The credit crunch may mean the average household is 15% worse off than five years ago, according to Ernst & Young, but there has never been a better time to save money online. Stores are so desperate for business that they have created a whole new industry in sites that pool discounts from the top retailers, offering discounts of up to 90%.

There has also been a boom in community-based wesbites such as Freecycle that use the internet to swap goods, but keep it local so you don’t have delivery problems.

Laura Starkey of personal-finance site fool.co.uk said: “Since the credit crunch discount websites have seen a huge boost in users as consumers look to save.”

Here we list some of the best websites, which if used correctly, could save you hundreds of pounds a year and possibly change your life — or at least the way you shop.

1 KITCHENCLEAROUT.CO.UK

Fancy a 90cm Smeg cooker for £1,335 — £746 off the recommended retail price of £2,081? Or a Smeg fridge freezer for £793 — £369 cheaper than the Comet price of £1,162? Well you should try kitchenclearout.co.uk , which sells end-of-line stock at a huge discount. If you’re planning to refit your kitchen or want to replace ageing appliances, this website should be your first port of call.

It claims to have a warehouse “chock-full” of over £500,000 worth of kitchen appliances and accessories that must be sold every month. Delivery typically costs £25. Another good source for clearance goods is gooddealdirectory.co.uk, which allows you to find the factory outlet for a specific brand.

The Pier, for example, offers up to 70% off at its factory outlet in Abingdon in Oxfordshire. It is open only on a Saturday. Meanwhile, trade-secret-club.co.uk lists warehouse prices from the likes of Marks & Spencer, John Lewis and Laura Ashley. It has discounts up to 50% on cancelled and returned orders, such as a Milton chest of drawers for £350 compared with the Laura Ashley catalogue price of £700. You have to pay a membership fee of £10 to browse items online.

2 HOTUKDEALS.COM

This site relies on a community of users to list top discounts, sales and money-off voucher codes. Since the onset of the credit crunch, enthusiasts willing to share tips have inundated the site, with hits up a huge 30% since last year. The site ranks the deals using a temperature gauge and users get to vote if it is “hot” or “cold”. After attracting enough hot votes, the offer is highlighted on the front page of the site. Last week, one of the hottest deals was an IBM laptop reduced from £300 to £150. Another hot deal is 90% off swimwear at bargaincrazy.com . An Oasis metallic foil print bikini set, which cost £26, is now selling for just £5. Delivery is free if you spend over £30.

3 LETSLINKUK.NET

Local Exchange Trading Schemes , otherwise known as Lets, is one of several community-based networks in which people exchange goods and services without the need for money. Domestic, neighbourly tasks are often traded, but members also sell artwork such as pottery or offer complementary therapies through the schemes. There are about 40,000 members in 450 Lets across the country. “Prices” are negotiable and certain jobs and services can be paid for partly with Lets credits and partly with cash. You could, for example, earn five credits for walking someone’s dog for an hour. Three hours of dog walking would therefore net you 15 credits. Because most Lets in Britain equate one credit to £1, you could then use the 15 credits you have to get a £15 discount on a homeopathic consultation from anoter scheme member. You have a pay a registration fee of £5 as well as £25 annual group affiliation . Another good community site is freecycle.org where members exchange or give away unwanted goods. In the London borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, there are 4,799 members giving away everything from bikes to greenhouses.

4 PRICECUTREVIEW.COM

Prices at Amazon.co.uk tend to be competitive and there are often special discounts. However, the best deals are not always obvious. This site helps by bringing all the half price or less offers together in one place. A Jane Shilton Tuscany soft leather bag, for example, is available for £33.25 rather than its standard £95 — a 65% saving. You simply click on the item you want and the site automatically transfers you to Amazon.

5 MYVOUCHERCODES.CO.UK

This is one a new breed of websites that have proliferated in the credit crunch. Retailers send them online discount-voucher codes, over and above the offers you get on the high street, rather than hold a general sale. The discounts are often short lived so it is worth checking regularly. You can get money off anything from clothes to televisions. Last month, a Sharp LCD TV costing £1,799 on the Sharp website could be bought for £900 less using a voucher from sendmecashback.co.uk. Discounts available on Friday at myvouchercodes.co.uk included £25 off M&S furniture, in addition to the 50% it was already offering on certain items. Two Hemsley leather seat dining chairs, for example, have been reduced from £375 to £185 until the end of July. With the code WEBS9AM3 you could get additional £25 off, bringing your total saving to £215. You can also get £100 off a Kodak M1063 10 megapixel camera with the code CLICKM1063B.

6 FIND-DVD.CO.UK

The Find series — find-dvd.co.uk , find-cd.co.uk , find-book.co.uk — are specialised search sites, also known as “shop-bots” which scour the internet for the best deal on a particular product. The new Rambo film, released last month on DVD, for example, costs £13.97 at Tesco, but only £11.93 at Asda. It costs just £9.93 at Love Film. Be Kind Rewind costs £15.99 at WH Smith, but only £11.89 at sendit.com , including delivery.

7 TRIBALUK.COM

This is a shop-bot like the well-known Kelkoo and Pricerunner sites, but it sometimes has bigger discounts. Last week a Zanussi ZKC5540W cooker was available for £374 including delivery against £480 at Comet — a saving of £106 or 22%.

Kelkoo has recently launched a mobile phone application (http://m.kelkoo.co.uk ), which allows users to check the prices while out on the high street.

8 QUIDCO.COM

This site allows you to earn cashback on your online purchases from more than 1,200 major retailers. Before you buy anything online, simply check to see if you could go via Quidco to get the same product and earn cashback into the bargain.

If you sign up to a Prudential Health insurance plan, for example, you can get £85 cashback through Quidco . If you sign up to a Lloyds TSB home-insurance policy, you can get £120 cashback.

Virgin Media is offering up to £100 cashback if you sign up to a broadband, home phone and TV package through the site. Topcashback.co.uk is another cashback site that is fantastic — it is the only one that passes 100% of the cashback earned on to its users, although it has fewer retailers offering discounts on the site.

9 CHEMISTDIRECT.CO.UK

Medications that you might normally buy at a high-street chemist are often significantly cheaper online at this site or chemist-4.co.uk . Hay fever in particular is a concern for many people and there are substantial savings to be made. You can, for example, get a packet of 30 Zirtek allergy relief tablets for £9.99 rather than the typical high-street price of £13.90. The site also highlights an alternative which includes the same active ingredient as Zirtek but costs only 39p for 30 tablets.

10 MONEYSAVINGEXPERT

Moneysavingexpert.com boss Martin Lewis has a number of top savings tips on his site. A good one is the “cashback maximiser” which allows you to search for the best cashback site. A search for Virgin Media shows you can get £100 cashback if you sign up to a broadband, phone and TV package via Quidco, but only £65 at wepromiseto.co.uk.