Buy by Bulk Online

Too busy to go to the supermarket? You can stock up online on household staples and packaged groceries — detergent, toilet paper, cereal, barbecue sauce, to name a few — at Alice.com, an "Internet superstore" that delivers to your door in four to six days.

Shipping is free with orders of at least six items. Prices can be lower than what you'd pay in your neighborhood store because the site works directly with producers and manufacturers' coupons are automatically applied.

You can search for sale items, schedule your deliveries and ask for e-mail reminders when you're likely to be running out of certain products.

Similar sites with specialized product lines include Soap.com and Drugstore.com.

Joan Rattner Heilman writes about good deals and how to find them.