Ever wondered where to buy cheap baby stuff without sacrificing quality or convenience? My wife and I welcomed our first baby into the world just a few months ago. While we’re still adjusting to life as parents, there is one thing that hasn’t changed: we’re always looking for the best deal.
However, our idea of the best deal has changed from being the absolute best price to a mix of price and convenience.
As new parents, we’ve quickly learned that we no longer have as much free time as we once did. Simply taking a trip to the store now takes much longer because we have to get the baby ready and strapped in a car seat before we can leave. Based on our research and experience, we’ve found you can get the best deals on many baby items when you shop online. This is especially true once you factor in the cost of your time.
1. Strollers
While my wife was pregnant, she investigated all of the baby items that we’d need. One of the biggest purchases she wanted to make was a nice stroller. She'd been looking in brick-and-mortar stores to see what she liked, and she’d narrowed her list down to just a couple. She then started shopping for the best price.
You’d think a large item like a stroller would be more expensive to buy online, but we found the best price on the stroller she wanted by going to Amazon.
You may want to try strollers out in the store, but the best prices are often found online.
2. Diapers
If you decide to use disposable diapers, you’ll be going through boxes upon boxes of them. We’ve found that diaper pricing can vary from week to week in brick-and-mortar stores. Wholesale clubs like Sam’s or Costco will have the best deals some weeks. But on other weeks, stores like Target will have gift card rebates that make their diapers even cheaper. The one thing we did notice was that diapers usually have pretty similar prices from store to store. Trying to find the best deal can take up a significant amount of time.
We later compared prices to Amazon, since we recently purchased an Amazon Prime membership, and Amazon’s prices for diapers are pretty competitive. Plus, with Amazon Prime, they show up to your house in two days or less. I’d happily pay a dollar or two more per box for the simplicity of pressing a button and having the diapers show up on my doorstep.
3. Baby Furniture
Buying furniture at furniture stores is always a major hassle. The salesmen usually want to add special protection and charge you for delivery. Luckily, you can get a lot of the same items online for cheaper, and with free shipping. We found an awesome bookcase for our son’s room for less than $100, and it came with free shipping. You can’t beat that!
4. Pumping Supplies
If you’ve decided to breastfeed but plan to return to work, you’ll need to pump milk for times when you can’t feed your baby. We’ve found that parts for pumps generally seem to be cheaper online than in brick-and-mortar stores. The funny thing is that we usually end up buying parts and supplies from Target to get great prices, but when you go into their physical stores, the supplies cost more than on their website. Target stores will price-match their website, but it’s easier to simply order online and get it shipped to our home.
5. Baby Monitors
Baby monitors can be relatively inexpensive, or they can cost a few hundred dollars, depending on what you want.
Most physical stores charge full retail price. But when you shop online, you can often save a few bucks on sites like Amazon.
While buying online is usually cheaper than buying in a brick-and-mortar store, you may occasionally pay a little more. But the time you’ll save by simply placing a quick order online often more than makes up for the slight price difference in most cases. As always, it makes sense to double-check when you’re in the store to make sure that you’re getting the best deal for you.
