Cheap Baby Bottles

Buyers 'hooked' on hobby

Lebanon resident Alane Stief, 28, uses coupons on a daily basis, but she disagrees with the tactics of similar shoppers on TLC's "Extreme Couponing."

"People have to realize it's not realistic to do what they do on the show," she said.

Stief only stocks up on items she knows she will use. Half of her basement consists of shelves filled with stored goods. Now, when she runs out of a product, she can walk downstairs for more rather than making a trip to the store.

"Although I haven't seen the long-term benefits yet," she said, "I'm not stressed anymore about going to the store."

Stief began extreme couponing the end of April to save a bit of cash.

"I don't buy anything I don't have a coupon or club bonus for," she said. "I look for 60 percent or more savings."

Her best savings came from Rite Aid; she recently bought $98 worth of items and spent a little more than $3, which included two newspapers.

But it takes more than simply going to the store and finding deals to save this much in one trip. Stief begins her weekly couponing on a Thursday, when she goes through websites that tell her what sales stores will offer next week.

When Sunday morning arrives, she awakes around 6 or 7 a.m. to look through the paper, then goes on her weekly shopping trip with coupons organized with paper clips behind a sticky note for each transaction she plans to make.

"When I'm in there," she said, "I'm prepared, and I'm ready."

Though waking up early on Sundays and creating a mess on the kitchen table is only a hobby for Stief, who has a full-time job, some make extreme couponing their career.

At least that is the case for North Annville Township's Shelby Koch. The 25-year-old stay-at-home mom claims couponing as her job.

"If this is a way to provide for the family, and I have time to do it," Koch said, "then I'm going to. This is my contribution to the family."

Beginning the end of May, Koch started her search for free items in local stores. But like Stief, Koch is only looking for products she and her family will use.

"I'm extreme in that I'm not buying 1,000 things for nothing," she said, "but buying what I need for nothing."

Though there are times when Koch will put out money to stock up on items she uses constantly.

Bottle Sterilizer | Babies

Cleaning baby bottles could be one of the biggest challenges of bottle feeding aside from the cost and health factors. Good cleaning needs to be done everyday systematically and properly to be able to achieve desired hygiene for the infant. Usually, mothers find it hard to adapt to the hassles of baby bottle cleaning because of wrong practices such as leaving dirty bottles overnight using baby bottle brush that are too hard leaving bottles and nipples scratched. These will cause more harm to the infant as scratched baby nipples and bottles will lead to tearing off too soon or even leakages that might choke the infant.

It does not really matter if mothers will choose mechanical dishwasher or by hand in cleaning baby bottles. What matters is for them to conduct procedures accordingly to refrain from wasting time and resources such as soap, electricity and water. The best method to start off cleaning is to rinse off the baby bottle after each use. Caking and leaving a foul smell inside the bottle become the most difficult problem to tackle when cleaning. As you rinse, the bottle is assured of being milk-free hindering cheesing and developing of foul odor.

Do the rinsing with hot water before putting all the used bottles, nipples and other feeding supplies on a large basin with soap and water. This is the most economical and practical way since it will save you from the resources and would even allow you shorter time for cleaning. By doing this, bottles are already soaked while you are cleaning them one after the other. Using a moderately stiffened baby bottle brush, clean the edges and corners of the supplies where milk residue are most often found. It is also safe to use baby bottle brush with foam at the end in order to fully wipe off the bottom of the bottle inside. After the whole process, you may now rinse off the soap with hot water and put all feeding supplies into a rack for air-drying.

Most mothers, however, would opt to sterilizing baby bottles before air-drying or towel drying. Sterilization is prominent in areas where water supply is not sanitized or if the baby has deficient immune system. On the other hand, pediatricians advise nursing mothers to sterilize until the infant is two months old even with a sanitized water system. Sterilizing baby bottles is simple. Start off by filling out half of a pot with water and putting in all feeding supplies inside. Then, bring to boil this pot for five minutes ensuring enough heat for bacteria to dry. Watch out for the time since over sterilization may distort the supplies especially if they are made out of cheap materials.

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