Saving Money on Your Baby: Eight Tips & Ideas to Save Time & Money

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We have saved so much money by making our own baby food or letting the little man eat what we eat. I ran this by my pediatrician, and she said as long as he is getting healthy foods it’s not a problem. She also said to always cut his food the size of a pencil eraser to ensure he does not choke.

Let’s do a little math for a minute. Our little guy – by eight months old – could eat two containers of baby food in one sitting. That’s roughly $1.20. If we bought a sweet potato, it typically cost $0.99 and lasted for two meals. Um…I’ll take one dollar over $2.40 any day! It really adds up over time!

Our little guy has so many items that are bought second hand. Toys, clothing, and even some of the furniture for his bedroom as used. While I do not recommend buying a car seat second hand, there are many other items that are perfectly fine used. Just give them a good look to make sure there aren’t any rips, tears, or major stains. You may also want to go online to look for any recalls on cribs or high chairs. This is one of my favorite ways to help us when saving money on your baby!

When you find out you’re pregnant with your first child, it can be easy to start spending money like crazy! Or you might find yourself panicking thinking about all the money you have to spend. Baby items are cute! Every website tells you that you need everything – diaper wipe warmer, elaborate changing table, all the cute clothes for every season, and so much more. But – guess what? You don’t really need all that stuff! Our son has done just fine sleeping in a pack n play each night. We didn’t really have room for the huge crib, changing table, dresser combo in our small apartment anyway. Everyone kept telling me we had to get those huge traveling system strollers, but all I wanted was a simple one like this. I couldn’t believe that I actually had to defend my desire for something simple and practical, but I did. If you don’t think you need the big, fancy baby items or 100 outfits per size – then don’t get them!

Do you already have something around the house that you can use instead of buying something new? We knew we didn’t need a changing table, but we also knew that it might come in handy. Our folding table that typically sits unused behind a door has worked perfectly!

We knew little J would need a dresser for at least some of his clothes, but since we are in an apartment we don’t have a lot of space. That three drawer rolling tub I used in the classroom has worked great to store socks, shoes, clothing, and more!

When little man really started moving, we decided it was time for baby gates. For the first couple months a couple of our kitchen chairs turned sideways worked perfectly! Then we did end up having to get a suspension one because he had turned into a little Houdini would could escape in no time. 🙂 We posted a quick request in our community’s online Facebook page and a neighbor gave us one within an hour.

Often times when you find out you’re expecting, everyone wants to get you a gift. It’s very sweet, and can sometimes be a bit overwhelming with the amount of “stuff” that is received. We should have asked for more diapers and wipes from people, rather than the five feet of clothes we ended up with (no joke!). If you aren’t brand loyal (and your baby doesn’t have any allergies) you can really do any kind of wipes or diapers that are on the market.

While we didn’t do this, there are some people who throw a diaper keg. You supply the keg and send out the invites. Others bring a pack of diapers in exchange for some great company and drinks. I’ve heard it can be quite successful, but it wasn’t something we wanted to do for personal reasons.

I don’t consider myself a big coupon-er by any means. But we did use coupons when we needed formula and for some other supplies. You might want to consider creating a coupon swap box by following the directions at this link.

I’m not going to preach about the benefits of breastfeeding in this post. But breastfeeding is a great way to save money on your baby! Yes, mom will have to maintain a healthy diet and watch what she eats, but you’ve probably already been doing that throughout the pregnancy anyway (and isn’t it something you should continue with throughout life?).

There are so many baby products you can make for a fraction of the cost compared to buying them – shampoo, body wash, butt cream, and lotion (just to name a few). If you are interested in trying this yourself, I’ve written an entire blog post to help you get started with the items mentioned above and a few others. Click here to check it out and get started.

There are our family’s eight main tips for saving money on your baby. I’m sure there are many more ways we could cut costs, but those have been the big ones for us.

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