Irish Baby Adventures

Having our first child here in Ireland was a great experience, as I mentioned several months ago. One of the best parts about it was that it was FREE! In the States, medical insurance would have paid for much of the expense, but certainly not the whole thing. There still would have been a big chunk o' cash coming out of our own pocket.

But then there's the cost of living in Dublin . . .

We received a gift voucher from Mama's & Papa's, a British maternity and babywear shop. It's a very nice, high-end shop with clothes and baby "equipment" at costs much higher than we would ever be willing to pay. Last night, my wife stopped by the Mama's & Papa's shop at the top of Dundrum Shopping Centre and was shocked to see a cashmere cardigan priced at 78EUR. SEVENTY EIGHT EURO! For something that will get spit up on and only used for three months anyway! I won't even bother to translate that number into American dollars.

Fortunately, we have lots of friends and family around us who've given us enough baby clothing for a small army of babies. That is, a small army of babies that don't spit up and explode beyond the reach of their nappies. Otherwise, it's only enough clothing for a small army of ONE baby. (I believe Caitlyn's personal record is 4 different outfits in one day.)

Cartridge Green

Here in Dublin, there's a brilliant way to both save money and be environmentally sound in your use of computer printer ink. It's called Cartridge Green and there are four shops in Ireland (three in Dublin). I took my black ink cartridge in to the shop in Leopardstown Road today and it cost me only 10 euro to refill it. That's about half as much as it would cost to drive down to PC World and replace the cartridge with a new one!

Cartridge Green are also promoting franchising opportunities. So if you're an entrepreneur type, have a look at those options as well.