Saving money during your baby’s first year might seem impossible. Let me assure you that it is not. Decreasing unnecessary expenses and saving money can be done even if your overall costs will go up. So how can you effectively save money during your child’s first year? Let’s explore the ways that my husband and I have discovered to cut costs and save this past year.

Saving Money on baby’s first year

What does it cost to have a baby? What should you budget for in advance? Depending on your strategic planning and will power you could find that it is far less than you might have expected. We often get the worst information given to us about finances and having a child. People love to tell you how costly it is yet don’t offer insight into how you can save money. That is what my focus is with this post today and I hope that after you read this you leave with some great ideas on saving money on baby's first year.

What expenses to expect during your child’s first year?

Childcare – Daycare costs vary based on your needs and availability in your area. When we started searching we found that many daycares offered part-time childcare or full-time. Part-time would be a few days a week for most daycare’s and cost more per day than a full-time child typically does. It would overall cost less for a child to go part-time due to a child attending less so it would still save some money. I wrote a post that talks about how I was able to find a decent daycare for a good price and the things we looked for and asked along the way. You can check my post out here. This is one of the most important aspects of saving money on baby's first year.
Healthcare costs – You will typically have Copayment, Deductible, and Coinsurance costs for both mom and baby. If you are unsure of what these amounts could be with your insurance I recommend contacting your health insurance carrier directly to ask these questions. You will want to find out what percentage you pay in coinsurance costs and what your yearly deductible is for a family. Most insurance cards will tell you what a copayment amount will be for family Dr or specialist but if yours does not you will also want to ask about this. During most pregnancy follow up visits and follow up visits for your baby afterward you will most likely not have a copayment. My insurance considered these visits to be wellness visits and with our insurance carrier, any copayments were waived.
Furniture and larger baby necessities- Necessary furniture that you will need to purchase such as a crib, dresser, changing table, pack n play, high chair, stroller, car seat, etc. We found ways to eliminate unnecessary purchases or eliminate what we felt was unnecessary. If you can visit thrift stores, garage sales, second-hand baby stores, or borrow items from a friend we highly recommend this. You will be surprised at the quality of the items that you can get when someone gets rid of items used for just one child.
Formula – We did need to purchase formula because after 8 weeks I returned to work full time and it became impossible to continue to breastfeed. We did, however, find some great ways to save money on formula or receive samples of infant and toddler formula for our daughter that helped with our budget.
Diapers – During my daughter’s first year we had very little need to purchase diapers thanks to the quantity gifted to us by friends and family. My daughter was approximately 10 months old before we had to buy our first pack.
Wipes – Wipes were another item that was gifted to us for our daughter at baby showers and by friends and family. She was 12 months old before we had to purchase any wipes at all. I highly recommend adding both wipes and diapers between size 1 and 3 to your baby registry. This helped us tremendously and was far more of a necessity than some items that people tend to purchase. These are also budget-friendly gifts that people often do not mind purchasing for you.
Clothing – Clothing for our daughter was also a very minimal expense during her first year but was an additional cost. We received a lot of clothing gifted to us for our daughter and even some hand me downs that made our need minimal. The items I found we did need to purchase were socks, pants, and sleep sacks. A sleep sack or a zippered swaddle is something that I highly recommend for new parents. Our daughter slept so much better in a sleep sack than without one.
Baby food – This is not always a necessity for long if you have a food processor and can learn to make your baby food. We did often find it necessary for our busy lifestyle and we found ways to cut costs such as purchasing baby food at Aldi’s or even some items at Costco.
Bottles and pacifiers – My daughter tried many of the bottles and pacifiers that we either received free ( I talk about how we received these and many other items in this post) or that we received as gifts. She did, however, prefer Avent bottles and Nuk pacifiers. I have heard this is typical for many children so I would recommend trying one or two with your child before buying too many.
Sterilizer and formula pitcher – We do not have a dishwasher so we found a sterilizer to be very important for our bottles. I purchased this sterilizer which can be used in the microwave and works great which I have linked to here on Amazon. We also found it so helpful to have this formula pitcher from Dr. Browns which I have also linked to here on Amazon. I recommend this when your baby is little and drinking formula every 2 -3 hours especially. Here is a link to the same formula pitcher on Amazon which we purchased.
Burp rags and bibs – One thing that we discovered with our daughter is the pretty fancy burp rags did not work as well. What we recommend are Gerber cloth baby diapers to use as burp rags. These work so much better and work well when your child is older and starting to eat food also. You will want and need a lot of baby bibs, trust me. We thought we received way more than necessary when we went through them faster than I could ever imagine when she was teething especially. Make sure to have plenty of bibs on hand unless you are willing to do a lot of laundry every day. As she got older we found the longer toddler style bibs to be necessary. Smaller baby bibs didn’t quite work well enough and were too tight around her neck. We did not find the silicone bibs to be necessary for her and she hated wearing them more too.
Bottle brush – We used this all the time and I recommend this bottle brush especially. This is the same one I purchased and come with a great holder. This brush held up well throughout the entire first year.

Baby's first year financial expenses

What is my best advice for saving money on baby's first year? The first year of life often requires a lot of specific costly items for your baby. What you do need to realize however is that your child does not need everything that everyone is advertising. So what did we need and what did we end up spending the most on during the first year? How were we able to save on all of these costs and even be able to continue building our savings accounts?

Recommendations to save money on Childcare costs

Our largest overall cost for our daughter's first year was childcare. How have we successfully saved on childcare? A combination of different things has helped us save money on childcare costs. My best for anyone making this choice is to start by really evaluating your options. Evaluate potential family or friend caregivers that might be lower cost better options for possible caregivers. Visit multiple daycare facilities and ask plenty of questions regarding costs, what is covered by the daycare, etc. I outlined in this previous post how we went about finding the best daycare for our daughter at a lower cost than many others in our area. Therefore helping us to begin really saving money on baby's first year.

The many ways that we are saving money on baby's first year. ?

The biggest reason that we did not need these things is that people were incredibly generous. They gave us gifts and even donated clothing, shoes, and other items from their children. Their children had often barely used the items and these items looked like new. We were blessed to be able to get used items instead of buying new ones.

What should you add to your baby registry or purchase?

Furniture, organization, storage
Bibs
Burp rags or cloth diapers which work great as burp rags
Onesies, Baby pants (the one clothing item I found we did not receive often) and socks
Bottles
Pacifiers
Formula pitcher ( this is so helpful when the baby is eating every two hours) Formula pitcher from Dr. Brown’s is the one I highly recommend.
Bottle sterilizer ( for those who do not own a dishwasher this is a great buy)
wipes
Diapers size 1 and larger (our daughter wore size 2 the longest)
gas drops
Baby Tylenol
Saline nose drops
Baby Shusher – this was one of our favorite gifts that we received for her baby shower. my daughter loved this baby shusher and slept very well at night with the shusher on. Here is a link to the Baby Shusher that we recommend on Amazon it is definitely worth the cost if it helps keep your infant asleep.

What you do not need to purchase or add to a baby registry?

Baby wash/shampoo, lotion, and other toiletries ( You will find so many of these are gifted to you and you will probably end up with more than you can use for years.)
Baby clothes ( most people will gift clothing so I advise waiting to buy the majority of these until after receiving gifts) Do not buy newborn clothing or out of season baby clothing in smaller sizes. Your child will grow far faster than you could even imagine.
Newborn diapers (many children never fit these or outgrow them quickly) purchase size 1 instead they have a little extra time to wear these.
Costly baby formula mixers and sterilizers- Many of these cost quite a bit and you can do without. We found Dr. Brown's pitcher and the cheap sterilizer (under $20 ) to work perfectly and cost far less.
Bottle warmer – We found this to be very unnecessary for our daughter. They seemed to take far longer than we could warm the bottle ourselves with a simple bowl of warm water that we placed her bottles in.
Wipe warmer – Someone loaned me a wipe warmer to use for my daughter and I opened the box and never used it. This was incredibly inconvenient to use in her room and not necessary at all. She never seemed to have a problem with wipes being slightly cold. I appreciated that she loaned me this I just wanted to recommend that you do not invest in one unless you know that you will use it.
Baby shoes – We found no need for baby shoes before size 2 1/2 which she started wearing around 9 months. She is 12 months now and currently wearing a size 4 shoe. Do not overspend on baby shoes or expect them to wear these for long. Someone gave us a bunch of baby shoes that were hardly worn which we are using for our daughter.
Many toys are unnecessary, especially for smaller babies. Your child will receive a lot of toys as gifts during the first year and you will find many are never touched. Choose quality over quantity we advise educational toys such as Montessori toys or Melissa and Doug who also have a few great options.
Books – Many people will give books as gifts for your child. I also recommend signing up for the Dolly Parton book club for your child where you can receive a free book every month up until they enter kindergarten. You can also find many great children’s books at your local goodwill industries thrift stores. Our local goodwill sells all children’s books for $.50 a book even the large hardback books.
Baby swings – Some people love these but we found them to be very unnecessary. Our daughter used some swings at daycare but we did not use one at home. They are costly, take up a lot of room, and are an easy expense to eliminate.
Humidifier or vaporizer – talk with your doctor before purchasing either one but we found neither to be extremely important. We had one instance where our daughter required a humidifier for a few weeks and afterward have not needed one. My husband advises as one who works in HVAC that the healthiest level of humidity in the baby’s room is 50%. If you think they might need one purchase an inexpensive room thermometer that measures humidity as well. Upon checking the humidity if you find it below 40% you may need a humidifier as we did. However, a humidity level above 60 % is also not recommended. Be aware that if you have a humidifier you run you need to empty daily and clean and dry once a week. This can breed bacteria or mold and can cause further illness including respiratory issues.

Best places to shop while saving money on baby's first year

Aldi’s – I wrote a post where I share how Aldi’s has saved us on our daughter and what items I recommend. This is the post which offers my reviews on Aldi's infant water, Aldi's Diapers, Aldi's infant formula and much more.
Costco, Sam’s club, Bj’s wholesale – We found Infant formula for a great price, baby wipes, and baby food such as; Go-Go squeeze yogurts and a variety of fruit and vegetable applesauce pouches by the case. We recommend Costco which offers many great items for your baby as I shared in this post.
Thrift stores and used baby stores – various baby items such as car seats, high chairs even baby diapers.
Dollar tree – Wipes, face and hand wipes, baby nasal saline drops, baby food pouches, socks, etc. Dollar tree saved us frequently on purchasing more expensive varieties of things they sold.
Big lots – Baby food items and toiletries were cheap and frequently available at big lots
Walmart – Clothing, sleep sacks, infant water ( we had a city water scare requiring us to purchase infant water for use in her bottles for a while), check their baby clearance frequently because they often have amazing deals. We found her formula on clearance one week for $5 a can which normal price was $19.
Amazon – Bottles, pacifiers, Avent snippy dips all easier to find and on Amazon because they were not available in local stores. They also were far cheaper on Amazon than alternative brands were in stores.
Meijer - If you live near a Meijer grocery store I also highly recommend purchasing some baby items at Meijer. One great thing that Meijer does is if you utilize their MPerks App for purchases of specific products they will send you exclusive coupon deals. We have been blessed with many great baby coupons such $10 off toddler or infant formula, buy one get one free infant formula and $5 off any pack of diapers. They also have frequent coupons for half off any wipes, diapers, baby feeding items, etc. These Mperks baby offers really come in handy along the way to help you purchase items that you actually need for your baby and save significantly.

More important ideas for saving money on baby's first year.

Childcare FSA - I wrote a post where I share more about a childcare FSA and how it works. You can check out my post and find out how a child and dependent care FSA works here.
Healthcare FSA - This helps cover additional Healthcare costs not covered by your insurance company with pre-tax dollars withheld from your paycheck.
Hospital Indemnity plan - Typically pays you a lump sum after a hospitalization to help pay for the costs of your hospitalization. This money will be paid to you and can be used in any way you feel necessary. It is especially helpful for anyone with a high deductible plan who may owe thousands upon the birth of their child.
Short term disability
Formula discounts, savings and even free samples. Check out this post that I wrote detailing how my husband and I were able to save on the cost of formula for our new daughter.
Savings account that I built up before she was born. This helped to have money when we needed it especially during my maternity leave and helped us not to use credit cards at all.

Insurance plans & FSA accounts can help saving money on baby's first year

If you have a job that offers flexible spending accounts and short term or hospital indemnity plans I highly recommend purchasing these plans. The small bi-weekly cost was well worth the amount that I received after my daughter was born so, in the end, it paid me more than I paid into the plan just for choosing this insurance plan in advance. These flexible spending accounts offered savings that continued throughout the year. These spending accounts provide additional pre-tax money that saved us significantly on both childcare and healthcare costs.

SAVING MONEY ON BABY’S FIRST YEAR