The first bad weather of the season plus a number of holiday functions this month found me without both a serviceable pair of boots or dress shoes. Unfortunately, as most of you will agree, money typically gets tighter during this time of year with gift obligations and entertaining guests. The current economic situation, though less dire than a year ago, only amplifies this.

Assessing my fiscal position, I decided to eschew brick-and-mortar stores and shop online. I have been taking some salsa lessons since early September, but I need to finally bite the bullet and get some proper footwear. Last week, a friend and I went to a Salsa gala and I am definitely due for a new pair of shoes if I want to take this new hobby seriously. I found an online store with a good selection of shoes, which doesn’t require me to leave the house. Trust me, it’s not appealing with the snow pretty much blowing horizontally on some days. The store I found is called Shoebuy. They have a large range of brands with fairly reasonable prices. The nice thing about internet shopping is that with a little bit of searching, it is possible to find some pretty good deals through coupon and promotional codes.

These are codes thank you enter into the field provided at the checkout. Alternatively, some codes require you to enter the site using a particular link/address. Regardless, as these stores do not typically have the overhead of most brick-and-mortar stores (salespeople, rent, etc.) they can still make a profit while offering steep discounts to consumers. These codes are one way they do this.

In some cases a few generous souls will even dedicate some of their time to compiling these codes. The best example I found for shoes was Shoebuy Coupons. This site offers both promotional codes and coupon codes for the store. These codes are free and give varying amounts off an order. Just click the aforementioned links here to go to the coupon site, from there click on the link given for the deal you want to get, and then enter the code (if applicable) given at the checkout.

They are offering up to 65% off certain types of shoes. Note that most deals of this nature are time-limited, but the coupon site constantly updates with new deals as they appear.

I’ve bought Capezio ballet shoes when I danced ballet, so now I might stick with this brand and go for this pair:

The next Christmas party I am attending happens to be a potluck, so I suppose my next shopping trip has to be to a real life grocery store. However, if you happen to be snowed in I recommend Grocery Gateway. If you happen to go out for food, and if you live in Canada, don’t forget to check save.ca for discounts on items you might be needing this month.

Happy e-tail shopping!