Seven more ways to save on baby stuff

By Gail Vaz-Oxlade on September 28, 2011
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

From clothes to food to budgeting, there are tons of ways to cut down on baby costs

Make your own baby food. You control the quality of the ingredients. You control the sugar and the salt. And you’ll save a ton of money … upwards of 50% over buying your baby food premade.

Don’t get suckered into specialty kitchen appliances and storage system for your baby food. You’ll need a food processor, some ice cube trays and some plastic bags for the freezer.

Get stuff for free. Manufacturers throw stuff at new parents. In an attempt to win their loyalty, they bury them in coupons and free, Free, FREE! Get on all the mailing lists and sign up for the rewards programs. What you don’t use you can swap with other parents.

Bypass the organic milk. I had one mom insist on giving her toddler organic milk until I made her do the research and she saw just what “organic” meant. Not such a big deal. Certainly not worth the money! While you’re at it, don’t get suckered into “Toddler Formula.” Totally unnecessary.

Buy non-gender specific colours. Yes, you may want your girly-girl baby in pink, but if you have a boy next he’ll look pretty silly. Babies wear their clothes for such a short time, you should stick with unisex colours so you can pass them down to the next kid. Yellow, orange, green, chocolate brown … great colours regardless of the gender of the child. And white onesies go with everything.

Pace yourself. You might want it all right now, but if that means tapping credit, that’s dumb! Don’t try blaming Mommy Brain. It’s your impulse monkey that’s jerking your strings. When you know you’re pregnant, make a list and then work the shopping into your regular monthly cash flow. Each year take an inventory of what you have and what you’ll likely need, and use your list to shop sales and get the best deal.

Perhaps the best piece of advice for a new mom or dad is to go shopping with an experienced parent (not your own!) Hormones and shopping are a bad combination. So is sleep-deprivation and shopping. Take along the voice of reason (so don’t choose your shop-a-holic BFF) and you’ll end up with money to stash away for Junior’s future schooling, which is a much better investment.