Lessons From A New Mama

Well here are this months lessons/tips I have learned and want to share.For those of you who know me well you know that I'm a frugal person. I love a good deal and I love sales, it doesn't matter to me if it's a name brand item or off brand as long as it does the job it's supposed to that's all that matters to me. The first few lessons are on having the bargain babies, or as I like to think of it as parenting on a budget. Then I want to cover something that I think is important and is something that every new Mommy thinks about....name brand or not name brand and then which bottle is right. With so many choices out there in these two categories how are we supposed to know the answer? Well, guess what we aren't supposed to it's a matter of trial and error, so here are my first trials and errors.

Lesson 1
 I approached the diapering situation with the same mindset as I do with any other purchase, how can I make this cheaper? Seriously diapers are one of the most expensive items that I think us parents have to purchase and it's so disappointing because it's only function is to hold pee and poo and then you throw it away...literally throwing away money! So, I did what any parent would do...I did my research and I have come to find that it's all a matter of trial and error. I understand that this tip isn't going to be helpful to those parents who have children with diaper/wipe sensitivities, but for those of you lucky ones that it doesn't matter this is what I have found. Other parents have said use Pampers or Huggies because you will have less blowouts that the off brand diapers. My parents can attest to this that it is false...if a kid is going to have a blowout it doesn't matter if they are wearing Pampers or Babies R Us diapers, it's just going to happen. Which leads me to my solution....buy what's on sale. I found Target does great sales on Pampers so for all of Jackson's newborn diapers that's what he used. They worked fine...like I said he had a few blowups on my parent's when they were visiting but what can you do. Now that Jackson is bigger and in size 1's quickly moving to size 2's I did the following...BOOM!

Babies R Us day after Thanksgiving sale. I was able to purchase all those diapers (16 boxes) and 12 boxes of wipes for $230. Now like I said if you have a child who has diaper or wipe sensitivities then go with what works for you but if not give the off brand a try...you might find your able to save a little cash.

Lesson 2
Clothes...clothes...clothes they need them and we want to buy them all the cutest little items that we can get our hands on because they are soooo cute! Truth be told I am super guilty of this and I think if you look at your credit card bill you will find that you are too. I have come to realize that babies at least don't need a ton of different outfits and they really don't need top of the line, designer clothes because guess what...they are going to spit up, drool and poo in these clothes that you just had to have for $30 an outfit. Here is the other thing about clothes at this age...they grow out of them so incredibly fast that you might not even get through all the outfits that you envisioned them wearing. I came up with a little solution to this epic problem but clothes on clearance. A lot of times stores like Target and Babies R Us will have their out of season clothes for super cheap do some quick math and see how many months old your baby will be at that time and buy some outfits on clearance. Last fall after Jason and I found out we were having a boy my friend Jessi and I went to the outlets. I was able to buy swimsuits, shorts, t-shirts, pants etc. at a really cheap price because they were all on clearance. I know you worry about things being out of style for you child but guess what everyone loves a little baby and their clothes don't typically follow the trends that adults do. Now when you kids get older and they start to have an opinion on what they wear your wonderful days of buying on discount might come to an end, but until that time you call the shots and you set the budget.

Lesson 3
Free money! That's right I said it Free Money! You know how sometimes you get those silly register yourself for these items or take this survey and we will send you a complementary sample of whatever the product may be. Well I have to say that I did that and I hit the jackpot. Now I know I have mentioned this before but I am breastfeeding Jackson and things are going very well, but I have this little voice in the back of my head saying that we may not be able to go the distance and make it our first 6months (that's my goal) to a year on breast milk and that I am going to eventually have to cave in and buy formula...which for any parent who has had to buy it or has looked at the price of formula yikes! So I filled out a few surveys and then BAM! Similac and Enfamil sent me bottles, and samples of their formula. I was so excited when I received my first samples because I thought yay I have something to try so Jackson will be able to use this until I can get to the store and buy some more. Well, it didn't stop their now both companies send me coupons that are good towards any type of their formula (one coupon good per formula) and occasionally they send me containers of powder formula. Fortunately for us we have not had to use any yet, but it's reassuring to know that I have a good stock pile of it if I need it. The other nice thing is that the powder formula doesn't expire until 2015 so I can hold on to it for Jackson's first year and then if we still don't need it I can donate it to the food bank or something so someone else can use it.

Lesson 4
Ok so the final lesson that I have I don't have a way to make it cheaper or lower the price of it, but it was a overwhelming process for me and I hope to be able to help out other Mommies. Quick other than the formula isle what is the most intimidating isle in the baby section..ding ding ding that's right the bottle section. Playtex, Dr. Brown, Tommee Tippee bottles. Fast flow, slow flow, medium flow nipples. These ones are closer to nature, these ones help with gas and spit up WHAT DO YOU CHOOSE?! Here is the hard part...it's all based on trial and error. You may go through 2 or 3 different kinds of bottles before you find the ones that work the best for your baby. Here is my suggestion though, and this is what I did, register for a couple of different kinds that you think might work...read the reviews that people put online line and then make an educated guess. The nice thing is, is that since you may receive it as a shower gift if it doesn't work for you baby at least you didn't lose out on any money during the process. For my shower I registered for two kinds of bottles Tommee Tippee anti-colic, which was supposed to be closer to nature and really good for babies and then Playtex VentAire. I tried the Tommee's first because they were the ones I was really rooting for and it was a failure. The nipples were too big (he was premature - I don't think I ever mentioned that) and he ended up practically drowning in milk and then it was leaking out the seams of the bottles it was crazy. Then of course I was getting upset because my milk was leaking all over the place and well I worked hard to produce that. We tried the Tommee's for two days and called it quits and switched to the Playtex VentAire's and we love them. Jackson has taken to them very well and we haven't had any problems. 

So there you have it folks 4 mini lessons/tips from the New Mama...now remember I'm no expert I'm just sharing what I have found to work for my little family along the way.