I don’t know what it was like in your family, but mine always harboured a deep seated mistrust for things made in China. Products originating from the land of the Great Wall were always deemed inferior and of low quality due to the country’s supposed lack of quality control. This may be true, but the undeniable fact is that so much stuff is Made in China now, and it’s cheap.

The good news for you and me is that with the Internet and globalisation, it means we have direct access to the Chinese market. A great example is Deal Extreme. This site offers a myriad of electronic gadgets and other trinkets at ridiculously low prices; the little bits and pieces that you never knew you needed. But what’s really amazing is free international shipping, even if your total order is less than a dollar!

I’m not going to take up any more of your valuable time explaining what’s available and how it all works, the site more than speaks for itself. Just go and shop! (Support THRIFTerrific by using my affiliate link).

A handy tip for thrifty bookworms who like to buy books at cheaper prices than in bookstores: use Booko. This fantastic Web site will do all the hard work for you of checking prices on all of the major retailers’ Websites, adding shipping costs, and even converting foreign currencies into Aussie Dollars!

As an example, one of the most useful and prized books in my library is The Cook’s Companion, by Stephanie Alexander. This retails for around $100 in most bookstores and the cheapest I’ve ever seen is $89.95 at KMart or Big W, but Booko shows that at today’s exchange rate, you can get it from The Book Depository for around AU$67 (including free shipping to Australia)!

Now’s the perfect time to buy, with the AUD on the rise again after a pretty rough patch thanks to the Global Financial Crisis. Remember the time when it almost achieved parity with the US dollar? Oh. My. God. I went on the biggest shopping spree back then…

Another tip guaranteed to save you a few bucks on books: sign up for Borders’ Shortlist newsletter. Discount vouchers accompany each issue, and occasionally the offer will be better than usual, like 40% off books, or 30% off DVDs. Even with their “premium pricing” this often results in some pretty good deals. Or you could just follow me on Twitter and I’ll keep you posted whenever one of these crops up.

Now you have no excuse not to expand your minds and your libraries!