You may remember that my overall goal for 2014 is to fight the norm. A big part of this is ignoring the hype to spend and acquire and instead, live a life worth living. It also means that we’ve been paying attention to our finances more than ever.
When we had Henry, everyone told us that BABIES WERE SO EXPENSIVE. And it can be true. But I was shocked to hear just how much …
$10,000 for a kid?
In the first year? It can’t be true. It simply can’t be true.
(Head in the sand.)
Then, I did the math in my head –
When Henry was in daycare, we were spending about $700 each month on daycare. This was in the middle range in my area and we had an awesome daycare provider. Without even factoring in diapers, clothing, food and other supplies, I realized that we were probably right in line with that statistic.
Does that scare anyone else? I never really added up the cost of a kid before.
It’s a good thing he was so cute.
What was I saying?
Oh yeah. Money.
We didn’t spend willy nilly the first year. (Or now, for that matter.) Here are a few examples of ways to save with a baby in-tow:
Savings
One simple thing that Ryan and I did for Henry was open up a savings account for him right away. My parents did the same thing for me and I still have that account. We immediately stashed all of the cash gifts in the account along with proceeds from an insurance policy.
It would have been easy to spend that money on cute baby things, but I am so glad we resisted the urge. We did have a few gift cards that we used, but otherwise, we had everything we needed. Throughout the first year, we also put more money away. When Ryan received a bonus from work, we put a good chunk into Henry’s account. When we received a gift from a family member, we put the money in Henry’s account. After a year, we had saved a good amount for our son’s future. And by doing it with money that we weren’t necessarily expecting, it made it easy. (Ryan also invested some of Henry’s fund into his own stocks and bonds. That’s a whole other post, but it allowed Henry to earn more on this money in the first year.)
Baby STUFF
Ryan and I have tried to keep the crazy spending at bay when it comes to Henry. Because of the generosity of friends and family, we haven’t needed to buy many baby “necessities” or even toys. He has more than enough things to keep him busy without camping out in the toy aisle.
For necessities like diapers and wipes, I research the best prices for each size he’s worn and then I buy in bulk when they are on sale.
Clothing
I’m a huge fan of secondhand clothing and shoes. I have purchased a few new items for Henry for special occasions. But, about 99 percent of his clothing was something I found at the thrift store or consignment store or that was given to him by friends and family. In the fall, a former coworker gave us two huge bags of hand-me-down clothes for Henry. As a result, I haven’t bought a single thing for him since October and don’t expect to need anything else until summer. #winning
Now
Because I’m staying home with Henry now, we’re saving a bundle on childcare costs. (We also cut our income nearly in half, but that’s another story.) We spend between $40 and $50 each month on our toddler. This covers any special toddler foods and drinks along with the standard diapers and wipes. It also covers any extras that pop up. I would expect the costs to be the same for another newborn (probably more on diapers and wipes and nothing on food and drink).
So the sticker shock of a kid may be eye-opening. But, these are a few ways we were able to keep unnecessary spending at bay.
What are your tips for saving money with a new baby?
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Kenz @ Interiors By Kenz says
I’m baffled at how much babies cost! I couldn’t believe how expensive it was getting ready for the baby to get here. This might sound really bad, but I was SO happy Evelyn was born right before the new year so we can still get the tax break 🙂
Kim Woodward says
Yeah, that’s a great point! Tax deduction. And we realized how much of a help the credit for childcare was, too.
Erin says
Great tips! I’ve been working on a post like this in my head. 🙂 We also buy secondhand, and I resisted family’s desire to invite 800 people to my baby shower so that I didn’t end up swamped with STUFF. I’ve had especially good luck at yard sales for clothing (stuff can be as low as a quarter!) and stocked up for K’s first year at the yard sales I went to last summer. I plan to do the same for this coming year.
I was also shocked about that $10,000 stat but you’re totally right that childcare must be a huge part of it!
Katja @ Shift Ctrl Art says
We saved a ton by going the attachment parenting route. No crib because we co-slept, therefore also no nursery – huge save. And no formula because I bf exclusively. Cha-ching 🙂
FunnyGal Kat says
It’s not for everyone, but we used cloth diapers. They were an investment in the beginning, but saved us a lot in diaper costs over the years.
That, and I made sure my second was also a boy to make the cost per use of all the clothing for the first one even lower! 😉
Emily says
We are expecting our first in April and I’ve already become well acquainted with the consignment stores in our area. They are the best! (though you have to be picky)
Faith@The Stirring Place says
great post. we have a 3 month old and meant to open a savings account for him right away but haven’t done it yet…this gives me the reminder boost to get it done asap. thanks
Gretchen@BoxyColonial says
I always forget about daycare when I see those crazy high numbers…..when I had Ari it was a pretty easy call financially for me to stay home, since I was still in grad school and my entire stipend and then some would have gone to pay for day care, I’m sure. It was a pretty easy call in other ways, too, since I was more or less over being in grad school by then ;). I could make a commercial for babies: “Babies: better than grad school!”
Julia@Cuckoo4Design says
Daycare costs was one of the main reasons for me to stay home. But I also wanted to be the one raising them not paying someone that I didn’t really know an insane amount 😉
Kellie says
I imagine the numbers must be insanely variable by region. In my area, full time child care per month is more than 2X what yours was. And when BFing didn’t work for us, our first year included a $20 carton of powdered formula (store brand,reward program and coupons) every week or so, then diapers, wipes etc. I don’t feel like we went overboard on unnecessary stuff but we spent WAY more! Lol
Emily @ imperfect says
You know this is a topic after my own heart 🙂 I feel like we were really good about saving and not going overboard on buying stuff…and now that activities have started up, it’s harder. Between preschool tuition and soccer/swimming lessons/whatever, I’m having to be really good about just one thing at a time on top of school.