As a first time mother, I was shocked to find that baby items have a less than baby price. It seems you'll pay top dollar for all things baby. Here are some tips to help you make the most of your dollar, and still keep your little one happy, clean, dry and fed!

Enjoy the spam!

When I first became pregnant, I found out that somehow I was on every mailing list in existance. For life insurance, magazines, formula, you name it! At first I was peeved, but then I began to realize the value in this. These companies desperately want your baby business, especially if you're a new mother. They figure most new mothers will go on to have more children, and they'd like to start getting your business right away.

The best way to take advantage of this is to sign up for all the mailing lists and newsletters you can. Sounds like an invitation to spam, doesn't it? Well, it is in a way, but it's worth it. I recommend setting up a new email just for all these newsletters and such. See, most companies will now send you coupons in these email and newsletter lists for you to print out. They're often coupons that are quite a bit better than the few you might find in your Sunday paper. A lot of these companies will also send out snail mail discounts or samples, such as $10 off your next purchase of $20 or more at The Children's Place, dozens of Toys'R'Us coupons for everything from strollers to baby food, Huggies diaper and body wash samples or a free Beech-Nut Baby bowl. Below is a list of companies to check out that I know offer coupons and other incentives. Many of these companies send both email coupons/offers and also send them by snail mail.

• Beech-Nut (baby food)
• Toys'R'Us (general retailer)
• Target (general retailer)
  
• Gerber (baby food, bath and body, etc)
• Johnson & Johnson (baby medicine, bath and body)
• The Children's Place (clothing from infants on up)
• Pampers (diapers)
• Huggies (diapers)
• Luvs (diapers)
• Nestle (formula)
• Similac (formula)
• Enfamil (formula)

The never-ending power of coupons.

Never underestimate how much money you can save with coupons. I have a small, expandable coupon folder specifically for baby items, and only baby coupons go into the folder. Want Huggies Supreme diapers instead of store brand? Then you'll need lots of Huggies coupons. Want to pay less for that lovely Grins and Giggles lavendar body wash? Coupons to the rescue! You'll already have quite a few coupons if you've signed up for the various baby newsletters that abound, but if you need more, eBay is a great place to look. Baby coupons and samples are abundant on eBay, and if you look carefully, you'll be sure to find some good deals. Here are a few "rules" to follow when buying coupons on eBay:

• If buying coupons in large, mixed lots, make sure you will use at least half of the coupons. Be sure to balance the price against the cost of the auction. When buying in large lots, I look for total coupon savings of more than $30 for under a $5 ending bid price.
  
• If buying coupons in multiples of 5, 10 or more, make sure you will be able to use at least half of the coupons. Baby coupons in multiples are slightly harder to come by, because they're not as common in your typical Sunday newspaper inserts. However, make sure to check eBay stores for coupon sellers who will usually have at least multiples of a few baby coupons.
  
• Make sure the coupons expire no earlier than 3 weeks after you expect to send payment.
• Always check shipping, I will rarely pay more than 99¢ shipping for coupons.
• If samples are included, make sure you don't pay more than the samples are worth, and make sure they are samples you will use. Also make sure all perishable samples, including formula and baby food, have a clearly marked expiration date that is listed in the auction.
• Always make sure you are receiving real coupons, not coupons that have been printed out by the eBay seller. Most coupons that you print out are only meant to be printed once, and therefore may not scan when you arrive at the store. In addition, you can probably find these coupons online yourself.
  
• Do not get fooled by coupon "codes" for purchasing items online from popular retailers. They may or may not work, and there are multiple resources online that will allow you to find coupon codes yourself.
  

Use your coupons wisely!

Now that you have your precious coupons, be sure to use them to the best of your advantage. There are several things you can do to make sure your coupons stretch, and the best is to take advantage of local stores double and triple coupon policies. The local grocery stores in town here always offer double coupons up to 99¢. This means that if I have a 75¢ coupon, they will double it to $1.50. These types of coupons often work out great for smaller ticket items, like baby food, cereal, juice, bath and body products and wipes. Recently, Pampers Wipes were on sale at Giant Eagle 2 for $5, with a 75¢ off coupon double to $1.50, I stocked up on wipes for $1 each.

Occassionally, the stores here will offer a limited amount of triple coupon offers, also up to 99¢. A recent excursion to Martin's (a local grocery store) with 6 triple coupon offers netted me Johnson & Johnson washcloths for 19¢, 8 jars of baby juice for under $2, free A&D diaper rash cream, free single grain baby cereal and 6 jars of first stage baby food for less than $1. They offer these coupon specials about once a month in the Sunday paper or snail mail.

One other benefit to coupons is that often, if you have coupons for a store like Target or Toys'R'Us, you can use manufacturer's coupons in ADDITION to the store coupons. I recently got several packages of Huggies Supreme Diapers for $4 with a $3 off coupon from Target and a $2 off manufacturer's coupons.

eBay and excess.

eBay is a great place to get rid of your excess baby items. Get too many clothes from your baby shower(s)? (I know I did!) Have baby formula you won't be using because you're breastfeeding? Want to get rid of your maternity clothes? Have extra baby toys, blankets, coupons or samples? eBay is the place to sell them! Nowhere else has a market like eBay for these types of items, especially name-brand children's clothes. Want to sell on eBay? Follow these steps to help make the process easier.

• Do a little research on eBay by finding out what items similar to yours are selling. Make sure you will find it acceptable to sell at the current price, or lower.
• A picture really is worth a thousand words. Investing in a good digital camera is something great for both eBay and your little one's baby pictures. Your item will sell for more with a picture, and even more if the picture is good quality.
• Be realistic with your opening bid. No, you don't have to start your brand-new baby clothes at 99¢, but asking full retail for a starting bid is also unrealistic.
• Learn the acronyms if you're selling clothes. Words like EUC (Excellent Used Condition), NWT (New With Tags), NWOT (New Without Tags) and others prevail in the world of clothing buyers and sellers.
• A little HTML goes a long way. Learn some of the basic HTML tags or use a listing designer to make your listing stand out from the others, and be clean, crisp and appealing.
• For most items, I find gallery expensive and not worth the 35¢. However, when selling clothing, I would recommend using gallery. There are lots of used lots of clothing out there, and you want your excellent pictures to help you stand out from the crowd.

Above all, enjoy this time while they are little. Sure, they're expensive, but they're worth it!