Let's face it- babies are expensive. We can say that we'll get everything we need for the first couple years from baby showers, doting grandparents, and birthday parties, but realistically not everybody has all of those options, and either way people are still spending money on the little one. I kind of think that the carbon footprint of a baby is the highest percentage to their actual size than any other time in their life (especially if that baby is a first grandchild...can you say toys, toys, and more toys?!?!).
I have a 17 month old, and that doesn't always coincide with saving money. There are diapers to buy (we use cloth, but we still had to buy them), daycare from time to time when family isn't available to watch her, and they usually need to eat something. I tend to think that clothes are more of an option at this point, but for the sake of argument let's say it's winter (which is Southern California means it's in the high 60's...brrr) and baby needs a sweater. It all adds up, sometimes to more than we anticipate.
Here's how my husband and I applied our frugal principles to all things baby.
1- Cloth Diapers (link to separate article about cloth diapers)
2- Home made baby food (link to separate article about making baby food at home)
3- Used furniture (link to article about using Craigslist and Freecycle to decorate the nursery)
4- Finding quality, affordable daycare providers in your area (link to article)
5- A frugal wardrobe (link to shopping for clothes on a budget)
6- Other ideas: get lots of free samples from the hospital, ThredUp.com, consignment stores, collect all the baby coupons and follow some good coupon blogs to find deals.
And, here's where we splurged (link to pic of the $50 wooden activity block from Target).
What other ideas do you have for saving on baby related expenses?
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