I am nearly exclusively an online shopper these days.  Unless shipping is prohibitive, it’s a large item, or I know without a doubt I can find it locally, it’s to the great big world of online shopping for me.  Of course, this gets time consuming when you are a frugal mom like me.  The first retailer to offer an item that I find online often doesn’t have the lowest price.  There are also irrelevant search results to deal with, hard to find listings and so on.  That’s where a new concept called ShopWiki comes in.  We all know about Wikipedia, compilations of information by volunteers on the web.  ShopWiki is something like that, but for shopping.

This directory lists all sorts of products and advertisers for no fee – unlike many shopping search engines that require payment and therefore limit listings.  The listings are sortable by colour, brand, price and other options – very handy!  There are also free shopping guides available on topics such as baby and toddler equipment, children’s books, and infant clothing – each giving a general overview of the topic and major options available within the category.

It does take a little while to adjust to the new way of searching, but it will save scads of time and hopefully money after the simple search procedures are learned.  To test it out I just looked up “Ergo baby carrier” and instantly had pricing available from 14 stores ranging from $85 – $115, it was so easy, and I can then shop from there.  I’m definitely making a mental note for the next large purchase I need to make.  This new directory will only grow from here!