Author Topic: Babies "R" Us Credit Card  (Read 6344 times)

Disposaleer

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 20
  • Location: East Coast
Babies "R" Us Credit Card
« on: July 11, 2015, 06:37:14 AM »
Hey everyone, typically I wouldn't consider a store credit card, but since I've noticed this community doesn't view credit cards like the rest of society, I feel pretty safe asking about one on here. The deal is use their store card for 2 points for every dollar spent in store. Once you get 125 points you receive a $10 off coupon in your email. You also get access to 10% off on Thursdays. Given that we would use the full value of the coupon and have to spend $62.50 to get it, I see that as the equivalent of a 16% cash back reward. Coupled with the sale you could do as well as 26% off/cash-back depending how you look at it. The 10% sale doesn't apply to diapers or formula (WTF?), but our son is now eating about $70 of baby food a month which does get the discount.

So given that the card will be paid off almost immediately after use (no interest charges), and that it will be used only in the store (points rewards for outside stores are not worth it), is this a good deal?

This is the link to their site if you would like to reference it: https://www.ruscreditcard.com/toysrus/apply.html

midweststache

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 673
Re: Babies "R" Us Credit Card
« Reply #1 on: July 11, 2015, 06:44:31 AM »
If the card has an annual fee, don't open it. It's unlikely you would recoup your expenses, even at $70/month in baby food, with the point system it has set up.

If you will only use it for necessary purchases like baby food (rather than cute baby clothes or unnecessary toys), it seems like a good deal. I think some people on the forum would encourage you to make your own baby food instead, but sometimes life doesn't allow for that.


Disposaleer

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 20
  • Location: East Coast
Re: Babies "R" Us Credit Card
« Reply #2 on: July 11, 2015, 06:54:55 AM »
Well my wife isn't fully on board with Mustachian principles, but I did get to to follow a budget. Mostly. I was thinking this might be a good way to make up for the fact that we still shop there. We've been lucky we have 3 older nephews in the same town and since were the only ones that will put our kid through the "pain" of wearing hand-me-downs...we have plenty of clothes and toys :) She comes from a very decidedly unmustachian family. I'm totally down for cloth diapers and homemade baby food, but with her being the SAHM I'm not gonna force that on her.

bobsmiley

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 128
Re: Babies "R" Us Credit Card
« Reply #3 on: July 11, 2015, 10:44:24 AM »
I think that if you're thinking about getting this card you're spending too much at that store. I have 2 kids, 3 and 2 and they eat incredibly well now.

We did "baby led weaning" with our kids. It basically involves giving kids textured foods at appropriate ages (first food was avocados straight up no puree).  This makes sense to me as kids associate the texture with a food and later on (a year later) everything not mushed up won't feel so strange to their tongues...and it just happens to be incredibly cheap to do.

If you're interested research baby led weaning and see what you think.

La Bibliotecaria Feroz

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7124
Re: Babies "R" Us Credit Card
« Reply #4 on: July 11, 2015, 10:49:51 AM »
IME Babies R Us has terrible prices! You can get everything cheaper somewhere else even if you are buying new. I suppose it might be worthwhile if your wife simply refuses to shop anywhere else, but yikes.

RunHappy

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 560
Re: Babies "R" Us Credit Card
« Reply #5 on: July 11, 2015, 10:50:53 AM »
I'm totally down for cloth diapers and homemade baby food, but with her being the SAHM I'm not gonna force that on her.

what if you made all the baby food and put it in resuable jars?  That way you are getting the benefit of saving money on food without forcing it on her?


Dicey

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 22318
  • Age: 66
  • Location: NorCal
Re: Babies "R" Us Credit Card
« Reply #6 on: July 11, 2015, 11:00:47 AM »
The CC providers offer these deals because of their anchoring/spending habit effects. If you have their card, you will shop there first. You're less likely to comparison shop. Data shows that you will end up spending more actual dollars with them than you would otherwise, despite the points/discounts. This is why I will never have a Target Red Card. Cards that give me free travel for unrelated spending? Yup. Specific store cards? Hell, no! Just remember, there is no free lunch in credit card land.

PharmaStache

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 274
  • Location: Canada
  • Peg City 'Stache
Re: Babies "R" Us Credit Card
« Reply #7 on: July 11, 2015, 11:02:11 AM »
IME Babies R Us has terrible prices! You can get everything cheaper somewhere else even if you are buying new. I suppose it might be worthwhile if your wife simply refuses to shop anywhere else, but yikes.

This.

And what the heck could you spend $70/month on for a baby to eat?  Doing a mixture of table food, some homemade purees and some store bought ones couldn't possibly cost that much.

Disposaleer

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 20
  • Location: East Coast
Re: Babies "R" Us Credit Card
« Reply #8 on: July 11, 2015, 11:18:38 AM »
$70 a month may have been a little overstated. We go there when we are low on food and stock up on as much as the budget will allow so we avoid going there more often than we need and seeing things we didn't know we "wanted". It is probably closer to $40 a month. I know their prices are a little higher than the grocery store, but I thought the final savings through the credit card would more than make up for it. Really we are talking about applying for a store card to *maybe* save $10 a month on food and probably get drawn in to buying something else while we are there. So yeah....I guess you guys/gals (I read the other threads!) convinced me not to go for it.

Really all we get for him there is the Gerber 2 packs, maybe some yogurt melts, and very few other snacks. Also diapers and store brand formula, but that doesn't affect the credit card conversation. We've got all the clothes/toys/furniture we could need for him, so it really is just food.

Is it really much cheaper to make your own food after getting the blender, jars, groceries, and taking the time to do it? I guess that's something I need to look into some more. Kind of like how cooking at home versus buying frozen dinners is cheaper when you really get down to the numbers.

PharmaStache

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 274
  • Location: Canada
  • Peg City 'Stache
Re: Babies "R" Us Credit Card
« Reply #9 on: July 11, 2015, 11:37:52 AM »
You don't have a food processor?  I spent a couple of hours two times making a few purees (mostly veggie ones like sweet potato) and froze them in an ice cube container (then pop them out and put them in a zip lock bag in the freezer).  By the time they were used up, our son was onto textured food.

This website is helpful, if you are into purees and not BLW http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com

Or you can get the Baby Led Weaning Cookbook, if you want to go that route.

Babies are on purees for like a month, then onto more textured food (like stuff you'd mash up, or soft foods, or finger foods, etc). 

La Bibliotecaria Feroz

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7124
Re: Babies "R" Us Credit Card
« Reply #10 on: July 11, 2015, 11:49:25 AM »
$70 a month may have been a little overstated. We go there when we are low on food and stock up on as much as the budget will allow so we avoid going there more often than we need and seeing things we didn't know we "wanted". It is probably closer to $40 a month. I know their prices are a little higher than the grocery store, but I thought the final savings through the credit card would more than make up for it. Really we are talking about applying for a store card to *maybe* save $10 a month on food and probably get drawn in to buying something else while we are there. So yeah....I guess you guys/gals (I read the other threads!) convinced me not to go for it.

Really all we get for him there is the Gerber 2 packs, maybe some yogurt melts, and very few other snacks. Also diapers and store brand formula, but that doesn't affect the credit card conversation. We've got all the clothes/toys/furniture we could need for him, so it really is just food.

Is it really much cheaper to make your own food after getting the blender, jars, groceries, and taking the time to do it? I guess that's something I need to look into some more. Kind of like how cooking at home versus buying frozen dinners is cheaper when you really get down to the numbers.

Once the kid is past the super-thin puree stage, they can pretty much eat what you're eating, but mushed up (and maybe before you have fully seasoned it). Surely you already own a blender, mini chopper, food processor, or something?

My kids just didn't eat much baby food, especially the second. They can eat plain whole-milk yogurt (or mix in a little pureed fruit--it's not all Gerber or no Gerber), oatmeal, Cheerios (you mention yogurt melts, so we are talking a finger-fooding baby, right?) etc. And my second child was downing peanut butter* sandwiches, cut into small pieces, by 10 months. I just got tired of making him a special lunch!

Homemade yogurt melts: Take plain whole milk yogurt. Mix in a smidge of pureed fruit if you want (Gerber, or just some mashed banana). Cover a cookie sheet with wax paper and drop little baby-bite sizes of yogurt onto it. Freeze. Serve frozen. Admittedly kinda messy, but especially pleasant for teething babies and/or hot weather! My kids used to gobble these wildly.

*I know these are controversial, but some experts do recommend giving babies nuts this young. No evidence that holding off protects babies with no family history of allergy.

RunHappy

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 560
Re: Babies "R" Us Credit Card
« Reply #11 on: July 11, 2015, 11:52:57 AM »
$70 a month may have been a little overstated. We go there when we are low on food and stock up on as much as the budget will allow so we avoid going there more often than we need and seeing things we didn't know we "wanted". It is probably closer to $40 a month. I know their prices are a little higher than the grocery store, but I thought the final savings through the credit card would more than make up for it. Really we are talking about applying for a store card to *maybe* save $10 a month on food and probably get drawn in to buying something else while we are there. So yeah....I guess you guys/gals (I read the other threads!) convinced me not to go for it.

Really all we get for him there is the Gerber 2 packs, maybe some yogurt melts, and very few other snacks. Also diapers and store brand formula, but that doesn't affect the credit card conversation. We've got all the clothes/toys/furniture we could need for him, so it really is just food.

Is it really much cheaper to make your own food after getting the blender, jars, groceries, and taking the time to do it? I guess that's something I need to look into some more. Kind of like how cooking at home versus buying frozen dinners is cheaper when you really get down to the numbers.

There are several different websites out there that talk about the cost of making your own baby food.  If you have empty baby food jars at home, then why not just sterilize them and reuse them and their lids? 

Here is one article about the breakdown between store bought and homemade. 
http://blog.mint.com/consumer-iq/baby-food-breakdown-store-bought-vs-homemade-092012/

Making baby food is pretty easy. To make peas:

Step 1:Fresh peas: Open the pods and scrape out the peas from the pod; Frozen peas:  cook as directed.

Step 2: Place fresh peas into a steamer basket in a pan with a just enough water to slightly show through in the basket

Step 3: Steam until very tender

Step 4: Remove peas but don't dump out the steam water yet.

Step 5: Place peas into blender and begin puree

Step 6:  If peas are too thick, add some steamer water to thin until you have the consistency you want.

Step 7:  Store in reusable jars; Clean blender; Now you can dump out the steam water

Step 8:  Feed baby

I'm not sure how many servings one bag would make, it depends on the size of the bag and how much your baby eats, but you could (probably) get 5-7 servings from one bag of frozen peas, if not more.

You also don't have to store in tiny jars, you can use larger containers and just spoon out the amount needed into a bowl rather than feeding directly from the jar.

chucklesmcgee

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 613
Re: Babies "R" Us Credit Card
« Reply #12 on: July 11, 2015, 03:05:15 PM »
Only reason why Babies R Us is offering such a huge discount is that they've got big fat margins to begin with. Which means you're probably not getting a very good deal as is.

Frankies Girl

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3899
  • Age: 86
  • Location: The oubliette.
  • Ghouls Just Wanna Have Funds!
Re: Babies "R" Us Credit Card
« Reply #13 on: July 11, 2015, 04:10:01 PM »
They don't have diapers, baby food and other baby stuff at a regular (cheaper) grocery? How odd! I guess spending more money at a glorified toy store would make sense then.


Erica/NWEdible

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 881
    • Northwest Edible Life - life on garden time
Re: Babies "R" Us Credit Card
« Reply #14 on: July 11, 2015, 05:56:23 PM »
Fair disclosure: I loathe Babies R Us. But even if I didn't I wouldn't get the card.

Please at least search baby led weaning. It has nothing to do with boob-milk (common misconception). You're making this whole thing harder, higher maintenance, and more expensive than it needs to be.

Merrie

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 463
  • Location: Midwest
Re: Babies "R" Us Credit Card
« Reply #15 on: July 12, 2015, 07:01:13 PM »
We did baby led weaning with both kids basically because we are too lazy to try to teach the kid to eat from a spoon. We tried a few times with each of them and then just basically gave up and let them self-feed. It went fine with both of them.

Even so, if you

1. get points when you buy diapers and formula, and
2. you are getting those items as cheaply there as you would anywhere else, and
3. you can spend those points on wipes, which you are also getting as cheaply there as anywhere else, and
4. the card is free,

it would probably be worth it. But if those aren't all the case I would pass.

Cloth diapers are dubiously money-saving depending on which ones you get and if you plan to have another baby and reuse them. But I've seen a wide variety of diaper prices and BRU was not the cheapest.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!