I had a chance recently to try a new product in the Sam's Club Member's Mark brand and to document my shopping experience. Okay, it was actually about two weeks ago that I did the shop. Where does the time go? I can't believe it was that long ago, but I still want to share with you how much I love shopping at Sam's. I'll tell you more about the Member's Mark 4X Probiotic in a nother post. Basically, it's a natural supplement to aid digestive health, which is something that can benefit most of us. For now, let's just chat about Sam's Club for a bit. Shall we?

I love shopping at Sam's. i'm so glad my mom talked me into getting the membership. The cost of the yearly membership is more than made up for by the amazing savings. There's a big misconception that Sam's Club is all about giant packages of things you could never store. I've actually never found that to be the case. There are certain items that I always purchase at Sam's for my family. Some of these include Huggies diapers and wipes, Dove body wash, shampoo and conditioner, Nature Valley Granola Bars, Jif Peanut Butter and the Member's Mark Children's Gummy Vitamins I buy my kids.

So when I was invited to try Member's Mark 4X Probiotic, I didn't hesitate to agree. I knew I'd be visiting Sam's sometime soon, anyway. And we've always been satisfied with Member's Mark products. Take a look at my shopping experience. You'll see I got a little distracted on my way to picking up the Probiotic. I recommend having a lot of time to spare when you take a trip to Sam's Club.

Do you shop at Sam's Club? What do you buy there every time you go? Anything you think my family should try?

* This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. All opinions and love for Sam's Club are my own.

I'm so super excited to be participating in Gilt's Summer Spectacular as a #GiltyMom. Are you familiar with Gilt? If you're not, you are so missing out! Gilt is a fantastic deal site that has everything you could want at incredible prices. I've been a Gilt member for some time now, and I've drooled over the high fashion items they offer from major brands. But Gilt Children is where I've made my purchases.

My Gilt Children Experience

The first thing I ever bought there was a set of Plan Toys wooden blocks for my little guy. Brady absolutely adores his "castle" blocks. That's what he calls them. They were only $28 plus a very reasonable shipping cost. These blocks will last forever and really encourage my son's creativity. He loves to build castles and roads, bringing his other toys and action figures into the "town" to play. It's so much fun. I love finding things on Gilt Children that I wouldn't find in the stores around here.

My most recent purchase from Gilt Children were two sets of Green Lullaby cardboard storage boxes. These suckers are great! I really needed something to corral all of Brady's toys that have accumulated in the living room. I'd like the space to at least appear somewhat organized and grown up - not the children's playroom it actually has become! So I chose these:

They go great with our eggplant colored furniture. The storage cubes came in sets of three. These three work really well as stools around the coffee table. Brady can sit to draw or eat a snack, and he just opens the lid to find his toys now. So convenient!

Here are the other three. They're lined up against the couch. They look nice and neat. It's great that Brady can now easily find his toys. He actually plays with them more, and he seems much more content to entertain himself. He even plays with the boxes themselves, lining them up like a train. Each set was $35. The cubes are strong and were a cinch to put together. I did it all by myself! They're so strong that even his big sister can sit on them to play train with him. They hold up to 110 lbs. And look, aren't they cute?

Get $10 off a $50 Gilt Children Purchase and a Chance to Win $100 Credit

Gilt has very generously offered members of the #GiltyMom Summer Spectacular a unique gift code to share that entitles the users to $10 off any purchase of $50 or more. So just follow this link, and you're on your way to saving money and getting something very cool. This offer is good until July 18th. I have been very happy with my Gilt shopping experiences and am happy to recommend the site for awesome prices and a unique shopping experience.

Gilt is also offering all of the #GiltyMom participants a $100 credit to give away on our blogs! Wanna win? Just head over to Gilt Children and take a look around. Then come back here and leave a comment telling me what item you'd love to have. It's that easy! For extra entries:

Follow Everyday Baby Steps in the sidebar and leave a comment letting me you know did so or that you're already a follower.

Like Gilt Children on Facebook and leave a comment here saying you did.

Join in the conversation at the Gilt Children Facebook page. We're talking about all things parenting and summer. Then come back here and let me know about it in the comments.

Good luck!  A winner will be chosen at random at noon EST on Friday, July 22nd and notified through email. In the event that the winner doesn't respond within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen.

I am part of the Gilt Summer Spectacular and have been compensated for my participation in this campaign.

I have been consumed with ways to save money lately, from buying at consignment sales and thrift stores for my kids' clothes to grocery shopping at warehouse stores. Everything's getting to be so expensive these days. Families absolutely have to find ways to save a few bucks whenever possible. Because I spend so much time on the computer, I must admit that I'm sometimes tempted to do a bit of extra shopping online that I probably don't necessarily need to do. So I was pleased to learn recently about a site called MyCoupons.com, a coupon site where you can find discounts on merchandise at thousands of online merchants.

MyCoupons.com is America's oldest online coupon site and was established back in 1995. The site offers an extensive directory of coupon codes and printable coupons for some of the biggest and most well-known brands. I was pleased to see that some of my favorite retailers participate in the site. I was able to find WalMart coupons, Overstock coupons and Nordstrom coupons I often look for discount codes before making online purchases, so I have some experience with sites like this. What I found to be impressive about MyCoupons.com is that the coupons I found were all recent and seemed to be valid for use, unlike some sites whose coupon codes are frequently expired or invalid.

There are also so many features available to users that can help to find coupons easily. That's something that is important to me. As a busy mom, I certainly don't have time to be hunting down the best coupons. Ahem, especially when I'm supposed to be doing other things online! You can search for coupons by category in the sidebar. Another popular option is the couponSTATS feature that allow you to see the coupons that are currently the most popular. I love that - especially when there are over 50,000 coupons in their database! Finally, you can actually talk to the site's CouponPros, read their blog or follow them on Facebook. Talk about individual service! Each pro is an expert at finding the best deals in individual categories and can answer questions for you about coupons pertaining to these subjects. This is an example of social media at its best. Pure genius!

So check out MyCoupons.com the next time you're looking to score a great deal online. Chances are you'll save plenty.

*sponsored post

Wow, I spent this weekend going through bags and bins full of clothes that were in our storage unit. I have SO many old clothes and shoes that I haven't worn in years. The good news? Many of the clothes now fit since I lost 25lbs! And I was excited to find some very cute long-lost shoes for summer that I hadn't seen in ages. I'm set for summer. But my three kids? Not really.

We hit a consignment sale and picked up a bunch of clothing a couple weeks ago, but I wasn't able to find any shoes for them. Buying summer clothes and shoes for kids is kind of tough for me. They grow out of things so fast and are so darn hard on their stuff during the summer months when they're outside playing, that I really hate to spend a lot of money.

My daughter is kind of like her mommy, a bit of a shoe fiend. She has lots of cute flips flops, sneakers and sandals. They're easy to find, too. I pick them up on sale racks and even at yard sales. My poor boys, though, are totally lacking in the shoe department. My 12 year old has only one pair of sneakers. He's the hardest of all to buy for. I don't remember being this darn picky at 12. The worst part about buying for him is that I have to take him with me to be sure the shoes fit and that he's going to like them. I just haven't had the time to do that recently. So he's wearing sneakers and complaining about sweaty feet!

My little guy has a pair of cheap-o plastic Spiderman sandals that are getting him by for now. His feet grow fastest of all my kids. I know I'll need to get him something else before the end of the summer. I'm thinking these baby flip flops are adorable, and they're at a price I can afford. I'm just hoping we only have to buy one more pair before summer's over. The boy just never seems to stop growing!

How about you? What are your tips for purchasing summer shoes for multiple kids without going broke? I'd love to hear them!

*sponsored post

I love shopping at discount sites like Gilt. It's a fantastic way to save some money on name brand merchandise. Often times, these sites sell apparel and home goods. Starting today, December 3rd until December 6th, Gilt will be having a toy sale. What is really awesome about this sale is that Gilt has partnered with Toys For Tots and will donate 5% of proceeds from the sale to buy toys for kids in need.

You'll find brands like HABA, Cate & Levi and Rockabye Toys from December 3 - 6. Join Gilt today to help in the mission to give toys to kids this holiday season. I can tell you from personal experience that Gilt is a great way to shop. In fact, my toddler's favorite wooden blocks came from Gilt group. Happy shopping!

This is a sponsored post through a Mom Bloggers Club blogging program.

CONTEST CLOSED - AWAITING WINNER REPLY

I can't believe I"m just posting about this now. Holidays throw off my routine so much. Recently, I attended a blogger's event to celebrate the opening of our local Pittsburgh location of 77kids by American Eagle, and it was amazing. Have you heard of 77kids? Until I was invited to the visit the store, I wasn't aware of it, but I'm so glad I am now. What a cool store!

Their clothes are so cute, with sizes from infants up to 14. I was impressed with the selection and with how fashion forward everything was - totally unique looks ad fun stuff kids actually WANT to wear. What was also really cool was the store's layout and the neat things they for the kids to do. Take a look.

This is my son, Noah, outside the store. His sister was sick that day and couldn't come. She was so bummed.

Here's a shot of the kids having races to see whose bird reaches the end of the slope first. So fun!

This is where Noah spent most his time. It's a photo booth where kids can take their picture and decorate it. Loved it!

Boys' dressing rooms.

Girls' dressing rooms.

Snowflake wall in the Wish4Snow program. Customers can donate money to go to local children's hospitals.

In fact, you can help with the Wish4Snow charity initiative as well. Head on over to the Wish4Snow microsite and design your very own snowflake. If 100,000 snowflakes are made, 77 kids will donate an additional $25,000 to children's hospitals around the country! You can make as many snowflakes as you wish, and for each you make, you'll be entered for a daily chance to win a $77 gift card to 77kids! It's easy to do and only takes a couple minutes. You only have to register the first time you make a flake. After that, you simply sign in and let your creativity flow.

It's all for such a good cause. Want another way to win? Well, I've got one. Head on over to the Wish4Snow site and make a snowflake. Then come back here and let me know that you did in the comments, and you'll be entered to win a $50 77kids gift card! Entries must received by Monday, December 6th at noon EST.

Get extra entries by:

Liking 77kids on Facebook

Following 77kids on Twitter

Following me on Google Friend Connect in my sidebar

Tweeting about this contest. Be sure to include @marybabysteps in your tweet!

Just leave a comment for each method of entry, and you're entered to win.

*I was compensated for this post. All opinions are mine. This store rocks! I got some great deals on really cute stuff for the kids.

My mother has sung the praises of outlet groceries for years, but I'd never actually gone to one myself. That changed last week when I decided to drive an hour to try one out. So after dropping the kids off at the bus stop, Brady and I headed out on our drive to Sharp Shopper. My husband was less than enthused. He assured me that the place was sure to be dirty, with little selection. I told him I wanted to give it a try. Boy, am I glad I did. When we arrived, this is what we saw.

I had a good feeling that I had made the right choice when the parking lot and exterior of the store looked nice and clean. Besides, my girlfriends had raved about the place. I don't think they'd steer me wrong. So we headed inside to be greeted with this.

Aisle after wide, clean aisle of groceries to choose from. There were ten aisles total. Seemed like a lot of variety to me. Turns out that there were lots of items to choose from. In fact, we ended up spending nearly two hours perusing the store by the time we left with our cart overflowing!

I was pleased to find that Sharp Shopper carried brand names. I chose these for hubby, original flavor because it's his favorite.

I believe they were $1.29 a bag. Another fabulous deal I found was the Edward's frozen key lime pie my family loved for $1.99. Today's lunch was pizza - Health Choice individual supreme French bread pizza that cost only .99! There were so many great deals there. Another favorite of mine was the case of 24 Propel flavored water for $7.99. This is something I wouldn't usually indulge in. They kids were ecstatic.

The baker in me was thrilled to see the aisle full of bulk goods. Check it out. There were chocolate baking chips, sprinkles and  all kinds of flours. There were also bulk candy, dried fruit and more.

When it was all said and done, I ended up with a cart overflowing on top and bottom, with a few items in my hands. All of which came to a grand total of $195 and change! Amazing. I will definitely be going back to Sharp Shopper. It was worth the drive for me and my family.

Do you have an outlet grocery store near you? How far would you drive to find one?

See that countdown clock over there in the sidebar? Have you wondered what it's all about? Well, I get to spill the beans now, and I"m truly excited to be able to share. I have signed up to work with The OpenSky Project to begin selling items here at Everyday Baby Steps. Wait, no, don't go away - I'm not going to try to sell you anything or use any smarmy, pushy sales techniques. This partnership isn't anything like that. The OpenSky Project is a new, revolutionary way of shopping that's good for small business, good for people who love to share new products with their friends and good for the consumer.

True Business Professionals Behind the Concept

Think this sounds too good to be true? It's not. Many of you who may be bloggers or who spend a lot of time online may already be familiar with OpenSky. Before deciding to partner with them, I had seen my bloggy friends opening their own OpenSky shops and was very curious. So I started to follow them a bit on Twitter. When I did, I realized that Ted Rubin, formerly or e.l.f., was involved with the project as their social media specialist. Well, I happen to have tweeted with Ted quite a bit and worked with him on my e.l.f. Makeup At Home party. He's a businessman who's earned my respect, so I knew I wanted to learn more.

Retail That's Relationship Driven

What I learned is that The OpenSky Project is an online shopping platform that is relationship driven. What that means is that OpenSky partners with people, mostly bloggers, to sell products that these people hand choose and that they stand behind. It's a free service for sellers, who receive a 50% share of the sales. We've all seen affiliate marketing, and many people have become successful with it. I'm no sales person though, and my ADD doesn't allow me to track down all the products, sign up for each affiliate network and attempt to track sales, all while still blogging and maintaining my freelance business. This is where I think OpenSky is different.

A Boutique One-Stop Shop

OpenSky allows sellers to hand-pick the items they sell. Sellers are able to form relationships with the suppliers, who are mostly small business owners themselves, and to share them with their readers and followers. It's like owning your own little boutique, without the costs of retail space or overhead. Genius! While I've joined kind of late in the game and am just now beginning to choose my shop's products, I envision being able to offer the best in affordable, high-quality beauty supplies, health accessories, fashion apparel and innovative items to make a mom's life easier. My shop will be run on the same philosophy as my blog - I will share what I feel is meaningful and helpful for moms.

My Motivation and More About OpenSky

This is not a get-rich-quick endeavor. Like anything else, you get out of it what you put in. My motivation for joining OpenSky was to become part of something I could get behind, to continue branching out as a business woman. It's taken me about two years of working online to finally begin to see myself as a true business woman. Working with OpenSky will allow me to pursue another avenue for learning and for helping to provide for my family. I encourage you to take a look at this segment on Good Morning America, featuring OpenSky, to get an idea of what individuals are getting out of their experience with OpenSky. (The seller on this segment is Sarah Mae. Take a look at her shop - she's so wonderful!) Visit the OpenSky website to learn more.

Something Exciting Is Coming

This really is very exciting. I can't wait to share more with you. Look for my shop to open August 10th! Visit this page to sign up for updates on The OpenSky Project and for your chance to win a secret prize!