This is a guest post by Gretchen, who lives just outside of Portland with her husband, Dominic, and soon-to-be little one who is due in October. You can follow their journey towards parenthood at That Mama Gretchen. Stop by to place a guess on baby’s gender and birthday!
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Preparing for baby on a budget is no easy task! When I found out I was expecting in early 2010 I immediately started dreaming of everything baby related. I signed up for virtually every pregnancy newsletter and found myself bombarded with e-mails shouting, “Buy this if you want to have a happy baby!” and, “You must have this to survive parenthood!” My, oh my, talk about overwhelming!
Over the last few months I have waded through the marketing schemes and found a way to prepare for baby without breaking the bank.
Decide what is a need and what is a want
Baby shopping is full of glitz and glam, but what is really necessary? First, ask current moms what they recommend when it comes to baby gear. Listen to them rather than the “registry recommendations.” This way you are hearing from the experts rather than those trying to sell you everything under the sun.
Determine how much you want to spend before going to the store
Trust me on this one, you can go crazy buying baby things. It is all TOO CUTE!
Once you have your list of needs/wants sit down with your spouse and decide what you are willing to spend on each item. Remember, the most important thing is mom and dad’s love … not fancy clothes.
Buy some items used
Clothes, furniture, toys? I fell in love with a designer stroller. But, the designer price was a bit steep. We did our research and found a practically new stroller through Craigslist at a fraction of the price … and we got a bunch of after-market accessories! By doing some smart shopping, having some negotiations skills, and being flexible with minor things like colors, you can get great deals on used products!
Local consignment stores and consignment events are also great places to score deals. REMEMBER – whether you buy new or used, make sure to read the safety review and sign up for recall notifications with the CPSC. Use your nine months of preparation – God gave us 9 months for a reason!
Follow Frugal Living NW and other coupon sites to stock up on diapers, wipes and toiletries at rock bottom prices.
Wait until baby arrives
How do you know if your baby will like to swing our bounce? You won’t until they arrive. So spare the expense of purchasing a swing AND a bouncer by having a baby shower after your little one’s arrival. This way you can register for things you will actually use.
Invest upfront to save long-term
According to one cloth diapering mom, cloth diapers will cost approximately $800 up front (for a substantial stash) and can be re-used for multiple children.
In comparison, disposable diapers will cost a family roughly $1,500 over the course of one child’s diaper days. Research breastfeeding options by attending a La Leche League meeting and planning to either rent or buy a top-notch breast pump. Definitely worth the research since formula can run $20/can and up!
Other great deal resources …
Zulily – Daily Deals for Moms, Babies and Kids
Baby Steals – It’s not just a deal, it’s a steal!
Garage Sales – Summer is prime garage sale season and nothing makes me happier than a box of practically new baby clothes for 25 cents a piece
Value Village – They have 50% off days every Monday holiday throughout the year. Don’t forget Goodwill and the Salvation Army too.
What are some creative ways you have been able to save before and after baby?
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Great article very informative for moms to be.
Great article, and great comments! I’m also a cloth diaper mommy, since the last one (#3). I just had my forth baby last Sunday. Since I still have a 2 year old in diapers, I’m taking a month off from cloth for both babes. Also, my infants always grow so rapidly on breast milk in the first 6 weeks that I did not want to purchase the diaper covers for the tiny size, but will wait until he’s a little bigger. I did purchase the cloth diaper (inside part) for the small size back in the spring when I found them on sale (greenmountaindiapers.com). My two year old has been in cloth since he was 6 months old, and is still in the same size (premium size cloth, with medium covers from Thirsties). My friend started her baby in cloth this last year, and found that the Thirsties didn’t fit the baby so well in the smaller size, so I plan to go to one of the diaper stores in Portland next month and “try on” some covers to see what fits my baby.
The cloth wipes are also another way to save, and carry the benefit of avoiding some of the chemicals in baby wipes which are now receiving so much attention for toxicity and hormone disruption (see my blog post at: http://cleangreenstart.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/cloth-wipes-for-diapering/ ).
We also shopped for much of our baby gear second hand, including our crib. However, I have more recently learned about the amazing work of Dr. Sprott of New Zealand on prevention of SIDS. His bedding recommendations have brought the SIDS rate in NZ down to zero in over 100,000 babies whose beds are compliant. That’s right: zero. Not one death.
Those of us who buy second-hand should be particularly aware of the increased risk of SIDS in reused mattresses; the information on Dr. Sprott’s site (http://www.babesafe.com/) caused me to send my used mattress to the dump, even though I’m generally a big reuse/recycle advocate.
One thing I did with both my babies (4 and 2 and a new one on the way 10/10) was to make my own baby food. I know that it will be a few months before I start up again, but it is so nice to walk to the freezer and pull out the day’s baby food rather than have to buy all the little jars at the store. It rarely goes on a good sale, and fruit and veggies bought in bulk and then steamed and pureed at home were cheaper and (believe it or not) an easier option. It gave me the freedom to use whatever I wanted and I knew exactly what was in my baby food. I used in season fruit and veggies when I could and then would turn to my fall canning supply or my frozen berries. The investment was minimal- a veggie steamer, a blender, and freezer jam containers (the pints are perfect size for a couple of meals). I’d usually “cook” once a month or so and it usually only took a few hours to be done. As they grew, I had the freedom to change texture by steaming less or using more chopped than pureed or add noodles or meat (couldn’t get over how gross the “meat” looked in the jars…) I even experimented with salt, pepper, spices, onions, garlic and peppers and now have children that will eat almost anything.
Thanks for the tips! I’m expecting baby #3 in 5 weeks, and I’d like to try at least some cloth diapers this time.
I’ve heard that there are lots of new products in cloth diapering, and I’m curious what you all are using! Is there a brand or system that you’d recommend or are you just talking about regular cloth diapers and plastic pants? I am most overwhelmed at the idea of a lot of extra laundry…already can’t keep up with what we have! 🙁 I’d love to hear any tips on managing that as well! Thanks ladies! 🙂
Side note: My niece also had bad yeast rashes so my sister-in-law had to switch to disposables after a few months.
Carla, I tried about 7 different brands/methods of cloth diapers (including making my own from a freebie web pattern) but fell in love with the bumGenius brand. I think you can get it at Diapers.com. It has an outer waterproof (soft nylon) wrap that will grow in size from newborn on up. Inside you put flannel liners (they look like cloth pantiliners) which can be whisked away when they get soiled and washed. In the end, I could reuse the wrap several times before it needed to be washed (I only kept 4 on hand plus 2 dozen liners). Put out the feelers to your mommy friends for someone wanting to sell cloth diapers b/c you’ll want to try a few brands on your own. I ended up giving mine away b/c a friend of a friend put the word out that she wanted to give it a try. I also put the grandmas to use knitting some 100% wool knickers (diaper covers) which worked extremely well. I bought an inexpensive web pattern and quality wool ($7/skein/per cover). Just, um, don’t put them in the dryer. 🙂 Good luck you and the new baby!
Another Cloth Diaper option-which believe it or not is CHEAPER than disposable-and SOOO much better for the environment, is Diaper Service. I found that was true when my son was younger & used more diapers (it would be even better with twins)-as there is a minimum charge, and it doesn’t decrease much when you are using less diapers when they get older & may be partly trained.
Awesome article!
Don’t forget the cost of an extra garbage can if you do disposables. A big expense where we live and big part of the reason we went with cloth. We spent under $400 for diapers, cloth wipes and wet bags…everything. May not be for everyone but tg they’ve work for us. Best part is when we’re done we’ll be we’ll sell ’em, just like everything else. (Yeah for Craigslist and consignment stores!!)
85% of what we have gotten for baby was bought second hand or borrowed. We also opted for a midwife to save on medical cost (among other reasons.) Other services, like photography, we bartered for. It’s amazing what you can procure when you are creative and diligent. Way to go frugal moms!
To clarify: I have cloth diapers and don’t make midnight drugstore runs. I use cloth wash cloths, not wipes. Maybe my son’s yeast rashes with cloth diapers are unique. And not many people have all 3 of their children in diapers at the same time.
Analysis for disposables: average4. 5 diapers/day for 2.5 years (910 days to make the numbers easy) = 4095 diapers * whatever your average cost/diaper is. I’ll spend ~$409/child on disposables
The time for a disposable diaper to decompose is unknown and depends heavily on climate and landfill density. Decomposition will be much more rapid at higher temperatures.
The main cost for my wash/dry was the 2.5 hr my dryer takes to dry a load of diapers. This will vary depending on the spin cycle of your washer and climate. (Things don’t dry well here in the Pacific Northwest.) Assume a number of diapers/load and use your detergent, bleach, hot water, gas/electricity and washer/dryer depreciation costs to determine your cost to wash per load. Many people don’t think about these costs because hot water, gas and electricity don’t show up in the “diaper budget” and washer/dryer depreciation is apparent only if you have to replace or repair your appliance.
Once you’ve calculated these numbers, determine how much time extra time you spend for cloth. For me, most of the time was extra changes (over disposables) and washing out diapers (my husband could not tolerate poopy diapers), not washing and drying.
Calculate your cost for each and subtract to determine your cost savings in dollars. Now look at your savings per day in dollars and compare to your cost per day in time and decide what is the best choice for you.
I LOVE that we’re talking about cloth diapers! I have 5 kids but didn’t discover them until kids #3-5. They’re not your mother’s cloth diaper for sure. Soooooo much better with the invention of microfibers and velcro. However, being a busy mom, I kind of did both cloth & disposable at the same time. Cloth was always my first choice to reach for, but I didn’t put a big guilt trip on myself if I used a disposable instead (easier for trips outside the house, etc). Sometimes all my cloth diapers were in the laundry. Sometimes I didn’t have any disposables, but cloth diapers saved my bacon b/c they were a backup. I never, ever had to made a midnight diaper run to the drugstore, which was very nice. Try it out if you can but don’t stress about it. Us mommies have enough to worry about, that’s for sure!
Cloth diapers are awesome! We used them with our first and are now a year into using them with our second. My initial investment was only about $300… I can’t imagine spending $800! I found lot of my diapers on sale, some used, some on etsy made by moms… Plus we registered for some and people bought them as gifts! Even if you only spent 10 cents per disposable, this is still significant savings. Especially when you consider wipes… We use cloth wipes also, so we save a lot of money there. And I have enough diapers to wash one load about twice a week, so it’s very little extra wear and tear on my washer. Not to mention the fact that we are keeping one ton of diapers out of the landfills per child, and they take 500 years to decompose!! That makes me feel good. 🙂
On the cloth diaper conversation…. we use them and I would do it all over again. I spent about 500 bucks to start up. We are now getting ready to use them for our second child who is due shortly. I still do the diaper deals because it allows me some freedom…. if I am home all day, we use cloth. When we run long errands or travel, we use disposable. This flexibility works for us. And I really like how our original 500 dollars should get us through 3 kids. Yes, you have to change them more often. Yes, you have to do more laundry. I find the financial savings to make it worthwhile.
Just my two cents…
The vaccinations for babies are expensive- a few thousand. That may be your largest expense if your insurance doesn’t cover it.
When you need something, post to Facebook. It’s likely that a friend has a bouncy seat, exersaucer or raincoat you could borrow. For the age group that has completed our families, we are eager to give stuff away! (and if we find that we have not completed our families, you’ll probably offer it back to us)
I don’t find cloth diapers to be a savings because you have to change them more often and I get great deals on disposables. ($0.10/diaper is my “purchase” threshold) I have twins so the outlay for cloth would be more and the number of reuses less. The choice here depends in part on how many kids you have in diapers at once (I had 3), how much help you have (my husband travels on business), and what your baby’s skin is like. (One of mine got yeast rashes easily and disposables were much better for him. Some babies are allergic to disposables and need cloth. So don’t spend $800 on cloth diapers you can’t use! Wait and see what your baby is like) The other factor is wear and tear on your washer/dryer. The new front loading machines are just not as reliable as the old Maytags and wear out after a couple thousand loads. What is your real cost to wash/dry if your washer/dryer cost $2000 and only wash 2000-4000 loads before an electronic failure or mold problem? If your washer is a $100 craigslist purchase, this is not much of a factor.
Even if you intend to breast feed you may still need bottles, a pump and storage supplies if you ever intend to leave your baby for more than an hour.
You can save money by talking to other parents who have babies of the same sex that were born around the same time of year. I pass on my sons clothes to my friend who has a son that’s a year younger, and she then passes them to our other friend who just had a baby this summer. They’ll pass them all back to me for yet another friend who’s due with a boy. Babies (besides an occasional diaper blow out or serious spill/spit up) don’t usually ruin their clothes til they are crawling. It’s easy to stretch the clothes through more than one baby. I buy higher end clothes so that they’ll last longer, I just buy them on sale and with coupons or even second hand. Looking for brand name items is worth it in my opinion.
I found out I am preggo with baby number 4 and since I breastfeed, I need nothing. Since we co-sleep, I don’t need the bassinet, mattresses, sheets, crib stuff etc. We use cloth diapers, don’t need to buy those again – have them from the last ones. We don’t/won’t find out if we are having a boy or a girl, but we have clothes saved from each – so I don’t need to buy anything. Only thing that I need to buy is a new car seat because mine are now expired.
Babies aren’t expensive at all – – they really are simple creatures.
Consignment sales!
I went to my first Pass It On sale when my daughter was 2 weeks old and I’m hooked. The next sale is in October and I’m getting ready to unload current kid stuff and start buying baby stuff. Babies especially grow so fast they you find clothes at consignment sales with tags still on – for 50% off or more!
http://www.passitonsales.com
Way to go roomie! I was so excited when I saw this was you! You are right on 🙂 Great mama already! 🙂 Callie