| By the time you find out you're pregnant (pregnancy | | | | Desperate to find extra help for her expanding family, |
| test $15) to the time junior blows out the candles on his | | | | she contacted almost every company that |
| first birthday cake (cake $20), parents can expect to | | | | manufactured baby items. She scoured through |
| spend upwards of $18,000. And that's on baby's first | | | | parenting magazines, searched the Internet and made |
| year alone. By the time junior reaches 18, the average | | | | phone calls until her husband thought she was suffering |
| middle-income family will spend $160,140, according to | | | | a pregnancy-induced craze. He claimed she couldn't |
| recent government calculations. That doesn't even | | | | get something for nothing. Boy, was he wrong! |
| touch college tuition. Ouch! | | | | She was surprised to find out that many companies |
| Children are priceless, but raising them is probably the | | | | offered free stuff to new and expecting parents--and |
| most expensive thing a parent will ever do. | | | | with no obligation to buy anything! She received |
| But there's good news. One of the few times | | | | hundreds of dollars worth of fabulous freebies for |
| companies are eager to hand out free things is when | | | | herself and her babies, including free diapers, baby |
| someone is having a baby! | | | | wipes, baby food, baby bibs, bottles, free gift packs, |
| When author, Sue Hannah found out that she was | | | | parenting starter kits, free parenting videos and |
| expecting twins, she couldn't wait for their arrival. But | | | | software, coupons, parenting books and magazines, |
| feeling the financial strain that goes along with being a | | | | and tons of free samples in the mail, all from |
| new parent (times two), she was definitely a little | | | | well-known companies like Huggies, Gerber, Heinz, |
| nervous. | | | | Nestl |