Friday, July 30, 2010

How to Save Money Buying Crap for Your Expensive Baby

Obviously I am one cheap SOB. I switched to cloth diapers to save money, not the environment. (Sorry environment, your “green” products are just too damn expensive) and I have bought my kidlet TWO outfits that were not used. I will do ANYTHING to save a dime. So in order to keep my expensive baby clothed, diapered, feed and all the other damn things babies need to do, I got creative. Here’s my list of ways to save your hard earned cash. Unless “The Client List” was based on YOUR life, then you can probably just skip this post.

CRAIGSLIST- I love the Craigslist and I highly recommend it. I look for anything and everything on Craigslist. I typically search for large items, like the changing table we nabbed for $25, in our area. If you don’t know, there is also a website called Craiglook and it’s AMAZING. You can search for specific things within a certain distance or all over the country. My favorite part? The price point search. That way when I’m looking to score a Moby for cheap, I can make sure I get the very best deal. Try it, you’ll like it.

RESALE- I have also loved resale and thrift stores. It was only a matter of time before the hunt for home décor evolved into baby crap. My favorite store in the history of used baby crap stores is Once Upon A Child (and if you are somehow affiliated with OUAC, I am not opposed to compensation in the form of gift cards, just sayin’). They are the shit. They have EVERYTHING but the best part is the racks and racks of baby clothes organized by gender, size and season. Love that. And they typically only take the fancy brands like Gap, Janie and Jack, Gymboree, Children’s Place, etc so you’re baby can be stylin’ (even if it is last season, babies don’t care) and you can save a butt ton. I was just there and they had a red slash sale where any item was a $1. You can’t even get a McChicken for that. The only thing that can take the sting of brand spankin’ new hemorrhoid is getting a Gap romper for $1. They also have rewards programs like the Stamp Card, you spend $200 bones there and they’ll shave off 15% on the next visit. This summer they also featured the coupon to beat all coupons, $10 off $50 and $5 off of $25. You’re probably like “Shut up bitch, that’s nothin’” but they don’t expire. Yeah.

GOODWILL/RUMMAGE SALES- I love rummage sales too, people unload their shit for CHEAP and then you can even haggle with them to get a better price. I don’t really like to do that, but J has been known to haggle a $50 weed eater down to $30. And when that day comes that there are no more neon signs in the grass and the banquet tables have been put away, you can always hit up your local Goodwill. It’s a year round rummage sale. They have a decent selection of clothes but you have to really dig and check for stains and size mismarks so I don’t usually piss around there anymore. You can find other random crap for the baby there though, like nursery décor. A little spray paint and you’re in business. Next time you’re there just think of the magical powers of spray paint and you’ll be buyin’ shit up like it’s nobody’s business.

HAND ME DOWNS- Now I don’t know much about this since J and I are the first ones to start makin’ babies but I hear you can really bank in this department. Especially if your friends or family are through with babies and don’t like money.

BABY SHOWERS- Okay, this one is pretty obvs but whatever. I need to mention it since sometimes people think it’s rude to include where you are registered on the shower invitation. Then you end up with a whole bunch of clothes and none of this shit you really need. And to really burn your asshole, you have to piss around returning crap and getting the lowest sale price since Aunt K didn’t give you a gift receipt…and the clothes look suspiciously used. This happens.

COUPONS- I fucking love coupons. More than my husband. I am so the lady who holds you up in the line searching wildly for that 20% off one item at Babies R Us coupon she’s sure she has. Please don’t hate me, at least I don’t do it at the grocery store. There are a few ways to nab yourself some “coups”, you can sign up for shit like Babies R Us’ rewards program and they’ll send you coupons and if you spend a certain amount of money they send you like $5.00 to use with no minimum purchase. I know Gymboree has some Gymbucks thing, but I don’t buy their stuff from them, so I don’t really know. Sorry. If you’re shopping online because you couldn’t find it on Craigslist/Craiglook you should always use the Google Shopping tab and ALWAYS sort by price. Once you can make sure you haven’t had anything inserted in any of your holes (some retailers like to do that) you should do a Google search for any coupons the store might have floatin’ around. I did this shit when I was trying to save my cheap Dad on a breast pump I made him buy me to a) embarrass him for dipping out on buying the stroller instead and I saved him $20 and got free shipping. In turn, he bought the baby more crap. WIN.
SWAGBUCKS- I literally just found out about this and I'm totally convinced that it is the shit. It's a search engine that gives you points for using it instead of another search engines. Wait for it....then you can use the points toward FREE SHIT. Like $5.00 Amazon giftcards and other prizes and other giftcards. I didn't really look into the prizes because I was so impressed with the Amazon gift cards. Dude, Amazon has EVERYTHING. I mean, I love you Google but when was the last time you gave me free shit?



What ways do you save money?

13 comments:

Non Sequitur Chica said...

Nice! I fully plan on hitting up friends that have already had babies and garage sales/CL for stuff- especially clothes. I don't care if I am wearing something from last season, so why should my baby?

Brandy said...

Forget last season! I have crap in my closet from my early 20's!
Also register for LOTS of stuff in all price ranges and don't be afraid to put down that you need 100 face clothes or 72 blankets. Also don't be afraid of registering for pricey things, family and friends that way people can buy group gifts. Make sure it's something you want though, no use registering for some 300 singing dancing swing if you hate it and won't use it.

Also haggle on Craigslist. People tend to list things a few dollars more than what they are willing to take for them!

Alyssa said...

I make Charlie's baby food - its super easy and cheap! I make a bunch then freeze in ice cube trays. I love when our bananas get a little brown - instead of tossing them I throw them in the blender to puree with a little water and voila!

Kelli said...

You already read about my consignment sale finds on my blog. I am seriously addicted to those sales. You can go to www.jbfsale.com and click on find and event to see if there is a sale near you. It is awesome!

Raquel said...

@Non- My thoughts exactly about this season’s clothes. Besides, babies just spit up all over their stuff anyway. On purpose I hear.

@Brandy- I totally registered for expensive shit too. Like the Purple Moby and then I felt bad that it was $40 more than the green one so I switched it. I have registry guilt sometimes. Jordo usually haggles with people on CL and it embarrasses me to no end but it’s not so embarrassing when I get McDonalds with our savings.

@Alyssa- ZOMG I’m so making baby food too! So excited and nervous about it since Jilly is inconveniencing me by being born after the good fruits and veggies are in season. I am so going to post about this topic tomorrow.

@Kelly- I know. I love how you post what the value of all the items was vs. what you paid. It makes me sad x1000000 that I can’t find ones of that caliber here.

Betsy said...

Oh BOY!!!!!!!!!! Thanks BFF for posting this. I've been playing on Craiglook for the last half and hour and finding some cool shit. I also never knew about the shopping tab on Google. How cool is that? I too love me some fucking coupons! :) I just got in the mail the 20% off and one item at Babies R Us and I can't wait to use it!

Raquel said...

@Betsy- Best. Comment. Ever. This shit makes my day.

JC said...

Make your own food ... it is SO MUCH cheaper and it isn't really that difficult. Really. And people are UBER impressed that you take the time. We just started H on meats and he loves them (well, he loves every food he has tried so far, though green beans got some silly faces ...) and even the meat is super simple. I invested in a few multiportion containers from diapers.com (had a gc from my baby shower) and as soon as one batch is done I make another and store the frozen stuff in a plastic bag or a glass container right next to my beefing supply of breast milk. My husband is scared to reach into the freezer now. Anyway, definitely make the baby food yourself! So much savings and you can make a bunch of food in literally minutes and you do not need the Beaba (though I really wanted it to be honest) or any other fancy cooker. Simply steam the fruit/veggie and then blend it! I use this site as a guideline for introducing foods. The only foods I do not make for H are: carrots (my doc said nitrates/nitrites are not controlled the same as in the baby food companies), prunes (H LOVES "nature's candy" but I am not thrilled with them for many obvious reasons but how can I deny him??? he giggles when he eats them!), and bananas ... for some reason H spits up when he eats my mashed version (and he hasn't spit up since he was 4mo old!!). Cool nursery.

JC said...

Oh - right, the site
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/stage1_homemade_baby_food_recipes.htm

JC said...

3 comments? Um - can you invite people for the SWAGBUCKS (never knew about it until now) to get extra points? I want to sign up but thought I would ask in case you can get free stuff from the invites???

Raquel said...

@JC- I missed that info about carrots. So glad you are up on this shit. You can invite people to Swagbucks and earn points. If you click on the link on the sidebar, I will earn I think 5 points for you signing up. I got 30 points for signing up and I just got 10 more on my second search.

Expressions Paperie said...

Raquel, if people sign up for swagbucks under you, you also earn the points they earn up to 1,000 points. BONUS! I've got 4,000 SB. Waiting to get something sweet!!

Raquel said...

@Expressions- Lucky! You can get some really good free shit with all those points. Now I'm sad because I have only 51 SB.

 

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