Going for Not Broke

I don't know why, but I like buying kids meals for my daughter whenever we go out to eat at a fast food restaurant. When I was a little girl, I loved getting kids meals, but my mom and dad hardly ever bought them for us. Perhaps that's why I buy them for my daughter even when I know she's barely going to eat from it. She eats just the bun off of a burger or other sandwich, just the hot dog out of corn dogs, and she's yet to finish a serving of Arby's mac-n-cheese. (She does, however, eat Chicken McNuggets like they're going out of style.) All she does is make a mess. She's also usually too small for the toy and she's too young to read the box it came in and play any games. At her age, it's just a waste of money. I'm vowing now not to buy her another. She can just share my meals with me.

I bought my daughter some fruit snacks made by Gerber the last time I went shopping. My little girl loves them, but there are only five in the package. She went through three in one day. Had I known they would go that quickly and there were only five in the package, I wouldn't have bought them. I'm glad she likes them, though. I like to see her eat fruit.

One of my good friends gave my husband and I her children's high chair once her youngest outgrew it. And it has been great not having to buy one ourselves. However, my daughter is the third child to use it, and because babies can be messy, its cover has been washed a few too many times. I had hoped I could find a replacement cover on the manufacturer's website or somewhere else online, but the best I could do was order a handmade one on Etsy. The sellers charge a little more than I'd like to pay, but it would still be cheaper than buying a whole new chair. (One of the Etsy sellers, though, has hers priced high enough that I'd buy a new chair before I'd pay that much for just the cover. Don't get me wrong, I know how much work goes into handmade items and her covers are adorable and worth the money, but for someone in my financial situation, high chair covers are functional, not fashion statements.)

One of my friends is very adept at finding free or inexpensive activities for her son to do during the summer months. She checks local museums, libraries and newspapers to root out events he'd be interested in. Taking a cue from her, I found a free storytime at the public library for my daughter's age group. It lasts 45 minutes. I don't know how well she'll behave for it, but I think it's worth a try. I want her to enjoy stories and books.

One of my husband's longtime friends has a son in Boy Scouts, and as a fundraiser, his troop is selling cards that feature discounts for local businesses. I expected the cards to work at more sites than they do, but they're only $5 each, so I can't complain too much. One discount, which can be used only once, is good for 20 percent off of Walgreens brand items. While other discounts on the card are good for multiple uses, this one is by far my favorite. Why? Because baby formula is expensive, and 20 percent off a couple of cans sounds wonderful.

Yesterday, I heard about a site called thredUP . Through this site, you can buy used clothes for your growing child from other parents, and sell the ones your child has outgrown. As quickly as our little girl goes through clothes at this stage, I think this sounds like a great idea. I'm constantly pulling clothes my daughter has outgrown out of her closet, and I feel like she's forever running out of clothes that fit her. I plan to look into it a little more, and I just might give it a try.

I am very thankful for my mom friends. My little girl is about to outgrow her first car seat, and thanks to my friends who have kids of their own, I don't have to buy the next size up or even the one above that. I also have been given a stroller, play pen and high chair. When the time comes that our little girl has outgrown them all, I plan to pay it forward and give them to someone else who could use them.

The sample of the Sam's Club brand of baby formula that I requested came in the mail today. I love getting free samples! To request a free sample, fill out the form here .

Through the Walmart website, you can request a free sample of Sani-Hands hand sanitizer wipes. I've found in the few months I've been a mom that you can never have enough wipes on hand. To go directly to the site to request your sample, click here .

My daughter is rapidly going from one size to the next. It never ceases to amaze me how fast newborns grow. My sister-in-law and I plan to check out a consignment sale that has all "gently used" children's items. I hope to find quite a few good deals there.

Turtle Through Feb. 29, parents can get a one-year subscription to the magazine Turtle for $9. Content includes crafts, puzzles, games and other activities for preschool-age children. To see the deal, click here . Parents For $12, parents can get a three-year subscription to Parents magazine, which is basically three years for the price of a one-year subscription. To see the deal, click here. American Baby Parents can get a free subscription to American Baby magazine. (Click here .) In addition, they'll receive free e-newsletters.

Not too long before I found out I was pregnant, a Savers -- a nonprofit resale store that benefits Big Brothers Big Sisters -- opened close to my house. Not wanting to spend a whole lot of money on maternity clothes I'd need for only a few months, I took my kid sister's advice and stopped in. Well, the maternity section was somewhat limited, but I did manage to find a pair of pants in my size. Our local store has TONS of other clothes, though, and I plan to browse the baby section really soon. It amazes me how quickly my daughter has outgrown her clothing. We had plenty of clothes we received as baby shower gifts in newborn to 6-month sizes, but now that she's 5-plus months old, I've noticed that her closet has thinned out quite a bit. She's got enough to get by until she gets a little closer to 9 months old, but not beyond that. I hope to find enough to get her through the summer.

I'll be hitting the sales fliers every week now that my daughter is starting to eat jarred baby food. The baby cereal is a pretty good deal -- you can get quite a few meals out of a $2 box. But the jarred food is another story entirely. I welcome any tips, and as I come across some, I'll post them here.

My browser screen is only so big, and rarely do I ever scroll down from the landing page when I visit a store's page, so it's quite possible that the rest of the world -- or at least those who do bother to scroll down -- already know that Target has extra coupons posted on its website. Customers can find and print coupons in lots of categories, including baby items and supplies -- right now, there is a coupon for 20 percent off Carter clothing -- health and beauty, entertainment, grocery, furniture and other departments.

Thanks to a tip from a friend who already had children when I was pregnant with my daughter, I occasionally get coupons from Enfamil and Similac , which goes a long way in curbing the cost of buying formula. New and expecting moms can just register at both sites. Periodically, the companies will send samples and/or coupons. I registered with Gerber as well a few months before my daughter was born and got my first set of coupons in the mail from them last week. I love coupons!

To save a little money and to keep a little garbage out of the landfills, my husband and I cloth diaper our daughter most of the time. (Because I have a full-time job, we have to put her in daycare. When she's in daycare, she's in disposables. I never asked the daycare if they do cloth diapers, but I figure they probably do not.) Some cloth diapers, in my opinion, are pretty pricey. You can wind up paying $17 for a single diaper that your baby will outgrow in months. However, the kind I decided on seems like it should grow with her. We got Flip diapers, which has snaps that you use to adjust the diaper for size. We paid very little for the diapers, because I had about $100 in Amazon gift cards, which I used to purchase the diapers. The diapers are bulkier than disposables and my husband was a little intimidated by all the snaps at first, but they're really not bad at all. Changing a poopy cloth diaper can be pretty unpleasant, but still worth the cost savings, in my o...