Living rooms. To be frank, I’ve always wanted to kick shins (or worse) of whomever invented them. They were by far worst room in house, and for good reason(s):

1. The name itself is a lie - “living room.” I don’t know about ya’ll, but at our house we were never even allowed to use living room. The sofa and chairs in there were best in house, and God forbid if we ever actually sat down on them. The best pictures we had hung on wall there, and usually a couple of really classy magazines like National Geographic or Life were laid out on coffee table. Everything was in there but people, and that’s just how my mom liked it. Ed Jr. said that living rooms were one of life’s mysteries, and to just leave it at that.

2. They were way too clean. Ours had hardwood floors, and they were always kept shined up. I learned not to even sneak around in there, as one winter afternoon I did just that and walked across slick floor wearing just a pair of socks. After a couple of steps I slipped and fell, which caused enough racket to wake up a rock. My mom came in there faster than Wimpy on a cheeseburger, and I quickly learned that my butt and living room did not go together. I wince even now thinking about it.

3. The only time you did get invited in there was when you had “special company.” Translated, that meant that you were only allowed in there when either a politician or one of your mom’s relatives happened to be there. I was always amazed that these people were allowed to lounge around in chairs, and could even spill stuff and get away with it. My mom even laughed sometimes when they did.

Remember, just because you shop at so-called discount stores doesn’t mean you’ll get lowest prices. The same is true for warehouse stores and online auction sites.

Even coupons that seem like great deals aren’t always a bargain. For example, one online retailer recently offered a promotion where you could buy one board game and get one free. But games cost twice what they cost at a competitor. So it wasn’t really a deal at all.

What’s a bargain-hunting parent to do? It helps if you can find someone who’s done some research for you.

The Shopping Mom to Rescue!

In an attempt to do a scientific, apples-to-apples comparison, I recently conducted a price test of six popular baby product web sites. I purchased a basket of common baby products from each site.

All of sites I chose were well-established businesses, with reliable customer service, and a good selection of products. Many offered extra services, like reader reviews, shopping checklists and helpful tips. The sites were:

1. BabyCenter (http://www.babycenter.com)

2. Babies R Us (http://www.babiesrus.com)

3. Baby Universe (http://www.babyuniverse.com)

4. Baby Catalog (http://www.babycatalog.com)

5. Shopping.com (http://www.shopping.com)

6. Target.com (http://www.target.com)

Shopping.com isn't a retailer. It's a comparison shopping service. But I included it because it’s supposed to be able to find you best deals online. I wanted to see if it lived up to its promise.