iHerb shopping!

I just shopped on iHerb again! I recently added myself into an I love Daiso group on Facebook and some of the daiso fans there are really hard core! They can wipe out the egg timers in Daiso island wide, and went into Daiso with empty cart and came out with $200+ worth of items. 真是甘拜下風！I wonder whether there's an iHerb shopping group to add myself to on Facebook? I spend more on iHerb than on any brick and mortar store. Haha!

I found out that iHerb has a personalised page for shoppers! Check out my page here: http://www.iherb.com/me/ngsuqi

I love to shop for cruelty free and eco-friendly household items, shampoos, organic baby or children's snacks, health supplements and essential oils. It is thrilling to receive the items on my doorstep and open up the boxes to welcome my spoils. I use Singpost for the free shipping but the downside to this is if you are not at home when the delivery man comes, they will send the box to the nearest post office for you to collect. If my items are not too heavy, I'm fine with it since the nearest post office to me isn't very far away.

If you are a first time buyer on iHerb, use discount code RBZ415 to get $10 off your purchase!

Managing Finances

How do we manage finances in our family? My hubby works full time and I work part time. As a middle income family on a (almost) single income , managing the finances is a very important part in keeping the household happy and well run.

No Retail Therapy

Well, I'm not a fan of retail therapy, fortunately for our family, so usually when I shop, I think thrice (or more times) before I buy an item. I make a shopping list, then I buy only the necessary things. If a very pretty dress caught my eye and I would really love my daughter to have it, usually my first thoughts will be "So lovely! $29.90 is cheap!" But I will tell myself "No, think about it." After walking one round around the shopping mall, when the initial excitement wears off, the price tag does seem a bit steep for a simple dress. A few days later, if I do pass by and see the dress and I still like it, and it's on sale, maybe I'll buy it. Or maybe I'll find a cheaper and similar one elsewhere. That's how I shop. NEVER buy on impulse. And only buy what I NEED. 

Buy on iHerb

I'm a great supporter of household products that does not use animal ingredients, does not test on animals and are earth friendly. I also love to give my children organic snacks. So iHerb has a lot of such items! I basically accumulate my shopping list and buy all on one go, and sometimes Singpost has free delivery too. If you buy these items over the counter in Singapore, they are going to cost twice as much as they could have cost you on iHerb! I've bought laundry detergents, baby food, baby yogurt bites, baby biscuits, shampoos, body washes, sun blocks and diaper creams from iHerb. I read the reviews and decide on which items to get. Some are great, some not so, and I write the reviews to help other buyers too.

Buy online during Sales

I joined sprees and buy from websites like Carters during Black Friday and Christmas sales. Carters clothes cost almost half the price as they could have cost in shopping malls in Singapore. Hubby also buy things like running shoes and mobile phone covers from Amazon and Taobao. These save us a lot of money!

Buy during Sales at market stalls or hyper marts  like Giant (Tampines) and Fairprice Extra

I went Giant recently and bought boy's t shirts, pretty girl's blouses, woman's pants all at under $6 each! These places do have lots of cheap clothes with very nice designs.

Eat Home Cook

I'm a SAHM and working part time as a freelance writer so one benefit about this is I get to cook and eat home cooked food. Home cooked food is cheaper! Our family only eat organic food if we eat at home. If we were to buy organic meals outside, they will be very expensive. What comes out of this is healthier bodies for the children and for us adults, and less medical bills to pay.

Family Outing to Places with Free Entries

Places like botanical gardens have lovely sceneries, a large pond with black swans and ducks, and kid's playground, and don't change entry fees. Since we don't drive, we go by MRT or Taxi so the only cost incurred with will be transport fees. Botanical Gardens is very accessible by MRT now. Other kid friendly and free entry places are East Coast Park, Punggol WaterWay Park where there is a water play area and huge sand pit, Bishan Park where there is also water play and sand pit, and free playgrounds like the ones at NEX shopping mall and Marina Square shopping mall.

Don't save on Children's Education, Health, and Parents' welfare 

When we decided to have a family of our own, we already subconsciously gave up many of the luxuries we could enjoy when we were still single. Hubby's love of gadgets, photography and travels my love of violin, beautiful clothes and cafe hopping... all these will have to be second or third or fourth in priority. While we are stingy on ourselves, we don't save on several things. We gladly spend on children's education. As I embraced the Waldorf philosophy of no academic teachings before seven years old (or at least no pressure on children to perform in academic area before seven), we don't give in to marketing tactics of enrichment classes like Berries or I Can Read or Phonics classes etc. But we take Kieran to Yamaha's music lesson which he enjoys and which is blessed with a very engaging and passionate music teacher, and I buy many picture books and pre-writing books and colouring and painting materials for us to play with at home. Books are things we don't save on.

Health is important so we believe that if the children need to see TCM to get them back to good health, we will see a practitioner no matter how expensive it cost, and we must not save on good, whole food. Organic food is expensive and cooking at home can be tiring but it must never be replaced with unhealthy and easier alternatives, although we do eat out at times. In Singapore where eating out is so easily available, it can be a very attractive alternative. But we try to make eating at home at habit. We also cook healthy soup for the whole family. Soup therapy is very important for good health. One thing we are against in is supplementing. At least I am against it. If we eat healthily, there's no need for supplementing. I do take supplements when I am pregnant and breastfeeding for the first year, but now, I reduce supplementing to just calcium pills and vegetarian DHA, and I don't think I will buy them anymore after I'm done with the current bottles. I never buy into the pushy marketing tactics of expensive supplement companies, especially MLMs.

I won't spend on many things like dining at Yakun Kaya if I'm alone, and I won't buy certain things for myself but if they are for my parents or parents in law, I will buy them. Parents' welfare some times mean their mental wellbeing and its good for them to know their children are willing to spend a bit more for them.

Busy preparing for baby's arrival

Baby is in his 29th week now! First day of his 29th week today :)

Since last week, he has been giving me stronger kicks and I can feel him turning around in my tummy. Its a unique sensation that only mummies can experience! Hubby enjoys speaking to baby and poking him when he pokes back. I wonder whether he knows someone is trying to communicate to him from outside his "world". haha.

We bought a headphone and we put the headphone on my tummy to let baby listen to whatever we want him to listen to (mainly classical).

In preparation for his arrival, and also because I recently feel like doing shopping for baby, I went shopping around Orchard after my prenatal yoga class and also went to the recent Taka baby fair. Bought some stuff there including a very cute romper that I intend to dress him up in during his full month anniversary. I am now left with matching cap and socks/shoes to buy. Perhaps a matching bib too? I also bought a swaddle (thought it'll be interesting to try with a modern ready made swaddle instead of the traditional cloth one with hood) and some newborn clothes for 3 for $10 coz the dino printings on it are so cute.

Shopping for second hand stuff in Mummysg forum and Motherhood forum gives me such a sense of satisfaction! Some of the baby stuff can only be used for 3-6 months, some only a few times, so it makes sense to either get it passed down from relatives and friends or to buy them second hand. So far what have I got...

Pigeon steam steriliser - $20, original price $120++

Baby bottle and food warmer - FREE given by kind neighbor at Punggol

Toy mega blocks - FREE given by kind neighbor at Punggol

Toy wooden activity block for use from 1 year up - $15, original price unsure but should be much more expensive

Yao lan with motor - $80, original $200++

Bumbo seat - $20, original $50/$60+

Playmat - $20, original unsure maybe between $50-$100+

Ergo Performance baby carrier with infant insert - $170, new set, original $200++

Baby pram and car seat - FREE, kindly given by hubby's uncle (not collected yet)

Baby high chair - FREE, kindly given by a friend (not collected yet)

Lots of used newborn and baby clothes from parents' neighbors - FREE

A kind mummy in forum who is giving me her used glass bottles to store frozen breast milk.

Yup, if breast milk are to be stored in freezer, they cannot be stored using the normal breast milk storage. Must be glass bottles. I dunno where to get the caps though. She said I could buy from hospital pharmacy... hmm...

I've already got breast pump, bottles, teats, milk storage cups etc from Philips Avent, thanks to a friend who had a friend working in Philips and could get 30% discount for us.

Initially wanted to get a playpen but the seller sold it already... too late. Its only $50 and it comes with colored balls. What a pity. But hubby said we don't really need playpen... true. We only have 1 baby and 1 baby room, the whole room can be his playpen. Not to mention the new Punggol flat's rooms are so small, its not a problem running to catch baby when he's about to hit a wall or something.

Still need the following stuff:

baby wash cloth (intend to buy cheap ones)

nappy cloths (as mother in law wants to use nappy. Will leave it to her to buy)

Bumwear one size diaper and inserts (Will use when baby is pass her first few months. Intend to visit the shop in United Square to take a look)

Diapers (for emergency and when mummy and everyone else are too tired to keep changing and washing his smelly nappies. Friends recommend Pet pet and Huggies)

Baby wet wipes - Pigeon $19.95 for 3 packs of 82 wipes

Cheap baby rocker, the kind that I grow up sleeping on, those with breathable yao lan netting.

Baby mattress but not sure whether we can just use the adult size one that my parents bought.

baby bibs (when he start solid food? Does baby need bibs when he's only breastfeeding?)

Full month celebration stuff... haven't gone into the details yet...

Clay print for printing his foot. Wanted to get the gold one but hubby says its a waste of money.

Decals for his baby room

Clip on Fan for his baby pram

Some toys to clip on to baby pram

Educational toys

As for myself:

More nursing bras. The weather is unbearably hot lately. Bathe and change clothes lots of times!

A dental visit, before I give birth.

A bigger shawl for breastfeeding... I think I can dig this out somewhere in my drawer.

I guess that's all we really need. Seems like a baby need so much stuff! When I told my mom, she was surprised. She said she didn't really prepare so much when giving birth to us! Haha. I guess babies and young parents nowadays have so much more for convenience's sake but really, what we really really do need is so minimal.

I'll urge all relatives and friends who are attending our baby shower to not buy any soft toys or display items. Storing them will be a headache for us and I dun like clutters so I dun like displaying out everything in display cabinet. I hope our display cabinet can display stuff like pottery, nice art pieces, precious photographs instead of small keepsakes and figurines like in parent in law's home. Looks too cluttered.

Hmm ok, right now, shall go back to doing housework, and rest for awhile before I go out to collect one of the second hand things I purchased :)