Preparing for Baby on a Budget
By: Sommer | January 18, 2008 | Category: Home and Family
The two things people mention most when they notice I’m having a baby are 1) don’t expect to sleep much and 2) raising kids is expensive. The latest government data says that a family with an average annual income of $59,300 will spend $197,700 on that child between birth and age 17! Since we’re only in the preparation stage, I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.
Lately though, we’ve been saving every penny so I can take some time off work after the birth. But, since there’s now a never ending list
of things to shop for it’s hard to save! Baby prep checklists include the crib and nursery furniture, car seat, stroller, highchair, clothes, toys and more. A friend said baby gear could cost up to $5,000! I feel like the billion-dollar-baby-products industry lurks around every corner waiting to reel me in.
Here’s what we’ve done so far to cut costs:
- Focused on our own baby spending values rather than what the baby industry says.
- No extravagant nursery theme. I’ll wait to decorate the room until our son gets a little older since we’ll keep his crib in our room at first.
- We’ll use the crib my sister slept in as a baby (yes, I checked, and it meets the crib safety standards set out by the CPSC). We will buy a new mattress, though.
- Instead of buying a dresser and changing table I’m using two dressers we already own. One will hold our son’s clothing and the other will have a changing pad on top.
Who knows, maybe by cutting these costs we’ll save enough money to start a 529 plan for our son. Since we’re on a budget I’d rather he get a college education than that $800 stroller I love but he’ll never remember.
I’d love to hear any tips you have on how you saved money when preparing for your newborn! Please leave your suggestions in the comments.
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We welcome your comments and expect that our conversation will follow the general rules of respectful civil discourse. This is a moderated blog, and we will only post comments from bloggers over 13 years of age that relate to topics on Gov Gab: Your U.S. Government Blog. We will review comments for posting within one business day. You are fully responsible for everything that you submit in your comments, and all posted comments are in the public domain. We do not discriminate against any views, but we reserve the right not to post comments.
The few I looked at had 90/mo for less than a hundred.
Posted by Foxfier on January 19, 2008 at 12:18 AM EST #
I strongly considered using cloth diapers instead of disposables. Although, since I've only found one diaper service in our area, I looked at them more from the purchasing cloth diapers and laundering them myself perspective. In addition to a cost savings I also really like the "green" aspect of cloth diapers. I feel just awful about putting all those diapers in a landfill. However, since I plan to return to work relatively soon after the little guy arrives I've chosen to go with a disposable chlorine-free diaper instead of traditional disposables. In my research that seems to be the best compromise for our situation.
Thanks for the suggestion! Keep them coming!
Sommer
Posted by Sommer on January 21, 2008 at 10:14 AM EST #
Also, I don't know what neck of the woods you're in but where I'm at there is a local baby consignment store with about four locations. They get so much product every month that once a month they clearance a massive amount of stuff and sell it off for $.25 a piece. Most clothes, coats and shoes for kids but also sometimes nice stuff for mommas too. :) It might be worth checking around to see if somewhere near you has something like this. It can save a bundle.
Posted by September Momma on March 19, 2008 at 11:55 PM EDT #