SavingTips for New Moms

Last time we had a baby, our biggest consideration was our emotional readiness. We were only a few months married and building a family is not on the top of our list at the time. We were still preoccupied with exploring the world as a married couple first. This time however, with the economic crunch and everything, a major consideration is the finances. You have to admit, having a baby is not really light on the budget. Here are some things we did to save on money.







1. Skip the maternity clothes.
You’re only pregnant for nine months. I did not buy maternity clothes AT ALL. Instead I bought stylish oversized tops that can accomodate my growing baby bump. Or you can also skip right into buying nursing tops if you’re planning on breastfeeding your baby. There are also lots of products online that can extend the waistline of your pants, cover your belly, etc. that you can invest in.

2. Have a baby shower.
Drop hints to your friends that you would really appreciate a baby shower. But then again, good friends hardly wait to be told what a friend needs, they anticipate it. And that’s what my friends did. In a post-holiday get together, we gave each other gifts. And they shopped an extra gift for my baby. 

3. Buy secondhand.
Because we had no plans of having another child, everything that our eldest used, like her crib, walker, stroller, clothes and toys, were given away one by one. When we went to the mall to look at some cribs, boy, has the price skyrocketed! A nice big crib that we bought seven years ago at P1500 is now priced at more than P2000! What a difference seven years make! So what I did is surf the online selling sites to look for big ticket items at a much lower rate. True enough, I found a smaller crib (which is fine since he’ll be using it only until he’s big and strong enough to climb out of it – roughly eight months) which is being sold for less than a thousand. The seller is also kind enough to throw in some freebies like a mattress and a whole set of beddings. Another thing that I bought online is a baby sling from R Jellybean for half its original price. Both items were slightly used, but still in very good, functional condition.

4. Don’t be ashamed to ask for and use hand-me-downs.
Since babies grow at a very fast pace, I wasn’t planning on buying him lots of clothes. I asked my friends for their child’s old clothes, especially for newborns. True enough, I got plenty since their babies have already changed their wardrobes.

5. If you really want to buy new ones, buy clothes in bigger sizes.
I suggest buying tie-sides in medium size. Yes, it would look too big on a newborn, but he’ll be swaddled most times anyways so he won’t be cold. But in about two weeks, baby would have filled in with fat. By his first month, he’ll fit perfectly fine into the clothes. Also, buying it a size bigger actually makes dressing a newborn easier since there’s room to maneuver around.



6. Use lampin with disposable diapers.
Since newborns tend to poop a lot, we devised a way of doubling a diaper’s life. We line a new diaper with lampin so that if he poops, we’ll just change the lampin insert and reuse the diaper if it’s not yet full. Just be careful though to check often enough so baby’s skin won’t be soaked in his urine.

7. Newborn diapers vs Small –sized diapers
It does make sense to buy Newborn diapers since newborns are a small lot. But these are pricier than regular sized ones. I think we only used a pack of 12 once and then used the Small. I didn’t notice any difference.

8. Generic vs Branded Diapers Before I gave birth I was spending a lot of time researching on good quality yet affordable diapers. Generic diapers are all over the net and I thought it would be worth a try. But upon closer inspection, their prices really didn’t differ that much from the branded diaper (EQ)I was using, some were even more costly.

9. Use cotton instead of baby wipes At home, I seldom use baby wipes to clean baby after pooping. I use cotton and water.This advice goes two ways actually. Take note that I said cotton, not cotton balls, because premade cotton balls are more costly. If you prefer cotton balls, you can make them yourself from the regular cotton. Also, cotton is obviously more economical than baby wipes.

10. Take your child to the Health Center for regular, ordinary vaccines. The basic vaccines, like BCG, Hepa B etc, cost at least a thousand pesos in a private clinic. These are given for free at health centers. But you can still take your child to a private clinic for special vaccines, like the yearly flu vaccine, the 5-in-1 etc.

Of course this is not to say that I didn’t make any shopping mistake. We’ve bought two cheap manual breast pumps which I rarely use because of its inefficiency. We also bought a couple of those cloth diaper cases from divisoria, which is still too big for my son and which I think would leak because the leg holes are too big and not garterized.

Do you have your own money saving tip? Please do share it. I would love to hear from you.