By Marissa Mooney |Asst. A&E Editor|

Paying for books, classes and gas can take a toll on a student’s wallet and their budget for shopping.

Since school and work consumes most of our time, it is hard to find a chance to spend money on ourselves.

Students are always browsing to find the latest deals on clothes, electronics and other gadgets while having a small budget expense. Many have turned to online shopping.

“I like to shop at stores and online, but I choose online over anything because it saves the hassle of wasting gas going to the mall,” said student Eduardo Escobedo. “I get better deals in the stores sometimes, but it has its tradeoffs. My favorite online shopping sites to visit are UrbanOutfitters.com, 80spurple.com and H&M,”

Students spend countless hours studying and sometimes it can be fun to take a break from all of it to browse the internet for some cool shopping sites.

Popular sites like Amazon offer student deals on shipping, especially on books and electronics. But aside from shopping for school supplies, many are looking for deals on fall clothing.

Websites for department stores and shops like Forever 21, Macy’s, Nordstrom’s and Kohl’s may offer online coupons or deals that are cheaper, including the clearance section.

“I like to go shopping in actual stores, but I have a few sites I like to visit like tobi.com and nastygal.com,” said student Natalie Esparza. “The deals online versus in actual stores vary. You can get free shipping and sometimes cheaper dresses and shoes online than in the store. Sometimes even the clearance racks in the store will be cleaned out so it is easier to find it online.”

Fall Fashion has begun and browsing online before hitting stores may be a good idea.

Many shopping sites send out e-mails on deals and specials during the week that can be used in the store or online.

Sites like groupon.com offer many different specials that range from vacations, clothes and even laptops.

Clothing sites with membership only perks, like plndr.com and hautelook.com, allow shoppers to find deals on designer clothes and also earn points by referring customers to their sites.

Instead of comparison shopping from one store to the next, energy and time is saved for other things when the best deals can be compared online with just a click of the mouse.

While stores and malls close at a certain time, online shopping is open 24/7. Shopping world-wide is a possibility online.

Online coupon codes are also efficient for most sites along with items that may not be in stores.

There are benefits to in-store and online shopping, but it’s the same as long as the deals are good. Sometimes it can be fun to go out with friends to the mall and browse stores and try things on and other times it is acceptable to stay home, study and shop online.

As the holidays draw near, it is a good idea to check out the online specials and enjoy browsing for new shopping sites to share with others.