Online retailers seem to be becoming more and more creative these days to score big with shoppers. However, if you are a smart deal hunter or would just love to get major discounts without a lot of efforts, try using these ten clever online shopping tips.

There’s something to be said for the ease and convenience of online shopping. You just point and click your way to the items you need without having to jump in the car or even put on a pair of pants, for that matter.

But while online shopping may be a lazy person’s dream, there’s a downside to it: You’re not handing over physical cash for the items you buy. Rather, you’re using credit cards or, in some cases, sending money electronically from your bank. That can make it harder to limit yourself and create a scenario in which you spend too much and wind up in debt as a result.

If you have a tendency to go overboard when shopping online, the sooner you break the habit, the less your finances will suffer. Here are a few ways to shop online responsibly — without driving yourself into debt.

1. Research the items you need before buying them

If you shop smartly, you can actually save money by shopping online versus visiting a brick-and-mortar store.

Say you’ve dragged yourself out to a store and you notice an item you’ve been looking for sitting there on the shelf. It’s hard to take a step back and remind yourself that the price it’s listed at may not be the best deal in town. After all, you drove all that way so you might as well buy the item in question and call it a day.

Now say you’re shopping online. There’s no pressure to buy anything on the spot. That means you can take a little extra time to research the item, making sure you’re getting exactly what you need while hunting down the best price.

So going forward, pledge to do your research before you click on the first offer you see.

2. Don’t shop out of boredom

When you’re stuck at home on a rainy weekend, or if you find yourself lying awake at night with insomnia, it can be all too tempting to bust out your phone or open your laptop and start browsing through your favorite online retail sites. But if you shop out of boredom, you’re likely to spend money needlessly, and that could really wreak havoc on your budget.

Rather than letting that happen, designate specific hours for online shopping during the week — say, on Wednesday evenings from 7:00 to 9:00. During that time, you’re free to browse the internet for the various items you feel you need to buy. But ban shopping outside that window so you don’t do it as a means of entertainment.

3. Wait 24 hours to complete unplanned purchases

Just as it’s easy to fall victim to impulse buys when shopping in stores, online shopping poses a similar threat. You log onto a given site to buy household supplies or socks, and you’re drawn to the new gadget being advertised on the cheap. However, the problem with unplanned purchases is that they can drive you into credit card debt.

Rather than letting that happen, institute the 24-hour rule.

It goes like this: The next time you’re tempted to buy something out of the blue, put that item in your cart, but wait a full 24 hours to actually go through with the purchase. After that time, if you can convince yourself that you have the money to pay for that item and that it’s something you really need or want, you go through with it (and hope you weren’t lying to yourself about the whole “affording it” part). But chances are, at least sometimes, by making yourself wait, you’ll come to your senses and realize that you can easily live without the item in question, or that it’s not worth your hard-earned money.

Online shopping may be a popular alternative to in-person shopping, but it can also be a dangerous option. If you like shopping online, follow these tips to avoid going overboard on the spending front. Being more mindful and setting rules could help you avoid unwanted debt and the negative consequences that go along with it.

4. Outwit the dynamic pricing trap

Dynamic pricing is a sneaky strategy online merchants offer use to show different prices to different customers according to your location, your browsing and spending patterns and current demand of the product. Have you ever found dirty cheap airfare that went 30% higher when you checked on the next day? That’s dynamic pricing in action. As this technique gotten incredibly sophisticated, most retailers are perfectly aware of your price point and may show you a higher price compared to someone else who pays less in online purchases.

To get a less biased price you should:

• clear your browsing history and cookies in particular
• log out of your accounts (email, G+, Facebook etc)
• switch to incognito mode or better take advantage of online anonymous browsing with Tor browser
• choose localized website versions instead of being redirected to US
• choose less developed countries as home to get better prices when searching for airfare

5, Shop at the right day

 

Even if it seems tempting to spend your lazy Sunday afternoon browsing around various retailers, don’t cash out too fast. Most stores roll out discounts and special deals on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. However, Sunday is the best day to score cheap airline tickets with Monday being the most expensive, according to Airlines Reporting Corporation who analyzed over 130 million domestic and

6. Organize your emails

Signing up to newsletters, coupon sites and promotion lists can save you a huge bucks, but you are too reluctant about getting your email spammed? Try Unroll.me – a handy email add-on that lets you instantly unsubscribe from junk emails and de-clutters your inbox by sending one digest email a day summarizing your preferred subscriptions. Just choose the time of the day when you’d like to receive it.

7. Organize your emails

Signing up to newsletters, coupon sites and promotion lists can save you a huge bucks, but you are too reluctant about getting your email spammed? Try Unroll.me – a handy email add-on that lets you instantly unsubscribe from junk emails and de-clutters your inbox by sending one digest email a day summarizing your preferred subscriptions. Just choose the time of the day when you’d like to receive it.

8. Run smart comparison checks

 

To avoid overpaying and scoring absolutely best deals online, install PriceBlink browser add-on (available for Chrome, Mozilla, Safari). It will save you tons of time by automatically pulling the prices for the same product from numerous merchants, organizing them in a smart chart and even notifying you if there are any coupons available.

Alternatively, you can try Pricegrabber app that does the same thing, plus can scan bar codes and provide “bottom line prices” that include taxes, shipping and other add-on expenses.

9. Leave items in your cart

 

Leave the products in your cart and step away for a day or two. Firstly, you’ve just avoided making an impulse purchase. Secondly, most retailers hate unclosed deals and will try to retain you. Stores that send coupons or offer a better price on the next day include Bed Bath & Beyond, Macy’s, JC Penney, Office Max and much more.

Remember the trick works only when you have an account on the merchant’s website and you are logged in when you leave your cart.

10. Accumulate more coupons with multiple email addresses

Some stores love sending huge single use coupons to a selected group of their customers. Increase your chances of saving the big bucks by signing up to their newsletter with multiple email accounts. Now imagine how much money you will receive with three 50% discount codes for one full-priced item purchase, instead of one.