For instance, Value Club will ship discounted gift certificates, or scrip, through their site to anywhere in the United States. Vendors range from clothing stores like Boomerang and Ku De Ta to recreational opportunities at MetroRock and 5 Wits. Sign up here, and enter "teenlife" as your referral code. Other sites worth investigating are Groupon and BuyWithMe, which can be a bit more of an adventure. Offers vary from day to day and tend more towards intangibles, like yoga classes or restaurant deals, but can yield great opportunities for those who keep an eye on them.

If it's school supplies you're after, Staples has an online rebate center to make it easy to follow up on discounts. You can also save with store-brand products, or keep your shopping earth-friendly by browsing their Eco-Easy site to order environmentally-conscious products and to learn about ink, toner, and electronics recycling. Students with laptops at school can do much of their reading online for free through GoogleBooks, Literature.org, or Project Gutenberg. Old-fashioned sorts (or those who don't like staring at screens all day) can buy or rent used textbooks, often at a substantial discount, from sites like AbeBooks, Alibiris, and ecampus.

Like Gilt, RueLaLa offers sizable discounts on name-brand clothing, and is also invitation-only - but if you put your name on the list, they'll contact you as soon as space opens up.

We've all had tag sales, but sometimes it's easier to find a single buyer for your old things. Fashion-forward consignment stores like Buffalo Exchange are always looking for clean, gently used, on-trend clothing to buy and re-sell. Be sure to inquire carefully about store policies before selling, though - most stores will pay cash for clothes, but some only offer store credit. And use common sense when assembling items to sell; stores won't buy clothes that are badly damaged or dirty, and many charities won't accept them as donations, either. If a piece is in really poor shape, it's probably best to throw it away or cut it up into rags for cleaning.

It's not just clothes that can make you money, though. Gazelle offers a secure way to get cash for old gadgets, from external drives and camera lenses to laptops and cell phones. Sell electronics to the site, and they'll even pay for shipping and send you a box to do it. More than 80% of items sold to the site are re-sold to buyers, extending the life cycle of the products. Gazelle also offers recycling services for electronics. Families switching phone plans or upgrading their service will want to look into WenneCorp, which will buy used smartphones for $80 - $650, depending on the model. Or, if college students are buying their own plan for the first time, this is a great way for them to get some cash for their old phone.