You might find this hard to believe, but I actually ate turkey while shopping on Thanksgiving.

We had just finished our Thanksgiving dinner, and I was worn out after cooking a huge feast for my family and then cleaning up the dishes afterward. Once everything was done and the house was peacefully quiet again, all I want to do was prop up my feet, sip from a cup of hot coffee, and take it easy for a couple of hours.

But that is not what happened. Instead of relaxing with my coffee, I ended up hunched miserably over the keyboard to the family computer, my eyes aching and bleary while I frantically shopped online. I was hunting for Christmas gifts for my husband and two children, and I was hoping that I would find some really good deals. However, I was not having much success. Sure, you can save a lot of money by shopping online, but some things are still expensive no matter how or where you shop.

For months, my teenage son had been pleading with me to get him the hottest new video-game system on the market. I had kept an eye on the sales both online and in the stores close to my home, but the price of the system had never dipped enough to slip comfortably within my price range. Even Amazon.com and Overstock.com, which had provided me with countless holiday bargains in the past, could not give me a price that I could reasonably afford. I was stumped. I was also becoming depressed by my lack of gift-shopping and bargain-hunting success. Unfortunately, it looked like my son was going to be very disappointed when he opened his gifts on Christmas morning.

Of course, I could have waited until Black Friday and then purchased his video-game system from an electronics shop at a significant discount. In fact, I could have saved a substantial amount of cash that way. However, I also would have been giving my son his present, the one he really wanted, the day after Christmas. As a mother, I did not want to do that. I wanted his Christmas, not the day after his Christmas, to be as special as I could make it.

So I went to the kitchen, snatched some leftover turkey from the fridge, and returned glumly to the keyboard. Here I was, eating turkey while shopping on Thanksgiving! I would have laughed, but I was too depressed about all the gifts I just could not afford.

But then I thought, why not try searching for online coupons? I went to OnlineCoupons.net and was amazed by the incredible savings that I accumulated in just a short period of time. Everything was easy. Just a few clicks of the mouse saved me more than a dozen newspaper coupons would have.

Not only was there a terrific coupon for my son’s game system, but I ended up saving so much money that I bought something nice for myself!

Jennifer Gonzalez is an author and self proclaimed “coupon mom” who has a passion for redeeming discount coupons and special offers.