Kids Ain't Cheap

But They Sure Are Worth It

5 Quality Baby Items That Are Worth the Investment

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If you want to know what quality baby items are worth the money, I definitely recommend this list!In 2014, my husband and I had two in two years. We also lived on less than $2,000 per month. Having a lot of baby things simply wasn’t an option during that season of life. However, we did save up for a number of quality baby items, and I’m glad we did.

We may not have had new living room furniture or all new kitchen appliances, but if there was something costly that got its money’s worth for our kids, then it was money well spent.

5 Quality Baby Items Worth the Investment

Hear me out. One thing we did not do is go into debt to purchase these items. Nor did we dip into our emergency fund. Either option would have been so much easier. Instead, we opened a checking account with no minimum balance required and labeled it our “Baby” account.

Each month, we’d budget an allotted amount into the account. Having it separate from our primary checking helped protect that money from being mishandled.

We saved up, used coupons, used gift cards, or we said no to the purchase.

There are so many different brands of these products, but here are the ones we chose and that I recommend.

1. Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play Sleeper

We kept our babies in this Rock N’ Play throughout their entire newborn stage. It was so nice to have them right next to our bed at night, elevated so they could probably breathe when congested. Another perk was how lightweight the product was. After I had an unexpected c-section with my second child, I had a major weight restriction during the first several weeks. The Rock N’ Play was easy to fold and transfer from room to room.

2. Medela Advanced Breast Pump

I made the choice before my first child was born to breastfeed. I was still employed at my banking job during that time, so have a reliable and efficient breast pump was crucial. Since that time, the government has made it much easier to obtain breast pumps for free or to receive reimbursement on a purchase. Definitely look into that. If you can’t get one (a QUALITY one) for free, then I highly recommend this product. It hasn’t given me any problems and I was able to breastfeed both of my children for at least 12 months.

3. Aden + Anaias Swaddle Blankets

The features I love most about these swaddling blankets is that they’re sheer which reduces the risk of suffocation, and they’re large enough to do a full swaddle on a baby throughout the first six months to a year. My 2-year-old son still chooses his Aden and Anaias blankets to sleep with over any other bedding.

4. Braun Ear Thermometer

If you’re up at 2:30 AM with a screaming, feverish baby, you need a reliable thermometer that will tell you exactly what’s going on, every time. I tried the cheap route at first, using a knock-off thermometer under the baby’s armpit (try getting a fussy baby to keep his arm down long enough to get a consistent reading). Finally, I realized it wasn’t worth the risk of misdiagnosing. High fevers can spike at any time. I’ve caught each of them in time with my Braun ear thermometer.

5. Wooden Toys

What I love about wooden toys is that they’re made well. My parents grew up in the era of wooden or metal toys. I was raised throughout the dawn of plastic. To see the difference in toys like Melissa & Doug and many others is very refreshing. I head straight to that aisle every time I buy a gift for a baby shower or child’s birthday party.

What quality baby items are you grateful you purchased? Share in the comments below!

This post contains affiliate links.

Image Credit: Gaelle Marcel (UnSplash)

How to Save Money On Kids Toys

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how to save money on toysI have a young daughter and am realizing just how expensive it can be when it comes to toys. Advertisers do a great job at marketing to both parents and children in trying to convince them of what they ”need”. Most toys are not a necessity in any way. Granted, there are some really great toys/educational items we have come across that we have enjoyed but I don’t think she is any better of a toddler in terms of development because she had these toys growing up.

Given that purchasing even some items will be inevitable with kids, I have gone out of my way to figure out ways to do it as cheap as possible.

Borrow

My first option is easier for young babies and children but if there are items you can borrow from a friend of family member save your money and do it! Most of these toys (such as exersaucers, play mats, activity tables) are indestructible and easy to clean so you don’t have to worry about ruining or spreading germs. We have a friend with a daughter who is four months older than our daughter which worked out well for sharing some baby toys. As she was getting ”too old” for the objects, we inherited them temporarily. Babies especially lose interest or grow so fast they don’t play with things for very long.

Same goes for books. While we have many books purchased or gifted we also borrow a ton from the library.  Makes for a fun outing and she gets ”new books”  every few weeks.

Buy Used

Younger kids especially will have no way of knowing if something was used, nor do they often care. Items we couldn’t borrow from friends we often bought  through online classifieds or yard sales. Again these objects were often only played with for a very short time and resold at a fraction of the cost. A quick clean restores them to brand new conditions!

Online or Price Comparison

If I must buy something new, I always check online (Amazon, Ebay etc) first since their prices almost always beat in-store. If I can’t find what I want online (or shipping isn’t included, I take my search back to the internet but to look at specific stores until I find the best price. If there is  another store that does price match guarantee (sometimes even beating it by a few dollars) I usually try that route too.

Buying New: Sale, Discount or Awards Offered Only!

If we’re buying from a store, it’s a super sale or we’re getting something in return. We decided to get our daughter a specific outdoor playhouse for her upcoming birthday. Retailing around here for $300 didn’t settle well with us. For months we’ve had our eyes on online classifieds with no luck. Buying online also wasn’t an option since it was massive and was going to cost a small fortune (anywhere from $50-$100) to ship. We accepted we’d need to either change our minds on gift or buy it new. We lucked out with a 50% off sale, plus price match. We snagged the $300 playhouse for $115 (less a gift card we’ve been holding on to). We also received bonus collectors points for our purchase! I was more than happy! 

Even if you only get the item on a tax-free sale, saving tax is money in your pocket! Shopping around can be tedious but in my option so worth it. 

How do you save when it comes to buying kids ”toys”, other than, of course, avoiding the purchase at all?

Gender Identity and Children’s Toys – My Rant

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Gender Identity ToysI have a very sweet almost 19 month old little girl. She is a little girl in almost every way: angelic face (though don’t let that fool you), sweet voice, even wears a pink sparkly tutu sometimes. She truly is a little girl through and through. Also, she adores Thomas the Tank Engine more than anything in the world. She sees a train and yells ”Tommy!” in a crazy excited voice as if she may never see  him again.

On the contrast, I have a good friend who has a little girl who hates pink. Hates sparkles. Hates everything ”girly”. She’s four. She wears jeans, a cool leather jacket and dressed up as Spiderman this past Halloween. Seemingly totally on her own, she identifies herself as a ”tomboy” and looks up to her older male cousins.

Why must we as a society have any issue with either of these situations?

My husband, daughter and I were recently at the store buying our kiddo a small Thomas train (imagine her gripping it with all her might as we approach the cash), we had to pull her hands apart to get the toy free and pass it to the older lady working the cash.

”Oh that’s sweet, you must be buying this toy for a little brother maybe? (looking at us parents for some assurance), it seems as though you care very much about the toy” says the cashier.

”No” I replied, ”It’s for her, she adores Thomas (insert my snarkiness)”

”Oh, it’s just that usually only little boys play with trains…”

We paid and left (me uttering comments under my breath).

Why, must we as a society place gender roles on things like toys?! In this case we’re talking about a train. A really cute little train with more train friends and a cute show both her father and I approve of.

I cannot even begin to tell you the comments my friend got for ”allowing” her daughter to wear a Spiderman costume at Halloween. Comments as crazy as she’s ruining her little girl to stuff about later regret in life when she comes home a lesbian.

Again, what in the world is wrong with people?! Why can’t a cute little four-year-old act like a superhero and dress up like Spiderman? I’d much rather raise an ass-kicking daughter than a pathetic little princess awaiting some prince charming to rescue her, that’s for sure.

Being a parent has opened my eyes to many more worldly issues I, as a non-parent, was totally ignorant to. I grew up playing with toys. Toys bought from the toy section of the store. Not the girl section or boy section, just the toy section. It was recently brought to my attention that even birthday cards for little kids (<2-year-old) was divided by boy cards and girl cards, how about we just have a ”birthday card” section. I don’t want my daughter ever feeling weird for picking a ”boy card” for her girl friend. This is an issues, I as a parent shouldn’t have to worry about.

We are placing unnecessary stigma in children’s heads and it needs to stop. Plain and simple.

Easy DIY Infant Toys

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DIY Infant ToysLast week I wrote a post dismissing the notion that kids were overly expensive and today I’m going to elaborate on this by showing a few DIY toy ideas.

My daughter has many toys, from fancy jumpers to basic blocks. The toys she consistently plays with the most though? Ones that were made for her out of basic household items like pop bottles and baby wipe containers. My sister is an early childhood educator so I have to credit her with these ideas since they’re all ones she makes in the classroom. I don’t know what it is about these particular items but she continues to play with them over her store-bought toys so I thought I would share a few ‘recipes’ for DIY infant toys.

 

Easy DIY Infant Toys

  • Pop Bottle Shakers: Using a small pop (soda) or water bottle (500-750ml size), fill it will whatever you want as long as it makes noise and won’t break! I have one filled with colored pasta noodles, sparkles and sequins and another filled with small wooden alphabet letters (found at the dollar store), sparkles and more sequins of different shapes. If you can fit it in the opening of the bottle, the possibilities are endless!
  • Sensory Containers: Made from baby wipe containers, wash and dry the containers and fill them with things the baby can pull out of the opening and vary in textures. Ours is full of fabric swatches. All different textures, from denim to crinoline to super soft baby fleece. This tutorial took it a step further and stitched numbers and letters on the fabrics. You can again fill with small toys they need to dig to get. Baby wipe containers often, but not always, have a wide opening which is safe for little fingers but make sure there are no sharp edges before making this craft.
  • Taggies: This is the picture featured at the beginning of the post. I don’t know if there is a correct term for these but it’s a basic fabric square with ribbon loops stitched into it. I don’t know what it is about ribbons/tags but kids LOVE them. I’ve seen taggie books, fancy taggie stuffed animals but the basic square with a few ribbon loops seems to do the trick and if you can stitch a straight line you can easily make one at home.

Other things my daughter loves to do is splash water either in the tub or sometimes I’ll just pour a little water on her high-chair tray and allow her to splash and make a little mess, after all it’s only water and she doesn’t need a lot to entertain her, maybe 1/2 cup. Good ‘ol fashion bubbles are often overlooked. Bubbles have entertained her for what seems like hours.

There are many options out there for making your own toys for kids of all ages, more proof that kids don’t have to be as expensive as some will have you believe. You don’t necessarily need fancy store-bought toys, anything that encourages playing and exploration means you’ve succeeded in the making of your own ‘toys’. Happy crafting!

What other DIY infany toys have you made?

Double the Blessing — Double the Stuff; Tips on Buying for Twins

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TwinsAs I have mentioned before — I am the Mom of twin boys. Because of this, I get asked all kinds of questions. Here is one question that I get asked quite often by people who are either expecting twins or those who are just curious:

Does having twins mean you have to have two of everything?

Since money and space are a common concern for people expecting twins – thankfully – the answer is no. Certainly, there are things that you should have two of but there are many things where having just one, will suffice.

At the end of the article, check out our recommendations for some of the best online shops for baby furniture and supplies

Bringing Home Babies

It’s always a great idea to be fully stocked on all supplies – and ready for action – as soon as the babies arrive home. Having all the essentials and first aid supplies is a must but you can hold off on some of the bigger items until later (swings, high chairs, exersaucers, etc.)

Parents of twins do need to keep plenty (and by plenty I mean, imagine what you think might need and triple that number) of the following items on hand; bottles, wipes, diapers, and formula. Other things that are really important to have a lot of are; onsies, sleepers, burp cloths,love and patience. Trust me when I tell you that running out of any of these items, with two unhappy babies yelling at you is not – I repeat – not a good thing!

Things you need to have two of:

Car Seats

These are an absolute must. They won’t even let you leave the hospital, without seeing them properly installed in your car first.

Double Stroller

There are some great infant seat/double stroller systems out there. Do a lot of research and that will help you decide which one might work best for you. To get started you’ll want to ask other parents of twins, read reviews, and take them for a test drive.

We had an in-line stroller and later bought a side by side light weight double stroller when the boys were about a year old. Both had their advantages – like keeping the kiddos contained; and their disadvantages – like not being able to squeeze through narrow spaces or the ablility to take out clothing racks in department stores.

Cribs

Most twinfants do enjoy sharing a crib (or at least they seem to) but opinions differ on whether that is actually safe or not. Once they start moving around and rolling over, parents are strongly advised to put them in their own crib because one could roll over on the other and cause them to stop breathing.

Our boys slept in a crib together for a very short time. They couldn’t roll over but somehow N would scoot himself on his back (maybe kicking his feet or something) and end up using A’s belly as his foot rest. Neither seemed bothered by this arrangement but we separated them soon after this started — they actually slept much better on their own.

Baby Carrier or Sling

I loved our baby carriers, though looking back I probably would have purchased a sling as well — for around the house. The carrier was just too bulky to use while trying to get things done.

The carriers were great when my husband and I would take the boys out and about. We could hold them close (so people didn’t lean in and breathe all over them). Plus, we didn’t get people constantly stopping us to ask if they were twins — not that I minded that so much, but when you are in a hurry it can be a little frustrating.

High Chairs

These of course aren’t needed right away, but they are necessary. A friend of mine – who also has twins – advised me to get high chairs which would fit on our dining room chairs.

This was a fantastic idea for us because our kitchen isn’t very big and having two high chairs would have taken up a lot of space. We found some nice ones and then my Mom bought some very simple, plastic ones that were great for travel. They were light weight and didn’t take up too much space; which was nice.

Two Sets of Bottles

We started with glass bottles and that made for a lot of extra work. They were nice though, easy to warm up and store in the fridge but lots of washing, especially in the beginning.

I later moved to the Playtex bottles and liners (*money saver* Target makes liners that fit these bottles for much less than the Playtex ones) not very “green” of me I know — but it sure was simple and saved me a lot of time.

Potty Seats

Potty training twins isn’t easy but having two potty chairs in the house will make it a tiny bit easier.

Things you may need two of:

Diaper Genie or Diaper Pail

You really only need one of these but if you have a split level house it might be more convenient to have one on each level.

Baby Swing

You might be fine with only one of these but if both babies really love them — you’ll probably want two.

Bouncy Seat

Our boys loved these. I would put the babies in them and it made it easy for me to transport them to any room in the house. Some babies don’t like them though, so if you get one and they both like it, you can get another one later.

Exersaucer

These were fantastic and the boys loved playing in them. They would also interact and play with each other when I would put them in them side-by-side.

Bumbos

My boys didn’t use these for very long before they figured out how to escape — but they were fun to have.

One will be just fine:

  • Changing Table
  • Wipe Warmer
  • Vaporizer (unless they are in two separate rooms)
  • Nursing Pillow
  • Activity Mat
  • Bathtub
  • Night Light

Recommended Baby Stores that Help Support this Site:

If you have any questions about twins, or would like to see a post on a specific topic relating to twin parenting let me know!

Do you have twins? What items to you get two of and what did you only need one of?

A Tale of Three Stretchy Monkeys

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Stretch Zoo MonkeysOne hot July day, my then four-and-a-half-year-old son and I went to a neighborhood yard sale, where he found the new love of his life-a scraggly-looking, brown monkey with stretchy, rubbery arms. But there was something in monkey’s sweet, wise face that struck a cord with my son and a new friendship was born. With a soft, cuddly body and stretchy arms that could be pulled back and then let go for a sling shot effect, what’s not to love? “Stretch-o,” as he would come to be named, accompanied my son everywhere. To preschool, on car rides, to the store, and of course, to bed with him every night. You know where I’m going with this, right? You guessed it. One night at bedtime, my son asked, “Where’s Stretch-o?” Stretch-o was nowhere to be found. Darn it. After a perfunctory search of the house-still nothing. “He must be at school,” I told him.

Stretch-o Lost & Found

After a few days, it became clear that we were not going to find him. My son cried every time he thought about it, telling me many times during the day, “I still feel sad about Stretch-o.” I thought my heart might break. After we realized that Stretch-o may be lost good this time, the search began for his replacement. Before the invention of the Internet, if a child lost a beloved toy, parents would have to call or visit multiple stores, hoping to find an exact replica, sometimes coming back empty-handed. I have a friend whom, before the Internet was what it is today, called every Hallmark store on the East Coast to find a particular stuffed dinosaur for her son, finally locating one in Florida. But in my case, I googled “stretchy monkey arms” and was immediately rewarded with search results showing a number of online stores with Stretch Zoo Monkeys. Hooray for Amazon.com. Gotta love them. So with Stretch-o #2 on his way, things were definitely looking up.

Fast forward a couple of days when my neighbor’s son was over playing video games with my son in the basement. “We found Stretch-o!” My neighbor’s son yelled from downstairs. My son then came running up the stairs with his monkey in his arms. Stretch-o had been hiding between the television and the video game console, visible only from certain angles. “I’m so happy for you,” I said. “Now you’ll have two!” In two more days, Stretch-o #2 arrived, who was later named “Elastic.” Well, Elastic and Stretch-o made a good pair for about a week before Elastic also went missing. “I don’t care,” my son said. “I still have Stretch-o.”

Elastic gets replaced

That was about one year ago. Elastic never turned up, but Stretch-o is still with us, although he is a little worse for the wear after multiple surgeries with needle and thread. With his birthday approaching, my son has asked for a “brother” for Stretch-o. No longer available on Amazon, my heart skipped a beat. But thanks to the wonders of the Internet, another was found and is on its way. What did we do before we had this instant gratification known as the World Wide Web? What did our kids do? I am sure we made it through somehow, although it is hard to remember a time when we had to do research the old fashioned way and we had to deal with disappointment when we simply could not replace something valuable and rare. I am sure there is a lesson to be learned here, including that kids have to learn the value of money and possessions and to not take things for granted and yada, yada, yada. That being said… in the astute words of the credit card commercial….Stretchy Monkey from the online toy store…ten dollars, including shipping… a birthday wish coming true for my little boy….priceless.

Has your child ever lost a favorite toy? What did you do?

Review of Large Building Blocks from Smart Monkey Toys

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Review of Smark Monkey Toys large blocksThe other day we received a 16pc large red building block set, in the mail for a product review. These are by Smart Monkey Toys and I have got to tell you; even before I started assembling the blocks, I could tell they were going to be a hit with my boys.

16 pc Large Red Blocks by Smart Monkey Toys
Price: $25 – $36

When the kids saw the picture of the blocks on the packaging, they got super excited and immediately asked if they could play with them. I wasn’t crazy about trying to put the blocks together with two very impatient 3 year old boys, buzzing around me like a swarm of bees.

Assembling the blocks

Anyhow, they were really keyed up and kept saying “please Mommy” in a cute non-whiney kind of way, so of course I had to finally concede. I’ve got to say, the first block took me a little bit to figure out — but once I decided to pull out the helpful and easy to follow instructions that were enclosed, it was a piece of cake. I was able to put all 16 large building blocks together in about 15-20 minutes. That is record time for getting anything done while my children are awake.

Kid tested, mother approved

As soon I was finished, the boys immediately began playing. They worked together to build a large firehouse. Then they decided to see how tall they could stack the building blocks. I was very impressed with how flush, the blocks fit together. We have an older, cheaper set, by a different company and those blocks always tip over before the stack gets too high. The blocks from Smart Monkey Toys are also much sturdier than the others we have. I know this, because the boys later decided to use them as ice skates.

They are made of lightweight corrugated cardboard so if they fall over, or if – and this would probably never happen – one brother accidentally flung a block in the direction of the other brother, no one would really get hurt. Nice!  Despite the fact that they are light, they are very well engineered and will hold a lot more weight than you might expect.

Another thing you can absolutely love about these blocks, is that they are made of recycled materials.

So, in case you haven’t figured it out already — YES; I would definitely recommend these blocks. They are wonderful!

These blocks are available from these fine retailers.  The prices listed below are what they were being sold at when we wrote this review

Have you seen these blocks? What do you think of them? Would you buy them for your children?

Affording Children’s Gifts and Toys

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Toys can be expensive if you don't shop smartFor us parents who take our children into any type of store that have toys we know just how expensive toys can be. I remember one time while out with my family I had to buy a birthday gift for a neighbor who was a little girl.

A family outing to the toy store

Having only one girl of my own who was older, I hadn’t shopped for “little girl” toys in a while. I decided I would look at the dolls. Now mind you, they have dolls now that can do more than I can get my boys here to do. They speak when they want something. And I mean speak! Not mumble and incoherently speak and point while pointing in a direction while watching a video game!

Okay, now that was a nice surprise seeing all of these dolls that can actually probably function to help me clean the house but I was in sticker shock! I needed to get a second job just to afford to buy this child a doll (albeit top of the line doll).

Is it more expensive buying for girls than boys? I take my boys and its “Hey Ma, can I get this bag-o-worms?” “Hey Ma, can I get this huge ball that only costs $5.00 pleeeeeeeze?” All the while I am convinced they just want to buy to the ball to test my theory of not throwing large objects around the house while “ma’s” back is turned. I have never heard them ask for a doll that could actually help me out around the house that costs over $50.00 though.

How to save money on toys

How do we parents do it? I mean how do we do it without working three jobs to afford one holiday? I have learned a huge lesson when buying toys.

BUY THEM ON SALE.

When I came back from my sticker-shocking family outing I made a list of all the children I buy for. Birthdays, holidays and anything else that may come up unannounced. I keep the list in a notebook that I know where it is (unless one of the boys grabs it, then you’ll hear someone calling for a list notebook).

When I am out shopping if I see something that is marked down and at a great savings I now buy it. I was always famous for convincing myself I would make a trip back to buy the item later. Another lesson, I cannot let myself do that.

With the holiday season coming up what are some ways you save when buying gifts and toys?