What a Deal

Maybe I'm super resourceful.  Maybe I just have way too much time on my hands.  Probably a little bit of both!  Either way I have become quite the bargain shopper. Actually it's borderline hostile frugality but come on, who doesn't love a deal?  I think my thrifty issues actually began as a bride. Valuable lesson...a cake is just a cake by any other name...unless you accidentally call it a wedding cake.  Then it's magically better and costs 30% more.

Call it what we may, I have become very focused on finding deals and thought it might be helpful to share a few findings...

• Politics aside, thanks to the Affordable Care Act I am the proud owner of a free new breast pump of my choosing.  I called our health insurance provider to see if any portion of my purchase would be covered and learned that we (and most everyone else) are eligible to receive a pump without cost. This was a big one--pass it on!
• It turns out you can't buy many baby items in-store and are forced to purchase online. ( I'll defer my rant on the ridiculousness of this for another time)  This triggers my biggest nemesis--shipping and handling.  I found a great website, Diapers.com, that has many online retailer and manufacturer coupons in addition to free shipping and handling and waived sales tax.  By triple dipping, I was able to save $70 on just one item!  I read that they actually sell diapers at cost too, but since I have yet to change an actual diaper, don't feel qualified to advise on this one. :)
• Buying maternity clothes--I read a great idea to buy maternity clothes early when they are on sale in the off season, so I did.  Bad bad idea for me and my sweet tooth.  Turns out that you can't just assume that you'll remain your regular size and buy your standard because maternity clothes are so much bigger.  It's a little depressing and that 's all I'm going to say about that.

On a random note, our Keurig recently died.  This is a borderline crisis in our house.  After calling directly I was told that they would send me a new one for half the price.  When I escalated the issue by graciously pointing out my dissatisfaction that $149 only gets you only a little over a year of product life, I received a call back the next day that we were being sent a new Keurig for free. Interestingly they made me send back a small part of my broken one which felt a little like a weird ransom situation, but I was still pleased with the outcome and learned that it's always worth making the call!

In the end we think we have all that we need for this baby, at least for now. It's been very fun to learn about the best baby products, and to receive the great advice we have from many about what you will need but haven't thought of, and what you think you will use but actually won't.

It was pretty clear to Ed and I, the UPS guy, and the entire neighborhood when my nesting phase began and we came home to find this loot delivered to our doorstep.

Happy shopping!!