Babies are wonderful. But they're also expensive! According to a USDA report, you may find yourself paying $10,000-20,000 on your child in their first year. That's a lot of money to spend in just one year on one little baby! Luckily, while having a child will always be somewhat costly, you can reduce some of your expenses. Here are 12 Ways to Save Money on Your Baby!
12 Ways to Save Money on Your Baby
1. Buy as They Grow
One of the easiest ways to save money on your baby is to not buy too many clothes for them at once. Babies just grow so quickly! If you buy a bunch of onesies in bulk now, in a few months they could all be too small. And definitely don't buy winter clothes ahead of time!
2. Buy Used
There's nothing wrong with getting used items for your baby, given that they're still in decent condition. This is true for clothes, toys, and furniture. Your baby won't care that someone else had the stuff first. And you won't feel bad when Baby scrawls crayon all over a second-hand high-chair, compared to if they did the same on a pristine, new, expensive high chair!
3. Skip the Shoes
If you're not walking, you don't really need shoes. While shoes look crazy cute on babies, they're actually unnecessary. Babies learn to walk faster inside the house without shoes on, and booties are enough to keep their little feet warm when you're outside. Besides, as mentioned in tip #1, babies grow so fast, your expensive pair of name brand baby shoes won't be able to fit on their feet in a few months. So save money and just skip shoes altogether until your baby's old enough to actually need them.
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4. Buy Combo Furniture
An easy way to save money on your baby is to buy baby furniture that combines functions. Like a changing table that also has drawers to make it a dresser. Not only will this take up less space than having both a changing table and a dresser, but it'll also save you money!
5. Get Stuff for Free
Likely, when you first realized you were pregnant, you signed up for things like baby magazines, parenting guides, etc. Those may have come with some helpful new mom samples or coupons for free things! You can also go directly to the website for manufacturers of baby supplies and see if they offer any kind of freebies. With a little bit of searching, you may have free diapers, formula, baby bottles, bibs, and more coming your way!
6. Call Before Making an Appointment
While it may be scary when your baby seems sick, a lot of what happens to babies are issues that pediatricians see hundreds of times a year. And many have super simple fixes that your doctor may be able to discuss through a phone call with you. So see if you can talk to your pediatrician before making an appointment for any non-emergency baby health issues. It can save you time and money!
7. Save on Diapers
One of the biggest monthly costs for having a baby is diapers. So if you want to save money on your baby, you need to find ways to either get diapers for cheap, or use fewer diapers. You can save money on diapers by buying them in bulk and by avoiding name brands. And you can use fewer diapers by trying cloth diapers, since they're reusable. You may not like the idea of cloth diapers at first, but look into them. Nowadays, they're actually really easy to use and clean, and can save you tons over a year, never mind the fact that you won't be adding pounds of diapers to your local landfill.
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8. Make Your Own Baby Food
Baby food isn't made with some super secret formula. It's usually just one or two mashed fruits/veggies in a jar. You can easily do that on your own by steaming the fruit/vegetable, then blending it up with a food processor or blender. This can save you a lot of money, and ensures you know where exactly your baby's food is coming from!
9. Use Hand-me-downs
If you've had a baby before, there's nothing wrong with repurposing some of your older child's baby clothes or baby furniture, if you still have them. If this is your first baby and you'd like to have more, you may want to buy more gender-neutral items now to make it easier to reuse them with your next child. You can also get hand-me-downs and used baby supplies from your other mom friends.
10. Use Powder Formula
If you're feeding your baby formula, you can save a lot by mixing up powder formula instead of using liquid formula. It's easier to travel with, too! And there are even organic powder formulas available, though obviously, conventional, generic brands will be the least expensive.
11. Get Your Family to Babysit
If you're lucky enough to live close to family, see if they can babysit when you want a night out. Not only will they be much cheaper than a babysitter service (or even free!), but you'll also trust them more than even the most well-recommended stranger.
12. Skip the Bookstore
Reading to your baby is important, but if you want to save money on your baby, avoid the kids section at the bookstore. Instead, get a subscription to an eBook service like Epic! or Amazon FreeTime Unlimited and read to your baby from a tablet. For less than $10 a month you'll have access to thousands of books! You'll save so much on books! If you prefer paper books, get them used. You can sometimes find great deals on bulk baby books on eBay and let's not forget the library.
Which of these tips do you think will save you the most money?
