Naptime Blog

…But they sure are expensive!

As parent’s we are always looking for ways to cut back and save money, because lets face it having a baby is not cheap! This is even more relevant to first time parents who are starting off with nothing.  I knew the general cost of things before we got pregnant, my husband however has been having major sticker sock! I made him tag along with me to Babies R Us a month ago to set up our registry, as I was telling him to scan the things I wanted he kept making comments about the price tag!

Here are some of the ways I plan to save money along with some of the reasoning’s I have to spend money!!! (Lets face it shopping is fun!)

1. SAVE – Buy all your big ticket items gender neutral if you are planning or even have a small chance of having another child. While I think the pink stroller is sooooo cute, we got a brown one so that if baby #2 is a boy we could reuse it! This was true for items such as the crib, bouncer seat, swing, high chair, car seat ect.
2. SPEND – We decided to make sure the items we registered for where good quality items that would hold up for more than one child. What is the use of avoiding that pink stroller if it is only going to last for one child? If we spend a little more money then in the end we will actually be saving money by avoiding having to buy twice!
3. SAVE – Yard Sales!!!!  It is that time of the year again where you will see yard sales everywhere!  My husband and I have been waking up early the last few Saturdays to go out to hunt and boy has it paid off!  Just this past weekend we were able to get a TON of clothes for only $30! We haven’t found any “gear” yet but we are still on the hunt!



4. SPEND – I know people will have a difference of opinion on this BUT spend the money and buy a NEW quality car seat for your child!  For me this is something I would not compromise on, anything else ok I would consider getting it used, but the car seat was a must splurge on NEW item!  We ended up deciding on getting a Chicco travel system and were lucky enough to find it on sale (last year’s color) and we had a coupon to use on it so got it at a steal!
5.  SAVE – Cloth Diaper and Breast Feed.  There are a ton of reasons for this and I will not go into them all since they are pounded into a new mom’s head a million times over… We decided to cloth diaper not only for the money saving benefit (shhh don’t tell my hubby this might not be true with all the cute diapers out there I have been drooling over, but yes it can easily be cheaper) but also for the health reasons.  Both of my brothers were allergic to disposable diapers and had to use cloth, my parent’s used sposies for me and guess who was always getting diaper rashes and having blow outs??? That’s right ME … and since my husband is not all that excited over diapers in general we need to avoid blow outs at all costs
6. SAVE – Most people would think this would fall under a spend but if you know the facts it can be one of the biggest places you save! If you are not able to or choose not to breast feed you will need to buy formula. One trip down the formula aisle will have your head spinning due to the high price of the National brands.  But take a closer look, right next to the national brand you will find the store brand, then look at the price tag!  For example, we shop at Walmart; the store brand at Walmart is called Parent’s Choice.  If you compare the back of the Parent’s Choice can with that of the National brand you will see that it is the SAME stuff, the only difference is the price! After doing more research on the topic I found out that simply buy using Parent’s Choice we can save around $600 a year on formula! (www.parentschoiceformula.com) That made up my mind! If I end up not breast feeding I will be purchasing store brand!

What are some of your ways to save and splurge?

Shannon
Soon to be first time mom!