Saving Money With a New Baby

Congratulations! You are expecting or have just given birth to a beautiful new human. There are a couple of things always associated with a new baby – no sleep and more expenses. There are also ways to lessen the effects of both, but in this post, I will discuss ways to save money with that new bundle of joy. So, how do you go about saving money with a new baby?

1. Breastfeed if you can – I say if you can because it is not possible for everyone. The research for breastfeeding shows it is preferable over the formula for various health advantages. An added advantage is the cost or lack thereof. It is essentially free, with the possible cost coming from breast pumps if you choose to use one.
   
2. Buy clothes from thrift stores or yard sales – Your child is going to grow so fast buying brand new clothes from the store just doesn’t make sense. Not to mention he will be making a mess in those clothes most of the time. Buying used clothes from garage sales and thrift stores will save you tons of money. (Also see: Is Goodwill Open on Sunday?)
   
3. Use cloth diapers instead of disposable – There will always be a debate on the cloth versus disposable diapers, but one thing will always be true, cloth diapers are cheaper. Mint.com wrote an article about the difference in price between the two in 2011 and found that disposable diapers were about $800 per year and cloth diapers were $600 per year.
   
4. Buy disposable diapers in bulk – If you go the disposable route, make sure you are buying them in bulk. This can significantly reduce the cost per diaper. The diaper size will make all the difference because each size diaper will have a different amount per box.
   
5. Go hard on coupons – this one is self-explanatory. There are some brands that you are just going to use, plain and simple. You may use Pampers or Huggies for diapers and wipes, so go to their website and find deals and coupons. There are a lot of good comparison shopping coupon sites to get promo codes online from.
   
6. Create a baby registry – this is a big one. For the baby shower, you should create a registry for people who wish to buy you gifts. This saves you money in two ways. First, people are buying you the items instead of you buying them for yourself. Second, most places will give you a percentage off of anything left on your registry. Babies R Us, for example, give you 10% cash back on every item bought off of your registry, and also give you 15% off of anything left on your registry.
   
7. Sign up for rewards – there are various companies that offer rewards to people with children. Amazon is one of them. They have a program called Amazon Moms, which is designed to help you find and save on items you use for your child. Pampers is another company that offers rewards. You get points for purchasing diapers and wipes and can use those points to get gift cards, more diapers, and various other items.

Get your FREE trial of Simplifi by Quicken. You work hard for your money. Now let’s make it work hard for you. 

Conclusion

Having a baby is a very rewarding experience. It comes with many highs and lows, and most definitely comes with costs. Using the various tips laid out above, you can reduce the cost that comes with having a baby.

Photo: Parenting