It seems that money is tight everywhere; the price of gas, groceries and so much more has sky-rocketed recently. It makes sense, then, to look for gently used items for babies and kids. Anyone who?s ever had a baby knows that she/he outgrows clothing and even toys in the blink of an eye.

This past weekend I hit the jackpot! There was a neighborhood/multi-family yard sale in our neighborhood and after my older boys? soccer games, I managed to find the few families who decided to keep their stuff out for sale well into the afternoon.

The fact that the oldest homes in our neighborhood are only about eight years old, means that the majority of families who live here are younger ones with young children. I found a few families whose kids had outgrown their baby gear and walked away with some amazing finds.

Although we already paid full price on a brand new baby swing, I could not resist the like-new portable baby swing by Fisher Price. It is easily moved from room to room, plays soothing music, and has flashing colorful lights. I got it for an entire five bucks!

It?s nice to have one swing in the family room and the other in the kitchen or wherever I happen to be.

Another purchase was a backseat toy panel for rear-facing babies. I had just been telling my husband that our poor little baby has to stare at the back of the seat for his entire first year. I kept meaning to get him some kind of backseat toy to make car rides a bit more interesting, but never got around to it. I ended up finding a cloth panel with a mirror and colorful pictures of cars on it. I have yet to put batteries in it but can?t wait to see what music/sounds it plays. The cost for this toy: $3.00!

I also found, believe it or not, a matching porta-crib and high chair by The First Years. It was in decent shape and the woman was selling both for $10 total. I took her number, thinking that my mom might be interested in these, as she now has seven grandchildren, three of who are aged 1 or under.

Sure enough, my mom was interested.

Check the classified section of your local paper for garage sales, flea markets, and ?articles for sale?. Keep in mind that newer neighborhoods often tend to be home to younger families and can be the best places to find gear for babies and little kids.

My two month old daughter Clover received the “Fisher Price Soothing Seas Aquarium” gift set for Christmas and if you don’t already have one of these, you should definitely go get one! My daughter LOVES this toy and it has been an amazing help in getting her to sleep and keeping her entertained. The Aquarium features a variety of different settings so that your baby is constantly stimulated. You can set the aquarium to only play music, only make bubbles, only display the lights, or set it to a melody and variation of each. It also stays on for a period of eighteen minutes without pushing the button or re-activating and this seems to be a good amount of time to allow you to ready yourself for bed without having to disturb your cooing little one.

There are five different “mode” setting on the model, including a soft “Go to Sleep” melody, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” A classic piano piece, soothing ocean sounds and a general soft bubbling noise. The Aquarium is easily portable and either sets or hooks onto your crib, bassinet, or play area. The Aquarium features a large gold “Mommy” fish followed closely by a “baby” fish and a cute little crab who peeps out at your baby from behind a rock. The seaweed sways back and forth to the music and bubbles rise up from the mouths of the fish and from the bottom of the tank. Soothing blue lights simulate actual fish tanks and the soft change of light is both entertaining and calming.

The gift set also comes with a seahorse rattle that my daughter also really likes that is both cute and visually stimulating. The Aquarium also comes with a remote so that you can turn it on or off without disturbing your baby if he or she is a light sleeper, and I found that hanging it on a doorknob keeps it from getting lost. I could not believe how vocal my little girl was about her new toy, she literally lays in her crib and coos and giggles herself to sleep. It also features an on/off button on the front of the tank for your infant to press to learn cause and effect and help develop their motor skills. My daughter is just now ten weeks old and she can turn the Aquarium on and off herself most of the time without any help! I was amazed!

This is a GREAT product and I highly recommend it. The only setbacks to it is that will set you back in batteries, as it does not feature a Ac/DC plug for outlets. The other problem we have run into with it is that it responds to other remotes in the house such as a television or VCR remote at random and we can’t find a way around this type of interference. Other than that, the Soothing Seas Aquarium is both stimulating, soothing, entertaining, and has brought a lot of joy and quiet peaceful evenings to our otherwise hectic life!!

When my first child was born we, like a lot of new parents, tried out many baby seats hoping to find one that had it all. We tried bouncy seats, rockers, vibrating bouncy seats – you name it, we tried it. Thank goodness our son was so laid back because he was definitely our guinea pig for lots of baby gear!

So, with the birth of our second child rapidly approaching I researched seats online and found a lot of great reviews about the Fisher Price Baby Papasan chair. So, we tried it….and LOVED it!

This wonderful baby seat features a super-soft removable and WASHABLE seat that comes apart from the frame. The fact that the seat is removable and the frame folds flat makes it super easy for packing and during travel. It also vibrates and plays soothing music, both alone or together. There is even a detachable and reversible blanket that was the perfect size for our newborn daughter.

We especially liked the angle of the seat because we found that a lot of bouncy seats sit up at too much of an angle for a newborn or young baby. We used this seat until my daughter was about 4 1/2 months old, at which point she wanted to sit up and see everything, so we then purchased a Bumbo seat (another great baby chair!).

Overall, we loved the Papasan seat and would highly recommend it to new moms and dads searching for the “perfect” chair. I would also absolutely suggest looking for deals on baby gear like this on Ebay or at a children’s consignment shop. I found mine on Ebay at a great price and in like new condition. This seat was definitely worth every thrifty penny!

As a parent, what has been the one piece of baby gear you couldn’t live without? Tell everyone about it in the comments section!