10 Ways Not to Break the Bank When Baby Comes
The following is a guest post by Tiffany. She is a stay-at-home mom to a teen, a toddler, and is expecting number three in June. You can catch her blogging over a cup of coffee at Lattes And Life. Subscribe to her free RSS feed to read more from Tiffany.
10 Ways Not to Break the Bank When Baby Comes
Having a baby can easily be one of the most expensive life changes you’ll go through. For such little people, babies seem to require very big purchases! In reality, it is possible to have a baby while staying on budget. Here are ten ways NOT to break the bank when baby comes:
1. Buy Used, When Possible. Don’t be afraid to scour yard sales, thrift shops, and consignment stores for good quality baby items. Since babies grow so fast, these places are usually full of barely used clothing and baby paraphernalia. Just be sure to stay current on all safety recalls, especially if considering a used crib or car seat.
2. Ask For Hand-Me-Downs. If you know someone who has a child older than yours, don’t be shy about asking for their hand-me-downs. When my son was born we had a few friends with older boys, and they provided so much clothing that we never had to buy a single outfit. That was a HUGE financial relief, and has continued to be a relief 2 years later!
3. Sample Store Brands. If you’re using disposable diapers, they can get expensive! Try a few different store brands and see if they work for your baby. Store brands can be quite a bit cheaper, especially if you have a warehouse club in your area. The same applies for baby wipes and formula.
4. Ask For Samples. A little known secret is that your pediatrician has a stockpile of formula samples and is more than willing to give you some! If you’re formula feeding, be sure to ask for samples at each visit. Also, sign up with the formula companies for their customer rewards program. Each brand has their own “club”, and they usually send out high value coupons and samples.
5. Skip The Bassinet Or Cradle. Although super cute, bassinets and cradles are not very frugal in the long run. Most babies will outgrow a bassinet/cradle in a few months and be ready to move to a regular crib. Save yourself a few hundred dollars and just start out with the crib.
6. Skip The Fancy Crib Bedding. Crib bedding sets can easily retail for a few hundred dollars. Are they necessary? NO! Most prepackaged sets include a crib bumper, which in recent years has been declared a safety hazard. Skip the sets and just purchase a few individual crib sheets. If the thought of baby bumping his head on the crib bothers you, look into The Breathable Bumper. As for the cute blankets in those prepackaged sets? Babies shouldn’t sleep with blankets until they’re much older anyway. Save yourself the money.
7. Find A Safe Place To Change Baby. There are many frugal alternatives to a freestanding changing table. You can buy a changing pad with a cloth cover and secure it to the top of a dresser you already own. Or you can place a waterproof pad on your own bed and change baby there. You could even use the floor. You don’t need expensive furniture just to change diapers!
8. Reconsider Baby Bath Tubs. A baby bath tub is a very handy item to have, but if you’re really working with a limited budget you can easily skip this purchase. Babies have been bathed in kitchen sinks for years. As long as you keep your sink clean you won’t have any problems. Simply lay a folded towel down in the bottom of the sink before filling with water, so baby has a soft place to rest. You can bathe baby this way until he can sit up on his own. Then just move him to the regular family bathtub. (Editor’s note: Always remember to provide proper supervision and put safety precautions first while bathing baby).
9. Skip The Fancy Laundry Detergent. Advertisements would make us believe that there is only one laundry detergent safe enough for babies. And naturally, that detergent comes with a hefty price tag. You can skip this one too! Any laundry detergent labeled “FREE and CLEAR” will be fine. Even a store brand! What you’re trying to avoid is anything including dyes or scents, since these can aggravate babies’ delicate skin.
10. Buy Items As You Need Them. Your newborn baby doesn’t need a high chair. You can safely postpone that purchase for at least four months. Only buy what you absolutely need, when you need it. That gives you plenty of time to save money and search for sales or good quality used items.
Using these tips, you can easily bring home baby without breaking your bank account. I suggest making a list of what you MUST have for baby, then decide which of those items you don’t mind buying used. Figure out what items you simply must buy new. Then start looking for the best deals!
Now that you’ve read these 10 money-saving baby tips, you may want to read about how to get things done with a baby. How did you keep your baby costs down? Please let us know in the comments.
Photos courtesy of stock.xchng; pregnancy photo by Benjamin Earwicker.
10 Comments
Kaye
We never bought a high chair for our firstborn. Instead we bought an infant-to-toddler booster seat. You can find them in regular retail stores for about $25.00 and they last a LONG time….until the child can sit at the table for themselves! We didn’t have any fabric to clean that way and he was used to sitting AT the table from the beginning. We are about to reuse his $25.00 seat when his little sister arrives in June!
Michele @ Frugal Granola
One savings we found was buying a convertible car seat with a wide weight range. We never had to buy one of those bulky infant seats. You can find convertible car seats that work for little ones ranging from 5 lbs to 40 or even 65 lbs! 🙂
Michele
Phoebe @ Cents to Get Debt Free
Great tips!
I never used special laundry detergent with any of my 3 kiddos, thankfully they weren’t/aren’t sensitve people. Another tip in this area, would be to make your own detergent. It has far less chemicals in the first place, and it doesn’t have any extra perfumes/dyes. Way cheaper than any of the store brands as well.
And I definitely agree with the no diaper changing station! I never had one with my oldest 2, and the only reason I did with my last was because it was a gift. Even then, we rarely used it.
sprittibee
Great article. I’m on my third kiddo and am not as picky as I used to be.
We did hand-me-down clothes this time for some of the clothing, were not afraid to ask for size 1,2,3 and older aged clothing at the baby shower (a newborn only stays in that size for a fleeting moment), converted a dresser already in the room in to a changing table with a hand-me-down changing pad, and plan to breastfeed to skip the formula costs. Breastfeeding is a HUGE way to save money.
We also put our name out at church for anyone donating baby items and they offered us a swing that they didn’t need in the church nursery. A friend’s aunt gave us a crib from her shed that she just “hadn’t taken to Good-Will yet”. Thankfully, family is pitching in for those big items (the stroller/carseat combo and the playpen/bassinet/changing table combo). I love the play yards with the bassinet feature up top. We used one for our kids and and kept using it until they were older for play time with toys.
As for diapers, no matter how green and money-saving it may be to use cloth – it is more important that I not TURN GREEN than saving the planet. LOL That’s one area I won’t skimp. A good tip, though – start buying one pack of diapers every time you go to the grocery store from the moment you know you are pregnant. Especially if you are going to quit and not return to work. Money will be more scarce after mom starts staying home. Our first baby had a closet full of every size of diapers that lasted us nearly a year because we planned ahead.
This time we’re just hoping the baby shower leaves us with a huge stash! I registered for very few things and am hoping that diapers win the day!
Kristin Harad
Great money saving ideas here. I love the thoughts of PLANNING that are mentioned above – such as not purchasing things you won’t actually need, or things that will only be used for a few months, or buying things way in advance (unless you’re getting a killer deal) that you won’t need for a long while yet. My two cents? – Consider waiting until you know more about your baby’s interests and personality and what your lifestyle will be like with baby. What you think you want pre-baby may change after you actually have your baby and see what the reality is. If you absolutely must have the $2,000 crib, consider getting a less expensive stroller. Most importantly, if you want the top of the line crib, plan for it and give yourself permission to spend the money and enjoy it. Know where the money is coming from to do all of the start-up stuff: is it from your income, on a credit card, or from your savings? I your situation, you could draw from your savings (emergency fund and./or extra cash in the checking) and just plan to replenish that account over the next 4-6 months.
Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach
One word – garage sale and Freecycle!
Okay, that’s 2. 🙂 But I’ve never had to pay huge amounts for anything regarding raising my kids. I figure they’ll either outgrow or not like or what have you…so why waste money on something that doesn’t last? Spend the money on things that will make an impact on them.
Data points, Barbara