Diaper Deals

Jake has been getting closer and closer to walking! He's up to 4-5 steps at once. Only a matter of time now... we are both excited and scared!!

Amazon.com has coupons for certain Pampers Diapers. When you sign up for subscribe and save (which you can unsubscribe before your next shipment) you save 30% (limited time only) and you can stack it with a 20% off coupon from Parents August and September issues (orange coupon in the magazine - postcard size). I just got 108 night time diapers for only $16!

August is World Breastfeeding Month and BabiesRUs is offering great deals on Breastfeeding items. I'm not breastfeeding anymore, but here were a few of my favorite items when I did!!

1. Medela Milk Freezing Storage Set - who wants to wash containers to pump into continuously? With these you have 12 containers to go through... and you can attach a nipple directly to them if you want. $14.99 usually - only $11.99.
2. Sensible Lines Milk Trays - freeze an ounce of milk in each little ice-cube-like tray, then put in a freezer bag and only use defrost as much as you need, when you need it! The guessing game of how much to put in the freezer bags was always frustrating for me (although I did both). $22 on Amazon, $18.39 at BabiesRUs now.
3. Nursing covers - nice if you are breastfeeding in public a lot, although a blanket would work too. $15.99 and really cute designs.

And I would always suggest to have an extra set of pump parts (valves and breast Shields) so you don't have to wash between each pumping! Try to borrow a pump, but if you can't I'd suggest looking in consignment shops for lightly used pumps or keep an eye out for good deals!

Using Social Media to Find Bargains

As you may have noticed, Thrifty Lane is now available on twitter too. I have added a live stream of my tweets on my blog too. Believe it or not, there is a reason for this :)

I don't consider myself to be an expert at finding deals but I do want to share the great bargains that I find. Unfortunately, having a full time job, 1-year-old, and a house that constantly needs cleaning, I don't have the time to constantly update my blog. But twitter allows me to re-tweet some of the great deals I find - and you can either follow me to hear about them - or check my blog for the most recent deals.

I have to admit, when I first started dealing with twitter - I was not a big fan. You really only heard of people following their favorite celebrities and hearing about their daily life... not for me. But for my job, I still had to use it. Now I've come to see all the potential twitter has to offer. I think of it as a bargains newswire. I follow bloggers who constantly post deals and freebies on their blogs/twitter pages - and that gives me an instant list of the best deals to weed through. The best part is that my phone has an app that allows me to look through my twitter stream. It is much easier for me to browse twitter briefly throughout the day - while I'm waiting for my computer to turn on, while I'm cooking dinner, etc.

Facebook is quite similar, but I find the brevity of twitter much easier to weed through for bargains. And most of the major retail outlets have facebook and twitter pages too.

Here are a list of some of my favorite twitter bargain-hunters:
@freebies4mom
@babycheapskate
@TheBudgetMommy
@BeFrugal
@couponshack
@freebieblogger
@dealwisemommy

And don't forget to follow @ThriftyLane

Here are a few regional, but they find a lot of online so anyone can follow them!
@tbotweetdeals (Tampa)
@MyDFWMommy (Dallas)

And if you are big on travel deals ect. try these guys!
@WeJustGotBack

Also, as I mentioned, almost all retailers are on twitter. Every morning, I look through my tweets to see what @woot and @wootkids are offering. But you can follow @huggies, @pampersvillage and many more!!

Go ahead and give twitter a try :)

Photo Freebie

Shutterfly is offering 3 free 5x7 folded cards. Simply add the code SUMMERCARDS to your account (do this by logging in, then go to the bottom of the page and click on "Enter Special Offer Code"). This Freebie expires Sept. 1 - so you have some time to design your cards!! Thanks to Freebies4Mom for the heads up.

Travel Tuesday: Passports and Car Seats

Last week, I booked my trip to Germany! The whole family is going - including Jake. The more I think about it, the more apprehensive I get... we are bringing a 15 month old on an 8 hr flight! How are we going to lug his car seat, stroller diaper bag - and him - through the airport along with all of our carry on stuff! Oh boy, this should be interesting...

In lieu of my newest dilemma, I decided to dedicate today's blog to Travel Tuesday - traveling with a toddler.

Any age child needs a passport to travel internationally. Thankfully, the cost of passport fee is smaller for a child ;) The fun part though - is getting the passport picture taken! If Jake was a little guy, it certainly would've been easier. But since he is into EVERYTHING, he refused to sit still, look at the camera or anything else we asked him to do. Here are a few tips, we learned from our two times trying to get his pictures taken:

1. Bring more than one adult. One person can hold him while other one tries to get his attention toward the camera.
2. Bring a toy he loves or something that usually grabs his attention. Hold it behind the camera to get him to look that way.
3. Know the passport picture requirements. It seems that Walgreens didn't know the accurate picture requirements (looking at camera, no shadow, certain size, etc) because we had to re-take them at the passport center.

And I did some research to figure out how to transport all the baby gear - stroller, car seat, diaper bag, etc. I knew about the Travelmate, but didn't want to pay that much (approx $80). I stumbled across these car seat straps. For $14.99, they claim to strap your car seat to your carry on luggage - and the baby can sit in it! The reviews are pretty high (mostly 5 stars), and the low ones sound like people who were traveling along (thank God I'm not...). I'll let you all know how it works once I try it, but my hopes are high!

Christmas In July, Free Photobook + Books & Toys on clearance!

Happy Thursday everyone!!

Babies R Us is having a Christmas in July Sale!! On Friday they are doing an early black Friday sale and on Monday an early Cyber Monday sale. Sneak peek here - http://tinyurl.com/2v3nwwn.

Melissa & Doug toys are up to 50% off at Amazon. I LOVE these toys - and usually they are just so expensive. Great time to stock up - and look for the ones that offer Free Super Saver shipping on $25 or more - to save even more!!

Do you have a CVS card? If yes, on Sunday you can get a free photobook. Buy one for $7.99 and get 7.99 back in extra care bucks!!

Summer Warehouse clearance at Barnes & Noble - up to 90% off!!

Free Nexxus sample from Walmart available too!

I love the library!

Well now that Jake's birthday party is over, I have a little more time to fun things like scrapbook and blog :) His party went really well. He's super social and loved having everyone over - I, of course, went overboard! But hey, your first born only turns one once!

My newest thrifty advice is the local library. I'm just now learning how it works here in Volusia County (and suggest everyone find out how there's works). It's awesome. I had a list of cookbooks I was thinking about buying - but wanted to check them out first. The public library has most of them. I simply had to type in the title into the library search engine (from home) and it told me which branch in the county had it. And better yet, I can reserve the book - to the library closest to me, with a click of the computer! To top it off, I was able to create a saved list of all the books that interest me - so that I can just reserve them whenever I am ready for them.

They had a huge selection - everything I was looking for - from scrapbooking to photography and of course TONS of cookbooks. Too cool. I wish I would've realized this months ago!!

I also like to rent audio books when I have a road trip - I feel like I've accomplished something when I can say I "read" a book during my drive. And since I drive to Amelia Island at least once a month for work - that's a lot of books!!

Free Disney Character Calls

This is more something for older kids - but you can schedule a Disney Character to call your child! Barilla is sponsoring this program, that expires Sept 20 (but you can schedule as many calls as you want before then) but is not available in ID, WA, GA, KY, MS, NE, TN, or LA.

You can schedule Mickie, Minnie, Donald or Goofy to call your child. Visit Freebies4Mom to see a step by step on how to schedule it! Pretty cool!

And a happy father's day to all the Daddies out there!! We're going hiking at Blue Springs today! :)