Sunday 15 January 2012

You don't have to buy it just because it's on sale!

One thing I've had to learn as a new mom is this: just because something is on sale (or you have a coupon for it), doesn't mean you have to buy it. I recently had a coupon for Gerber (something like buy 10, get $1 off) and jars were on sale at Walmart for 55 cents each. Though I was tempted to get my daughter strawberry-apple and apricot jars, I had to stop myself. Hold on, she's 14 months, she's practically on regular food! Then I remembered watching a few episodes of TLC's Extreme Couponing last year. Do I want to be like the weird old lady who bought cat food, even though she doesn't have a cat? Or the single twenty-something who stockpiled diapers and wasn't planning on having children anytime soon? So I've come to realize that when there's a good deal, you need to step back and ask yourself these questions: Does it expire? Do you have room to store it? And ... do you really need it?

Wednesday 11 January 2012

How I saved money on bottles

My daughter hates the bottle. I can count on one hand how many times she willingly drank from it. I tried her on the bottle when she was two months old and by the time she was six months, I just gave up. She started solids at four months old anyway, so she she was nursing less and less. Overall, my husband and I tried many brands on her: Medella, Nuby, Nuk, Born Free, all the types of bottles Playtex had available. I thought she was doing okay with the Playtex latex bottle, so I stupidly bought the feeding kit. (Luckily, I had a $2 off coupon for it, haha!) But in the end, she was better with the sippy cup.

So where did the money-saving technique happen here? Well, I didn't have to buy any sample bottles. (Oh wait, I bought the bottles for the Medella breast pump, but I needed those anyway.) I ended up getting Nuby, Nuk and one Playtex bottle from the Babies R Us gift registry; Born Free was a gift; and the other Playtex bottles were free at the Baby Time Show in April 2011. So here's what I've learned from this experience:
  • Gift registries can offer you goodies that'll be useful for months to come —don't throw samples away, especially if they are bottles!
  • Accept bottles as gifts so that you won't have to pay for trial/sample ones in the future.
  • Don't get too excited! Honestly, thinking back, my daughter barely took to that Playtex bottle before I bought the kit. I probably should have tried it a few more weeks before making up my mind!
Thoughts?

Tuesday 3 January 2012

Diaper discussion

When I buy diapers, I NEVER purchase them without coupons. This is what I do: I go through all of the flyers in my local paper and check which store has Pampers or Huggies on sale (these diapers seem to work the best, in my experience. The stupid Seventh Generation ones rip and leak!). Then I price them per diaper using the sale price AND a coupon on top of the sale price. The most I've ever paid for a size-3 package is $0.16 per diaper.

So here's a little demo "case study": I have flyers from Walmart and Superstore. Walmart has a 222-pack of size-3 Pampers on sale for $32.99; Superstore has Pampers in a 172 pack for $28.99. I have a $2-off coupon. You'd think Superstore would be cheaper, but guess again.  According to my calculations, I would choose Walmart, as the package would be $0.13 per diaper. (If I were to go with Superstore AND use my coupon, it would be more expensive, as I would be paying $0.15 per diaper.) Many would think that my shopping technique is too frugal, BUT saving here and there goes a long way.

In my opinion, stocking up on diapers is a no-no. Here's why: babies grow FAST. You don't know how big they'll get. I used to think people said this to make conversation, but after having my own, I've realized that it actually means something! Babies tend to double their weight by the time they reach four months. So if your baby is only wearing size 2 for about a month and you've bought that size in bulk, you've wasted your money (and the diapers take up space!). I found purchasing NB diapers in bulk was a huge disadvantage: Although my daughter could have more than comfortably fit into size 1, I squeezed her little bottom into NB diapers because I had too many stored away. (Sorry, babes!) Generally speaking, today I purchase two boxes MAX in the diaper inventory.

Thoughts? Comments from lovers and haters are welcome! Bring it, biatch!