mama to mama.

Money money money MUHH-NAY!

 

I was really looking forward to this week's post (hello homemade wipes?!?!).  Andrew and I have been very luck to receive almost everything we needed for Beetle as handmedowns from friends, but we are constantly on the search for new, innovative ways to save some dough in this crazy town.  Recently, I was introduced to the site zulily.com by my MIL and have found quite a few great deals on there if I'm looking to "splurge" on something new. I actually just "splurged" on this adorable rick-rack hat for summertime - found on zulily.com for $7.99.  On other sites I found it priced anywhere from $12.82 to $17!

 

Check out these money saving tips from the Mamas! 

 

PS - my parents were here for two weeks, so get ready for some serious Nana and Papa snapshots, coming soon!

 

 ___________________________________________________

 

Leslie, mom to Eloise, 6 months

 

 

I had my first experience with hand dyed onesies today!  I bought a few packages of the Gerber white 100% cotton onesies in different sizes at Marshall's and some Rit at the fabric store and ta-da! Pretty, inexpensive, solid colored onesies.  (No princesses, divas or monkeys):)  

Another place I've found solid colored onesies (and other super cute stuff) is H&M.  They have a very limited online selection so every once in a while I scope out my local store.  They usually have a 2 for $10 deal, plus Eloise has been wearing their 2-4 month size since she was a little over 2 months old, and she is now a rather large 6 month old!  

If you're curious what some of the Rit dye colors look like, left to right, I used violet, purple, and petal pink...the last one was a mommy oops moment when I forgot to take a petal pink one out of the washing machine before washing the purple ones.      

   

______________________________________________________________

Betsy, mother of June Ellen, Evelyn, and Olive

 

When you have a baby (or three) every trip you make to the store seems to get more and more expensive. Even worse is when you take the trash out at the end of the week and see all of the waste going out the door about as fast as it came in. My money saving tips for new moms are as follows:

1) Breast Feed if you can. Obviously it's the most natural way to feed a baby and super cheap, too!

2) Make your own baby food. This is so easy to do and will keep you and the rest of your family eating healthy as well. Just steam your veggies and puree them. You can add salt/pepper/sauces/ after you separate a portion to be pureed for the baby. Pour the extra into ice cube trays and when they are frozen, pop them out and save them in a freezer safe container of you choice. We like to use mostly glass jars that I have saved from buying salsa, pasta sauce, pickles, etc.

3) Try to get hand-me-down clothing, or buy at a resale shop. Everyone needs a little something new every once in a while but for daily wear, especially to be pooped or thrown-up on, used clothing is a treasure.

4) Make your own baby wipes! Really quite easy and affordable. Here is a link to a great recipe http://www.quadcitymomsblog.com/2012/02/04/diy-baby-wipes/

_________________________________________________________________

 

Natalie, mom to Cole

 

Our biggest money saver has to be amazon.com.  We started out with our baby registry there, because it was a universal registry you could find items from outside vendors but purchase them through amazon.  So, you can get pretty much anything your heart desires there.  That aside, we order all our diapers and wipes from amazon through the subscribe and save program and amazon moms.  This saves you about 30% off the regular price.  With subscribe and save they send you the product every month, however many quantities you desire.  They send you an e-mail notifying you of shipping and at that point you can make changes.  Skip the delivery if needed or up the quantity, whatever you want.  It ships for free, as do tons of things on amazon over $25.  Another great site is diapers.com but they have a $49 min for free 2 day shipping.  The cool thing about them is that they affiliated with 3 other useful sites and you can reach your $49 buying from all the different sites if needed.  Soap.com for toiletries, wag.com (great for Mom's with pets) and another that is toys I think.  I can order cat food and hand and face wipes for baby at 9pm and they are on my doorstep by 5pm the next day.  Pretty impressive. 

I hope we are saving money on this...  I have a baby bullet food processor and make all Cole's purees.  This way I know he is not getting any sugar or preservatives, and I am sure in the long run it is a money saver over the packaged goods.  As for shopping we usually try to get hand me downs, because they grow out of stuff so fast.  But, for those Mom's uptown or in the heights there is a big superstore with cheap cute baby stuff called Young World.  It is around 181st and St. Nick's.  Happy shopping Mommies.  

_____________________________________________________

 

Kerrie, mom to Aspen 9 wks

In my quest to save money on baby supplies I found that if you have a Sam's Club membership you can get on there website and they have an auction section...even with shipping you can usually get pampers for around 11 cents (since i'm sharing this tip with everyone, your not allowed to bid against me! ;)...fyi Aspen is in size 1.  With amazon.com charging for membership, I have found that Sam's Club or walmart.com's prices are very close and sometimes less.

Retailmenot.com is another good site to find codes for % off or free shipping codes. I do not make an online purchase without checking this site first, they also have some of the huggies and pampers rewards codes.

Free-stuff-finder.com has a baby section that has stocked me with free samples of formula (even though i'm breastfeeding it's nice to know I have some on hand just in case...and even better it was free) and some diapers.

I also check websites for any baby products I use and sign up with them because they usually send coupons!

_______________________________________________________

ThankYOU, Mamas!