Baby On A Budget: How We Avoid Unnecessary Spending

Baby on a Budget is a series of posts that I'll be doing to share all the ways we've managed to save money while bringing up our baby.  When I read the stats about how much money new parents supposedly spend getting ready for a baby and caring for a baby in its first years, I cringe! I can certainly see how it happens though.... These posts are meant to help you stay away from that awfully high number!!

While it's certainly difficult to keep from buying every single thing your kid might possibly be able to use when you're still expecting, it's near impossible to exercise a reasonable amount of restraint once your child is actually born.  Suddenly, nothing is too expensive for that cute little face! Every piece of baby clothing becomes essential. $500 photo shoot? Completely necessary!

Luckily, I've devised a way that has become so effective in keeping me from spending excessive amounts of money on my child that it surprised even myself: I make my baby pay for his own stuff. (And he's much less likely to buy yet another pair of pants to add to his overflowing collection.)

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Baby On A Budget: Hand-Me-Downs and Second Hand Stores

Baby on a Budget is a series of posts that I'll be doing to share all the ways we've managed to save money while bringing up our baby.  When I read the stats about how much money new parents supposedly spend getting ready for a baby and caring for a baby in its first years, I cringe! I can certainly see how it happens though.... These posts are meant to help you stay away from that awfully high number!!

We were ridiculously lucky to have a baby boy almost exactly one year after my sister had her own baby boy.  This is not because our son would have a cousin close in age, though that's nice too.  My thoughts are inclined to be more selfish in nature.  I was mostly ecstatic about all the hand me downs I was about to receive!!

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Baby On A Budget: Making Your Own Baby Purees

Baby on a Budget is a series of posts that I'll be doing to share all the ways we've managed to save money while bringing up our baby.  When I read the stats about how much money new parents supposedly spend getting ready for a baby and caring for a baby in its first years, I cringe! I can certainly see how it happens though.... These posts are meant to help you stay away from that awfully high number!!

One of the things that I've highly enjoyed doing in the last few months is cooking for my baby.  This might be comical for those of you that know me as I'm not a great cook, but I love knowing exactly what my kid is eating and saving a whole bunch of money while doing it!  It's also nice to have a stockpile of baby food in my freezer and not have to be too concerned about running out as making the purees is as easy as pie (though, even with my limited cooking experience, I doubt making a pie is all that simple...)!

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Budget Buster: Forgetfulness

We went away this past weekend and battled the Great Canadian Winter...  We travelled 'home' to see my family which is about three hours away from our actual home.  It was a less than awesome trip due to the very inclement weather.  We started out in freezing rain and ended up in extreme winds and white outs.  We were driving our truck which does not have four wheel drive.  When we finally arrived at our destination we ended up getting stuck at the top of a hill that was our hosts' driveway.  Lots of 'boy fun' later our truck arrived at the bottom of the hill via the other side of the hill (not meant for driving) and less one mirror thanks to an apple tree.  Thankfully, it's a beater truck and the mirror will probably be very inexpensive to replace.  It was definitely an adventure.

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Baby On A Budget: Cloth Diapering 101

Baby on a Budget is a series of posts that I'll be doing to share all the ways we've managed to save money while bringing up our baby.  When I read the stats about how much money new parents supposedly spend getting ready for a baby and caring for a baby in its first years, I cringe! I can certainly see how it happens though.... These posts are meant to help you stay away from that awfully high number!!

One of the biggest expenses that we've saved on since having a baby is diapers.  I decided to cloth diaper after being inspired by Young House Love. I had never thought much about it prior to then but it all made sense and seemed right up my alley when they talked about it.  Plus, I had no idea they made such amazing cloth diapers as they do these days! When someone mentioned cloth to me before I just thought of prefolds and diaper pins.

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Baby On A Budget: DIY Wipes

Baby on a Budget is a series of posts that I'll be doing to share all the ways we've managed to save money while bringing up our baby.  When I read the stats about how much money new parents supposedly spend getting ready for a baby and caring for a baby in its first years, I cringe! I can certainly see how it happens though.... These posts are meant to help you stay away from that awfully high number!!

We have been making our own wipes at home using paper towel since the beginning and I can't believe how easy it's been! This is not to say that I don't buy wipes every once in awhile when they go on sale (my husband is currently heading to the store, coupons in hand to grab some $4 boxes of wipes for $1.25 each!).  I use commercial wipes if I'm in a pinch, if I'm going away for a weekend or for out of the house diaper changes (I like how compact the travel wipe cases are).  At home, however, I much prefer my homemade wipes as they hold up better, smell better and I can adjust their moisture level to my preference.  As I use cloth wipes for most diaper changes, I use these homemade wipes for messy hands and faces at mealtime and diaper changes on laundry days.


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