12 Ways to Save Money When Having a Baby

Spring is here and the pregnancy announcements are coming left and right. I decided its more than time to give this post an update. After all, it’s been a couple of babies since I wrote it and I have some more tips to share with all those new moms and moms to be out there.

Are finances tight but a new blessing on its way?  Deep breath, don’t panic.  You have this mama, a few choices can make that new addition pretty darn cheap.  You can save money when having a baby. In fact, the baby stage can be lower cost than any other. Having been there done that a time or two, or four I know there are money savers for having a new baby.

1. Cloth Diapers.

Fluffy bottoms are the best way to save the most money on your new baby.  For our oldest, we spent over $4000 on disposable diapers from birth to potty.  On babies 2, 3, and 4 we spent $450 combined.  Let that sink in. That is $3550 difference between child 1 and 2.

That means with baby #3 and 4 we saved $8,000 that is a whopping $11,550 savings for three kids!  No chump change with that one. With our youngest two in diapers at the same time, our diaper needs would outspend our monthly electricity bill. Read more about cloth diapers.

Cloth not for you? That is okay. Save money by using sites that offer discounts and deals on diapers and wipes like grove.com and The Honest Company. Brandless offers cheap diapers and wipes.

2. Cloth Wipes.

These can be super cheap. Old t-shirt ready for the trash? Cut into large squares no need to sew and they let you keep your hands cleaner than if you used a set of Huggies wipes. Each wipe runs about 2 pennies each.  That does not seem like much but when you use 3-4 per diaper change it is worth a lot more than you think.

Cloth not for you? That is okay. Save money by using sites that offer discounts and deals on diapers and wipes like grove.com and The Honest Company. Brandless offers cheap diapers and wipes.

3. Breastfeed.

If you are a stay at home mom this can be extra effective no pumps, bottles, and work to wash, satirize, and mix. As a working mom, you can still save a lot of $ despite the cost of a breast pump and bottles. If you formula fed you would still need bottles and the law requires your insurance company covers the cost of a pump.

Breastfeeding not right for you? That’s okay too find some tips on how to build a stockpile of formula and even find free formula for your baby.

4. Shop resale.

You can save money when having a baby with clothes, bedding, baby furniture bought used.  In fact, skip most of the baby furniture until the baby arrives so you can see what you will need as most of us never use the impossibly long list.  With our last baby, we had gotten rid of everything.  

What did we replace? Baby/toddler rocking chair that doubles as napping spot and a car seat.  Yup, no crib, changing table, pack n play etc.  We had it all with our oldest we never used it. (safety note: please avoid bed-sharing if under the influence of alcohol, drugs, Rx meds, or anything else that could impair your response to your child.)

5. Don’t upscale your home.

Many believe bigger family = bigger home but, a baby without any unnecessary furniture takes up very little room. It is the older years they take up a lot of space.

6. Re-use.

Make your own baby toys.  Hit sites like Pinterest for recycled baby toy ideas and remember things like a ball go a long way in the eyes of a new baby. Upcycled toys are great for holiday gifts and Easter basket fillers for your baby.

7. Make your own baby food.

It is really easy and cost-effective to make your own baby food.  If you do not have a blender you can get a hand baby food maker for cheap or even just use a potato masher (yes they still make those.)

8. Save on maternity care.

With a healthy uncomplicated pregnancy, a midwife at a birthing center or home can run as low as $3,000 to $6000 to cover everything pregnancy to birth including ultrasounds and the like.  And many midwives will come to you your entire pregnancy making those many checkups a breeze.

9. Cut things you do not need.

Do you need cable or will Netflix do the trick? Do you need two cars or can you get by on one? A yard sale is a great way to earn extra money before the baby comes. You will be surprised about how you can save money when having a baby in everyday places.

10. Coupon and shop sales.

While this takes some time to get into you have no reason to ever pay full price again even for healthy whole foods with planning ahead.  Buy a deep freezer and take advantage of sales, clearances, and managers specials. Sales are a great way to prep your baby emergency kit.

11. Earn free gift cards

This is a great way to lower the cost of the things you need to buy.

One of my favorite ways to earn gift cards is Swagbucks. I ear nut from setting it as my main search engine and fiddling around when I have some spare time. sign up for a Swagbucks account and earn gift cards. I have loved this site for years.

When doing your everyday shopping use Ibotta to get rebates on everyday items from milk to your favorite brands. These can be redeemed for digital gift cards to Amazon.com,  Walmart or paid out to PayPal within minutes to give you a backup formula budget.

Insta gift card is one more easy one you can earn points just doing clicks to pages on your phone while you’re holding a sleeping baby to earn gift cards you can stash for an emergency.

12. Sign up for baby registries

When you make baby registries for your baby you get offered some pretty good competition discounts that can help make buying what your baby needs less expensive. Great places to sign up for babies registries include Amazon, Walmart, and Target.

Amazon offers a fun box of free samples and full-size items delivered to your door with the Amazon Baby Welcome Box.

Walmart also offers a baby welcome box that often runs out so sign up to get an email when they are in stock.

Target lets you sign up for a registry then stop by any store to grab a set of free samples and goodies as well.

Simple At Home - Making Life Simple Again

What ways can you save money when having a baby?

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3 comments

  • Bobbi says:

    I would suggest changing number 7 to Baby Led Weaning. One of the best things I have ever done and it saves time and money because baby is eating what you eat.

    Reply
    • Suzie says:

      Except that with baby led weaning a lot of food gets wasted because it ends up on the floor. I honestly think that BLW is ridiculously overrated. Not that its a bad thing (whatever works for your family right) but it takes very little time to wizz up whatever the family is eating with a hand held immersion blender and the amount of time you save by not having to clean up the crazy mess all over the highchair, floor and baby actually means that you come out WAY ahead in terms of time saving. Also, my friends who have followed BLW have kids complain that they now have 2 and 3 year olds who won’t use a utensil and are STILL making huge messes at every meal. We started with purees at 6 months and then added texture and finger foods gradually and they were all feeding themselves almost entirely by their 1st birthdays.

      Reply
  • brennis says:

    In my house we had a crib but our kids kept putting their feet through the slats. So eventually we just used a play pen…. So you don’t need a 100+ dollar crib just get a used play pen.

    Reply