Money-Saving Monday: Baby Bargains

It's actually Tuesday, but since Money-Saving Tuesday doesn't have the same nifty alliteration, I'll stick with the title even though I'm a day late.

Since I have had my baby boy (and several months prior), I have been engrossed in the world of strollers, diapers, and toys. This has challenged me to make my little one's world sparkle, saving money all the while.

My husband and I had fun doing our inexpensive nursery. We found bargains and reused some things from other parts of our home. But not so long after the nursery was complete, our little Jack came along, which meant reasons to find even more bargains. Here are some great ways I've found to save money:

• Read Baby Bargains. I am forever grateful to the person who recommended this book to me. It's especially helpful for major purchases when you're preparing for baby. It includes reviews and ratings based on cost and quality for many different baby products, including car seats, strollers, diapers, cribs, toys, and more. As a first-time parent, I was overwhelmed with all the brands and choices and safety claims and gadgets. I wondered if I didn't have this or that if I would be a terrible mother or perhaps my baby would implode. This book is really helpful in that department plus it identifies as the best deals (for price and quality). Then you can watch for sales on the best-deal products you select.  
• Watch for diaper deals. Frugal bloggers (see right side) are a wonderful find in this area. They are constantly posting deals or coupons. Friend Pampers and Huggies on Facebook for more deals. Subscribe to the Babies R Us (which, outside of wearhouse clubs, have the best prices on large boxes of diapers in my area—even better than Walmart) flier and wait for sales. They often offer gift cards or discounts. Some people would rather use no-name diapers to save; this can work, too, but if you are willing to spend time clipping coupons, major brands can be the same price or cheaper (and perhaps better quality, depending on your opinion).
• Join diaper clubs. This is mostly just for fun, but both Pampers and Huggies have reward programs. They are free to join; members enter codes found on diapers and wipes (and on frugal blogs) and collect points to win prizes. Just the other day, I got my first reward—a free toy—from the Huggies Enjoy the Ride rewards program. It was about a $10 retail value and provided some extra entertainment for Jack. 
• Buy consignment or use friends' gently used equipment and clothing. I am pretty picky about used clothing that I purchase, but I have found some quality (and even new) clothing at yard sales. And friends who have given us clothes are wonderful (thank you!). I still have fun buying my little guy cute new clothes, but we sure have to buy a lot less. Since most babies are in and out of sizes in a flash, it seems crazy to spend gobs on little clothes. One caution in this area: Beware of purchasing/getting used car seats (could be damaged if they have been in an accident) and other major equipment, such as cribs, that are older and may not be up to current safety standards.
• Save on toys. Toys R Us, Babies R Us, Amazon, Target, and other stores often have toys on clearance. Combined with coupons, toys can be nearly free. If you are looking to get a few more toys for your little one, watch for these types of sales and take advantage of them. For example, Babies R Us had a sale recently: buy one Fisher Price toy, get one free. I had a gift card that I received from a diaper deal, plus 2 $5 coupons. We walked away with four new toys that would normally have totaled $110 for about $35.
• Get free stuff. See my previous post for ideas, but I have received free diapers, a board book (one of my son's favorite books), a sippy cup, and more baby-related items.

Please share your ideas for saving on baby stuff, too!

Money-Saving Monday: Free Stuff

Recently I asked my Facebook friends about their best money-saving strategies. A couple of them said the obvious: Don't spend it. That's a pretty good idea.

While there are lots of ways to avoid spending money, one of the most fun is getting free products. We haven't, for example, paid for toothpaste in at least a year, and we have seven free tubes sitting in the cupboard, so we're not going to run out any time soon. Here are some easy ways to get free stuff:

• Follow frugal and freebie blogs. There are dozens and dozens of these types of blogs; a few are listed on the right side. Find the ones you like and check them regularly,  follow them on Facebook, or sign up to get daily emails that highlight their posts. This is a fabulous way to find giveaways from companies. Some give small samples; others mail you coupons for free products or send you a full-size version of the product itself. Thanks to these amazing bloggers, I've received free diapers, a sippy cup, a ABC board book, baby food, coffee, and many other products.
• Combine coupons and sales at drugstores, grocery stores, and discount stores. Again, the frugal blogs are an excellent help. The bloggers take the time to figure out the best deals based on fliers and current coupons. Print or clip coupons (again, look to the right for some sources) that come along if you might possibly use the product. Unless you need the product right away, wait for a sale to come along (often highlighted by a blogger). You'll often be able to get things for free—and even make money on the deal. For example, this week at Walgreen's Colgate Total toothpaste, priced at $3.99, comes with a $4 Register Rewards coupon that you can use on a future purchase. Combine it with a $1 off coupon, and you'll make $1.01 off the purchase. 
• Join online money-making programs. Two I've joined are Swagbucks and Ebates. Swagbucks is a program that gives you points for doing various simple tasks, such as searching the Internet using its search engine and shopping at various online stores. It's simple and fun. You can redeem the points for prizes, such as Amazon.com and Target.com gift cards. Ebates is a program that gives you certain percentages of cash back for shopping through its site at various Internet stores that you'd shop at anyway. Every once in a while, a check arrives in the mail—free money.

I'd love to hear your tips for getting free stuff. Happy saving!

Money-Saving Monday

Don't worry—it's still Friday. But since Monday is right around the corner, here's a small preview.

Becoming a stay-at-home mom is most rewarding, but it's also reason to be a bit more careful with the family budget. I've been extremely inspired by reading frugal blogs and other resources and discovered that I love getting free and cheap stuff! It's fabulous to not have to spend money on things like toothpaste and cereal and be able to free up room in the budget for vacations or toys for my little guy or giving or paying down the mortgage or any number of other things.

To keep me disciplined and perhaps help others (and maybe make your Mondays a tad less foreboding), I thought I would weekly share some of the dollar-stretching tips I've learned from excellent frugal blogs, books, friends, and experience.

In the meantime, be inspired by this super coupon queen. Watch this ABC newscast about a woman who is so determined that she literally feeds her family for $4 a week.

Life after cable

Before I married my husband, I had never had cable TV. My parents weren't that into TV; we didn't even have a television until I was almost a teen, and even then we used it mostly for watching movies. So when I lived on my own I didn't feel any need to fork over the fees for cable shows.

My husband has never not had cable, and so when we married he just kept his subscription and I enjoyed the luxury of watching TLC shows, NCIS reruns, and movies on demand.

Being parents had made us rethink some things—and I'm sure it will change our lives much more dramatically in the future. We opted to cancel cable TV. It's saving us a little bit, but mostly we cared about the character development of our little guy.

I'm not by any means saying you can't have hundreds of channels and raise kind, godly children. But for us, it was the best choice. We found ourselves watching shows with language and action that could be a detriment to Jack's little life—while he was in the room—and probably did nothing for us, either. Even commercials are pretty tasteless sometimes.

Anyway, this cutting off of cable came as a bit of a shock to the system when we were used to watching TV at night when we felt like doing nothing else, or in the morning to catch the news. The other day I came to the realization that the living room is pretty underutilized these days. It was an eye-opener to recognize that most of the time we spent there was consumed with TV.

In the past few days, we've rediscovered another item in the living room—our piano—and enjoyed making music as Jack pounds away at a few keys he's figured out how to reach. We didn't spend excessive time in front of the tube before, but we've been doing more reading, playing games, and talking. (Admittedly, we still watch a few favorite shows online—but that's also time we spend together since we make a point to do so rather than aimlessly channel surfing.)

We may head back to the land of cable someday. But for now, we like it here.

Nine months already?

It's hard sometimes to believe that little Jack has been growing, changing, and making us smile for nine months. On the move (crawling and pulling himself up to stand), he likes to get into everything. Despite the fact that we bought more toys for him, he still loves to grab onto the hot water heater, rip paper, pull CDs of the shelf, and get into other little bits of mischief. But he charms his way through it all (most of it, anyway) with a seven-toothed grin.

I love this little guy and am so blessed to be his mom.