Lucy at three months!
Now that I’m never again shopping at Babies R Us, Amazon is my go to store for baby supplies. (See updated pic of my baby at right!) Last week I discovered an amazing Amazon deal when I returned a baby swaddling blanket
The blanket, which I highly recommend for new parents, helps my daughter Lucy sleep by keeping her tightly wrapped up. She grew out of size small so I ordered her a larger size. Each SwaddleMe blanket cost just under $10 when I bought them.
But when the blanket arrived I realized
Lucy is 9 weeks old!
I had a terrible customer service experience at Babies R Us yesterday, and I’ll never shop there again. Here’s what happened.
Weeks ago I purchased three boxes of Lansinoh nursing pads (they keep milk from leaking out of your boobs into your shirt). I quickly realized three boxes was too many, and brought in my online receipt with two of the still unopened, new boxes.
At the return counter, a clerk told me I needed the packing receipt but would call headquarters to get a return number. Meanwhile, I headed to the cloth diaper section and loaded $231 worth of gPants into my cart. (Lucy is almost ready to move up to size medium, 14-26 pounds).
Back at the counter,
A baby nursery for less than $260!
Remember my post from October about looking for a pregnant Halloween costume? Well, the time has *almost* come. Here are nine ways I’ve saved money in preparation for parenthood.
- We compared the prices of popular baby gear on Amazon, Babies R Us, and Target to make sure we got the best deal on a car seat and other items we wanted to buy new. You’d be surprised which retailer was the cheapest!
- I stalked craigslist, Freecycle, and my local Mommy & Me consignment store to furnish our nursery, pictured above, for less than $260. I can’t believe how much used baby stuff is free or extremely cheap. Here are more places to look to avoid paying retail for baby clothesand gear. (more…)
My belly needs room in this year's contest!
This year’s annual Halloween costume contest has a big – pun intended – twist. I’m pregnant! As you can see from the photo, my belly will play a role in whatever I dress up as for Halloween this year. Here’s how the contest works:
You suggest your most zany and frugal Halloween costume for me to wear.
The most unusual and fun costume is what I’ll dress up as. Bonus points for a costume my husband and I can do together.
I’ll prance around town in your costume and post a picture of me in costume. No matter how silly it is!
Comment with your idea for a Halloween costume by Oct. 19, 2011. That gives me about a week to put the winning costume together.
Interested in more preggo details?
megrje / Flickr
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
A couple of my friends are soon-to-be-mommies and one major expense for them is their changing wardrobe. I set out to find the most inexpensive way to getting maternity clothes. Below I compare the pros and cons of renting maternity clothes, buying them at discount stores, and getting hand me downs.
Renting maternity clothes
Stop spending money on slow internet, Score back to school deals, and Can you afford to have a baby?
A pram stroller made out of money! Dominik Meissner / Flickr
We share five must read blog posts about saving money every Friday.
Stocks rebound - After a steep drop Thursday, stocks saw modest gains Friday morning. (USA Today)
Free and cheap weekend - A long list of free and super cheap stuff to do this weekend can be found on Hip 2 Save.
The real cost of having a baby - The cost of raising a child is high so our Silicon Valley blogger friend shares saving tips for new parents. (The Digerati Life)
Facebook school deals – This year, Facebook is your friend when it comes to scoring back to school deals. (CNN Money)
Is your internet provider holding you back? A Federal Communications Commission report reveals which ISPs live up to their advertising claims so you can stop spending money on slow internet. (Main Street)
Here are the best Los Angeles deals this week from BargainBabeLA.com.
Disneyland tickets are discounted for SoCal residents who take advantage of the 2fer ticket on sale for a limited time.
If you can’t wait for the baseball season to open, get $11 Dodgers tickets to their spring training.
In Encino, reader Franki recommends the newly opened One Dollar Bookstore.
The Long Beach Aquarium is free for teachers in the month of March. Wahoo!
Sign up to sell your kids gently used clothes, toys, and gear and make some serious cash.
I don’t have kids and I’m excited about a new site I just learned about called ConsignmentMommies.com, which lists kids consignment sales across the country. The site capitalizes on a newish trend – people buying and selling gently used kids clothing, toys, and gear at massive sales that resemble garage sales on steriods. There are 544 sales listed already.
You can search for sales within 5-100 miles of a particular zip code. A search in my hood resulted in two sales I already knew about and four new ones. Now if only I had kids!
You can post a sale on the site and review sales you’ve been to – all for free. Business listings are for a fee, however. A mother-daughter team launched the site in 2009 and they are still adding features, like a page listing all sales by state.
ConsignmentMommies.com also has a blog with helpful tips. One recent post shared pricing guidelines for maternity and kids clothing:
• Tee shirt $1-2
• Casual Top $3-4
• Dress Top $5
• Jeans $5
• Jean Shorts $2-5
• Shorts $1-4
• Pants $1-4
• Dress pants $3-6
• Casual Dress $3-5
• Dress $5-8
• Suit $10-$15
• Swim Suit $5-10
These sound like great prices to me! One parent I interviewed years ago said she made enough money selling her kid’s old gear, clothing, and toys, to buy what they needed for the next growth spurt. I hope this site helps you find a sale with great prices near you.
This post is sponsored by FreeFreebies.org, where you can score the latest free product samples and get them delivered to your inbox.
Buy two boxes of 92-plus count of diapers at Babies R Us or Toys R Us and get a $15 gift card to these stores. Valid Saturday Oct. 10 to Monday Oct. 12, 2009. In store only. Print the coupon here.
Caveats: the gift card must be used on your next purchase. Not valid online.
I am out of touch with diaper prices. How much does a 92-count pack cost?
Thanks for the tip, Shasta!
