Baby and Dirt Cheap Buys

08/25/2015

I recently did a blog post about a store that is new near me, Dirt Cheap. Since I went there recently and purchased a few things I thought I'd share my good finds with ya'll.

I recently bought 9 things from Dirt Cheap, my most exciting finds of those were bra's at $1 each (including champion sports bra's, and nursing from Target), new girls leggings from Target, and a nursing cami. I spent a total of $12.05 for 9 items and unfortunately 2 of the nursing garments I bought are going to be too small. I'm reselling the items that turned out to be to small for me for $20 which covers my whole trip then some!

My baby buys were found via facebook in a community online yard sale group. My mom promised she would buy a stroller for our baby virtually the day we found out we were pregnant. I'm sure ya'll know but we have two dogs, so I wanted to see if there was one that was better for using along with dogs, I found jogging strollers recommended. The BOB stroller is one of the nicer jogging strollers, but it comes with a price tag starting out in the $300 range and goes up from there!

I found the Baby Trend Expedition recommended and it was right around $100! If you have read my blog you know I'm thrifty. $100 for a stroller seems like quite a bit of money to me, even if it isn't my own! I scoured online for a sale or a second hand one and just when I was going to give up I found one for $40! A lady in my group was selling various baby items and she had the stroller and a bumbo. She was asking $10 for the bumbo but I asked her if she would do $45 for both, and viola I got both!

I thought the stroller was almost brand new; You can see in the picture above that the tires are in mint condition and not worn at all! The bumbo is also in amazing shape... turns out these things are 7 years old!! I'm not mad though, they are like new and best of all I saved $95 off retail!

The last new baby buy is something I purchased off Amazon today. It popped up and I couldn't resist, especially since it was 75% off! I have loved the little turtle crochet outfit since I first saw it on pinterest and for under $5 how could I say no!?

Dirt Cheap (the store) Review

08/11/2015

About a month ago a new store opened up in my area called Dirt Cheap. They promise HUGE discounts on new merchandise, some of this merchandise includes returns but the premise is it is all new items!

I have been to this store 3-4 times since it has opened. I wanted to go back a few times to make sure my post wasn't a rush to judgement, and I'm glad I did. My first trip to Dirt Cheap was just running in for a minute while my husband waited in the car, to scout it out... I bought nothing! My second trip when I went with my mom was my first REAL trip.

My second trip to Dirt Cheap I managed to spend OVER $130! Looking back on that spending I have to say it seems excessive for what I remembered I bought, and the prices associated with those items. The three images below show the items and to the side I have recorded the amount those items costed in the store.

2 Nursing Bra's (Target) $5/ea
3 Bra's $5/ea
2 Shirts $8/ea
Dress $12 (later found out it had a broken strap =/ )














Baby Clothes $1/ea
Humidifier $7

Total of pictured items: $77



Other than the items pictured I remember getting some laundry soap, brand new AE shorts for my hubby (with tags), new dress shirt for hubby, shorts for hubby, Method and Honest Company Brands, and some plastic totes with lids (3.49/ea).

For everything I bought $130 is NOT a bad price. I would estimate if I paid retail for these items my total out of pocket would have been around $360, even shopping sales I'd be hard pressed to find NEW baby clothes for $1/ea! The problems I had with this haul were a messed up strap on my dress and one of my baby shirts had a cut in it and was completely ruined! I have to admit sticker shock at finding out just how much I spent, it was all good prices but those DO add up!

I made one trip in the store where I bought baby pants for .50, and that is ALL I bought.

The next trip I made in the store resulted in 0 items purchased, my husband was going to purchase a fishing pole but noticed it was broken.

My last trip to the store actually resulted in some items purchased, for me and my mom. I paid the bill for everything there and it came to $30. The picture to the side is what I bought. I'm sorry it isn't the best picture.
I bought:
Maternity Dress (S)
Maternity Shirt (S)
Maternity Dress Pants (M)
Yoga Capri's (M)

Everything I got was about $4/ea! The sizes on the maternity are smaller than I would have liked so they might not fit throughout my entire pregnancy but I can probably resell them for the entire purchase price, or wear them post baby. The Yoga Capri's are actually another Target item. I have the EXACT pair that I purchased there a couple months ago, and they are super comfy!


Overall I like Dirt Cheap on occasion, but they don't restock often enough to warrant frequent trips there. They do send out text alerts as to when they are getting a new shipment and what is included, but I worried they would skip over baby items so went back frequently. Since the first trip I haven't seen anymore $1 baby clothes in a bin, which was the thing I was most excited about it their store. They also had CHEAP baby furniture, like $30 for a changing table... but often the furniture would be missing a piece (like a railing) or scratched.

Word of caution: Sometimes their price "before discount" is hiked up to higher than the actual retail price of the item. Last trip I saw Target's Threshold 6 cube organizers there, these retail for $59.99 at Target. The price they had on them after a 40% discount the price would be $48, or $12 cheaper... definitely not an accurate depiction of savings! If the item has the ORIGINAL tags from the ORIGINAL retailer than the savings depicted is accurate, but from the Target example it is clear they sometimes add a tag of their own to mislead customers into thinking they are saving more.

Baby buys and Belly Pics

08/11/2015

Hello Everyone,
I'm currently 23 weeks pregnant so I still have a ways to go! I thought I would share my 19 and 23 week belly pics with ya'll as well as some of my new baby finds (clearance + garage sales), and things we have been gifted for our little girl!

19 weeks                                                                          23 weeks

I have to say I'm a big fan of dresses now, I feel like they are most flattering! I also LIVE in yoga pants. I find them much more comfortable then even my maternity jeans (I have 3 pair).

Baby Finds
I'm going to do a mashup of pictures for ya'll then I'll go over about how much I paid for everything or let you know it was a gift!

Here is what I bought:

Baby Hats, 2 packs with 2 each: $1/ea pack 

Gerber's Cloth Diapers: $2

Wipe Holder: $1

Baby Proofing Cabinet Locks: .25

New Baby Bath: $7

Baby Book: $6.50

Baby Book 2: $2

Clothes: .25-.50/ea

Santa Frame: $1

Burp Cloth sets: .50

Books: .50/ea

Gifted was the Diaper Bag (MIL) and everything in the bottom picture, including the two heavy winter outfits, a nursing cover, a sling, and a swaddle, was gifted from my husbands coworker! Some of the items listed in what I bought were actually purchased by my mother when we were yard saling or in the store together, they were my/our finds but she definitely paid for some!

The max total out of MY pocket for everything pictured was probably around $35. It is hard to estimate exactly even knowing what was paid because I know my mom bought the items from at least one of the yard sales if not two where I got quiet a few items!

Out of everything pictured only two of the items were bought directly from a store: the diaper bag, which was gifted to us, and the baby book, which was found at Walmart on clearance for only $6.50!

We bought 6 NEW items from other people. 4/6 were bought at a yard sale that was fundraising for local cheerleaders, and the baby bath was bought from an online yard sale site and was new/never used! Some of the clothes appear to be in new condition and I'm pretty sure she told me some were never worn and just washed or barely worn!

The last item I want to mention is the second baby book. I bought the first baby book from Walmart and I loved it, but I found the second at a yard sale for just $2 and it has different things in it! The yard sale baby book doesn't look brand new but it isn't in bad shape and was never filled out, so for $8.50 our baby has 2 baby books to commemorate all kinds of memories!

To finish up this entry I wanted to leave you with a picture of my beautiful wolf dog, Shadow. He looks exhausted here but he HAS TO sniff EVERYTHING that is brought into this house: people, items, clothes, shoes. I caught him right after he was sniffing all the books. He and Nina are just one reason I love buying second hand, the baby items I buy smell like baby! I think buying used will help them adjust!

Here are other reasons I like buying used

1. Save Money

2. Help your LOCAL economy- money goes directly to the sellers who live in your area

3. Less Chemicals- unless your buying organic new clothes have a LOT of chemicals in them, when they are used they have already been washed a few times which gets some of those out!

4. Environmentally Friendly- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! Buying used means I'm not creating demand for more products to be made!