Baby on a Budget!

That seems to be the leading line to anything that comes to babies. Yes, yes surely we can all be like “sure, yeah I bet they are” followed by an annoyed eye roll and swift subject change, but it was not until pregnancy (unexpectedly) slapped me in the face that I really began to grasp it. Then I was like….”OH SHIT! Why are babies so expensive??”

As I began making my registry and attempting to make a list of every little thing we might not realize we may need (have I mentioned the fact that I’m somewhat of a planner) for our surprise bundle of joy I really had a few moments of panic. When you think of having a baby the necessities come to mind, diapers, food, clothes, bottles, and those sort of things. What did not immediately come to mind was 1. the amount of those things we would need, 2. the price of those things and 3. ALL of the OTHER things too that were just as expensive. I was really panicking, especially withe my husband’s sporadic idea to change careers in the middle of a pandemic.

So I did the only thing I could do, I made a plan. My plan was to

1. find all the freebies I could. I will include a post on where I tried, which were successful,which ones were actually free and how YOU can do it too.

2. figure out what exactly was needed. I will also include a baby registry post for you to check out.

3. come up with a way to get those things at a good price. Which is exactly what I will cover in this very post!

Here are some ways I cut costs on all things baby

shop gently used

For clothes, baby carrier, stroller, swings and things along those lines Facebook marketplace has been a LIFE SAVER! I met with several individuals who were selling near new condition clothes for so cheap! I bought all the clothes (I hope) baby E will need from newborn all the way up to 12months for a grand total of…….$83. That’s right….. an entire years worth of baby clothes for EIGHTY THREE BUCKS. A lot of the people I met up with were selling either bulk items (entire totes for $20) or individual too. The individual items I would not pay more than $2 per piece (depending on what it was), but majority of it was all $1 each and if you ask, a lot of the time if you buy a lot they will give you an even better deal. Just don’t be afraid to ask and don’t be offended if they decline! No worries, either way you’re still getting a good deal. Disclaimer, we also got some hand-me-downs from friends and family, but those are all sizes 18 month-3T, so they were not included in this little tip. However, you can do that too… keep an eye for friends or family who are selling/getting rid of their little’s old clothes. Perhaps they’d be wiling to cut you a good deal as well.

Shopped frugally and learned to coupon to stretch my money

For diapers, wipes, ointments, creams, shampoos, lotions, prenatal vitamins and stuff along those lines I learned to coupon at CVS. I know, I know-IMMEDIATELY you rolled your eyes huh? I would have too, until I realized how much my family could benefit from me learning ways to save money. I have always been frugal, but never frugal enough to want to get involved with truly learning to coupon. From prior attempts it seemed extremely time consuming, overwhelming, nerve wracking….need I go on? It was just something I did NOT want to put time and effort into really exploring. With that being said, I AM SO GLAD I MADE MYSELF!!!!!! After seeing how much a baby really does cost in combination with my husband’s career/our life change I knew having a stock pile of diapers and wipes was a way I could alleviate some of the worries I that had been building up. After seeing the cost of diapers and wipes I knew that was only feasible through learning to coupon. In attempts to avoid making this post too long, I will make another post about my couponing experiences and tips to get started for y’all to check out. Couponing also has helped us save money on things like laundry detergent and things around the house we need too. The point here is this, after HOURS of research (cuz that’s my jam) I had come up with a rough estimation of how many diapers of each size we would need and set that as my diaper and wipes goal prior to sweet baby E’s arrival. Keep in mind I am still working on reaching this goal, I still have ten weeks to get there….but at a grand total of $93 over the course of seven months we have accumulated baby shampoo, wash, ointments/creams, lotions and

57 newborn diapers (I plan on getting more from the hospital fo free haha)

452 size 1 diapers

97 size 2 diapers

26 size 3 diapers

along with a bunch of cases of wipes. This also is not including the free diapers and wipes we got from a couple of the registries.

Utilized free loyalty programs here are my top two “go-to” apps

To save even more get familiar with apps that give you rewards back. Apps like Pampers and iBotta are completely free to you and only serve as a slight inconvenience for completely free rewards to you! Like most loyalty programs you essentially spend money on things you would normally buy, scan the item code, earn points and then redeem those points into cash back for yourself.

For the pampers app you just download it, set up your account and every time you make a pampers purchase (wipes and diapers) you just scan the code and you get points back. Reward points vary for product, but once you scan you should see the point value with ease. For diapers you will locate the code inside the bag, tub of wipes the code is on top of the lid, refillable wipes will be on the outside of the package… sometimes on the sides, others under the seam. Super easy loyalty program that offers good incentives for parents.

I LOVE iBotta!!! Download it, use my referral code hyqqerq (depending on the month we both earn money when you use my code!), check it out and you will love it too! Not only is it easy, but you are getting rewards (aka money) back for things YOU ARE ALREADY BUYING, not just baby stuff either….literally everything. In the past, I have tried a few others apps with a similar concept, but none compared. Before I get into telling you how to do it (as if you need me to explain, because yes it is THAT easy) let me first tell you WHY I love it. Just like any normal loyalty program you earn points and those points later are converted into dollars in some sense of the word. Right, right. The thing I love most with Ibotta, is that they offer SEVERAL options for you to choose from for your personal cash redemption..this means gift cards to big retailers, online retailers, movies, restaurants, even actual cash back. Even more convenient, they offer digital gift cards so that means you can literally see something you want at the store, decided you don’t want to dip into your weekly spending for it and within seconds have those points converted to buy it right then and there. The only catch is you have to have a minimum of $25 to redeem, but that’s not hard to acquire. I typically stick with good ole Walmart gift cards to either a. help with household necessities like trash bags, Christmas gifts and so on or b.use the gift card to buy some nice beach luxuries that I am otherwise too cheap to buy (nice beach wagon, large beach towels, cute coolers…) you have options though. Another cool thing about iBotta is they have like reward goals for each month where you can earn even more. For Thanksgiving last year they even did a free turkey if you spent (I think it was around $30)… you simply download the app, select the store, “clip” aka their lingo for click on the items you purchase/will purchase and then snap a picture of your store receipt. Majority of the time everything will automatically sync from your store receipt to your clipped items, but I have noticed some stores you have to click on what you are redeeming and scan the barcode. No biggie though! Still super easy and still earning you cash back!

shop clearance racks like it’s your job

For toys, blankets, changing pads and other items I shopped clearance racks at already discounted stores. Ross, T.J.Maxx, Burlington, Home Goods, Marshalls….ALLLLLLLLL of these stores are your friend. Why? Well, not only do they have good shit already at a reduced rate, but they do markdowns as well which means even more money in your pocket. I bought baby E’s shakers, rattlers, car seat/stroller attachments, soft books, noisy socks, newborn pacifiers, bottle drying rack, normal socks, pack of newborn washcloths, teething toys, and all different types of newborn/infant toys from these stores and did not pay over $2 per a single item. Read that again. ALL BRAND NEW. In-fact, just two days ago Burlington had a noise shaker marked down to one cent…..that’s right a whopping penny. My husband just so happened to be with me that day and he couldn’t believe his eyes. He always hears of me coming home all giddy about sweet deals I found, but he finally got to see it in person. The deals are there, you just have to pay attention to markdowns. Walmart also has some good markdowns on clothes occasionally, just a couple weeks back they had their fleece zip-up pajamas marked down to $1.50. Unfortunately they didn’t have any in the size we needed so we lucked out on that one.

To summarize yes babies ARE expensive, but do not let that discourage you. There are still ways to save money without compromising quality.