Customer Reviews

Baby Bargains: Secrets to Saving 20% to 50% on Baby Furniture, Equipment, Clothes, Toys, Maternity Wear and Much, Much More!

5 star:		(73)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

If I had reviewed this book during my pregnancy (as it appears many do), I would have given it 5 stars. The book was helpful in providing reviews of many products. When I was doing my pre-baby purchasing, this book was my "bible". I recommended it to several others.

However, post-baby, I found that many of the products even the authors said I "needed" were a big waste of money. I also strongly disagreed with them on a number of products, and ended up giving away or returning several highly-recommended products in exchange for others. Most of the book seems to be their opinion, and doesn't jive well with many seasoned parents that I know.

Furthermore, their tips for saving money are mainly common sense, or impractical. For instance, to save on maternity
clothes, they recommend getting ONE outfit with a skirt, pair of pants, and top, and switching them around... don't think most of us need a book for that.

If I had it to do over, I would buy a car seat, clothes, diapers, some baby wash , bassinet...and wait to see what else I'd really need and want til after baby was born. This book tends to promote unnecessary consumerism to vulnerable first-time parents.

As soon as I started looking through this book, I realized how valuable it would be to me and my husband. We take it with us whenever we go shopping for the baby because it is so helpful and objective. The "Wastes of Money" sections are great for our budget and while you can get details on the products throughout the chapters, you can also get succinct ratings on products at the end of each section. We registered with this book in hand and so far we feel like it has really been the most useful tool. The clerks at Babies 'R Us were impressed with our knowledge and could have conversations with us about the products without "upselling" to us. I think they knew we wouldn't go for anything the book didn't recommend! I'm am giving this to my friends when they get pregnant- it makes a great gift!

...NOT just those people looking to save a few bucks! When my hubby and I were getting married, I bought the Fields' Wedding Bargains book and found that the best thing about it was the number of ideas and resources it gave me, when I had no idea where to start looking. I find the same to be true with this book, especially since this is our 1st child. Friends and family members can all give you advice but I find that 1) it is sometimes a bit outdated (and this can even be true of products just a few years old) and 2) is always biased. Now, having a "point-of-view" on a product is great, but I worry that parents who set out looking for the cheapest or most convenient baby product may not have done quite the research these authors have on things such as safety. The greatest thing is they take real-world use AND safety into consideration, and then compare it to lots and lots of brands (some you and your friends have never heard of but should not dismiss). They even review a companies customer service, something most of us don't think about while browsing in a store. I find often times that their rec's tend to match with the reviews on Amazon, but they offer additional advice that can put an overwhelmed new parents mind at ease. They also offer great tips and advice on lots of other baby and pregnancy topics, such as where to get great deals on maternity clothes, where the best garage sale deals are and most importantly WHAT NOT TO BORROW OR BUY SECONDHAND!!! Well-meaning friends and family may offer lots of things to you, which sounds great when you're on a budget, but risking a child's safety is never worth saving a few bucks. Instead, they tell you what the REAL value of an item is (if it lasts longer and comes with more, USEFUL features, it's cheaper in the long run than say a cheaply made basic model) and give you ways to save money in other areas that you can safely shop for bargains on. There is almost no topic left untouched in this book. You may think you can just find this all on the web but advertising and an overwhelming amount of unorganized info is enough to leave any parent-to-be confused and misinformed. I highly recommend the latest version of this book for any parent to be (start reading it ASAP!!!) and a visit to their website :)

I first read this book 4 years ago when pregnant with my first child. At the time, I loved having this wealth of advice on baby products, even though much of it did seem very subjective and opinionated. Over the years, with 2 babies, I have accumulated plenty of my own experience as a consumer of baby items, and I find I agree less and less with the opinions in the book. I recently reread large parts of the latest edition, and I find that there is almost nothing in the book I agree with! When using this book, I found myself tracking down products that I later regretted purchasing in the long run, and I found myself much more satisfied with products that got luke-warm or cold reviews from the book. This book is useful for letting you know what is out there, but I would not recommend using it to decide between brands of different items (e.g. strollers, clothing, high chairs, bedding). It is full of hearsay and highly subjective opinion, and for choosing among brands I find it almost worthless. I have found 2 much better ways to get advice on brands: Consumer Reports (at least for the few items that they have reviewed in the magazine --- on the other hand, their book is not that useful) and customer reviews of baby items here on Amazon (in the Babies R Us part).

This book is FABULOUS. I was a first time mom and looking for a way to decipher the huge amount of baby products out there - some of which I wasn't sure what they were! This book has a chapter on all the major types of products you would need and is well-organized and indexed.

It's kind of like a cross between Consumer Reports and your best friend. I would read and highlight the products that had gotten good reviews and then I have to admit to carrying it around with me when I went out to shop for things. Great advice on everything you will want to buy for your kiddo initially.

They give good recommendations on everything from car seats to bedding to high chairs to babyproofing to diaper bags. They rate items for quality and let you know if more money buys you a better product or not. They also have a healthy perspective on the idea of what is "sufficient"! They give good info on things you might want to pass up or that you really don't need (but that someone will be happy to sell you!)

They go thru maternity stuff too, so buy it well before you have the little one!

I have followed Denise and Alan Fields since they wrote their first Bridal Bargains books. They have proceeded to document and provide excellent advice for all of life's major events (and purchases)!!! They now have a Toddler Bargains book for toddler stuff. AND Denise has co-authored Baby 411 with a pediatrician. It's a fabulous book also for advice on baby care.

I think they're on version 6 of this book, so make sure you have the latest one. Can't recommend all their books enough!

But note that the one being sold by Amazon is version 5.0. There is a NEWER reprint with 2004 updates labeled 5.1.

see website www.babybargains.com

Lots of money will be spent preparing for baby's arrival, and this book helps one feel that the money has been well spent.
This is a well organized, honest, thorough critique of all the many baby 'must-haves'.

This book is really about value. Whether your on a tight budget or the sky's the limit, this book will help you make informed, educated purchases on everything from clothing, to high chairs, to diapers.

A must.

This book is great for the new parent who needs some guidance both on what you need and for what features you should be looking.

I read this book cover to cover. It is well written and pretty concise when you consider all the products is covers. If you're reading this review then you probably already know how to save money using both online and discount stores. This book does cover that as well, but it also goes into much more detail about the types of products out there. There were a lot of things I thought I would need when we went to the baby store but after reading the book I understand that many of them aren't as useful as I thought.

I thought a book like this would be a waste, until I walked into a baby superstore, was so overwhelmed I almost cried, turned around and walked right out. Bought the book on a friend's advice later that day, and it immediately helped put my mind at ease. Not only do the authors correlate price vs. quality, so you can find products right for YOU, they also arrange things in other helpful categories (for instance, they group strollers by, among other things, the type of region you live in -- urban, suburban, rural, etc. -- and take into consideration factors like a tall parent -- who knew most strollers are targeted for 5'7 women?). Some of these details helped me zero in on exactly what I needed without a lot of legwork -- basically we could get most items down to 2-3 finalists based on the reviews (esp. handy when used along with amazon user reviews!), and then choose based on colors/features from there. Bottom line: it's a sanity saver!

I highly recommend this book. I bought this and Consumer Reports at the same time, figuring I'd compare the products each recommended. I found that Baby Bargains had A LOT more detailed information on the advantages and disadvantages of the different products it included. They also gave good reasons why they rated the different items the way they did. In addition, each section gave a Good, Better, Best product so you could choose the best product in your price range. Not only did they review an extensive list of products, but they also gave great sources for locating them, as well as sources for finding the various products at a discount. Definitely go for this guide for preparing for your baby and skip Consumer Reports.