The Free Stuff Fairies LOVE Pregnant Couples!

If you and your significant other ever find yourselves to have a new baby on the way, make sure you get the word out to the people who send free stuff to new parents. When our insurance company learned of our impending parenthood, they sent my wife and I a big, fat tome: The Mayo Clinic Complete Book of Pregnancy and Baby's First Year. This did not feel like a freebie. It had some real heft to it and some very detailed and helpful content. As time went by, we followed along in the book with our baby's development and this led to much reassurance that we were, in fact, going to be capable parents.

Other folks - besides your parents, friends, and other loved ones - who should know about the little bundle of joy are all the usual suspects who make baby products you'll need: your Gerber, your Enfamil, your EvenFlo. Don't forget retailers, too. Many of these companies will send you either free stuff our valuable coupons - and even if you don't use the coupons you can trade them online! (Baby Cheapskate runs a Google Group for coupon traders.) From the company's point of view, this model makes a lot of sense, as they expect to soak a lot of money out of you once you're a parent and they want to get on your good side.

Have a great weekend, everyone!