So there are a lot of things you need/want when you have a baby at home. It adds up quick. You might get some items through baby showers, but what about the rest.
My first suggestion is to take advantage of any free items that other parents offer you. You may later decide you don’t need it or it isn’t the one you want, but you end up with that option. I was lucky and got all my bottles for free. As a working mom this is very important. They also happen to be really nice bottles, Dr. Brown’s. This has been a big help.
My next suggestion is enter to win free items. There are a lot of sites online where you can enter to win things. By writing a review on my favorite baby item I won an exersaucer which is at least a $60 value. The contest was held on http://www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/. Currently the site is giving away a pack-n-play to the best review. I think they have also given prizes for baby food recipes submitted to the site too. I am currently trying to win a stroller on classmommy.com. You can actually vote for me, since the person with the most votes wins. This site also does lots of other giveaways. Some of them you just enter an email address, while others you have people vote for you. These giveaways are great, and I really wish I knew about them before Tara was born.
Coupons, coupons, coupons. There are a lot of coupons out there for free things or very cheep. Now I am not someone who wants to spend the time hunting them all down, so I found a great site that finds them for me. It is freebies4mom.com. Through this site I found a coupon to get a free portrait done of my daughter. It included 1 8×10″, 2 5×7″, and 8 wallet size. I also have gotten some free samples in the mail.
Daily deals sites. These items may not be free, but they are usually 50% or more off. I now have a bunch I frequent each morning: mamabargains.com, greenbabybargains.com, scrapbooksteals.com, babyhalfoff.com, babysteals.com, and woot.com. As a warning though, they can sometimes run out of stock very quickly. So depending on what time a day the site gets updated you usually want to check right near then.
Another thing is to try to be a product tester. I have not had this one come through for me yet, but I am hoping I might get picked at some point. One site that I know is currently requesting people to sign up is 4momsonline.com. Signing up does not mean you will be chosen, but you never know.
Lastly keep an eye out for local large baby/kid consignment sales. Recently I went to the outrageous outgrowns event in San Jose. I did pick up a few clothes items, but I really did realize I needed to show up much earlier in the day to get the best deals. For anyone who watches 18 kids and counting, this is the same type of event that the daughter in law went to to find items for her new baby girl.
Now all of these do take some persistence, and you may not always get things, but they can be well worth it.
