Score Free Baby Stuff With These 3 Tips
One of the first things you learn when you're expecting and you start trying to stock up for your new arrival is that baby items are expensive! From day-to-day items like diapers and bottles to big-ticket items like cribs and strollers, everything costs more than you would have imagined. If you're like most parents, you need to find ways to keep your costs down. The good news is, there are lots of ways that you can get your hands on baby items for free. That's right, for free. Check out a few tricks for finding free baby stuff so that you can hold on to more of your cash.
Have a Baby Shower
Of course, a baby shower is the most obvious way to get free baby items in the form of gifts from your friends and family members. But what you may not know is that just by registering for baby gifts for your friends to buy for your shower, you may be entitled to a free gift from the store that you're registering with.
Many stores and online retailers that offer baby shower registries also offer free gifts when you sign up to use their registry service, so pay attention and shop around for the best offers. You may even find it useful to sign up for more than one registry. Your friends will have plenty of gift options to choose from, and you'll get a few additional free items just for registering.
Sign Up for Magazine Subscriptions
There are tons of baby and parenting magazines out there, and you'll almost certainly be able to pick up subscriptions to at least a few of them for free. You should be able to find subscription cards in your doctor's office, but if not, you can always sign up online.
As helpful as the articles in those free magazine subscriptions are, what's more helpful is what comes with the magazines -- you can often find coupons, free sample offers, and contest giveaways in many baby magazine issues.
Join Rewards Clubs
There are rewards clubs all over the place that parents can make use of. Chances are that at least one of your local grocery stores has a baby club. Usually, you earn points as you shop, and when you reach a certain amount, you get credit for free baby items.
You can also bypass the retailers and go straight for the manufacturers. Manufacturers of diapers and formula also frequently offer club memberships that entitle you to free samples, coupons, and product offers on a regular basis.
Once you start collecting free baby stuff, you may actually discover that you have too much of it, especially as your baby grows out of the baby stages. When you no longer need the free samples and coupons so much, pass them on to friends who are expecting or to a local charity or church.