SAVING MONEY IN NYC (ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU HAVE KIDS), IS THERE SUCH THING?
A month ago, for the first time in a very long time, I was truly shocked by the amount of money we New Yorkers spend each day. It's not that I actually didn’t know how much living ‘that New York City life’ costs or how much we spend on the items we buy, the food we eat, or the cabs we take. I just didn't know how much it actually was on a day-to-day basis. In our whatsapp group chat, my New York girlfriends and I bonded over our combined shock at how much we have been spending lately. Once we began to tally up the expenses from the current day alone – from candy at the convenience store and bagels from the deli, to a cab to and from school pick-up and date night dinner with Noam in a nice restaurant…let’s just say, it was a lot; and unexpectedly so, even for that one day.
That whatsapp conversation forced me to a be a little (okay, maybe more than a little) introspective and change the way I was viewing my spending habits. It should come as no shock – although, I guess when I intentionally thought about it, it did – that taking care of a family of five in the largest and most expensive City in the world that never sleeps is ridiculously expensive. And, thinking about spending habits was causing me to be one of those non-sleepers in this great city! Just thinking about how much Noam and I spend on kids’ classes, shopping at Whole Foods (it’s Noam’s favorite), parking, clothes - the list can go on and on – made me realize something’s gotta give.
In figuring out how to save and restructure our spending habits, I found the following sites to do the trick! Check out five of my favorite go-to online shopping sites, that help us mamas get the most bang for our bucks:
1.Boxed
Boxed is a site similar to Costco store and you should all check it out ASAP, because in my humblest of opinion, it’s the best! I buy all of our big household items from Boxed (think: toilet paper and paper towels) since a family of five with lots of tushies and hands that need to be cleaned constantly goes through paper goods like it’s water. We also purchase cleaning supplies from the site, and buy in bulk since we’re constantly cleaning up the spills of three kiddos under the age of 6 .You can’t beat the huge savings at Boxed for household necessities!
2.EBates
Ebates has become one of my favorite online spots. If you haven’t heard of it yet, Ebates is a site that allows users to shop on all of their favorite go-to websites (with over 2000 store affiliations) and get cash back for spending. The company essentially acts like a “shopping portal” offering coupons and cash back from a myriad of popular sites. Hey, any little bit helps when you’re trying to save, now doesn’t it!?
3.Kids pass and Hello sawyer
I imagine all of you mamas are already pretty knowledgeable about these two sites but I recently used them for the first time to peruse classes for the kids and they did not disappoint. I wish I had known about them sooner! Between Noam and myself, I was notoriously always the one who spent copious amounts of money for the kids extracurricular classes – they’re important, and fun! But, with the help of these two amazing sites, I can get the same fun for less money. Sometimes, classes are even listed as half-off of the actual price! The site also opens your eyes to a whole host of new classes and activities for the kids you may not have known about otherwise. The Dekels are big fans!
4.Amazon
I know, I know…but trust me when I say that what I’m about to say is not cliché! We all know that amazon sells everything. But, did you know that Amazon has fashion pieces, too? Amazon makes it so easy (hello, Prime shipping) to get pieces from all major brands within just a day, and is incredible with free shipping and returns. Remember my floral kimono? I bought that from Amazon for $5! I also bought a ton of cute, yet inexpensive, hats for winter and found that the variety was unexpectedly impressive. Kids clothing also sells for great prices on the site! Basically, Amazon really does sell EVERYTHING!
This one is more for the mamas out there … but retailmenot is one of my favorite spots for grabbing coupons and savings to just about every clothing website out there. I first heard about this site from my intern who uses it for all of the major brands (even high-end department stories like Bloomingdales and Nordstrom!). The site always has ongoing coupons, discount codes, and sale links and is worth checking out before any (yes, I mean any!) online purchase.
What are your go-to saving sites? I’d love to get more suggestions for how to save – whether online or off! If you have any tips and tricks, please do send them my way!
Check out some cute pics from one of our fave spots in NYC, and also check some cute costumes for Halloween! We are getting excited over here...
From one mama trying to save to another,
xx= Neshikot
