Lisa Samson
Baby deals galore! I am an avid coupon/refund/deal
shopper (which my husband teases me about, but also
compliments me regularly on). When I got pregnant
with our first child, I knew it was time to start
looking for baby deals (actually, Id already been
getting some deals on baby toiletry items that I used
as shower gifts, but now I had to step it up!). There
are so many deals I have gotten, it is impossible to
list them all, but I will share some of the
highlights!
I began stocking up on diapers before my son was born.
Walgreens was clearing out different brands of
diapers as they were resetting their shelves. I
cleaned up on this! I bought multiple packs of
Pampers combining manufacturers coupons and the
coupon from the Easy Saver booklet. To make the deal
even sweeter, Walgreens also had a promotion at the
time for free movie tickets when you bought P&G
products, so I also received multiple movie tickets in
addition to cheap (name brand!) diapers!
These diapers got me through the first few months,
when I found the next diaper deal at CVS. This time I
was REALLY able to stock up! They had their brand of
diapers on sale B1G1 free, making them $4.50 a
package. A lot of the packages had coupons on them
for $2.00 off, and they let me use them on both
packages. Although the coupons were expired, they
still let me use them because they were still attached
to the packages. As an added bonus, since the
packages were older, I got more diapers per package
than the ones with newer packaging. I received many
comments from store employees and other customers
alike about how many children I must have! If they
only had any idea of how many packages I bought after
hitting all the CVS stores I could in the area before
the sale ended! I was afraid after all my efforts
that the diapers would either be poor quality, or my
son would be allergic to them (every couponers
nightmare when stocking up!). However, my son did
fine with them, and we have not had any more problems
with them than any other brand of diaper weve tried.
In addition to CVS brand diapers, I have also stocked
up on Winn Dixie brand diapers. When the stores were
going out of business in our area, they had 40% off
all items in the store. Again, there were multiple
packages with $2.00 off coupons, so I was able to get
them for about $2.50 a pack. These were also the
older packages with more in each package. In
addition, I earned points toward their baby reward
program, so ended up getting money back on my
transaction!
I am not shy trying any brand of diaper, and have to
say I have not really had problems with any that I
have tried. I have gotten partial packages of diapers
at garage sales, free Walgreens brand diapers with the
TMF in one of their Easy Saver booklets, and of course
diapers bought on sale with coupons. Although Pampers
are my favorite brand (and I have considered doing the
current Amazon promotion, but just havent decided if
I want to spend that much on diapers!), I am willing
to use whatever brand I can get the best deal on!
In addition to diapers, I have gotten deals on almost
every other baby product out there wipes, formula,
nursing pads, nursing bras, baby food, shampoo, baby
wash, baby lotion, diaper cream, baby q-tips, vapor
bath, bottle liners, toys, clothes, equipment, etc.
All of those things really add up, so I am happy to be
able to save on everything I need for my son (and baby
#2 on the way!).
With the Huggies pull up deal a few years ago, I think
I bought enough wipes to last until both my children
are potty trained! Walgreens had the pull ups for
$1.99, and the coupons were for $2.50 off any size
package. The Walgreens computer would not let me use
the overage on anything in the store, but it would let
me use it toward any other Huggies brand product.
So
I used it on wipes! I would buy whatever size
wipes they had on sale that week, using a coupon on
the wipes too of course. I was able to find some
packages of regular Huggies diapers on clearance at a
few Walgreens too, so bought some of those as well. I
never counted how many wipes I got altogether, or how
many packages of pull ups, but it was a very large
number over the course of the deal. I gave many of
the pull ups to a friend who was potty training at the
time, donated a lot to the domestic violence shelter
(they were very happy to get diapers!), sold some at
my garage sales, and still have a few left for when my
son is ready to potty train (hopefully another deal
will come along before the next baby is ready to potty
train!). I have also given away some of the wipes,
but have kept most of them knowing that I will be
using them for years to come! Hopefully they wont
get too dried out by the time I get to the last of
them, but if they do, Im sure I can count on my RMC
friends to help give me tips to rehydrate them!
I stocked up on Gerber baby products when Kroger had
them on sale for $0.99 and there were $1.00 coupons
out. The only problem was by the time I got the
coupons I ordered, Kroger had just gotten notification
that they were discontinuing them and started pulling
them off the shelves! The good news was they were
substituting Johnson and Johnson products at the same
price the bad news was I didnt have very many
Johnson and Johnson coupons, and no time to get
additional coupons before the sale was over! I
traveled to as many Krogers in the area as I could,
and ended up using most of my coupons. I have found
we dont go through the products that fast, but they
have come in very handy for baby showers I give them
their bath tub or a basket filled with all the bath
products they need, and they are ecstatic because it
is one less thing they have to buy!
Although I exclusively breast fed my son (and hope to
do so with my next baby as well), I still signed up
with all the formula companies and bought formula
with the checks they would send. Many times I would
get the overage on the check toward other groceries.
When he turned a year old, I donated all the cans of
formula to a local organization that supports women
who decide to keep their babies and need assistance to
do so.
I did need nursing pads and bottle liners while
breastfeeding, and was able to get those very cheaply
as well. When Winn Dixie clearanced their Johnson and
Johnson nursing pads, I got a bunch of coupons and
bought them out! I think I paid $0.50 a box, and
again the money spent counted toward their baby
rewards program, so I ended up getting more money back
later. The bottle liners I got free from double
dollars at Big Bear (before they went out of business
too I miss these stores!). The coupons were right
on the package, so I didnt even have to trade for
them!
In addition to all the sales/coupons, I have also
shopped at Thrift stores, garage sales, rummage sales
(my favorite!), and ebay to get baby clothes, toys,
etc. I have also been lucky to have friends who have
handed down items as they are done with them (and I
have of course paid them back many times over with
products I have gotten free or cheap!). Having a baby
doesnt have to break the budget. The one thing I
have not been able to get free/cheap is daycare! Of
all the things I could spend money on though, I have
to say this is one of the most important, so I cant
complain too much! Ill just keep saving everywhere
else I can!
Note: Picture is of my son, Evan, in front of my
diaper/baby closet!
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Sep. 11, 2009 By:
llisaer
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