What Do I Get for Baby’s First Christmas?

Christmas is always a joyous time of year! There are so many wonderful things to look forward to amongst the hustle bustle. It’s made even more special when you are also celebrating Baby’s First Christmas!

So when you are trying to figure out how best to celebrate baby’s first Christmas, you surely contemplate what gifts to give. The reality is that your little one likely doesn’t understand what the season is all about, much less have the ability to open their own gifts. Here are some ideas to help celebrate baby’s first holidays without going overboard.

Pick a few great learning toys that you can unwrap with the baby. These are toys that you would likely get for them anyhow, so just wrap them up and make them that much more special for Christmas. Sure wrapping them up is more for you than them, but it’s a tradition that you just must practice.

Go to some local mom to mom sales and pick up a few stocking stuffers. You can get toys that are gently used at a fraction of the price. So if you want to get some gifts for baby to open but don’t want to spend a ton as they may be short lived, picking up some toys from a mom to mom sale may be a great way to give something to your little one.

Wrap up some new DVD’s and books. You can have quite a few things to open with your little one, and these are certainly items that will come in handy. If your baby is very little then this may be something useful down the road. Otherwise these can be used right away and be something that baby can enjoy the benefits of very quickly.

Look for sale items and stock up. I have been looking for sales on toys since October and have stocked up on some very nice items. I may not give them all at once because there’s so many toys that it could be overwhelming for my daughter. However I’ve got some great options and some nice gifts to wrap up, and I got each and every item on sale. It will never matter to her, but it helped with our Christmas shopping this year!

Baby’s First Christmas can be so much fun and with some shopping expertise and an eye for sale items, you can have plenty for them to open without spending a ton.

Shop for the Holidays All Year Round

The MommyDaddyBlog shows us how we can spend frugally all year round to increase our gift giving at holiday time. Think it’s too early to get started? January is one of the best times to buy as items which didn’t move much during the holidays have their prices slashed low. Don’t forget the number one tip for shopping frugally all year:

Check out your local papers and even magazines for coupons. Even if the coupon is for something that you don’t think you’re going to purchase any time soon, clip it! There are many resourceful sites online where you can not only print out coupons but grab codes to use at the checkout of your favorite retailers. Some of my favorite places to find coupons are Coupon Chief and Retail Me Not. Both sites are powered by bargain hunters alike. Coupon Chief even has a Pays-2-Share program which allows you to get paid each time someone uses a coupon that you submit.

Use your iPhone to Store Your Grocery List

The iPhone really is a great little device. DirectoryM.com has put together a review on several different grocery shopping applications for your iPhone. These handy programs allow you to manage your grocery list with the touch of a button. You can also link your list easily to your desktop computer, keep a list of staples you buy every week, even list prices from the circulars so you can comparison shop in the field. Now the only thing missing from your iPhone is a second screen so you can multitask!

While none of the programs I reviewed have turned my weekly grocery shopping chore into a pleasant experience, now at least I have a valid reason to bring the iPhone along on the journey.

Optimize your Budget

The Hillbillyhousewife has created a guide for optimizing your grocery budget to meet your needs. By finding the foods in your local area which are consistently low priced you can plan meals and set a realistic price range for the weekly shopping trip. To make it easy she’s even prepared a PDF of consistently low priced foods you can compare with, for example her meat selection:

1 lb “bullets” of ground turkey, frozen

1 lb “bullets” of turkey sausage, frozen

12 to 16 lb Whole Turkeys, frozen

10 lb bags of Chicken Leg Quarters, fresh

1 lb packs of Chicken Hotdogs, fresh

1 lb packs of Chicken Baloney, fresh

Large packages of Turkey Ham, various weights, fresh

12-oz packages of Turkey Bacon, fresh

2 lb packages of whiting, pollack or trout fillets, frozen

3 lb packages of Catfish pieces, frozen

6-oz cans of Tuna

14-oz cans of Salmon

Decorating With Thrift Store Finds

Home is where the heart is. It’s a place of comfort and calm. A place where you can hang your proverbial hat and relax. Your home should be beautiful. To you. You don’t have to have a house straight out of the pages of an interior design magazine. Fill your house with things you like to look at that make you feel happy and comfortable. Decorating doesn’t have to take a lot of time or expense. Paint is relatively inexpensive and the fastest way to change, or refresh, the look of a room. Once you find the perfect color, complete the look of the room with some finishing touches. Thrift stores are amazing places to find furnishings and decorations for your home. Charming wooden bureaus, old unmatching china, and antique rug beaters can often be found at your local store. The prices are reasonable because the items are used and the stores want to move their inventory quickly. Items that are antiques or collectibles will be pricier. If you live in a remote area where thrift stores don’t exist, you can tap the virtual world of thrift shopping. Search online for auction sites or vintage stores to find those pieces that you are looking for. Once you’ve finished filling your house with treasures, only you will know what you paid for them. Enjoy your castle!

How To Form A Mommy Co-op

Imagine how wonderful it would be if a group of trustworthy Mommies got together and decided to help each other. One could watch the others’ kids while the rest did some shopping. They would return the favor by picking up her groceries while they were out. Or they could come up with a carpool schedule so everyone wouldn’t have to drive to school every single day. Sound good to you? Here’s how to set up a Mommy co-op:

1. Bounce the idea off of some of your closest friends or neighbors. Have those interested commit to the co-op and set up an e-mail account or group chat room to communicate with each other.

2. Come up with a list of chores or favors you’d like your co-op to help each other with. Choose a leader and use a voting system to make decisions.

3. Have a common calendar with everyone’s availability each month. Have each person express how they would like to contribute to the group. (Example: I’ll take the kids to school every day if someone runs errands for me, etc.)

4. Try to have a monthly meeting to make sure everyone is getting what she wants out of the co-op. Adjust accordingly.

5. Keep the co-op rather small so it can be managed successfully. Consider charging a small monthly due to cover gas expenses for Moms who contribute car-related favors.

No need to go it alone…let a Mommy co-op make your life easier!

Kid’s Clothing Tips

Kids go through clothes fast. Not only do children grow like weeds, but they’re also messy people who like to stain everything in sight with food and art supplies. Some Moms surrender and let their kids run around in these stained articles, while others would never think to let their child out of the house with a mere speck on their shirt. Buying clothes for kids can get expensive so follow these tips to save some cash on your kid’s duds.

1. Buy black. Not that you want little Susie to look like a goth-in-training, but black clothes hide any stain (besides bleach) you can throw their way. If black is too extreme for your taste, get dark colors and stock up on stain stick just in case.

2. Don’t buy pajamas or playclothes. Kids look adorable in the character-emblazoned pajamas on the market but they can be pricey. Instead, dress your children in comfortable clothing that has stains or holes in them. They can also wear these items as playclothes and spare their school and special occasion clothing from damage.

3. For girls, buy leggings. Leggings are very inexpensive, stylish, and versitile. They come in many colors, but of course, black is the most practical. They can be worn in any weather and grow with your child since they are stretchy.

4. Consider buying at thrift or consignment stores or off the clearance rack. Kid’s clothes really are disposable so don’t invest a lot of money on any one item. Let siblings wear hand-me-downs.

5. Buy cheap shoes. Children’s feet grow incredibly fast and will only fit in shoes for a short period of time.

6. Buy clothing as large as possible without the articles falling off your child’s body. Most kids can fit into clothes that are one size larger than their age. They will be able to grow into these items, thus getting more wear out of them.

Quick Mommy-Makeover

It’s hard not to suffer from a case of the “frumpies” when you are a Mom. Kids make it hard to take time to do your hair and make-up and are famous for encrusting Mom’s clothes with any variety of “stuff” from their sticky, little fingers. You don’t have to become invisible just because you’ve procreated; get yourself back into the beauty game! With little time and expense you can be that gorgeous woman you once were before you embarked on Motherhood.

1. Check your hair for grays and if there are too many for your taste, pick up a box of semi-permanent color. You can match your natural color or get wild and experiment with something a tone or two in either direction. If you don’t feel comfortable doing it yourself, see a professional. While you’re there, get an updated hair style and when you get home stop sticking your hair up in that unattractive ”suburb-bun”!

2. Put on a little make-up. It doesn’t have to be much, but unless you’re a rare natural beauty, everyone can use a little help to look polished.

3. Buy a few new outfits. They don’t have to be fancy lest you’d be reluctant to wear them around the kids. Try to buy something black or at least in a very dark color in case the kids do smear grape jelly across your shirt.

4. Give yourself a manicure and a pedicure. Again, nothing fancy, just make sure there isn’t a week’s worth of peanut butter caked under your nails. Feet can get really gross really fast so be sure not to neglect them either.

5. Finally, keep your skin moisturized, drink plenty of water, and get as much sleep and exercise as you can.

Moms always put everyone else first, but that doesn’t mean you have to put yourself last!

Planning Ahead for Dinner

It can be exhausting to hear the constant question–what’s for dinner? To help ease that a little preparation can go a long way. Planning ahead for your meals for the week can make your job as head chef of the household run much more smoothly.

If you’ve never visited a meal preparation place, then you can really fill up your freezer quickly with very little effort at all. These fantastic places allow you to either prep a bunch of meals yourself or order online and simply pick them up. All of the prep work and clean up is done for you, you walk away with a basket full of meals that you can easily pull out of the freezer and throw in the oven. These are well worth the money and take the stress off of you!

When you do cook, make extra and you will be surprised at how quickly your freezer fills up. If you make meatloaf, make an extra and freeze it. If you make spaghetti sauce, throw some extra in the freezer and it will come in handy in a bind. Prepping a little extra of whatever you’re cooking that evening can make your mealtime frenzy much easier to navigate through.

Shop ahead whenever possible. If you’re buying ground beef, buy it in larger quantities and freeze smaller portions in individual bags. This can then be used for meatballs, taco meat, or hamburgers. Get a larger package of chicken breasts and freeze these as individual portions. These can then be pulled out of the freezer and thrown into a casserole or simply grilled. Buying in larger quantities will also ensure tht you don’t have to run to the store as often.

With a little bit of preparation and a fair amount of planning ahead, you can make mealtime easy and enjoyable for the whole family. Never have to struggle to answer the question “what’s for dinner?” again.

Save Money on Groceries

There are many tips around for saving money on at the grocery store, so it’s nice when you come across a fresh idea. Or if not exactly a fresh idea, one that typically goes unspoken. BusyMomsOnline had several such tips (my favorite is number 2, so true!):

* Before heading out, check advertising circulars carefully. Just because it’s advertised doesn’t mean it’s a good buy.
* Shop without kids so you can think.

Read more at Busy Moms Online!!!

Starting New Family Traditions

The holidays are upon us and that means observing and enjoying old famiily traditions. There are likely certain foods and rituals that you practice with your family each and every year. What about new traditions? If you have a baby at home and are celebrating their first Christmas, why not start some new traditions? Not that the new traditions have to take the place of the old tried and true ones, but they can make the holidays that much more fun for your newly growing family.

Start an ornament or special keepsake collection. We decided that we would get a snowman ornament for the tree each year for our daughter. We started it this year for her first Christmas and plan to get her one each year from here on out.

Designate a special time for you to open presents with your little one. Perhaps allow one present to be opened on Christmas Eve and then the rest get opened the next morning along with the Santa gifts. This can be an easy tradition to implement, and it gets everyone excited when the time approaches every year.

Make a special meal that becomes part of your tradition. You likely eat a huge dinner with your extended family, so how about a special breakfast that becomes tradition? Maybe you have chococolate chip pancakes each and every Christmas morning after presents are open. It’s something simple and sweet that cements your new family’s love of traditions.

Get together with friends or go to a special Christmas day. Before the holidays hit each year, designate a day each year that your new family gets together with friends and their kids. You could also designate a specific day each year that you go see Santa, have some lunch, and do a little Christmas shopping at the mall.

Traditions are what the holidays are all about! Enjoying old traditions and creating new ones are what makes this time of year so magical.

What Supermarkets Don’t Want you to Know

I started to become a little suspicious when grocery stores took away the coupons and gave us those plastic cards. After all, they were tracking our spending habits not just making those deals a little easier to get to. But it turns out that market research isn’t the only sneaky thing grocery stores do. Sally Adyka from MSN Health and Fitness lists 10 secrets your supermarket is keeping from you.

Bargains aren’t always a bargain.

Who can resist an offer like “buy five, get one free,” or “three for $1”? Apparently, very few people can. “Any time you see numbers in a sign, you’re likely to buy at least 30 percent more than you may have purchased otherwise. “So if you go looking for soup and the sign says “limit 12 per person,” chances are you’ll purchase several more cans than you intended to buy,” he says. And of course, if you buy more than you need, it’s not necessarily a bargain. Or worse yet, it could lead to over-indulging. “Mindless shopping leads to mindless eating,” says Wansink. “Once the stuff is in the house, you’ll eat it whether you really want it or not.”

How to Find the Best Stuff for Your Kids Online

Sometimes we head straight to the online store to purchase gifts for our kids. It’s easy, straightforward and expensive. There are a couple more places you should add to your browsing list if you tend to buy online. A Savvy Mom posted on The Mom Speak a list of five places you should look for frugal online finds. Here’s number one (which was a new one for me!):

Join Freecycle, where people just want to get rid of their stuff, so they’re happy to give it to you for free if you come to their homes and take the stuff away. I’ve cleaned out a lot of unwanted clutter that I had neither time nor energy to sell, plus I’ve scored useful things like gDiaper inserts and personalized stickers for a friend’s little girl.

Last Minute Christmas Shopping

Another quick tip from Lifetips.com. (Thought I’d squeeze this one in before the big day!)

Know what gift(s) you are shopping for before you leave the house. Review with the kids before you enter a store, exactly what you are getting and for whom. No side trips, no fuss, no gawking, no candy. It is extremely simple to keep the children on track if you can distract them by enlisting their help in finding the section or item needed.

The flashing lights and over the top display of their favorite goodies is sure to make them a bit giddy before the big day. If they still have to pick out a gift for Dad, make sure they come prepared… or you’ll be stuck in Holiday traffic forever!

Clip More Coupons with These Sites

Centsoff.com
Thecouponclippers.com
Smartsource.com

For a review of the sites, don’t forget to head over to themomsbuzz.com and find out how best to use these sites.

Toiletries for Free? You bet!

It’s hard not to have my budget constantly at the forefront of my mind these days. So I’ve been looking into ways I can cut down on the cost of grocery bills. That’s when I stumbled upon Linsey Knerl’s article “6 Ways to get your Toiletries for Cheap or Even Free.” I’ve been implementing her tips for a week now and I am happy to see some extra pennies at the bottom of the piggy bank!

Playing the Grocery Game: What Works and What Doesn’t

The Grocery Game is one of the most popular coupon clipping program out there.  For those of you who have never heard of the Grocery Game…

“The Grocery Gamewas first established by Teri Gault for members in Southern California. It has since expanded to stores in 48 states. It professes to help people save money on groceries (including food products, baby and pet products, paper products, drug store items, and other toiletries) by using a database to track product prices and coupons and by giving a weekly list of which sales at your local grocery or drug store are truly ‘rock bottom’ prices.” (Courtesy of a wonderful article found here.)

The women at mykindofmom.com signed themselves up in order to give an extensive review of the program thousands of moms have participated in.  See what they say…

Buying kid’s shoes every 2 weeks

Mom 2 Mom Tips shares here secret in purchasing back to school shoes.  The dilema of trying to find the half size shoe your really need or realizing that you kid grew 3 sizes over the summer and you’re plagued with guilt from not noticing the mangled toes of your daughter can be solved with a simple soulution.

Well, there is a much more flexible solution! Stuff the toes of the shoes with cotton balls. Plain old, ordinary cotton balls. Fit them into the toe along the shape of the shoe so they don’t feel “weird” when the child wears them. Add a few, try them on, add a few more until you’ve achieved the right fit. One advantage of cotton balls is that you can put different amounts into each shoe. As we all know, everyone has one foot that is larger than the other.

Here all about Mom 2 Mom’s shoe buying experience here…