Britax Customer experience

First of all, I am sorry for being away for so long. I have been sick for like a month and that on top of the holidays has kept me away from my computer.

Second, I made a few calls to Britax regarding our car seat and wanted to share what happened with you.


So, we have the Britax Boulvard car seat. It came highly recommended and this was one place I was willing to splurge (plus we put it on our registry). The seat has always been pretty hard to tighten, but once we moved it forward facing, it has been really hard for me to tighten my son in as much as he should be. If my husband is not available to strap him in for me, I will buckle him in, then go in the front seat of the car to get some good leverage to pull him in as tight as I can, but I feel like he could still be tighter. My husband (a strong farm boy) says that it isn't exactly easy for him either.

A couple of weeks ago, I called Britax on my lunch break (but did not have the seat in front of me) and the lady told me some things to look for. I did and called them back this morning. Nothing on their list seemed to be broken, so after giving her the serial number and batch number, she got my address and then asked which fabric I would like my replacement seat in. They do not make the seat we have anymore, so they are sending me the newer model..... how AWESOME is that?

Go Britax!

What to Pay - Small toys

After talking with a few other parents, I think I may be the minority when it comes to toys and feeling like we have too many, which is why I asked friends and family to donate to a family trying to adopt an orphan from Eastern Europe instead of toys this year. After having Christmas with my family recently, I realized that they really enjoy buying my son toys, so asking them not to, is kind of an insult, but he has so much!

Anyways, back to the toys. My adivce (if you want to take it after reading the above), don't buy them unless you love them. I got a garbage bag of free toys from a relative that I didn't have to pay a penny for. Not to mention, mom2mom and garage sales are almost giving toys away by the end of the day.

Some of my favorite purchases:

 $1.50

$ .25

As I am sitting here trying to think of other toys I have personally purchased for him, I can't think of anymore...

His personal favorites right now are:

• An old kleenex box that he puts things in and take them out of
• An old paper towel roll that he makes noises in and hits things with
• Laundry baskets. He likes putting things in and taking them out and pushing them around the house. Infact his first steps were from one laundry basket to another.
• A child size broom that was mine when I was a kid.
• Beany Babies that I planned to save, sell and make millions on (but so did everyone else, so that plan failed).
• Packaging of any kind.
• Any book.

What are your kids favorite toys? Do you feel like they have too much, just enough or not enough?

What to Pay - Bibs

This was an area I thought we were set and overloaded on... and I was wrong.

Since every outfit we got seemed to come with a bib, I thought we were set for life on baby bibs, well it turns out they must only be for spit-up. They are way to small to use now and were not great at catching food or stopping liquids from sinking though. As I said before, I loved the hard plastic bibs for the boy I nannied for and am looking forward to using them for my son in a couple of months when he is a bit bigger. For now however, we love these.

Bibs are another item that I would not worry about getting however, these are another gift favorite and are super easy to find at garage and mom2mom sales. Many times you get get them for $.10.

What to Pay - Dishes

We got most of our dishes at Ikea and absolutely love them. I nannied in Europe in college and the kids there had ikea dishes, so when I saw them for only $1.99 per pack (Silverware, cups, plates and bowls). I had to make the purchase! The downside is that they are only sold in stores and not online.

We also got this set because I loved the hard plastic bibs for the kids I nannied for. It did an awesome job of catching the food he would spill. They do not however work well for our son yet because he too small for it to fit between him and the top of his high chair. I think it will work much better once we move him to the booster. The suction cup bowls doesn't work well enough for our strong little guy, he just pulls it off the high chair and throws it on the floor anyways.

We also use some spoons and disposible plastic cups from the dollar store and take and toss bowls. Since we made most of our baby food (post to come). They were used quite a bit to transport food to daycare.

This is not an item that I would worry too much about getting a good deal on because they are so cheap to begin with.

Bottles

How much you should spend on bottles depends on how concerned you are about using used ones or ones that are plastic. Bottles made my list of things that some people will not use used.

If you are concerned about storing and feeding in plastic, than you many want to save some extra money to invest in glass.

If you are not however, this is usually a pretty easy item to find used for next to nothing.

We purchased and used quite a few gerber bottles. They are plastic, but BPA free and super cheap for those days we forgot to pack nipples and need to stop at meijer on the way to daycare.

Giveaway - Olde Apple Tree Soap

A mama of 4 lovely girls and maker of all natural Olde Apple Tree soaps has just sent me some samples to giveaway! Lets support her new facebook page!

Lets cut to the chase, here are the many ways you can enter!

1. "Follow" Budget4Baby on blogger* and leave a comment on this post saying you did.
2. "Like" Olde Apple Tree Soaps on Facebook* and leave a comment on this post saying you did.
3. "Like" Budget4Baby on Facebook* and leave a comment on this post saying you did.
4. Write a meaningful comment on any blog post on the Budget4Baby blog and leave a comment on this post saying you did and the title of the post you commented on. (So, yes you could pretty much have unlimited entries)
• "Nice Post", "I disagree" = unmeaningful comments and will not count.
• "We actually used our Bumbo seat all the time. It was great to set on the bathroom counter while we got ready in the morning, a real lifesaver" = Meaningful comment.
5. Refer a friend to this giveaway. If your friend wins and tells me you sent them, I will send you a bar as well!

Now for the "fine print"

• ONLY comments on this blog post will be counted when the random number is selected. It is too hard to count facebook comments as well.
• Anyone, living anywhere, may enter this giveaway, however if you are outside of the continental US, you will be responsible for all shipping costs or other fees associated with sending the soap via paypal.
• *Indicates a mandatory entry. If you are choosen as the winner, but have not completed all mandatry entries, another number will be selected.
• The giveaway will end when Olde Apple Tree Soaps reaches 50 "likes" or on January 1st. (whichever takes longer).

What to Pay - Baby bath

My advice, DO NOT BUY ONE OF THESE NEW! They are EVERYWHERE used. Mom2Mom sales, garage sales, freecycle.... and they are easy to find a for just a few dollars.

This is also a good item to wait and see on. We barely used ours and gave it away to a friend. Instead we really liked the bath sponge that we could lay him on and just put him in the real bath tub. It did probably use more water, but we found it much easier to use.

I ended up getting my tub for free from someone in a local parenting group.

Did you use your baby bath? Does your bath have extras that you would consider must haves?