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Online Errands

In an effort to make my life easier and not drag my mini on all kinds of boring errands, I've been looking for alternatives: namely online shopping and drive-thrus. So far I've had much better luck with online shopping than drive-thrus. Besides cards and diapers, I've found these:

Office supplies. If you join Staples Rewards (it's free), anything you order from their web site has free shipping.

Stamps. For a $1 delivery fee, you can order stamps from the US Postal Service online.

Pet meds. I can't tell you how much I love ordering from 1800petmeds.com vs going to the vet just to get flea medicine.

Pharmacy. You can get prescription refills and anything else you need sent to your home from Drugstore.com or Walgreen's.

Organic produce. Organic Express will deliver organic produce to your door.

Movies. I'm sure I was the last person to subscribe to Netflix.com, but they now have a variety of plans to suit every lifestyle.

Love those plastic kids plates

I love things made of plastic. Especially colored plastic. Pink. Green. Red. Yellow. Whatever. Just as long as it isn't in some sort of sensible color scheme like white or periwinkle blue. Imagine my delight, then, when I found the Kalas kids tableware line at IKEA. Sold in sets of six, there are cups, bowls, plates and cutlery. Each set is a bargain at $1.49. That's a hell of a lot cheaper than plastic kids dishes you'll buy at Target or Right Start. And in much better colors. Instead of IKEA cutlery, I use and love the Take n' Toss Infant Spoons (not sure why you'd throw these away). They sell for around $3 for 12 at the market or Target. For under $10, you can have all the tableware your mini needs in a lovely assortment of beautifully colored plastic.

Classes

Free or cheap classes and activities can be found all over LA. Though I don't know of all of them, here's a list of some closest to the Eastside:

Mamas

Glendale and Pasadena have free Mommy and Me classes (registration required).

Beverly Hills offers low cost Mommy and Me classes.

Huntington Hospital in Pasadena has a free breastfeeding support group on Thursday mornings.

Play

Pacific Park Community Center has a free Tot Time on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11am.

Glendale Main Library has free playtime after storytime on Fridays and Saturdays.

The Grove has free kids activities and performances at 11am on Thursday mornings.

Classes

The Glendale Parks department has inexpensive art, music, dance and athletic classes for toddlers on up.

Though arranged in a completely user hating way, the City of LA Parks Department has after school, dance and athletic classes at rec centers throughout the city. You can get to the poorly organized 230 page PDF by clicking on the "Activities and Events" link here.

South Pasadena also offers inexpensive art, music, dance and karate classes for toddlers on up.

LACC has music, dance, educational and even make up classes for gradeschool kids on up.

Pasadena City College also offers music, dance and athelic classes for gradeschool kids on up.

In addition to Mommy and Me classes, the City of Beverly Hills offers a variety of art, music and gymnastics classes for toddlers on up.

1-800-diapers.com

Though you can pick up diapers and wipes at the market or Target, 1-800-diapers.com is usually cheaper and sends them to your house. They stock Pampers, Huggies, 7th Generation and Luvs diapers and wipes as well as formula and diaper bags. Use code JEHX8301 and get $2 off your first order and free shipping on orders over $45 (though it takes about 2 weeks - otherwise you can get your order in a couple days for $1.99). In the spirit of full disclosure, if you use the coupon code, I get a $1 discount on my next order of diapers. Baby Girl thanks you.

Cheap Magazine Subscriptions

If you have a tendency to subscribe to a lot of magazines (like me), check out eBay the next time you have the urge. Most magazines want to increase circulation in order to raise their advertising fees - they go to 3rd party distributors who then entice you to subscribe by offering ridiculously low rates. For a lot of magazines, you can get multiple year subscriptions for the same price you'd normallly pay for one year (say three years of Child for $7.94 instead of one year for $9.95). There are a ton of distributors on eBay and I've only used a couple, so check their feedback before buying, but assuming all's good, you'll save yourself a lot of cash.

Free LACMA membership for kids

Though the name sounds lame in an out-of-touch, older Marketing exec kinda way, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's NexGen memberships are actually very cool. Part of an effort to make art and museum going a part of children's lives, NexGen memberships are free museum memberships for kids 17 and under. It gets the kid and one adult into the museum for free. In addition, it provides discounts on museum art classes and store purchases.

LACMA is located at 5905 Wilshire Blvd. at Fairfax in the Miracle Mile district.

Free demo classes

Wanna figure out which infant/toddler enrichment class is best for your mini? Or just need to get out of the house and do something different? Then taking a free demo class is for you. Most of the big franchises will let you attend one class for free before signing up. Gymboree, Kindermusik and Little Gym have links to sign up for free classes on their site (pick a location first). Music Together also offers free classes but you have contact the teacher in your area to find out when they're offered.

Museum free days

Taking your mini to museums can really add up. Here's a list of free days (or hours) by day of the week. Check websites for details.

TUESDAYS
Natural History Museum - 1st Tuesday of the month
George C. Page Museum/La Brea Tar Pits - 1st Tuesday of the month
Los Angeles County Museum of Art - 2nd Tuesday of the month
Museum of the American West - 2nd Tuesday of the month
Los Angeles County Arboretum - 3rd Tuesday of the month
Southwest Museum - 2nd Tuesday of the month

WEDNESDAYS
Craft and Folk Art Museum - 1st Wednesday of the month

THURSDAYS
Skirball Cultural Center - Thursdays are free
Museum of Contemporary Art - Thursdays free between 5 - 8
Huntington Library and Gardens - 1st Thursday of the month
Japanese American National Museum - 3rd Thursday of the month

FRIDAYS
Museum of Latin American Art - Fridays are free
Pasadena Museum of California Art - 1st Friday of the month
Norton Simon Museum - 1st Friday of the month between 6 - 9
Pacific Asia Museum - 4th Friday of the month

EVERYDAY (that they're open)
California Science Center - donation suggested
California African-American Museum
Cabrillo Aquarium - donation suggested

lilaguide

Having a kid plunges you into in a parallel world that non-breeders don't know about. Outside of Target and Babies R Us, where do you buy their gear? How the hell can you meet other mamas? Which of the 17 different enrichment class franchises is best for your 7 month old? Gymboree or Little Gym? Music Together or Music for Aardvarks? The lilaguideattempts to answer these questions and more for the novice mama.

The lilaguide works pretty much like the Zagat Surveyrestaurant guides: they compile ratings and feedback from ordinary parents into a handy diaperbag sized volume and sell it to you for about $11 on Amazon. They cover clothing, gear, child care referrals, classes, doctors, restaurants, and a few more categories. The LA guide is a good start for new parents but not definitive. The first thing to keep in mind is that this is mainly a shopping and enrichment class guide. The restaurant sections are pretty thin and focus on chains. Wanna know if CPK is good for kids and where the one in your neighborhood is? Then you're great. Wanna eat somewhere other than the mall or Mimi's? Good Luck.

One other thing - it's a little repetitive. The guide is organized by topic and then geographical area (e.g. LA Metro or San Gabriel Valley) which means that chains and major franchises are listed in each area and often seem to have the same review. (Anyone who's visited both the West Covina and Van Nuys Babies R Us stores knows that the same review can't cover both of them.) To me, it just clutters the local area sections because you have to wade through all the stuff you know about to find what you're looking for - namely, unique and independent stores, restaurants, and activities.

All that said, I think the lilaguide is worth checking out for new parents. Though I'd love you to buy it through Amazon,the best way to get a copy is to go to lilaguide.com and get it for free. All you have to do is complete short surveys for at least 10 listings - it'll probably take you under an hour and you get the book for free. What a deal.