Mama Bargains - One hot deal at a time...

Dear Mama Bargains,

I HATE you.
Ok, that's not entirely true, I LOVE you.
Ok, that's not exactly true either; I HATE that I LOVE you.
Now that's the truth.

hate/love,
Amber :)

With a slogan like "are YOU hooked yet?" I should have known better than to start shopping on Mama Bargains.  The truth is, I'm cheap and I have a hard time passing up a bargain, but not just any bargain (thank goodness) though I do seem particularly vulnerable to bargains as they pertain to the boy.  They barely require any justification in my mind (though perhaps they should), and if they are organic, sustainable or otherwise environmentally friendly I sometimes have to work very hard to refrain from clicking the "Add to Diaper Bag" button.

Mama Bargains is a daily deal website that carries items aimed at children aged zero to ten and also occasionally carries items for the momma-to-be, all at a discount of 40-80% off the retail price.  What's unique about Mama Bargains is that they offer 2-10 bargains a day, whereas most daily deal sites only carry one.  The catch however, is that the deals are not offered on any sort of schedule, you just have to stop by the website and hope you're not too late for the newest deal.

Are you starting to get a feel for my hate/love relationship with Mama Bargains?  Once I have Mama Bargains open in a tab, I have a hard time closing it, (unless the sale JUST started and I totally don't want the item) instead I just click over and hit refresh whenever I have a lull in whatever I'm doing.

Fortunately, you can tell if the sale is relatively new because each item has a status bar that ranges from "Lots Left" to "Almost Gone" with a Pregnant Mama Stick Figure for its icon.  So cute & so clever.

As a Canadian, the shipping fees are sometimes a bit steep and that's often a hindrance to my purchase; this is not Mama Bargains fault, its just a function of the size of the parcel and the logistics of internet shopping.  Warehouse pick-up is an option if you happen to live in the vicinty of Salt Lake City, and during checkout you can get an estimate of shipping before you have to enter ALL your information.  The latter is great if, like me, you bail when shipping is just a little too high.

I am "hooked" on Mama Bargains (and a few other daily deal shopping sites), but I understand the perils of spending beyond your needs particularly when the overspending is the pursuit of material needs, so I buy a lot less than I look.  As I mentioned before, I have a soft spot for those items that are kind to mother earth, my recent purchases include: Pukies Soy & Organic Clothing ($49.93 before tax for 2 t-shirts, 2 pairs of shorts and one pair of pants for the boy) and Baby Star Organic Denim Jeans for $15.

The jeans arrived this week; seriously they are so adorable.  The hubs wasn't all that impressed, but seriously how could I resist?

All in all Mama Bargains is a great site, the checkout process is a breeze, they sell high quality products at a bargain price and they ship your items quickly.  I do wish that when they posted mutiple sizes and colours they could post one picture with multiple sizes/colours in a drop-down menu, it can be a little cumbersome scrolling through all the items looking for the boy items in the right size.

I enjoy Mama Bargains and so long as I keep my spending in check (which seems to be going ok) I think its a great site. I rate it a 4.5/5.