Save Over $3000 on Your Infant without Changing Your Lifestyle!

Having a baby is probably the most joyous event that most parents will experience. Having a cute, cuddly little one to hold and love is truly amazing. But, as every new parent quickly discovers, little ones carry a big price tag! Diaper, formula, clothing, bottles…it adds up, and I mean fast! Sometimes it feels like every last penny you have goes toward the new addition to the family.
I have been lucky enough to find ways to save thousands of dollar a year without doing anything different than any other parent. Here’s what my family does:

DIAPERS
Lets start with the diaper category. Diapers will probably be one of your biggest expenses. And, if you’re a busy mom like me, cloth diapers are completely out of the question. So I needed to find a way to cut costs without losing quality.
I really love Huggies brand diapers for my son. They seemed to truly work the best and not leak period. But a box of huggies at a regular retail store costs approximately $14. By buying the economy box at Sams Club, I get almost 5 times the amount for only $15 more.

YOUR COST: $13.79
WHAT YOU GET: 30 size 3 diapers
COST PER DIAPER: Almost 50 cents!

MY COST: $28.99
WHAT I GET: 150
COST PER DIAPER: 19 cents

Now, assuming your child will need there diaper changed about 6 or 7 times a day at this stage, you will need to purchase either 6 boxes of the retail store brand a month, equaling approx. $83, OR about 1 ¼ boxes of the Sams Club brand per month. We’ll over exaggerate and make that equal $34 a month

SAVINGS: $50 / month

DIAPER GENIE
Disposing of diapers is a really big issue in our home. I don’t want to know that there’s a dirty diaper in my sons room, nor do I want my house guests to know there’s a dirty diaper in his room. The Diaper Genie is a very popular, and expensive, way to get rid of the smelly diapers quickly. However, why not have a free Diaper Genie?
Save your plastic bags from your grocery shopping trips! Place them in a changing table drawer and use for disposal. Not only are you reusing bags that you probably would have thrown away, but you are saving tons of cash!

YOUR COST: $31.19 for the Genie plus $8.29 per refill.
WHAT YOU GET: One stand alone Genie System and one refill that will last about one week.

MY COST: FREE
WHAT I GET: Endless Disposable bags

Keep in mind that you will be going through 1, maybe more, genie refills a week. $8.29 x 4 weeks in a month is a lot!

SAVINGS: over $30 a month PLUS the initial cost of the Genie ($31)

FORMULA
Almost every baby formula I have seen is sold in two sizes: a 12 oz or a 36 oz. However, Sams Club offers a whopping 51 oz can of the EXACT same formulas you’ll find at any retail store. The Sams Club brand (Members Mark) contains every single ingredient that Enfamil or any other name brand has. The only difference is price.

YOUR COST: $27.82
WHAT YOU GET: 36 oz of formula

MY COST: $21.00
WHAT I GET: 51oz of formula

At my sons stage, 11 months, he goes through about 1 can a week. Buying the retail store brand, I would be spending about $140 a month. By shopping at Sams I spend about $80.

SAVINGS: $60 / month

TOYS & CLOTHING
Buying toys and clothes for your little guy can be a lot of fun, but they sure grow out of them fast! My son gets very bored with toys quickly and he outgrows his clothing at great speeds. So for my familty, it is not practical to invest thousands of dollars a year on items that he will only use for a month or two. And it’s nearly impossible to find exactly what you’re looking for at garage sales. Want free toys? FREECYCLE! I have called freecycle.org one of the web’s best kept secrets because it is so overlooked. Freecycle.org is a site that has almost every city, county and area you can think of! How it works is by people like you and I giving away stuff we no longer need. Al you have to do is create a totally free account and you can browse all the listings. If you have something you want to give away you can list that too. Then people in your home town will arrange a pick up with you! It’s that simple! And the cool thing is you can get everything you could ever want there! From a Christmas tree to a new pool to kids toys or even a refrigerator! Just be sure to only take what you need, and please, relist it when you are done. Of course I still chose to buy my son toys and clothes, but I don’t have too because he has so much stuff. And, boy, were those people who listed it glad to free up the space in their homes!

YOUR COST: According to a survey, the average parent spends a minimum of $50 a month during the first year on infant toys and clothing alone.
WHAT YOU GET: toys and clothing

MY COST: FREE
WHAT I GET: toys and clothing

SAVINGS: $50 plus / month

CRIBS, BEDDING, STROLLERS, BOUNCERS, ETC
Here’s a tip, start looking early – really early. Try and get what you can off of Freecycle.org. You’d be surprised at how many items you will find just using that site. But for what you can’t find, go to Ebay.com. You will locate tons of items at Ebay for next-to-nothing. How about a 1-year-old crib for $20? Retail price: $400? Or what about a bouncer that is still being sold at Toys R Us for 25% of the price? I have noticed that if you can find people in your area selling on Ebay you can usually arrange a pick up and that wil save you shipping costs. Even if you have to pay for shipping, you’re usually saving so much money that it’s totally worth it! And many times you can get brand-spanking-new items too!

YOUR COST: $1,000 plus for stroller, crib, bedding, bouncer, walker, activity gym, etc
WHAT YOU GET: listed items

MY COST: $300 for the same items
WHAT I GET: listed items

SAVINGS: $700, give or take for the first year

Remember, if you start early, you don’t have to buy the first crib you see. Wait for that amazing deal and jump on it. Also, if you were not successful at finding toys and clothes on freecycle, try ebay.

TOTAL SAVINGS: OVER 3,000 IN THE FIRST YEAR! Now with that kind of savings you can afford to splurge on additional items, like disposable bottle liners, treats or anything else!