Use This: Ebates and Amazon to 3% On Clothing and Baby Items

I just checked Ebates and noticed that they're currently offering 3% cash back on clothing and baby items from Amazon.com.  Personally, I'm not buying clothes on Amazon, but I buy a ton of baby stuff from there.  If you're in the market for baby items (or clothes) set up an account at Ebates and start using the cash back portal to earn 3% cash back on your purchases.  Combine this Ebates 3% cash back with 2-3% from credit card rewards and you're saving a good percentage on your purchases.  

I wish I knew about this before some recent purchases.  Note exclusions are Diapers, Wipes, Bathing, Skin Care, Monitors, Toys, Formula and Food.  I'm not sure how long this 3% will last, but I do know Ebates is the only cash back portal with Amazon deals.  If you need instructions on how to use cash back portals, check out my primer on Cash Back Portals for Online Spending.

Buy This: Inglesina Baby Table Chair

Now that the Our Tips and Tricks family returned from our first vacation with an infant, we have a few hot tips to share.  First up is to buy the Inglesina Fast Table Chair.  Even before our trip, this was one of the most useful baby gifts we received.  However, this trip secured a spot for the Inglesina in the Our Tips and Tricks Baby Gifts Hall of Fame.  At $47, it's a steal.

The Inglesina was already a permanent fixture on our dining table.

Simply, you can securely fasten the chair to most square-edge tables to feed and entertain a baby.  We successfully installed the seat on every restaurant table we visited.  When you're done eating, the Inglesina can be easily dismounted, folded, and packed under a stroller.  Even before the trip, we've been using it at home much more frequently than the big high chair.  Packing it for traveling is easy because it folds flat.

Other points that make the Inglesina either great for personal use or as a gift:

• The cover is washable.  The instructions say to hand wash it, but I've been tossing it in the washing machine with no ill effects.  
• It's offered by Amazon in ten different colors. 
• Leaves no marks or indentations on tables.  

Finally, it's worth mentioning that I've had zero safety concerns using this chair.  However, make sure the seat is tightly fastened and don't leave your kid unattended, as always.

Use This: Homemade Household Cleaner

Normally, I'm not one to shy away from using household chemicals.  However, the addition of Baby Ourtipsandtricks has me reconsidering some of my choices.  

For the past few months we've been using a homemade, chemical-free cleaner for the nursery and other baby-frequented areas.  While I can't verify cleanliness at the microscopic level, the homemade cleaner seemingly does a good job and offers some peace of mind.  It doesn't hurt that it's very inexpensive to make.  

I haven't done any scientific testing on this recipe so I recommend doing a little more research to make an educated decision before using it.  Keep in mind the active ingredient in the recipe, white vinegar, is acidic and may harm some surfaces like those that are painted.  

Homemade Cleaner Recipe

It couldn't be easier.

Ingredients

• Spray bottle
• Tap water
• White vinegar
• Essential oil (I prefer lemongrass, but other options are available)

Instructions

1. Add 2 cups of tap water to your spray botttle
2. Add 1 cup of white vinegar
3. Add 3 drops of your essential oil to mask the vinegar smell
4. Shake

Your homemade cleaner is now ready to use.  You can add more drops of the essential oil if the smell isn't strong enough, but keep in mind a little goes a long way with that stuff. 

Find This: Cheapest Diapers (Update)

In one of my earliest tips, I wrote about my quest for the cheapest Pampers diapers. I'm now ready to declare success and close the book on this topic.  The short answer is: 1) BJ's with coupons or 2) Amazon if you don't have BJ's coupons (or BJ's membership altogether).

A couple few notes before I begin:

• It looks like diapers get more expensive per diaper as the size increases.  The price of a box seems to stay the same, but the number of diapers included decreases.  This means I can't compare the price per diaper across different sizes or maintain a static target diaper price as Baby continues to grow.  Who knew.
• This tip is based on normal, day-to-day pricing.  I'm sure there are occasions when the stars align to create better deals.  Unfortunately, parents don't have the luxury of time when the diaper supply runs low.
• It also turns out diapers aren't taxed in VA, so that's not a variable (for me) when comparing online to in-store purchases.  Diapers are indeed taxed in VA (6% I believe). I just got lucky last weekend and unknowingly stumbled upon a Viriginia sales tax holiday.  

Baby is about 80% through our box of Size 1s and has almost outgrown them, so I just purchased a box of 186 size 2 Pampers Swaddlers at BJs.  Regularly priced $42.99, I used a $5 off coupon from the monthly BJ's circular coupled with a $1.50 off coupon from coupons.com to attain a final price of $36.49 or 19.6 cents per diaper.  With sales tax, I think this would have cost 38.68 or 20.8 cents per diaper.  

Since the sales tax holiday is over, I'll use the 20.8 cents per diaper figure to compare BJ's to other popular options:

• Amazon: $46.99 for a box of 204 diapers.  With free shipping and no tax, this option costs 23 cents per diaper.*  If you use the Amazon Visa to get 3% back from Amazon (vs. 2% on the credit card I used at BJ's), you'll stretch the savings by an extra 1%.  At 23 cents per diaper, that makes Amazon a close second behind BJ's with coupons and a less expensive option than BJ's without coupons, which will cost you 24.5 cents per diaper after tax.  Update: As of the evening of August 7, Amazon has an easily usable $1.50 off coupon, which takes the price down to $45.49 or 22.3 cents per diaper.
• Diapers.com: $44.99 for a box of 160 diapers.  After taking off an additional $1.50 using a check-the-box eCoupon, that's still 27 cents a diaper.  This site may only have a respectable deal if you're using a new customer coupon.  But they have a great website name...
• CVS: I'm not going to even waste my time.  

That's it!  No more writing about diapers unless someone tells me how I can do better than BJ's with coupons or Amazon. 

*Again, I recommend not trying Subscribe and Save because if you forget to cancel it, you'll likely be stuck with a couple hundred diapers that you're baby has outgrown.  

Find This: Cheapest Diapers

If you make regular, relatively large purchases of readily available products, you need to take the time to do a little research to get a good value, if not the best price.  A couple days ago I covered my two-year quest for the best dog food price.  Today, I'll regale you with my search for the cheapest diapers.

Anyways, Baby is quickly growing and recently moved from size N to size 1, so my hunt was on for Pampers size 1 Swaddlers.  With our diaper supply dwindling, I finally succumbed to Diapers.com, which meant I could use a targeted new customer coupon I received in the mail.  The result: 16.7 cents a diaper.  I think that's a good baseline for future diaper purchases. 

Before I get to the math, here's a quick review of my Diapers.com purchase: Easy and received my order less than 24 hours after purchasing.  No tax and free shipping.  BUT, I'm pretty sure their regular prices (without coupons) are more expensive than elsewhere.  Shopping portals provide 1-4% cash back and I received 2% back from Ultimate Rewards. That extra 2% was a bit of a surprise because normally coupons negate the cash back portal bonus.  Anyways, on to the math:

Pampers Size 1 (234 count)
$49.99 - $10 off coupon on case of diapers (JULY12SIM) - $.80 in points + $0 tax and shipping = $39.19 or 16.7 cents a diaper

 The Most I Will Pay Per Diaper

Simply, the most I will pay per diaper is 19 cents at the neighborhood BJ's.  That's the per diaper cost based on buying a case of 234 Size 1's for $42.99 + sales tax.  However, since BJ's accepts manufacturer's coupons, not to mention their own, I should be able to easily lower that per diaper cost with a coupon or two.  Coupons.com regularly has $1.50 off coupons.*  Perhaps I could match or beat my diapers.com purchase with the right coupons. 

For a little more perspective, a "jumbo" pack of 40 Pampers size 1's at CVS costs $11.99 + tax, equaling over 31 cents a diaper.  Even after using a 25% off coupon, each diaper would still run over 23 cents per diaper.  You're a sucker if you regularly buy diapers at CVS (but I'll let it slide if it's an urgent situation).  Even Amazon wants 20 cents per diaper.**

Anyone know how to regularly purchase Pampers diapers at a cheaper per diaper cost?  Perhaps BJ's plus a coupon or 2 is my best bet...

*Caveat - I've used coupons.com coupons, but don't completely trust the site because they make you download software to print the coupons.  It's supposedly safe, but I only downloaded it on my dying, play computer.  Decide for yourself whether saving a couple bucks with these coupons is worth the risk of malware, hacking, the rapture, etc.
**In the case of diapers, Subscribe and Save from Amazon for an extra 5% off is a no-go because of babies' tendency to grow out of diapers quickly.  The last thing I need is a closet full of 200 diapers that are suddenly too small.