I swear I don't work for any of these companies

With a new little nephew on the way, god willing, I've been talking a lot to my sister-in-law Erica about baby stuff. I've given her rundowns of all the gear we have and recommend, and have given her tips for finding good deals and ways to save money. It was our email conversation yesterday that led her to suggest, "This would be a great topic for your blog!" So here it is - How Kim Dominates Internet Shopping! Haha.

First things first, please vote for Ivy! How is it that this gorgeous little sparkler is doing so bad in the rankings? Vote early and vote often...seriously, every day through Sunday (and multiple times a day from different browsers and computers). Tell yo' friends too. Ivy rules!

Parents Magazine Kid of the Year - click here!

(You have to vote, not just Facebook like it!)

Anyway, I often joke about my internet shopping addiction...okay, so it's not always a joke but I should clarify the "addiction" part. Sure I lust after fancy shoes and handbags, or browse designer clothes for my kids, but that's not what I actually buy. Please. Here's my situation - I don't really have time to shop for much more than food, so I rely on the interwebz for many of my purchases. And when you're on a super-tight budget like we are, you have to be careful about where your money is going. Fortunately we've been blessed with lots of gifts when both kids were born, and 2 grandmothers who love to buy them clothes (and books and toys), not to mention lots of hand-me-downs from friends, so the truth is we don't often need a ton of new stuff for them. However, needs do arise - Ivy becoming potty trained and needing underpants, for example, and the birth of Sidney requiring a double stroller for our weekend walks to IKAR - so a-shopping we must go.

I can't even begin to tell you about how many things I've gotten practically or totally free due to my dilligence at finding the best deals and knowing places to shave off a few dollars here and a few dollars there. So I've decided to let you in on my secrets because we all like saving money, right? Here are my tips and rules:

1. My number one rule is never pay for shipping! If I can't get free shipping, I usually don't shop on the site. EVERYONE offers free shipping these days, so don't settle for less! If there's no free shipping code, I see how much more I need to buy to get free shipping and see if it's worth it to throw something else in the cart. For places like Target, I will ALWAYS make my purchase at least $50, because I know I can return the thing I don't really need in the store, thus saving me from having to pay to ship it back either and then I basically get the item I do need without having to pay for shipping. I will only pay for it if it's unavoidable, and I'm able to save at least the amount of shipping in other ways (see #3).

2. Ebates- this should be #1 because it's the first place you should start. This site actually sounds too good to be true - you get cash back for shopping through their site? What's the catch? Nothing...well except maybe you're a help to advertisers, but you actually get checks in the mail! (I just got a nice one last week.) You click through to the site you want to buy starting from Ebates, and it tracks your purchase, giving you a certain percentage back. And they offer incentives with daily double cash back on certain retailers. Deal of the century, I tell you. When I told my dad about this he was mad that I didn't tell him sooner! "Think of all the cash back I could have gotten when I bought our new TV or from all of the soccer jerseys I'm always buying!" Go there now, through my referral code.

3. Retailmenot - this site should be everyone's second stop, after Ebates. There are others out there, like Coupon Cabin, but I like this the best. You can search any retailer out there, and they will tell you what coupon codes exist...users submit them so they're not always accurate, but it's a great way to find codes that aren't publicized. And the best part is when you can stack the codes to get free shipping AND $5 off AND another 20% off! (Listen to me - I'm like an anti-Semite's dream!)

4. Be a loyal customer - get on the email list of places you frequent. You'll hear about sales and secret discounts, and sometimes you earn points by referring people. What, too many emails? Do what I do and use a secondary email account so you don't clog your main inbox. All of my purchases and related emails go to my Yahoo account, so I can keep Gmail for real communication.

Some of my favorite shopping sites and recommendations:

Diapers.com - kinda my best e-friend. Not a week goes by where we don't need baby bath soap or wipes or whatever. Sure you have to spend $25 to get free shipping (if you also buy something from the sister site Soap.com), but that's not really hard considering there are 4 people in our house and someone always needs something. And believe me, it's much more economical to tack on one or 2 items that I don't really need, but are cheap, than to go to Target when I know I can get them for a little bit less and end up impulse buying, thus negating the savings. Plus it's great for birthday gifts since they have EVERYTHING - books, toys, clothes, you name it. The best part is NEXT DAY SHIPPING! If you order by 6pm, it arrives on your door the very next day! Recently I was sorting through Sidney's jammies and realized about half of them didn't fit. With only 3 good pairs, and two of them in the laundry (with no time to wash them), I was going to be stuck the next night. Nope! Found a pair on clearance at diapers.com, added a couple other things we needed and BAM a box was waiting at the door when I got home from work. Sidney did not have to sleep naked after all.

use code:KIMB6119

Not valid for existing Diapers.com, Soap.com or BeautyBar.com customers. Some restrictions apply.

Groupon/Living Social/Every other website like this - now this is really where I have an addiction because I get Daily Deal emails from at least 10 places a day so its a good thing I dont need or want most of whats on there - teeth whitening, Brazilian blow outs (okay, i'm tempted) personal pilates lessons, botox. But there will occasionally be some great ones, like for Amazon or GAP or Shutterfly (hello, super helpful for all my pictures!), and occasionally we spring for restaurant ones since we never really go out and this gives us an excuse to do so on the cheap.

Mamapedia and Plum District - like Groupon, but specifically for moms and families and customizable by city.

Amazon Mom - if you don't use Amazon, you're probably living under a rock. Their Mom site directs you to deals on all baby essentials, and you can sign up for Subscribe and Save for things like diapers. It can save you tons!

Baby Steals - I don't remember to check this every day, but someone posted a link on my mom's forum and I was so glad I checked it out - 50% off Ergos! I already have one, but we promised Erica and Adam that that would be our baby gift to them so can you imagine how excited I was? Score! This is extra amazing because Ergos are NEVER on sale (okay, rarely because I got mine on sale, natch).

Baby Half Off - pretty much the same as Baby Steals, but their stuff sells out super quick.

Of course the best way to save money is not to shop at all. But what fun is that?!

I'm going no where and I'm SO excited!

Life continues to chug along at our house. Every week is a slight improvement over the previous one, in terms of nailing down the routine and making the trains run on time. And Sidney doesn't seem to interested in figuring out how to not wake up every 3 hours, but we're working on that. The advice from the pediatrician and the Pump Station was to make sure we're not taking him out of the room when he wakes up...um, yeah that means I have to get up out of bed to go in there and feed him in order to get him back in the crib. Right. I'm so dead to the world that feeding him in our bed is all I have the energy for. Must work on this. Will be good for everyone.

BUT - guess what? Remember how I talked about needing a night away so badly? Well the Gods of the Interwebz were listening (well, actually my sister in law) and I get to go away next Saturday night! My sister in law, Erica, is a "cruise critic" ;-) and she is going to be touring and reporting on a new ship in Long Beach. She's invited to stay over night with dinner and entertainment, AND she gets to bring a guest! ME ME ME!!! I'm so excited - my first cruise to nowhere! We literally don't even leave the port, but it will be magical nonetheless...except for the part where I have to schlep my pump and store milk for the 18ish hours that I'm gone. But I get to go away and put on a nice dress and drink free cocktails and eat a yummy dinner and see a show and maybe even hit the gym and/or jacuzzi AND sleep in my very own bed with no interruptions! WOO HOO! And Mike is a true saint for granting me this opportunity and for staying home with the little ones (if you're around next Saturday evening and feel like helping him out give him a call!). A well-rested and refreshed mama is good for everyone. Trust me.

Enough about me. Ivy makes me so proud. She has just been an amazing kid over the last couple weeks...not that she isn't usually awesome, but she's on fire these days. Last week her preschool teacher told us that she was a really great friend to the new girl in the class, taking her under her wing and showing her the ropes. My heart melted to hear this.

"This is our shopping cart..."

She's using Hebrew a lot for almost any word that she knows, and she started calling me Ima! She loves her play kitchen and pretend food and her little dishes and mixer, and will often make Mike and I "birthday dinners" complete with cupcakes. She is also now totally self-relient in the mornings. She stumbles out of bed and heads straight to the kitchen, bleary eyed and hair a mess, where she gets her yogurt from the fridge and sits at the table to eat. It's pretty hilarious for some reason. We're also kick ass with potty training. She only has maybe 1 accident a week, and is probably ready to ditch the nighttime Pull-Ups soon. I could not be happier to only have one set of diapers...especially since her little tush looks so much cuter now! She's just all around awesome, and I had to brag. Besides this is the closest thing we're going to have to a baby book, so deal with it.

Sidney is super smiley and chatty and loves to wake me up by talking my ear off...now if only he would wait to wake up until say 7am, I'd be so much happier! He enjoys hanging out in his pink bumbo while Ivy reads him Dora books. And apparently he rolled over for the first time last weekend. I say apparently because I actually did not witness it. Poor Sid - I think I have Ivy's first roll on video. Anyway, we were with my parents at Nordstrom in Irvine, home to many half-way point meetups with them, and while Ivy, my mom and I were dutifully shopping for shoes in the kids' shoe department, my dad put Sid on a blanket on the floor to take some pictures. He was chillin' on his tummy and all of sudden just rolled to his back, or so I hear. And of course he has not done it again since, at least not for me. I tell you, that shoe department is magical. In honor of the occasion, Ivy got a new pair of purple sneakers - Twinkle Toes, to be exact. When she kicked the back of my seat on the drive home in the dark, I kept thinking there was a cop following me.

They're all the rage. Don't you wish you had a pair? Maybe if you're good, Nana will take you shoe shopping too!