Groupon spawns additional competitors

Clark loves getting bargains. Recently, he bought his two youngest children the chance to go on a helicopter ride for a mere $39 each. Putting a helicopter in the air is enormously expensive, so $39 was a real steal!

He was alerted to the deal by Groupon.com. This free website offers members one deal per day for extra cheap in select metro areas across the country.

The service is available in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago and other large cities. Many of the daily deals are half-price offers for services, restaurants and activities.

The success of Groupon has spawned competitors like MyDailyThread.com and LivingSocial.com. Each service targets certain large cities, with an eye toward rolling out into more markets. If they're not in your area yet, set up an e-mail notification so you'll know when they are.

As long as you don't spend money on things you wouldn't normally, this can be a really fun way to save!