Can you really have a baby on a budget?? Baby on a budget #1

Hi guys,

As most of you will know by now I am expecting baby number 2 in December! I am very very excited about it all and I can not wait. A topic that is often talked about when having kids is money.....now I know everyone needs a roof over their heads and has to pay the bills etc BUT you need all that kids or not. So I am attempting to have this baby on a budget and I want you to join me in my journey and perhaps I might help you or you might help me along the way! I am basically starting again because due to moving I had to get rid of most of the stuff I had from my son.

Now, there are certain things I believe you should not get second hand, the main and most important one being a car seat....you do not know how safe the seat is, it may have been in an accident or it may be damaged in a way you can not see from the outside (I would accept these from family where I know how the car seat has been looked after etc but nowhere else). The second thing being bottles - I would always use new teats of course and to be honest I wouldnt like to use used bottles either.....that does not mean that you have to buy them full price in a shop however, you can find these on ebay BNIP from people who have had unwanted gifts, also if you are not fussy about the type of bottle many supermarkets sell bottles for very cheap. I am planning to breastfeed alongside bottle feeding so I have opted for Tommee Tippee closer to nature bottles which I also used with my son. I have already purchased 3 brand new large bottles and 2 dummies for £7.50 including postage on ebay. The newborn starter kits retail at £14.99 in argos you get 2 small bottles, 2 large bottles, 2 dummies, 2 medium flow teats for 3m+ and a bottle brush - I consider this to be a good deal and I will probably purchase one of these later on in my pregnancy then thats my bottles completely sorted!

Ok so my first tip, which I did do when I had my first although I did not actually use as much as I should have, would be to sign up to all the baby clubs, all the ones you will actually use. These clubs give out vouchers and free samples from time to time and every little helps, when I had my son I only used a fraction of what they sent me and I regret that now, since finding couponing my life has changed and I know that I will use them all this time around. I plan on using aptamil milk, when moving on to baby food however I am not fussy on the brand so here is a list of the clubs I have joined - I will also insert the links....If you know of any other clubs you think it would be useful for me to add to this list then please email babyonabudget@hotmail.com

Bounty
Emma's Diary
Mothercare
Boots
Tesco
Aptaclub
Cow and Gate
Ella's Kitchen
SMA
Heinz
Hipp Organic
Organix
Pampers
Huggies

Great so the next thing I want to say is DO YOUR RESEARCH!!!! Please, look at what you want to get first - for example, what are the best buggies/prams for newborns up to toddler ages - have a look see what you think, see what suits you and then look for it second hand but in good condition!
Countless times I have heard people tell me they have changed their minds about their prams and bought different ones, only to sell the first one for way less than what it costs them!
Whats the point, make sure you know what you want before you get it....not everyone has the same styles, tastes and ideas so it won't be the same for everybody.

Lastly for this post Vouchers! - I know I spoke about the coupons you might get sent from the different baby clubs - which again you must make sure you use - please. Well what about gift vouchers/clubcard vouchers etc. I found an app called Zeek - through someone else in the 'freebie commuity' and managed to grab myself £15 worth of Mothercare vouchers for only £2, I used this to buy my baby a little outfit, 2 packets of nappies, and 3 packets of wipes! All stocked up and ready for when he or she gets here. I have also saved my clubcare vouchers (£8 so far) which I plan to use for the same things - nappies, wipes etc and I have a £10 sainsburys giftcard which was given to me as a sorry for some unpleasent grapes which only cost me £2. So in theory whatever I get with these vouchers has cost me £4 - alot less than what it would cost me really.

Well I hope this has been an interesting read for you, and I hope you will join me, especially if you are pregnant or planning to become pregnant in the near future and want some tips OR if you feel you have some advice you want to share with me. Email babyonabudget@hotmail.com with any tips or questions you may have.
All these will be addressed and answered - and your name (if you want) will always be mentioned, I will not take credit for others ideas - I do not believe in that.


Take care.
Sophie Jo
xxx

The Sticker Factory - Stickers and Charts

A while ago I was sent a lovely lot of stickers and charts by the lovely Ruth from The Sticker Factory. 

This site sells a range of different products, stickers - of course, stamps, charts, badges and certificates too they will also personalise a lot of items which I think is a great idea.

I have a 5 year old boy and I also work at a gymnastics centre where I am in charge of the Pre-School section. We use stickers and stamps as rewards regularly and I am constantly spending money on stickers from a certain shop which fall off all the time.
I was sent 36 Sparkly Bee stickers which would cost a grand total of £1.42 + VAT, 78 Sparkly Smiley stickers which would cost £1.88 + VAT, 200 mini Sparkly Star stickers which would also cost £1.88 + VAT and also 2 sheets of personalised stickers made with the name of my Gymnastics centre. Ruth sent me 2 Mini charts which you can get in packs of 40 and cost £4.13 + VAT and an Early Years Chart which you can get in packs of 2 costing £1.88 + VAT.

I was really impressed with the quality of all the items, but especially the stickers. I had bought a pack of 200 stickers from a well known stationary shop - this cost me £4.50 - I am forever finding them down the hall way or inside the gym as they fall off seconds after I give them to the children at work. I took the personalised stickers in and they were very well loved by the childrens, they were a lot bigger than the others and they stuck really well...and I haven't found one thats fallen off before the children got out of the facility. As for the other stickers - the chart works very well with my little boy, he loves the pictures and again the quality is brilliant....he is a very fussy eater and we use it for trying new foods and eating all his lunch/dinner - he looks forwards to choosing which sticker he would like and being able to put it on his chart. They definately reach the right audience and they are amazing value for money! You can even pay via paypal which I think every online shop should do now. I would highly recommend these to all my Mummy/Teacher friends Definately a 5* site!.....and I am planning to buy some more stickers and purchase a few stamps from them too!
 

You can find them on Facebook.

Or

Follow them on Twitter.

Many Thanks again to Ruth for sending me these lovely items, I am very grateful.

Thanks for reading

Sophie Jo x

250 YouTube Subscribers - Thank You - Sorry and I am back

Hi guys,
I have made a video on my YouTube to apologise for my absence recently. I have now reached 250 subscribers on my channel and I am doing a giveaway if you want to check it out here is the link to my channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP-MlWXnxz8cv415k8pSMyQ

If you are not interested in that side of things then I would just like to apologise again for not having many posts in the last couple of months. I found out a few months ago that I am expecting my second child and have been feeling quite unwell and have been busy with life and appointments as you do. Thank you to everyone who has so far congratulated me, I can not wait :)....this is an exciting time in my life and as you can imagine I have so much stuff to do before baby arrives.

I will be posting things on here which are baby related now too - so hopefully some of you will take an interest in that :).


Please know that I am now back and I have about 3 or 4 reviews to write which will be up in the coming days/weeks. I hope you enjoy them all.


Thank you

Sophie Jo x