TABLE OF CONTENTS
This Baby Savings Page contains a growing list of our favorite Money Saving Tips for Babies!
Caring for babies can be incredibly expensive, but these tips and tricks will help you keep your child happy and healthy. From DIY baby food to pictures, to baby personal care items, you’ll find great Baby Savings ideas below.
DIY Baby Food
Making my own baby food saved a lot of money. Regular ice cube trays can be used to freeze pureed fruit, veggies, or even casseroles that the rest of the family ate. I would store the food by type in zippered bags and pull out two or three cubes for each meal. Two or three of the same type could be used, or mix different foods together for variety. The book, First Meals by Annabel Karmel describes the process and has some great ideas for every stage of feeding. Erin M – Phoenix, AZ
Kids Pics For Free
Thanks for the valuable information and savings incentives. I have an idea to share to get free professional pictures. Go to www.picturepeople.com and click on “what’s new”. There’s always a seasonal promotion and a coupon. If your child is 0-12 months click on “smilestones” and you’ll receive coupons for your baby. If your child is little older click on “birthday club” and sign up for a free 8 x 10. These promotions are true to the coupon. Just be sure to check the expiration dates.
Of course, the company would like for you to purchase more pictures. Even though you use the coupons, you are under no obligation to purchase anything more. Additionally, you can use a different coupon each month. The Picture People are located in many stores across the USA. Use the link above, enter your zip code and find the store nearest you. Many are located in BuyBuyBaby. You can also call 1.800.341.HOUR (4687) for promotion details.
Pamela K – Pocono Mountains, PA
Wash Cloths — Bottoms Up
Instead of making my own disposable baby wipes, I just wash my babies bottoms with a washcloth. A wet washcloth seems to do even better than a diaper wipe and can be tossed in the next load of laundry or into the cloth diaper pail. The cost of washcloths can be minimized by purchasing an old beach towel at a thrift store, cutting it up and zig-zagging the edges. Amy Davis – Lincoln, NE
I’m Going Cloth
Cloth diapering has come a long way and will save parents a whole lot of money. Here is a website that I’ve found to be very helpful: http://ultimateguidetoclothdiapers.com/.
But basically you need to know this about cloth diapers:
Cost of Diapers: If you buy the cheapest cloth diapers and covers, you’ll spend about $270 and have supplies for ALL of your children. Of course, cloth diapers do wear out after a few thousand washes, so if you have 10 kids, you might need to buy more.
Cost for Laundry: Laundry on cloth diapers is very inexpensive as well.
Cost for Disposable Diapers
In three and one-half years of using disposable diapers on my son, I estimate that we spent at least $2500 for diapers and wipes.
My Bottom Line: For my next child, we’re going with cloth. Sarah Egan – USA
Editors’ Note:
Not only are cloth diapers less expensive and better for your baby, but they are better for the environment. They use fewer fossil fuels to produce and add less bulk to our landfills. For the greatest Baby Savings go cloth if you can!
Cloth is Easier than it Sounds
I started using cloth diapers due to having a baby with allergies to disposable diapers. She would end up with a rash on her face and a red fire bum.
I bought everything I needed second-hand on Craigslist for about $100.00 and washed it in hot water and bleach. The only difference between cloth and disposables is the rinsing of poo in the toilet and washing.
Baby Savings & Cloth Diaper Hints:
- Get a five-gallon buck with lid for storage of quickly rinsed diapers until wash day. I got my bucket from a local dairy for $1.
- Keep a large yogurt container to store your rubber gloves in so you can quickly put them on before rinsing diapers in the bathroom.
- Use old cotton sheets cut into pieces for diaper liners. These liners are great to have when running errands around town. If your child poops, just toss the liner and don’t worry about rinsing when you get home from a busy day. I save tons of money each week doing cloth diapers. Margie W – Milwaukee, WI
Baby Savings on Diapers
A working mom who had a child in daycare asked us how to save on diapers. Because our youngest child is now 19 years old, and it’s been a long time since we had a baby in diapers, we asked our Facebook Fans for solutions.
Our advice was to shop around, ask friends so you can find the lowest prices; also use cloth diapers at home.
Here are some of the best solutions from our Facebook fans:
GET DIAPER COUPONS
Tami said: Look online for free samples, they are always giving them away. Find coupons online – they’re usually great, but also look in the Sunday paper.
Check out Couponing101 or Luvs, or Pampers.
USE CLOTH DIAPERS
Several people said that this was a great way to save money for them.
TaiLeah said: Daycares in Arizona now can take cloth. New laws went into effect a few months back allowing it! Cloth diapers are the way to go. You can get a basic prefold and cover set up for under $300 to diaper a kid from birth to potty training and be able to use those for another child or two most often or sell them when you are done. Ask for cloth at your baby shower or for holidays to help cut the startup costs.
Mariah said: Cloth diapering and early potty training will be your biggest money savers!! Our daughter’s one day a week at daycare is in Target disposables or diapers I bought on clearance at Kroger with a coupon.
Vivian said: You can use cloth at the daycare, but just have to wash them at home.
Vivian added: If you’re crafty, JoAnn craft stores have patterns and fabrics esp for cloth diapering and other baby needs. You can always use their app, sign up via email and snail mail for DAILY coupons worth 40% off one item or 10-25% off a total purchase. I work full time and was able to make them in a day’s time. Also, Craigslist and mom’s circles you should be able to find cloth diapers quite easily/cheap.
BEST DISPOSABLE DIAPER BRANDS
Milena said: We have been using Sam’s Club Diapers, they are called Simply Right. $35 a box, and they last us about 1 1/2 months.
Naomi said: Coscto diapers are great and about every other month the huge box is $5 off.
Audrey said: I don’t skimp on diapers. I am a Pampers fan and I find that I actually save money because I am not changing as often as I would the cheaper brands that leak or smell bad quickly. I get coupons from the paper and from neighbors who don’t use them.
Nicole said: I found Target brand diapers really good and their non-sale price was the cheapest…but only when buying the largest box…I think it was called the “club pack.”
Brenda said: When I was still living in the States, I had an Amazon Mom
membership and used Amazon’s Subscribe & Save program to buy Pampers for my twins. It was the cheapest way I found to stick with my preferred brand. Plus, they got delivered right to my door so no need for a shopping trip with two infants in tow. Toward their first birthday, I started using Target brand diapers in one size bigger during the night and that worked well.
Anna said: I use SAMs brand diapers (simply right). They are cheaper per diaper than the name brands using coupons.
DISPOSABLE DIAPER ADVICE
Sarah M said: Big Lots. 15-17$ for a box of Pampers or Huggies. Often it’s the cute patterned ones, too. Plus, the wipes I get there for about $1 a pack work super well.
Sarah S said: Store brands are usually just as good as name brand! It only took us, 4 kids, to realize this! LOL
Tsu said: Be sure and sign up for luvs and pampers baby clubs they send out lots of coupons, also sign up for basically anything that has a baby club you will receive all sorts of promotions.
Mary said: I follow the local Walgreen’s and grocery store coupon experts. I also stick with either store brands, or Luvs when I can find them (usually the cheapest and definitely the best quality).
Pam said: Use the store brand! At the commissary, that’s pure and gentle and it’s about 5 dollars for a package that should last about 5 days. if you don’t get to shop at the commissary though I have found Walmart’s White Cloud Brand diapers acceptable. Some folks say that they don’t work for their kid but I find changed frequently enough they do the job fine. I also potty train early. Like by 2 1/2 at the VERY latest.
April said: The first 1 1/2 yrs I used name brand, then switched to Walmart store brand. DON’T KNOW WHY I WAITED SO LONG. Saved me tons of money and just as good. Don’t waste money on name brand, not worth it.
DAYCARE AND DIAPERS
Mariah said: It depends on the daycare provider…. unfortunately the only ones open to cloth in my area right now are home daycares and there are no spots available right now…. but one day a week in disposables is not a deal breaker for me, esp since she’s starting to potty train…. my goal is about 10 cents a diaper or less.
Mariah also said: Truthfully the CHEAPEST option is cloth and elimination communication, though I haven’t met anyone yet who has been able to do this! I would love to hear stories where EC worked!
(You can read about this for free on the Internet-Elimination Communication saves $, the earth, and it promotes your child’s independence and communication skills. Search Diaper Free Baby.)
TaiLeah said: DayCare.com has lots of great information on daycare requirements in all 50 states. Most daycares are unaware of how to use cloth and that it is just as sanitary as disposables. All poop is supposed to be dumped into the toilet out of a disposable, it is a bio-hazard not to do so and to just throw it into the garbage. Cloth can be handled at home and so would be MORE sanitary to use than a disposable if they are handled as they should be.
Don’t be afraid to ask and ask again. Know your laws and use them to educate those who don’t. Your battle could help another family in their money-saving journey with cloth diapers.
Eliza shared: I follow this wonderful blogger who sends out all baby deals: http://www.babysavers.com/
Here’s an interesting blog about whether kids are too expensive to have.
If you’d like to read some reviews on awesome kids picture books, click here.
And if you’d like to see some family movies, click here.
For more ideas about raising babies into happy & healthy children, please consider our third book, “The MoneySmart Family System.”
If you have a money saving tip for babies that aren’t listed, please mention it in the comment section and we’ll consider it for this page.
