Been busy this little while entertaining one of my best friends from my Scuba Diving days; reminiscing about school, diving, and all the other things in between. I love it when friends and family come for visits, lots of catching up and relaxing usually.
Things these days are a bit different, mainly having a baby around now will definitely change the way you entertain your guests. My friend doesn’t have kids of her own but I’m happy that she’s very understanding with my daughter’s needs and me needing to attend to them. I still had to make things clear with her that my daughter was my priority and she has a routine that she likes to stick to otherwise its like all hell can and usually will break loose.
Trips to the malls and basically had to have a time limit, I always just watch for my daughter’s signs to let me know when enough is enough, and I’m sure like most children they will let you know. Thankfully my friend respected the fact that we would have to cut the shopping short or if my girl needed to be fed or changed. She fell asleep and kept getting disturbed/woken up with the loud music from some stores so I just hung out outside the store while my friend browsed. Only because a happy and sleepy baby while out makes it for a better experience overall.
My daughter tends to be happier at home with the familiar surroundings and although I do like to get her out for a change of scenery I feel its best to keep her where she’s happy more often and not cramped in her stroller or car seat, at least for too long. My daughter is going on five (5) months and outings to the stores have gotten easier and easier with time and I’ve been getting better at paying attention to her signals.
Overall, the visit was great and being at home mostly was more enjoyable for us all. We all got to play with the baby, she was able to nap in her own bed and just to be around the place that is most familiar kept her happy. I was also able to keep her daily routine because I just went on with my “every day life”, so to speak, and continued to listen to my baby’s signals. Also, I found that staying at home for most days my friend and I were able to catch up more and do more in a sense like cook, watch Television and movies and so on. I felt like the trip was more bonding time for us all.
What works best when you have visitors and guests? Does your routine change and do you stick with it? Or just go with the flow of what’s planned out for your guests visit?
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shopping. Show all posts
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Shopping Around
I am not one who is fond of shopping around, but if I am somewhere that sells baby stuff I will check out the prices. It has come to pay off.
Price comparing in the beginning seemed pointless at the time and only because I did look around at a couple of places and saw only a few pennies to no more than a dollar difference. I started thinking, is it really worth driving all that way to save a dollar, or a penny at that! At first I thought of course its worth it a dollar here and there adds up… but when the price of gas is almost a dollar a litre I would spend more money just driving there to really in the long run save nothing. Not really worth it in my opinion.
One day I happened to be at one of the stores and took notice of the price of formula… about a $5 difference, and than diapers again about a $5 difference! What happened I don’t know but I wasn’t going to argue. So this driving out of the way business would now pay off a little more.
I still check prices if I happen to be at another store because you never know the item could be a sale that week. I take what I can get when its on sale because a little here and there will add up. I still won’t go driving half way across the city to price compare but only if I happen to be there already. Also, I found to regularly double check the prices else where you normally shop because slight adjustments in the prices we tend not to take much notice to.
Than again sometimes shopping at the places with the higher mark up can be worth it too. Some stores have a collectors points card so for every dollar you spend you get X number of points for. Some of these places will let you redeem your points for money off of your purchases by reaching so many points or for gift cards. These kinds of membership cards, I feel, are another great way to save money, but beware some point card you need to spend a lot to get a little. One place I did happen to shop at a lot and have racked up a lot of points figured might as well redeem the points and get some free baby stuff. I didn’t loose anything because I needed whatever it was at the time and the membership is free.
Just a few things to look out for and keep an eye on. How thrifty are you? what are some things that you do to save a little? Would love to hear what you do!
Price comparing in the beginning seemed pointless at the time and only because I did look around at a couple of places and saw only a few pennies to no more than a dollar difference. I started thinking, is it really worth driving all that way to save a dollar, or a penny at that! At first I thought of course its worth it a dollar here and there adds up… but when the price of gas is almost a dollar a litre I would spend more money just driving there to really in the long run save nothing. Not really worth it in my opinion.
One day I happened to be at one of the stores and took notice of the price of formula… about a $5 difference, and than diapers again about a $5 difference! What happened I don’t know but I wasn’t going to argue. So this driving out of the way business would now pay off a little more.
I still check prices if I happen to be at another store because you never know the item could be a sale that week. I take what I can get when its on sale because a little here and there will add up. I still won’t go driving half way across the city to price compare but only if I happen to be there already. Also, I found to regularly double check the prices else where you normally shop because slight adjustments in the prices we tend not to take much notice to.
Than again sometimes shopping at the places with the higher mark up can be worth it too. Some stores have a collectors points card so for every dollar you spend you get X number of points for. Some of these places will let you redeem your points for money off of your purchases by reaching so many points or for gift cards. These kinds of membership cards, I feel, are another great way to save money, but beware some point card you need to spend a lot to get a little. One place I did happen to shop at a lot and have racked up a lot of points figured might as well redeem the points and get some free baby stuff. I didn’t loose anything because I needed whatever it was at the time and the membership is free.
Just a few things to look out for and keep an eye on. How thrifty are you? what are some things that you do to save a little? Would love to hear what you do!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Budget & Shop Around
I did start to gather things for the baby in the middle of my second trimester. At least started shopping around and I guess it doesn’t matter when you go out to buy these items, in terms of what trimester is best, because you should always have someone there to help you – while your shopping, packing the car, unloading when you get home ETC. I also found a lot of great deals online – if you do your research and are patient enough to look around you will find some great deals and even get some opinions to help make a better decision.
I’m happy I started looking around as early as I did; I knew babies needed a lot of things but I really didn’t know or realize it was that much. Some people will say you need this and that, but most of the time you don’t. Just one thing that I kept in mind is that the baby doesn’t need the fancy stuff (best mind set especially if your on a budget).
Another great way to watch your budget is put the things you want and need in your baby registry! Get things as gifts and what you don’t get shop around for the best deals. Toys – this seems to be a word that gets some parents all worked up. Babies don’t need a lot of anything to keep them occupied, in the beginning stages they would rather stare at a light than play with the most expensive toy, gadget or gizmo out there, so keep it simple. Things that will help with hand-eye coordination, or tummy time, but these things aren’t needed until they know the toy is there; these are all great items for your baby registry.
Clothes – don’t buy, well if you do buy sparingly. You will get gifts; your friend found the cutest outfit or must have suit. Another thing that came my way were hand-me downs! Wow! did I get a lot of them, at least a dozen garbage bags full of clothes! I was able to pick and choose what I wanted and didn’t want, what I didn’t I donated. I now have more than enough clothes to dress my child until she is probably five (5) or so!
Putting yourself on a budget is a great way to keep things inexpensive and than you don’t go over-buying and than never using more than half of what you bought. They say on average couples will spend anywhere from $10 – 20,000 in the first year of their child’s life; its easy to fall into that statistic. I was very careful not to, there are more important things in life than just things. I’m not saying don’t spend the money, my baby is worth every penny I spend on her and she’s worth more but my love for her is more valuable to her than things. I would rather save that money we didn’t spend for a rainy day for her or even for her future – college isn’t cheap you know.
I’m happy I started looking around as early as I did; I knew babies needed a lot of things but I really didn’t know or realize it was that much. Some people will say you need this and that, but most of the time you don’t. Just one thing that I kept in mind is that the baby doesn’t need the fancy stuff (best mind set especially if your on a budget).
Another great way to watch your budget is put the things you want and need in your baby registry! Get things as gifts and what you don’t get shop around for the best deals. Toys – this seems to be a word that gets some parents all worked up. Babies don’t need a lot of anything to keep them occupied, in the beginning stages they would rather stare at a light than play with the most expensive toy, gadget or gizmo out there, so keep it simple. Things that will help with hand-eye coordination, or tummy time, but these things aren’t needed until they know the toy is there; these are all great items for your baby registry.
Clothes – don’t buy, well if you do buy sparingly. You will get gifts; your friend found the cutest outfit or must have suit. Another thing that came my way were hand-me downs! Wow! did I get a lot of them, at least a dozen garbage bags full of clothes! I was able to pick and choose what I wanted and didn’t want, what I didn’t I donated. I now have more than enough clothes to dress my child until she is probably five (5) or so!
Putting yourself on a budget is a great way to keep things inexpensive and than you don’t go over-buying and than never using more than half of what you bought. They say on average couples will spend anywhere from $10 – 20,000 in the first year of their child’s life; its easy to fall into that statistic. I was very careful not to, there are more important things in life than just things. I’m not saying don’t spend the money, my baby is worth every penny I spend on her and she’s worth more but my love for her is more valuable to her than things. I would rather save that money we didn’t spend for a rainy day for her or even for her future – college isn’t cheap you know.
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