Comments on: Essential Money Tips for New Parents

By: Kristy @ Master Your Card

Kristy @ Master Your Card — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:19:13 +0000

Yard sales are your friend – at least that’s what my sister tells me. So many parents, especially the first-time ones, overbuy and things go to waste. My sister bought all my nephews clothes through yard sales (ok, me and my parents paid, but she picked them out) and the clothes were ALL brand new with the tags still on them. Even if they’re gently worn, it’s a definite cost savings. And my sister even found a diaper bag she absolutely loved for well over half what it would have cost her to buy in the store. She used the same one through her second child and it’s still in great condition.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 01:07:48 +0000

Thanks for the tips, Ellen. My wife plans to breast feed, and hopefully that will work out. We are also planning on trying cloth diapers, but realize we will still need to keep disposables around for convenience, travel, etc. We’re going to start small scale with the cloth diapers and see how it works.

I agree with the time is money factor. My wife will be staying home, but has plans to help me with my websites and a few other things. I plan on using profits to fund IRAs, college savings, etc.

We’ll be sure to check out the big box retailers and wholesale clubs (they often times allow non-members a trial shopping day to scope it out). We’ll be on the lookout for deals!

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:22:52 +0000

A stupid thing I did when our daughter was born was to immediately switch over to family coverage on our dental plan – duh, she didn’t have any teeth yet!!
Don’t make the same mistake!

By: Ellen K.

Ellen K. — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:37:20 +0000

Congratulations on your little one! My husband and I have nearly-7-month-old twin girls. The medical bills were probably the biggest hit. Save all receipts and don’t hesitate to argue claims. Also, be sure to add your child to your insurance within 30 days — and follow up again at the 31-day mark to make sure that the child has indeed been added.

I did not breastfeed; we use Target’s most basic powdered formula (Up and Up) and save approximately 60% from name brand. I look for free shipping online and buy it in 6-packs.

Try to rent a breast pump rather than purchase one.

We joined Costco when I was pregnant, only to find that they carried just one name brand of diapers (Huggies, which seem to work better for boys) and only in sizes 2/3 and up. I’m not going to bother to renew our membership. Because of the difficulty of carting around huge boxes of diapers while maneuvering a double stroller, I use diapers.com, and I only buy Luvs, which work great for our girls.

One thing that a lot of stay-at-home parents forget is that your time is money, too. Find out what baby-sitters in your area charge, and mentally pay yourself that rate. The $12.50 delivery charge for groceries is worth it, especially if I buy huge bulk items. Amazon’s Prime shipping deal — $70 annually for 2-day shipping — might be worthwhile rather than running all around town to find an item. And try to squeeze some money out of the budget for an IRA or Roth IRA contributions for your wife. I consider it a very small salary. : )

Not counting health insurance and college savings, I estimate that we spend about $60/week on formula, wipes, food, and diapers for twin infants. Not bad. These costs could be lower if breastfeeding had worked out for all of us or if we were using cloth diapers, but again, my time is money, and stay-at-home parents also have to find a balance between work and quality of life.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:42:33 +0000

MikeS, Thanks for the tips! We’ll look into the health insurance. I will also need to add our baby to the plan within 30 days. We don’t have a BJ’s Wholesale Club near us, but we will look into inexpensive locations to buy diapers. We’re also considering using cloth diapers (and having disposables as a convenient backup and for traveling).

By: Wealth Pilgrim

Wealth Pilgrim — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:34:38 +0000

Ryan,

My experience is that parenting does get better by the year and as the family grows.

I have 3 daughters and feel like the richest man in town…

Congratulations!!!!!

By: MikeS

MikeS — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:41:54 +0000

Ryan, just 2 quick things.

First, if your medical plan has a deductible, you’ll have to satisfy it for both the mother and the baby. That one caught my wife and I by surprise. We anticipated the deductible for her, but did not see it coming for the baby.

Second, my wife and I buy our diapers at BJ’s wholesale club, we’ve found it’s even cheaper than diapers.com.

Lots of luck, the first couple months were a blurr, but it’s well worth it. My daughter is 19 months now and its fantastic.

Mike

By: FrugaltoRich

FrugaltoRich — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 10:12:49 +0000

Congratulations on the impending birth of your baby! That is fantastic!

As the mother of 2 terrific grown children, I can tell you that the time goes so very fast as they grow up. I am so very grateful that my husband and I planned ahead, saved and were very frugal, so that I could stay home with the kids.

No amount of lost wages could ever replace the priceless time spent with our kids. I have asked the kids and they both said they are SO glad I was home with them so they could be home after school, in the Summers, when they were sick etc.

There’s no better reason to be financially smart and frugal than that! It buys you time with the people you love! Soon they are grown and on their own!

A tip we can share-we started saving and investing ALL the money the kids would receive as gifts. We also encouraged them to save when they started working and we matched what they saved. By the time each graduated from college, their funds had grown to over $ 25,000! That’s a nice way to start your adult life!