MONEY SAVING TIPS FOR BABY

As a new stay at home mom, I am always looking for ways to save money!
These are a few ways that I have been saving money since I’ve been home:

Cloth diapering-

My sister actually turned me on to cloth diapering, and I am so glad we went this route! We invested in cloth diapers in the beginning, and we will be able to use these diapers until Caroline is out of diapers, and reuse them for baby #2. This is saving us tons of money!

Here’s a list of everything you’ll need to invest in up front:

– Cloth diapers of your choice
– Cloth wipes
– Pail liner
– Trash can
– Wet bags for on the go
– Cloth diaper safe rash cream

Picking your diaper type:

We chose to use bum genius cloth diapers. They are one sized diapers that will grow with our baby. I’ve heard great reviews about the quality of these diapers, and I agree! They fit all baby types and are made very well. I love the flexibility of pocket diapers with choosing different inserts. We use charcoal bamboo inserts (CBI). These hold a lot of moisture, yet are trim as well!

For nighttime- we love sustainablebabyish overnight bamboo fitted diapers with a cover! Haven’t had a leak in her 12 hr nights since we started using these! Looking back now, I wish someone would have told me to just buy all larges! They have enough snaps that you can get them to work at pretty much all sizes!

To save even more money, we decided to buy all used diapers. This sounds gross, I know…but you strip them and bleach them, and they are just as good as new! So, instead of paying around $25 for new diapers, we paid around $10 per diaper!

Figuring out your wash routine:

I consulted Fluff Love University for help with this! They have all the help you could ever dream of. I also joined their facebook group. I haven’t had any issues with our diapers.

How many diapers do you need?

I would recommend about 35/40 daytime, and 4 nighttime. We wash on the 4th day (when we run out of nighttime diapers). This frees me from having to do laundry all the time!

See all cloth diapering posts here!

Making your own baby food

This is so simple!

Here’s a list of what you’ll need:

– Magic bullet
– Basket steamer
– Freezer trays
– Freezer bags

Cut up food into small chunks, steam for around 10/15 min or until the food is soft, puree in the magic bullet, pour into freezer trays, freeze, pop out and place into freezer bags! Super simple process and it is very healthy and versatile!

We used this baby food chart to know when to start different foods and it was very helpful as a guide!

Facebook buy sell trade pages

This is a MUST! I went onto facebook and started searching for buy sell trade pages for my county and city. I found TONS in my area. Local families sell their items, and you can pick up great deals- especially on baby stuff! When you are done with something, you can sell the item and make your money back! I sell all sorts of things and this inspired me to go through our closets! I sell women’s clothes that no longer fit, books, decorations, household items, everything! This has been a great resource for making a few bucks and for finding baby items!

Save money on your phone bill

We switched from tmobile to ting a couple of years ago. We used to spend $150 for 2 phones on the unlimited plan. Now we spend $60 for the same amount of data! If we need to save money this month, we can choose to not use the phones and the bill would be as little as $12. The savings is completely in our control, and I can track our usage on the phone app or online. This was a HUGE savings for us! Earn $25 off with this link!

We also use WiFi as much as possible instead of using data. You can Skype and do video calls for free that way! You could send messages to people on Skype without using a text message fee, or send messages to people via Facebook, etc. Get creative with how you are getting in touch with people!