How do you save $ on baby items?

[norasmomma]

Well with DD I chose to use expensive diapers because I just did(silly mommy). I wasn't into couponing until about a year and a half ago. For this baby though I am already in stockpiling mode of diapers, wipes, etc and am going into this baby stage very well prepared. I am getting on mailing lists, having family give me coupons for diapers and just trying to have much of what we need ahead of the game. Sales, coupons and promos are my friend this baby. I think it came with being a SAHM and just generally changing our buying habits.

We got so much stuff given to us clothes wise that we rarely need anything. If this baby is a girl we have the clothes, if not well someone will buy them for us-we have a lot of family who love to buy baby clothes.

I plan on breastfeeding, but at about 8 months I found with DD it was nice to supplement a bit and we used discounted or generic formula-that was fine for DD. I still breastfed mostly, but it was nice that she just didn't mind a small bit of formula to supplement her diet-I hope that it can be the same with this baby.

I was interested in CD-ing, but honestly I can barely keep my head on staraight as it is, plus I really don't enjoy laundry-there's enough with a new baby anyway, for us it just really doesn't seem cheaper or easier.

[loladooder99]

I just started using cloth diapers about two months ago. I haven't noticed an increase on my water/electric bill at all really. And I have the regular kind of washer and dryer. On top of that I plan to have more than one baby so you can use the Bum genius on your other children and they are all one size newborn-potty training. You don't have to wash them more than once really to get them clean and hang drying them out in the sun can save you on electric bills (i haven't noticed an increase). If you are broke this is the way to go. I live in the LOND so there is never great diaper deals. This is why I switched. Buying gender neutral clothing is a great idea too. I bought My sons bedding,travel system,playard,and some clothing gender neutral. So now they can all be reused. I plan to breastfeed with the next baby too but I used generic Sams brand formula with my son. Also don't get caught up with buying too many toys.

[qtlittle1]

Stockpile, shop clearance/sales looking for items that could be used in the future (with coupons whenever possible), comparing prices on craigslist/online/and in store, and only buying or identifying what we need/want to buy for the future baby.

[mommytaylor]

There are many on the list that we do, but the big ones:

We breastfed till 12 months then switched slowly to whole milk. No formula. It wasn't easy but it was worth it in MANY ways.

We cloth diaper during the day. We only use disposables at night and car trips/outings. We stockpile diapers through diapers.com, Walgreens (like the BOGO sale!) using RRs, and other double coupon days.

All of DS's "gear" was either a gift from a grandparent, given to him in a shower, or I purchased used for near nothing. His clothing is often bought with lots of $5/5 Kohl's certificates, on craigslist, or at garage sales.


My only regret is I could never figure out how to make homemade baby food. I tried and tried and couldn't get the jars to seal. However, we bought gobs of Beechnut Let's Grow Meals and simply puree'd them. Otherwise we bought generic organic baby food for 10/$3 sales.

[amzasmommy]

I used cloth wipes in addition to cloth diapers. I also use ebates and diapers.com to earn cash back and monty for referrals!

[loladooder99]

Making your own baby food is pretty easy. All you do is freeze it in ice cube trays then pop them out into a big ziploc bag after they are frozen. i've made applesauce and other stuff. There are alot of websites that give you recipes to make homemade baby food. Its kinda silly to buy the pureed carrots or other veggies because you can easily make a huge batch and freeze them. I also got great deals on baby cereal by buying them on clerance at krogers and with coupons. 1.00/beechnut cereal = 32 or 44 cent cereal. You can also make your own baby cereal.

[Jenn27]

I breastfeed, use cloth diapers and wipes, buy 'used' clothes (though I can always find stuff with tags on it at yard sales and consignment shops!), use coupons (when I actually buy something), make my own food. And luckily, several of my friends gave us some 'big' baby items that their babies had outgrown. We really have not spent much money this far on our baby, aside from her cloth diapers but we are done buying diapers at 7 months!

[foggierbard9]

When our son was born we didn't coupon, I had no idea. Tried to Breastfeed, but DS was tongue tied and the doc wouldn't clip it, so used formula. We started with name brand then went to generic formula. I made a lot of his baby food, but by the time he was on baby food, I had seen the light and found HCW. We used cloth diapers part time for about 6 months until he figured out how to get them off, now we use the cheapest diapers/pull-ups we can find. Hoping to potty train soon, but he is only 22 mos so we will see. We got his crib for $75 on clearance at TJ Maxx from $300 and I shopped clearances for a lot of his clothes.

The next baby will be less expensive as we will already have a lot of the big items saved from this one.

[CW&M Mom]

I would agree "normally" it shouldn't be too expensive to have a baby but you should always keep in mind that not all babies want to follow that pattern.

My middle one....had a milk protien intolerance...which meant he was pooing chunks of bloody tissue and had to go on nutramagin...and that dang stuff is $25 bucks a can...little can. And we didn't qualify for WIC. All of the sudden our food budget was consumed with buying formula....we would spend about $350 a month of formula...and that was buying it from ebay since I could knock $5 bucks off a can then.

And then add in later on...ER visits, hospital stays, oxygen and a $1800 molding helmet to fix his messed up head...he was one stinking cute expensive kid


We now have the three year old oxygen boy and one year old. For the three year old I have to buy huggies, as he pee's out of any other, and I have to buy overnights for night time. I love Sam's Clubs wipes and so unless I can get a steal on huggie wipes I by those....in general I dislike most generic wipes and use more per diaper for the generic vs. huggies.

For the one year old...I can use generic diapers with her and she hasn't had the same health issues. We used enfamil with her but were receiving WIC. Thank goodness for WIC because the three year old is now on $1000 a month formula.

I either buy there clothing on clearance or at thrift stores. For equipment...since we are having multiple children I tend to buy new, and spend a bit more and get good quality. We had a cheap crap crib purchased for us for the 7 year old when she was born....and it wasn't worth the $200 bucks spent on it.


And I second the clothe diapers....cheaper...it can be if your willing to buy used...but sending a bunch of poo into the grey water system is not helpful for the environment at all.

[katieprov19]

I get upset at the sahm cracks. "Can you really afford that" um if we couldn't we wouldn't be doing it...And then people go wow isn't that a few too many things of baby shampoo? Well if you could have made $7 buying it you would have too!!!