3 Tips to Save on Baby Stuff

Yes, Frugal Prof has gone baby centric due to the arrival of our little one, and wow, I find myself smiling all the time! I’m learning on how to be frugal while having a new baby in the house, and I’m happy to share a couple tips on how to stay frugal with a baby. Here is what I have recently learned:

Don’t be in a rush to buy.

There are a few really useful items to make your life much easier when having a baby, and these are a crib, a bassinet, a swing or play center and a bouncer. Start early and take your time in acquiring these items. Generous friends bought us a play center for our baby shower, and we were given both a bouncer, which has recently become a huge success, and a playpen, which is yet to be used. We did buy the crib and they bassinet, but they were not expensive and we bought the bassinet in a sale. We took our time and did our research on the crib, which has multiple purposes as it has converts into a bed for the older infant so giving us some savings there. Maybe you can do better than us, and buy these items from friends or garage sale, etc?

Make your own choices
You will definitely get lots of opinions on the latest and greatest things for your kids. I mostly found these very helpful and I appreciated the time and effort my friends took to help us out. Although you don’t have to agree with everything, and you can make your own choices, especially as each child is unique and will have their own preferences. For example, maybe cloth diapers will work best for your baby and budget, but may be they won’t, so just give them a try and don’t worry too much if it’s not for you. If you also are dealing with a busy work schedule, you may not be able to afford the extra time and workload in using cloth diapers. The one key tip here is that if you are going to listen to the advice you get, maybe the frugal friends should be top of your list!

Don’t go designer!
Yes, it is tempting seeing all the beautiful cribs and accessory baby furniture to buy some beautiful items. If you are already financially free, well I can’t complain at that, or if you are saving 50-70% of your income, well you may have some wiggle room here. However, most people are nowhere close to that, and so I would recommend, or even urge that you strongly resist the temptation to go designer. Instead, craigslist maybe a great way to go, or if you have no success there the cheaper stores such as Target or maybe Amazon Warehouse deals (open box items, etc) will likely be your best bet.

How about you, did you resist the temptations to splash toe cash, and how did you save in becoming a parent?