Frugal Baby

A friend of mine once asked me "How do you even afford a baby!?" here is one of the ways to make your bundle of joy a little less of a financial hit.

     Diapering - Disposable diapers can really add up fast, you'll probably spend over $3,000 just on diapers (not including wipes)  I wanted to use cloth and bought a few different kinds and found this one to be my favorite(you should have 18-24 of them).  They fit babies from to 8-40 pounds, are super absorbent, and dry fairly fast(the hemp insert takes a little longer to dry than the microfiber).  I find cloth diapers to be amazing for a few reasons:  It's cheaper, it helps you be self sufficient(I'm all about that), it's better for the environment, and it has no chemicals.  I still use disposable wipes for the poop messes and I use Flannel Wipes with Booty Luster for her wet diapers.  The poop diapers I just spray the waste into the toilet and throw it in the wash; The Gherkin's poos are now quite solid and I can how just roll the poo off into the diaper with out touching anything but the outside of the diaper.  Laundering them is super easy just pre-wash on cold, and sometimes I use oxyclean, they say to use a special detergent for less chemicals on the babies skin, but I make my own($.17 a gallon).  Then throw your clothes in with them for a regular wash.  I take the covers out and hang those to dry and put the inserts in the dryer with the other clothes and hang the hemp up to dry a little more after.
     I was really discouraged with cloth diapers a couple of weeks ago, they stopped absorbing and started leaking.  My bad I had forgot about striping the diapers!  Don't forget to do that ;) especially after using a diaper rash cream/petroleum jelly, it sticks to the diaper and stays there causing the diaper to repel liquid waste instead of absorbing it.  Also I do still use disposables for night and travel.  While I love cloth diapers they don't wick moisture away from the skin like disposables and I would rather not risk her waking in the night.

Clothing - I'm sure most of you can already guess how to save on clothing.  Find some hand-me-downs, shop at a thrift store, and buy clearance at the end of the season for next year.  But I also try to buy as much unisex clothing as possible so if/when we have a boy I won't have to start a new wardrobe from scratch or make him wear a ton of pink and purple.

Feeding - Of course breast feeding is the cheapest route, but most people struggle with it.  Here is my story:  I had a horrible time getting her to latch when we got home from the hospital!  It caused me to stress out which DOES NOT help your milk come in or my blood pressure was still through the roof from the preeclampsia(I had to get on medication).  I didn't get milk until 6 days after she was born so we were supplementing with formula and I was pumping.  It was very difficult but I kept trying to get her to latch and finally she did.  We had been supplementing but she was colicky so we stopped(since at her one month appointment the Dr. was concerned she was gaining weight too fast, I wasn't worried about her getting enough).  I had a real problem keeping up with her demand and was feeding her every hour and a half.  It turned out it was just the type of formula that was making her so gassy.  Anyways at her four month the Doc was worried about her weight gain and we worked it out that I didn't have enough milk fat.  So we're back to supplementing with a sensitive formula and she's gaining weight like a champion.  My point is you should try to stick it out, but it might not work out the way you want it to, but good on you if you try!

Hygiene - A small thing I have noticed that can save a little money is if you use a loofah when bathing instead of a wash cloth you go through soap a lot slower.  Also babies don't need to be bathed every day.  They are not like stinky children, teens and adults!