Photo Credit To Kathy Wolfe Photography (Seriously go check her out shes AMAZING!)
A lot of first time parents don’t realize just how expensive having a baby can be. It can be a huge wake up call when you plan on breast feeding your child, then something happens that you’re unable to and have to then resort to formula feeding. Where a can of formula alone is $15 and up, and those don’t last too long!
When I found out I was pregnant with our first child we had just purchased our first home, got married, and were furnishing our new home so it was a very expensive year. We wanted to get everything we needed for the baby while still being able to set aside money for emergencies for when the baby finally came. With our son being born with his birth defect and needing hospitalization and surgery that savings we had came in handy or else those months spent in the hospital off of work would have hurt us financially.
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Below I’ve listed the top ways that we saved money for our baby’s first year. These are a must and you will thank me later for them!
1. How to receive a free breast pump – Most insurance companies will cover a brand new $300 breast pump for you. To inquire about receiving your free pump, you will first call the number on the back of your insurance card, they will direct you to a local pharmacy supply store or give you a number to one that will deliver to your doorstep for free. Some insurances like mine, will require a prescription written out by your OB and they will bill your insurance for the brand new pump. My new one I received was a Medela Freestyle double pump.
2. Not everything has to be brand new – What a lot of people do when they find out they are pregnant is go crazy on shopping for clothes. Clothes that the baby grows out in after only a few uses if not any! We had clothes our little one didn’t even get to wear! So buying second hand is a great idea when purchasing baby clothes. You would be surprised at the items you can get score at a great yard sale. We were lucky to come across one family who splurged on their baby boy with clothes that were barely worn or brand new including Ralph Lauren, Baby Gap, and Gymboree and we scored the a whole tote full for $20!
3. Stock up – I LOVE end of season sales. Always make sure you’re on the mailing lists for your favorite children’s clothing stores so that you can receive the latest updates in sales and promotions. If I come across a good sale going on I will stock up on clothes for when my baby’s older. For instance, Children’s Place had an amazing sale for their winter clearance where I scored baby jeggings, winter accessories, shirts, and pants all were each $2. We have totes full of clothes for a year ahead in case when come across deals like this!
4. DIY– If you’re crafty make some of the items you need for the baby. With Pinterest there are so many ideas for making your own nursing covers, nursery curtains, and homemade activity mats. There’s even ideas to reuse furniture for new items in a nursery! We used this idea and turned an armoire we had and painted it white to match the rest of the nursery and created it into a changing table inside/ storage for clothing and diapers! Then when she’s older and doesn’t need a changing table it can be used as either an entertainment center or a closet!
5. Freebies – If you do have to resort to formula feeding or plan on using regular diapers take advantage of the freebies from those companies. For our formula we use for our baby we signed up for the mailing list and received starter kits with formula samples and monthly coupons that always come in handy!
6. Make your own baby food – Invest in something like a Baby Bulletor you may even get lucky and find one at a garage sale. And purchase your vegetables and fruit in bulk. Make a ton and freeze!
7. Couponing / Cutting down other expenses – We started getting into couponing when we first found out I was pregnant. We saved a TON of money, of course we got kind of extreme into it too. But it’s a great way to cut back on other expenses like your grocery budget! Some good sites to check out if your looking to start are The Krazy Coupon Lady and Hip 2 Save.
8. Cloth Diapers – We personally didn’t do this, but we have a ton of friends who did. They’ve all said how much they’ve saved in the long run by doing it! Check out Mama’s Happy Hive for some great resources for cloth diapering How We Cloth Diaper and What To Do With Poo! While Cloth Diapering.
What were some of the ways your family saved money when preparing for your baby? I would love to hear some other ideas!
Don’t forget to check out our Free Printable 12 Month Onesie Stickers to capture those monthly milestones! Just download and print! They would also make a great baby shower gift.
Free Printable 12 Month Onesie Stickers
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Great tips! I saved a ton on diapers through Amazon Mom and Googling “best diaper deals”
I still shop end of season sales and stock up for next year. It’s a brilliant idea.
Great tips! There are so many free activities, too!
What great ideas! I scored quite a few baby gear items on Craigslist, and borrowed a few items from friends. And it’s so easy to get clothes either on clearance/sale OR at consignment shops. And second hand clothes are in such good condition!
Great tips! When I first had my baby I felt like everything had to be brand new, but I got over it pretty quickly when I realized how much money I was spending lol!
Awesome list. Love the free things. If you look hard enough you can find tons of free stuff.
I had no clue that most insurance companies will actually pay for a breast pump – that is very interesting to know.
Those are great tips! We definitely bought gently used items. We got a pump from insurance, made our own baby food. When we did formula, we got a lot of samples from our pediatrician which helped cut down cost. The other thing is that you really do realize what you need and want. You don’t always need the top of the line, newest gadget. Sometimes they are really ridiculous and a waste of money!
These are some really great tips! I wish I would’ve known about not buying a new breast pump because I could have saved myself some money.
My son was 6 months before breast pumps were covered… Luckily my husband’s company gave us a discount. I love your tips… especially #6. It was SO incredibly easy! I’m so glad I came across your blog… I can’t wait to see future posts!
So true! We had so many hand me downs.. we took them because everything was eating up the money!
I hit up a lot of yard sales, they usually save even more money than buying from the second hand stores
Great tips! We saved a lot with hand me downs and tag sales. For little people, they’re very expensive!
Jackie – What a great and informative post! You’re so right about formula being expensive. Unfortunately, my cups didn’t runneth over. My insurance company only covered a portion of the rental price for an old school breast pump. The pumpt didn’t work for me — or my micro-preemie. I ended up renting a hospital grade pump on my own. Once my cups were out of commission, my baby was on Neosure (mixed at 28 calories) and she is now taking Elecare Jr., vanilla. The cost of specialty formulas phenomenal. Luckily, I scrounged for coupons to help with the cost of Neosure…I just wish there were coupons for Elecare Jr.! And you’re so right about everything not needing to be new. I love hand-me-downs. Thanks for sharing your helpful post!
This post is so old but as I am planning for number two, it is relevant for me. I have to second the comment on specialty formula. My son had a severe milk AND soy allergy until he was around 18 months old (he still does, it’s just not as severe now) that prevented me from BF. He was placed on Nutramigen, the price of one can was astronomical: $36! And he’d go through it in less than 4 days. Multiply $36 by 5 or 6 and you are looking at a serious burden each month. Hoping that I can successfully BF with #2.
What a great post! Babies are so expensive and can wreck a budget quick! Very informative!
These are fantastic tips and sooo true. A baby is expensive- whether a parent stays home or not! I can stand behind all of your tips! LOL. I am not going to have any more babies but I have friends who are planning on having some and I will share this!
Not everything need to be brand new. I especially agree on that. New parents often gets so excited and will settle for only the best and new for their newborn. save it up for their schooling I say
Great tips! I think people these days want the best of the best, so they spend so much money… or shall I say waste it!
You are very right on this. Not everything has to be brand new and not paying full prices on baby stuff. That’s what I did.
Mhar Mg
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I love my consignment shops! It’s like a fun outing for me. 🙂 I need to look into some of these other tips! You always have the best information kind of posts. 🙂 Pinned!
great tips. Thanks for linking up at Tell Me About It Tuesday. We hope you hop over and share with us again next week.
I love this article! I follow gap sales like crazy, but sometimes you find the best deals at garage sales and thrift stores, for new clothing!
I LOVE Gap sales! I always score pretty good deals!
Nothing has to be new! I am a huge fan of consignment sales, I often find things for 50 cents each. I saved the most money with my girls by cloth diapering. We did it because both my girls were allergic to disposables ( not kidding, allergic like hives and 2nd degree burns on my oldest). After trying every disposable out there (thankfully gifted to me), on a whim I tried cloth diapering. An investment in the beginning and then the savings start adding up. I was amazed at how easy it was, they are not your Mom’s cloth diapers. With my oldest, the cloth diapers stopped all of her blow outs and so I was no longer washing her clothes every day. Another nice perk, both my girls potty trained at 16 and 17 months. Just a thought! I was lucky to be able to nurse until around 20 months for each girl however I received a lot of coupons and samples for formula. So if you are friends with a nursing Mom and have to formula feed, ask them if they have any coupons, they just might!!
I would also recommend putting on your baby shower invite that you are OK with new and used items. We received so much that I had more clothes than she could wear by doing that. We will trade in the ones I didn’t like or she can’t wear to the second hand store and get things she can use bigger sizes. Also it was helpful to have a raffle at our baby shower for one really cool gift in exchange for diapers. Every 5 diapers bought you another entry to the raffle.
This is a great list of tips. I would add that you don’t need to purchase ALL THE THINGS (lol) right away – you can put a lot of things on baby’s first Christmas/holiday list or for other gift-giving occasions, because you know babies get spoiled and everyone loves to buy them stuff. My babies will be 9 months at Christmas time and here is an example of what I put on their Christmas lists (partially necessities/partially fun stuff!) http://bit.ly/1lEbYO1
If you and a friend/friends have children around the same time you can do what we decided to do. We formed our own personal tot swap. From clothes to bottles to pack and plays to bouncer seats. We keep everything going to the next mom in need. We are four years in…countless families have been helped. I enjoy doing this very much. Someone somewhere paid for the stuff but rather than take it to good will just for the sake of cleaning house. We organize, sort and store until there is a need…which there is ALWAYS a need. Pay it forward people!
I love this idea! I was lucky that my sister had an older boy so I had a ton of stuff from her to use. I would love to add this to the list to share with other mothers. Would that be okay?
I got together with my mommy friends and we exchanged clothing and baby items twice a year. I got really cool clothes and baby items such as a high chair, baby board books. Modela.com told me what pumps were covered under my insurance and Gave me numbers to call. Free pump for me.
Great tips. Making my own baby food and shopping resale and rummage sales was a huge savings for us.
These are great tips.Clothing diaper and making my own baby food helps me a lot to save hundredths bucks.