It is not necessary to spend a lot of money on baby items. Your newborn will not need much to start out and she won’t remember not having a fancy nursery or the latest gadgets.
Here are some tips to help you stop worrying about money and get you to enjoy your baby.
(From sheknows.com)
1. Breastfeed
Breast milk best for babies… and it’s free! Baby formula is expensive. According to Breastfeeding Magazine, the average family spends approximately $1,500 per year on formula!
Breastfed babies are healthier. Parents of formula-fed babies spend more on healthcare costs than their breastfeeding peers. Furthermore, a child’s illness can affect household income, as one parent may have to miss work to stay home or take the baby to a doctor.
Breastfeeding is a convenient way to boost your baby’s health while saving money.
2. Make your own baby food
When your baby is old enough for food, consider making it yourself. On a per-serving basis, baby food sold by the jar is quite expensive. Instead, use the fruits and vegetables you buy for the rest of your household and strain, mash, cook or puree them.
When you prepare your own baby food, you know exactly what’s in it, and you can tailor it to the texture that best suits your baby.
3. Use cloth diapers
It’s easier throwing away a poopy diaper than washing it. But cloth diapers are an excellent alternative to expensive and environmentally unfriendly disposables. According to Earth Easy, an estimated 10,000 tons of disposable diapers are landfilled every day – and they can take up to 500 years to decompose.
Today’s cloth diapers are available with Velcro enclosures, so you won’t stick the baby with a sharp diaper pin. And cloth diapers are no longer just a flat square of cotton. Now you can get them pre-folded, contoured, fitted with elastic or with a built-in waterproof cover.
Even though you have to use energy to launder the diapers, Earth Easy suggests the cost of cloth diapers, laundered at home, is significantly lower than using disposables, with estimated savings ranging from $800 to $1,600 over the course of two-and-a-half years.
4. Make your own baby wipes
Sure, they’re convenient, but baby wipes can be awfully costly. You can easily and inexpensively make your own wipes:
In a plastic container, such as Tupperware of Rubbermaid, mix 2 cups of warm water with 2 tablespoons each of baby wash and baby oil. Cut a roll of paper towels in half so it’s about the size of a roll of toilet paper and place it in the mixture to soak. Flip it once to saturate the other side then remove the cardboard core. Use the remaining half of the paper towel roll for the next batch you make.
Considering how many wipes you use on a daily basis, you’ll find the homemade version to be a lot cheaper than store-bought wipes. Furthermore, you control what goes into the mixture so you know exactly what’s going on your baby’s skin.
