooms cost over $1,000 a night. The company paid more than $440,000 for the retreat which included over $20,000 for massage and spa treatments.
To make things worse, AIG later asked the government for another $40 billion in loans while secretly gathering at another luxury resort in Phoenix. AIG made significant efforts to disguise the conference, even making sure there were no AIG logos or signs anywhere on the property. Consequently, a key Democratic lawmaker called last week for the resignation of AIG's CEO.

#3. Travis Barker "Play with Fire" Drumsticks

In an effort to promote the release of the latest Guitar Hero video game, Activision sent out drum sticks to fans sponsored by Travis Barker. Unfotunately, the motto "Play with Fire" wasn't exactly the most appropriate considering Barker had just survived a fiery plane crash in which 2 people were killed.

#2. BlackStone's Loses Billions on Hilton

The BlackStone Group, once regarded as the leading private equity fund, acquired Hilton Hotels for $26 Billion in cash last summer. This was the biggest equity investment ever made by the 23 year old firm and it turned out to be one of the worst timing in business history. The hotel market took a terrible nosedive after the acquisition and analysts believe much, if not all, of the equity BlackStone invested has been wiped out.

#1. Silverstein Purchase of 99 Year Lease on WTC

On July 24, 2001, Silverstein Properties purchased a 99 year lease on the World Trade Center for $3.2 billion. The entire complex including the Twin Towers was destroyed less than 2 months later in the worst terrorist attack in US history.