FREE DIAPERS For a limited time, if you, your friends or your family complete $750 of purchases in your baby registry (new or existing), you'll get six months of Seventh Generation diapers for free (Expires September 30, 2008).

PHILIPS-AVENT PROMOTION Purchase $139 or more of select Philips-Avent products sold by Amazon and you'll receive a promotional certificate good for $40 off a future purchase. Restrictions apply. Expires July 31, 2008.

I've added several more sales and promotions to the Shopping Resource page. All referral profits go to charity (currently Unicef). Check it out when you have a moment.

Tags: Amazon, diapers

If you wanted to take advantage of the Amazon promotions for May, you've got until tomorrow to order.
See my posts about: Aveeno and Lubriderm products and Horizon milk and Pampers.

Tags: Amazon, diapers, food

Memorial Day special at Babies R Us. It's a printable coupon, but will have a code to be used online as well. Expires May 26, 2008.

Tags: toys, diapers, clothing, shoes, gear

Here are two Amazon promotions I just took advantage of:

Save 20% after an instant rebate when you buy eligible Horizon Organic Milk offered by Amazon.com. Use the code HORIZONN. Offer valid through May 31, 2008. This offer may be combined with Subscribe & Save, an additional savings of 15%. See site for details and restrictions.

Also, get a promotional certificate good for $20 off a future purchase when you spend $99 on select Pampers (and Luvs) products offered by Amazon.com, through May 31, 2008. See site for rules and restrictions.

I like having the plain milk boxes handy for when we go out on the weekends, and I'm too lazy to pack sippy cups. I keep a few boxes in the fridge, but it's nice that they don't need to be refrigerated. As for diapers, well, we're using half as many now (hooray for being potty trained!), but I know we'll still need at least three more boxes. And now that the prices have increased, any discount is appreciated.

Tags: food, diapers, Amazon

A while ago, I posted about how Diapers.com was our new source for diapers. It turns out that effective today, they are discontinuing their rewards program (I was about to reorder today). Bummer. Without that discount, their prices are slightly higher than Amazon and they don't ship as quickly. Not to mention, you need to spend more for free shipping, so I'd order two boxes at a time. Oh well, it was good while it lasted.

Tags: diapers

It's Black Friday, and according to my CNN news feed, people are flocking to the malls to shop. Parking lots filled at 11pm last night. I can't even imagine what that must be like. I hate crowds, and I don't have that kind of time. Besides, I bet that most items that people really want are probably not even going to be on sale. And the last thing I need to do is buy something we don't need. The only things I think I am going to buy today are diapers, since we're running low. I did check out Amazon.com just to see what was going on, but it seemed pretty tame as well. Now I'm hearing that "Cyber Monday" is supposed to be the big online shopping day. I guess it never ends. I think I'll try to refrain from spending more than we have to, even though it can be tempting at times.

Regarding diapers for those of you who have newborns, there is one more week to save. Diapers.com is ending their newborn diaper sale (20% off all newborn diapers) on November 30, 2007. This is a fantastic deal on diapers, so stock up. If you are a new customer, save $10 off your first order over $50 with code AFFL10 (they increased their usual promotion from $3 to $10 just for the holidays, now through December 31, 2007). I'm buying size 5 Pampers Cruisers, since they have excellent prices, and free delivery if I order two boxes at a time. I'm also going to pick up some bigger sippy cups for A's lunchbox.

Tags: diapers

This Friday is "Black Friday," historically known as the biggest shopping day of the year. I've never been one to stand in line at 5am outside a big box store in order to score a great deal, and I'm not about to start now. I love great bargain but I don't have the luxury of time. Will I be awake? Probably. Perhaps making breakfast or unloading the dishwasher before the boys wake up.

If I find myself with some spare time, I might try to do some Christmas shopping online. I just got an email today from Amazon.com (marketing wizards those guys), reminding me to check out their great deals this Friday. It'd be great to get most of my shopping done early this year. I'm sure it'll be an interesting day!

Tags: toys, clothing, gear, books, shoes, Amazon, diapers

M has finally started using the potty consistently. He expressed some interest over the last year, but we decided not to push him too much and let him decide when he was ready. From what we've heard from friends, it's a challenging time, especially if you are stressed out about it. Lots of parents start potty training their kids quite a bit earlier (we tried, he wasn't interested). I think diaper technology is so good at keeping kids dry, there really isn't much incentive (except flushing the toilet and underwear) on their part to use the potty. With a diaper, you don't have to stop whatever you're doing to go to the potty and you get personal attention with every change.

He's a big boy now, complete with big-boy fire truck underwear. And to think, it seems like just yesterday that he was drinking from a cup for the first time. Soon, we can cut our diaper costs in half. Thank goodness.

Tags: M, me, diapers

Something annoying happened recently, which ultimately led to something good. Funny how that happens sometimes.

We've used Pampers Cruisers for a long time, and I have been buying them from Amazon.com because of their competitive pricing and free shipping. We were even early adopters of the Subscribe & Save program, which saved me even more money, especially once their prices starting creeping up. However, one problem with their subscription service was that you could skip shipments with the click of a button, but in order to order an extra shipment, you'd have to cancel your subscription and restart it (no fees or anything, but kind of a pain). Being a conservative shopper, I'd often end up underestimating how soon we'd need to reorder new diapers, and I'd have to cancel the subscription and restart another to get a new shipment. The last time I did that, I noticed that the Subscribe & Save program was no longer available for that particular product. And the regular price really wasn't such a great deal. And I had just canceled our subscription, thinking I'd immediately resubscribe to re-set our shipment date. Now what?

I had heard about another diaper delivery service - Diapers.com - which many people really liked. So I did a little bit of research and found out that they have better prices than Amazon currently offers. Not only that, but they offer an extra large case with bonus wipes (two packs per case) for less than the price of the smaller box I used to buy. How could I pass that up? And they offered a 5% credit back bonus on orders over $75, to be used on future purchases. It sounded better and better, so I decided to give it a try. They offer free shipping for orders over $50 (I order two cases at a time). The diapers arrived pretty quickly (four days), a bit longer than Amazon (2 days), but I was very pleased overall.

The bonus wipes are all-purpose, so we keep them in the car for sticky hands ands such. Another perk is that they also carry other stuff, and I ended up buying two sippy cups for Andy as well (that I couldn't find on Amazon), which made life even more convenient. Needless to say, I'm a new convert (at least when it comes to diapers and sippy cups).

Amazon has now added the feature where you can order an extra shipment and have your delivery date reset, but it's too late now, since Pampers are not eligible (plus, this deal is even better). I would never have found Diapers.com if it weren't for Amazon. Ironic huh? I still love Amazon for many things, but they just don't adequately cover my diaper-buying needs.

Enter referral code "lucy" for $5 off your first order (I'll get $1 credit as well). Thanks in advance.

Tags: diapers, Amazon

Sometime last year, Pampers started the Gifts to Grow program where you create a login on their website and enter in codes found on all their diapers packages to accumulate points that can be used for a variety of toys, book and other products. I don't usually join point programs since most of them are for products that I don't buy regularly or in quantities enough to accumulate a useful number of points. Diapers, on the other hand, are an exception. Without fail, we go through at least a few boxes each month, and we have been loyal Pampers customers for quite some time now. So when this program was launched, I decided to give it a try. I created a login and started tracking our diapers purchases by entering codes (I'd save them up for a while and then enter them all in while I was pumping, since the codes are long and take a few minutes to enter). Originally, there was a program end date of early 2007 (not too long after the program was started), which made it difficult to decide when to cash out the points for a product. But I guess the program was such a success that Pampers decided to extend the program for another full year (now set to end March 1, 2008). It's a bit crazy - some people even sell their points on eBay (and people buy them!). I wouldn't recommend doing that, since most of the products are not that expensive to begin with, and you have to pay shipping on the items. In any case, since each of the economy plus boxes is equivalent to 9 points, it didn't take that long to reach 300 points, which was the number needed to get a Kettler Scooter Skiddy.



There is a Kettler Brummi tricycle available for 400 points, which we would have waited for, except that M already has a Kettler tricycle that we bought for his second birthday. So last month (just in time for the nice weather), I finally traded in enough points for the scooter. We paid about $13 in shipping, which wasn't too bad, considering we were getting the scooter for free (retails for about $100, Amazon sells it for $89). I'll add it to the list of things I need to review, but in general, it's a very well-made and sturdy scooter (Kettler sure does make nice stuff). I'm not sure I would have bought it as a separate purchase, since $90 seems a bit much for a scooter, but I'm glad we were able to get it through this program. The site states that shipping can take 6-8 weeks, but we received the scooter in about one week.

Of course, M is more than thrilled to have a scooter, and he is quickly learning how to ride it. He's been very cautious, and it'll take him a little while to get used to balancing on it, but he really enjoys riding it. I'll try to review it soon.

Tags: diapers, toys

I'm going to place I just placed another order for diapers, since the deal ends tomorrow. At the beginning of the month, I posted about Amazon's Pampers promotion. Apparently, it must be quite popular (and unfortunately, their prices fluctuate accordingly!) so the boxes are just shy of $40 now, which is actually not the greatest deal, just an average one. However, with the promotion, you save $25 instantly off a $99 purchase, or about $8 off each box (making each box around $32), which is a great deal. They sell Economy Plus packs (which are bigger than the ones you find at Target and Wal-mart). A size 3 box has 160 diapers, and a size 4 box has 140 diapers. I'm getting two size 3 boxes and one size 4 box, and using the code PAMPERS2 for $25 off my total.

I also noticed that they have a new service on Amazon, Subscribe and Save. Interesting concept. You subscribe to regular delivery of certain items for 1, 2, 3, or 6 months, and you get free shipping and save a percentage (currently 15%) on each order. If their percentage savings changes over time, it'll be in your favor (they'll increase it but never decrease it on current subscriptions). And you can cancel at any time. Intriguing. We might have to start doing that at some point. They have diapers, as well as a bunch of other stuff (laundry detergent, cereal, vitamins). Wow, now if that's not a timesaver, I don't know what is. I just don't think I am organized enough (yet) to figure out when we need to refill on stuff at home. Plus I think our usage and consumption varies a lot. But I guess I could always change the subscription at any time. I'll have to consider it, but right now, I am still happy placing orders as we need them. Besides, with our current Amazon Prime status, there is no minimum order to receive two-day shipping, which is great. And I can place an order for stuff we need in just a few minutes. But that sounds like a neat new service. No more waiting for sales or coupons, just pay a fair low(er) price. At 15% off, the diaper boxes come out to around $34, which is not as good as the promotion, but not bad considering you can order anytime.

Tags: Amazon, diapers

This is an absolutely essential product in our household when it comes to diaper changes and quick clean-ups. Brief Review

Tags: diapers

After trying Huggies and different types of Pampers, we developed a strong preference for Pampers Cruisers. We also learned to buy them from Amazon which saved us time and money. Brief Review

Tags: diapers, Amazon