Money saving tips for a young mom

[geetargirl05]

What are your money saving tips for a young mom? A young lady I know (like, 20 years old young) is due in September (unplanned pregnancy), her and her husband live with his parents and only have one bedroom. Not an ideal situation but they are wonderful people, just young and a bit naive. I am compiling all the money saving tips I can remember for them and sending a care package or two. Any tricks you learned that I could share?

[pnwlover12]

Get used to staying at home and doing nothing is really the best advice I have. I know that sounds sort of obvious, but a lot of people don't realize how hard it is to go out and do stuff when you're broke with a baby.

[geetargirl05]

May 29, 2015 12:40:40 GMT -5 pnwlover12 said:

Get used to staying at home and doing nothing is really the best advice I have. I know that sounds sort of obvious, but a lot of people don't realize how hard it is to go out and do stuff when you're broke with a baby.

Totally legit though, she needs to be ready to change her whole routine. That's definitely something people don't really tell you.

[mrsbabe614]

you could include things to do that are free.

[kellrr]

Cook at home (and cook several meals in advance to freeze if possible) to avoid expenses of eating out; cloth diapers save us $25/week; scope out "what you really need for baby" type posts on Pinterest (this saved us a ton on extra gear we didn't need); not a money saving tip, but more like it sucks being poor advice: treat yourself once in awhile. DH and I would go to Dairy Queen and get blizzards and talk about what we would do once things got better financially, which took a long time, but it gave us hope.

[pnwlover12]

I don't know how cloth diapers end up being cheaper. It blows my mind

[kellrr]

May 29, 2015 13:15:33 GMT -5 pnwlover12 said:

I don't know how cloth diapers end up being cheaper. It blows my mind

We got all of ours second hand as a gift, so the only expense is washing them.

[pnwlover12]

May 29, 2015 13:17:48 GMT -5 kellrr said:

May 29, 2015 13:15:33 GMT -5 pnwlover12 said:

I don't know how cloth diapers end up being cheaper. It blows my mind

We got all of ours second hand as a gift, so the only expense is washing them.

Ok that makes sense. I always see the cloth diaper covers for resell on FB group pages, and even the resell cost seems high.

[kellrr]

May 29, 2015 13:18:39 GMT -5 pnwlover12 said:

May 29, 2015 13:17:48 GMT -5 kellrr said:

We got all of ours second hand as a gift, so the only expense is washing them.

Ok that makes sense. I always see the cloth diaper covers for resell on FB group pages, and even the resell cost seems high.

I figured the value was around $400, but even if I had bought them, they pay for themselves in about 3 months at our house. I have all one-size, so I can use them until potty training. We didn't use them until 3 months because I didn't want to buy newborn size and I wish I had.

[KayVeeKay]

Places like Once Upon A Child for clothing.

[geetargirl05]

May 29, 2015 13:18:39 GMT -5 pnwlover12 said:

May 29, 2015 13:17:48 GMT -5 kellrr said:

We got all of ours second hand as a gift, so the only expense is washing them.

Ok that makes sense. I always see the cloth diaper covers for resell on FB group pages, and even the resell cost seems high.

It depends on what route you go and if your priority is really to save money. Sometimes you see a diaper for sale for $40 because it's a limited edition print or some other crock like that. That's obviously not going to save you money. I paid ~$13/diaper for mine, brand new. I will be able to resell them when we are done for ~$8-10/diaper. We don't pay for water at our apartment and have our own washer/spin dryer. So it will definitely save us money. The environmental benefits can be debated, but personally I felt good about the idea of putting less waste in landfills.

[sabby2]

May 29, 2015 13:15:33 GMT -5 pnwlover12 said:

I don't know how cloth diapers end up being cheaper. It blows my mind

The initial cost was expensive but now that we have them we only spend money to send disposables to daycare and overnight diapers like once a month.

[Jennifer18131]

Sign up for all of the reward programs.

Don't be afraid to go off-brand.

Accept help when it's offered.

Meal plan.

Most importantly, sometimes it's worth paying slightly more for the convenience of something to save sanity and have some me time.

[mmylsa]

All the reward programs... Saved at least $40 so far with those formula checks and I only buy 1 brand. She could double that if she is less picky.
Coupon and shop around for sales... I seriously stop and check to see what the cost is for formula, diapers, wipes etc... On Amazon before I make a single store purchase to make sure I'm getting the lowest possible.

[proceedwithcaution]

May 29, 2015 18:40:36 GMT -5 sabby2 said:

May 29, 2015 13:15:33 GMT -5 pnwlover12 said:

I don't know how cloth diapers end up being cheaper. It blows my mind

The initial cost was expensive but now that we have them we only spend money to send disposables to daycare and overnight diapers like once a month.

I spent $180 total on mine second hand. We've been using them for 12 months now so we've definitely saved money. We do use 1 disposable a day for overnights.

[victoria]

You don't have to spend money to do activities with the baby.

Check with your hospital/doctor to see if they have a Mommy & Me program.

Check your local library for baby storytime.

Look for a mommy walking group at your local mall.

[kellrr]

I thought of a couple more: research/ask around before trying new products. Sunscreen, soaps/lotions, teething stuff, gear, all very expensive, especially if you get one you hate! I don't love some of the products I use EVERYDAY but there's nothing "wrong" with them so I won't replace them (ex: my changing pad I keep in the diaper bag, our bath seat, Aiden + Anais blankets).

[pinkie]

If using disposable diapers seriously price compare. Not just stores but I find amazon's prices to be incredible and they come right to your house. Same with formula, we save a ton buying it on amazon.

[victoria]

Buy gender neutral items. Then you can decide to store them for the next baby or if you choose to sell them, your things will be desirable for teams pink, blue, and green!

[KMW08]

The obvs Craigslist/fb swap groups/yard sales

Sign up on all websites. Visit coupon sites (coupons.com) there's always coupons for diapers and wipes. $2 is $2. Think of it as saving $2 on diapers or getting some wipes for free.

Check obscure places for diapers. The local children's hospital pharmacy here is BY FAR the cheapest on pampers swaddlers nb-2 ($22 for 240 diapers in those sizes).

Ask for samples at the hospital. I was sent home with small bottles of baby lotion/shampoo/body wash and a bulb syringe. Also, anything in the room can't be used on the next patient, so we took all the diapers too.

[KMW08]

Make registries. The completion discounts are nice!

Don't be afraid of "expensive" stores. The cheapest clothes I've bought new have been from Macy's -- at the end of each season they usually do 50% off the clearance rack. I paid no more than $2.50 per item for all LOs summer clothes. Also, buy bigger sizes on purpose-esp onesies. They'll grow into them and they last longer this way.

I think that's all I got for now.

[MrsTinMKE]

Sign up on all of the similac, enfamil websites, and also sign up family members if you can. You get lots of free samples and coupons. I actually just signed DH up a couple of weeks ago and we just got a package in the mail with a couple of cans of Similac. Every little bit of this helps!

Ask for formula samples at the hosital/gynos office. Usually they give these out without hesitation OR Breastfeed. This saved us SO much money while we did it.

Sign up for registries at stores. Some places give you free samples, bottles, pacifiers, wipes as well as the coupons!

Check out garage sales for baby items. I was able to stock up on a lot of gender neutral clothing and onsies that were very clean and in good shape for super cheap!
I would search out garages sales on Craigslist before I headed out to make sure they had the things I was looking for.

I also bought some maternity clothing at garage sales or found ads on Craigslist.

I also agree with going gender neutral on everything like car seats, bouncers whatever... I think this will save us a ton of money when baby #2 rolls around.

[geetargirl05]

Thanks everyone!! I will definitely be sharing these tips with her