Being a parent is a difficult job. With all the hoo-has and celebrations that come with having a baby, many people forget that it is extremely costly to raise a baby. Baby products are one of the most expensive items in the world. So, you will need some effective ways to save money when you have a baby.
The process of saving money is especially important for first-time parents, as they are not completely aware of what and how to raise a baby frugally. So, you, as a parent, need to be aware of ways one can save money whenever having a baby. Keeping that in mind, here are 20 ways you can save money when you have a baby.
1. Get Some Freebies From The Hospital
You may remain unaware of it, but your hospital will provide you with different freebies after having a baby. Items such as diapers, wipes, baby combs, pacifiers, onesies, hats, free formula samples, cleaning buckets, pads, etc., are some of the items you can get from your hospital for free after having a baby. Some hospitals may give all of these items for free, while some may only give a few of these items for free.
So, you need to ask your nurse or other attending physician what kinds of freebies are offered by the hospital and take them as much as you can (especially the diapers and wipes). They will help you save a lot of money later.
2. Do Not Use Formula Feeding And Instead Breastfeed
Unless no other choice, you should not spend money on milk formulas that cost an average of up to US$ 1000 a year. Instead, you should opt for breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is natural and not costly at all. Moreover, you never know how your baby is going to react to these medicinal formulas. Although most milk formulas are safe for babies, you can never be too careful when it comes to the health of your child.
On the other hand, breastfeeding is much healthier. You should get some breast pumps and other related items to breastfeed your baby during his early years instead of spending a huge amount of money on formulas. This helps you save thousands of dollars.
3. Never Buy Clothes For Your Baby Ahead Of Time
The problem with buying clothes for your baby ahead of time is that you can never know when your baby will have a sudden growth spurt. It is very common for most babies to have growth spurts at unknown times. So, you are seriously wrong when you buy clothes for your baby, thinking that they will ‘fit into it later.
When your baby starts growing suddenly, you may not even have the chance to try the newly bought clothes before they start not getting fit. Moreover, many parents buy shoes for their babies. It is a complete waste of money as babies do not need shoes when they are infants. Shoes actually impede a baby from learning how to walk. So, only buy clothes and shoes for your baby when they are needed to save money.
4, Test Out Baby Items Before Buying Them
Consider a scenario: you bought an expensive milk bottle for your kid, but your kid dislikes them and starts crying whenever you start feeding him with it. Instead, your kid prefers a cheap bottle. You just lost a lot of money. Imagine this same scenario for diapers, wipes, toys, cribs, strollers, and other baby items.
You can not even make an accurate calculation on how much money you are going to waste if you start buying baby items before testing them. So, always test out the items you buy for your babies.
5. Skip On Celebrations Until Your Child Gets Older
Celebrations such as birthdays, Christmas, Easter, etc., do not make sense for infants as they are unaware of anything. But these celebrations do cost a lot. So, if you start spending extravagantly on celebrations and festivals for your babies, you will only end up wasting a lot of money.
You should hold up on these celebrations until your child gets old enough to understand what they are and learns to enjoy them. It saves money and also makes your celebrations much more enjoyable. So, skipping on kids’ birthdays and presents until they get older is a good way to stop unnecessary spending and save money.
6. Make sure to buy kid-friendly toys
Buy toys that children love and not those that you love. Most importantly, you need to buy kids-friendly toys. Do not make a mistake by giving your kids the toys and gadgets made for adults. As an example, you can give your smart kids dumb phones instead of your smartphones. And rather than giving them real drones to play with, give them toy drones and helicopters.
You need to be aware that if you give your kids adult toys and smartphones, then there is a chance that your kid will have an unhealthy development. Tools and gadgets used by adults are much more expensive than the ones used by kids. As such, giving your kids toys that they can enjoy playing with not only improves their healthy development but also saves you a lot of money. So this is how you can save money after having a baby through kid-friendly toys.
7. Borrow As Many Items As You Can
You should never shy from borrowing items when trying to save up after having a baby. There may be someone you know who might have had a baby recently. So, the baby clothes, cribs, strollers, toys, etc., that their baby no longer needs can be useful in your hands. You can ask any of your relatives, friends, or colleagues if someone has a lot of unused items as their baby grew up and borrow them from them. Make sure to borrow as many items as you can. As your baby grows up rapidly, pretty soon, you will not need these items.
8. Do Not Get Too Caught Up In Commercials
Many parents often get so caught up in advertisements and commercials for baby products that they end up spending much more than needed. When you go out to buy baby products, you may like the big, bold claims written on their packaging and end up buying it only for you to understand later that it makes no difference at all.
Most of the commercials are for products that do not necessarily have any impact on your babies. For example, you do not need to buy Huggies diapers just because they have good commercials. Instead, you should aim for generic products for your babies. This will certainly help you save lots of money when raising your kid.
9. Buy Daily Items Like Diapers And Wipes In Bulk
Items like diapers and wipes are use-and-throw items that get used daily. So, you need to buy these items in bulk. Go to Costco or your local wholesale store and buy diapers, wipes, etc., in bulk. In doing so, you can get special discounts and save up on a lot of money. You also do not need to worry about not using these items as they get used and thrown often. You can be sure that if you buy these items individually, over time, you are going to spend a lot more money than when you buy them in bulk.
10. Make Your Own Baby Food Instead Of Spending On A Readymade One
There are many different kinds of readymade baby foods in the market. Many parents often feel lazy, frustrated, and hesitate to make their own baby food and buy the readymade foods available on the market. Many parents also think that readymade foods are much healthier than the ones they make themselves. So they end up spending a lot. If you are a parent, you should discard such practices and make your baby food yourself.
Readymade baby foods are expensive. You will definitely save a lot if you discard readymade food and make your own baby food. Moreover, making the baby food yourself is also a test of your parenting skills.
11. Only Make Food For Babies When It Is Feeding Time
Kids get hungry often. So, you need to feed them regularly. Sometimes it becomes too annoying. Many parents think in these scenarios that they can prepare the food for their babies ahead of time and feed them at any time.
This is a very bad and unhealthy practice. Your baby will not like cold-stored or microwave-heated food, and they are extremely unhealthy. More importantly, you will end up throwing a lot of baby food in the garbage if you continue this practice and end up wasting a lot of money. So, always make food for your baby only when it is the feeding time and not sooner.
12. Refer To Telehealth And Hotline Services Instead Of Going To Hospitals
Hospital hotlines and pediatrician telehealth services are available in most of the hospitals and clinics. You can contact them if you have a problem with your baby. You can solve most of the common medical issues through these hotline services.
You can also go online and book a virtual appointment with a pediatrician for your baby’s problems. This generally costs a lot less than going to hospitals for treatments. You can save up your insurance bills and keep your kids healthy at the same time.
13. Unless Necessary, Do Not Hire Nannies To Take Care Of Your Baby
Hiring nannies to take care of your babies is nothing new. Many parents are busy individuals who have a lot of work to do and cannot take care of their babies all the time. So, they hire nannies.
However, there is another way besides hiring nannies to take care of babies. That is to ask your aunts, mothers-in-law, and other relatives who are relatively free and have a lot of time on their hands. So you can ask if any of your relatives are free and if they would like to watch over your babies. And unless necessary, you do not have to hire nannies, which saves up lots of money.
14. Learn DIY crafts
You can decorate your baby rooms with different crafts that you make yourself. You do not need to hire professionals to decorate your baby room. Instead, you can use different items in your house like cardboard boxes, glitters, etc., to make decorations. You can learn the DIY crafts online and make yourself busy at home by creating different crafts. This will help you save money on decorations for your baby rooms.
Learning DIY (Do It Yourself) crafts is one of the good ways you can save money after having a baby as you can use these crafts to decorate your baby room and teach others or make a website teaching others for a small sum of money.
15. Make sure to keep a budget and track your spending
With the addition of a little one in your family, your spending will immediately rise up. From foods, diapers, cribs, and strollers to toys and medical expenses, your baby is sure to make your accounts dry. And with all the happiness of having a baby going on in the background, it is considerably difficult to resist the urge to buy something more for your baby. You will only realize how much you have spent after seeing your credit card bills or your savings accounts at the end of the month and will have the urge to cry.
To make sure you avoid these types of scenarios, make a habit of keeping track of your expenses and making a budget. It will be easier to manage spending on your baby if you know how much you have and how much you have already spent. This will help you immensely in saving money while raising your child.
16. Get as much from vouchers, coupons, sales, and other discounts
Always keep a lookout for any sales or discounts when buying products. There may be a sale for baby products going on in your local store or on Amazon. You need to grab these opportunities to save money and not let these chances fly by. Go after all the sales, discounts, vouchers, and coupons that you can manage to get your hands into. And after a while, you will realize how much money you have saved.
17. Buy only the items that are needed
If you are keen on saving money after having a baby, you should only buy items that are needed and not the items you want or seem good. Buying baby tubs, making nurseries for babies are not necessary. Yes, they are good to have around, but not necessary. No one will say anything if you buy them; however, it is best to skip on these items to save money.
Another thing to be mindful of is buying unisex clothes. As long as your babies are not grown up, it will not matter if it is a boy or girl cloth. Instead, buying unisex clothes will help you save money for your future baby.
18. Baby proof your home to avoid any accidents and medical expenses
Baby proofing your homes or apartments is necessary if you want to avoid any accidents. Although baby proofing costs money, comparing it to paying for medical expenses in case of an accident seems like a pretty good investment. So, make sure you baby-proof your home if you want to avoid spending money on medical expenses later.
19. Buy convertible baby items
There are many convertible baby items like convertible cribs, baby car seats, strollers, etc., that change or grow as your baby grows. Buying these items means you will not have to buy more after your baby starts to grow. Convertible baby items maybe a little more costly than non-convertible ones, but considering the long-term implications of saving money, it is recommended that you buy them.
20. Save your unnecessary baby clothes and toys for future babies or someone else’s babies
Saving your unnecessary baby items like clothes, toys, cribs, strollers is a way to save money. You can use them later for your other baby, or you can lend them to someone else or sell them for a small sum of money. You can also donate them. Donating these items can help with your taxes if you have the donation bills. This will also help you save a lot of money.
