Money Saving Tips for New Moms

With all my new-found freedom of being home (HA!) I have been some what of a Hoarder with our money..haha. Now I feel bad spending money since I'm not making it (even though I'm saving us a lot on Daycare) and now I make every dollar stretch a little more. Here's some ideas that have come to me in the process. And keep in mind your Sanity is Numero Uno priority so if any of this makes you overwhelmed or like you don't have any time for yourself then Nix it! Just some helpful hints and maybe you can walk away with one Ah-ha!

Use your damn mini's! I am a repeat offender of this, buying all these mini shampoos, conditioners, stealing the ones from the Hotel visits for our twice a year vacations..Make sense? NO! So instead of buying Shamp and Cond I've gone through our HUGE Tupperware of mini's and have begun using them, not only is nice to switch it up every now and then but it's great putting these to use, because by the time I get to go on vacation with a little one I won't need 8 mini bottles of shampoo! So use em up!

I'm sure myself along with every other new mom thought making their own babyfood is a moneysaver...well it is and it isn't. Once your baby is old enough to eat straight up pureed table foods then YES it is a money-saver, you can take your dinner that you are about to eat and puree it up so that is good. During the beginning however you have to make certain combinations and cook it up and store it..the storing is where it gets expensive. So if you had like single packets of veggies and fruits ready to cook and then you can use it right then you would be saving money. If you make a huge vat of it like most of us do to save on time..then you have to buy little pouches or jars to keep them in and freeze em up, the ice cube tray didn't work for some of my purees, they wouldn't come out nice and clean so I could throw them in Ziploc bags and be done with it. The cheapest recipes to make are w/ apples, squash, bananas and the more expensive would be recipes w/ avocados, mangos, berries, etc. Now that he can almost eat anything I just buy a huge container of applesauce..Organic, no sugar added, etc. Every morning I give him 2Tbsp of Oatmeal with applesauce and then 1/2 a package of a yogurt/fruit blend babyfood. That way instead of eating the whole package and then some I'm substituting some of it w/ the cheaper applesauce and the Oatmeal as a filler. He is still mostly formula so this doesn't hurt his nutrition at all. Also Cheerios are way Cheaper than Puffs, so I buy both to mix it up but mostly give him Cheerios.

Along the same idea w/ baby products, obviously buying in bulk is a money-saver, Diaper/Wipes..just remember if you are partial to a certain brand they may or may not have them all the time. I've also seen certain formula's at Costco that I didn't even know they carried, they were roughly like $8/cheaper when comparing cost per ounce which is a good savings. Also if you were going to make your own baby food you can get your produce way cheaper there also.

Once your child is around 9mo old if you aren't breastfeeding or can't or whatever the issue may be check with your doc and you can switch the little one to Toddler formula which is about $10 less a can than the regular stuff. I DEF look forward to that in a few weeks!

On a side note, check your home bills...like AT&T has a new share plan that existing customers can use, same plans before but you share your data/talk/text, which if you are already on a fam plan the only difference is sharing your data. I switched ours and will be saving $30/month! For the cable I usually downgrade in the summer when we will either be outside or doing activities so we won't be home so it saves a little during those months.

Baby Re-Sale shops are kinda scary when you first walk in with all the plastic nasty toys, children running around, and the weird smell that permeates. BUT if you have time to look past all that you can find some great deals from there. I got my glider for $75, it was super nasty but we made sure all the parts snapped off and I just needed to throw all of them in the washer and it was like new! Also the clothes...especially for the first few months since they grow so fast! We got brand new clothes with the tags still on for close to nothing! You just have to have the time and energy to focus on the prize! A lot of the stuff is gross and nasty so beware.

Some diaper brands offer points for purchasing their products. Then you start saving all of your points to get other things. Huggies plan was pretty good, I stopped saving them cuz it does get a little ridiculous and having only one child in diapers takes forever to add up all your points. But if you had multiple children in diapers or are just good at saving stuff then this is for you! I think I finally have enough points to get 1 package of diapers for free right now..haha!

Let me know some of your ways you save $$!

~Candace