Babies on a Budget Series Roundup

I firmly believe that babies are not expensive.

It's the opposite of what I hear from people every single day, but I truly believe that babies are actually pretty cheap.  It's all in how you approach it.

I've written a series that so many moms and mothers-to-be have found helpful, so I thought I would put the series all on one page.

In fact, all of these areas combined are a huge reason why we can afford for me to stay at home with our children.  If we spent money on all of the usual things that people buy for babies, we would never have been able to afford for me to be a stay-at-home mom to our three children.

Intro to Babies on a Budget:  You would not believe how much the "experts" say that babies should cost you in their first two years of life.  I say be a rebel.  Have babies on the cheap.

Nursing:  Breastfeed that baby, if you can!  Just how much can it save you?  Check out the post.

Make your own baby food, Part 1 & Part 2:  I really had no idea how cool, how crunchy, how Martha Stewart-esque I would be by making my own baby food.  I thought I was just being cheap.  It was only later that I learned that it was the cool thing to do.  Part 1 gives you my philosophy on it and the long-term benefits of making your own baby food.  Part 2 gives you the nuts and bolts of how to do it.  It's easier than you think.

Baby Gear: Beg, Borrow, & Steal:  We received so much free baby gear from friends and family and it's made the rounds through each of our three babies.  Garage sales were another great source of inexpensive baby gear.  My favorite way to score deals at garage sales is to let my mother-in-law or someone who is an avid garage saler in on it.  I can tell her what I'm looking for and she'll be all over it.

Make Your Own Baby Gear, when you can, or have someone else make it for you.  You'd be surprised at the things you can get cheaply this way.

Accept Hand-Me-Down Clothes:  This continues to be a huge money-saver for us.  I spend very little money on my kids' clothes, but they're always dressed nicely.  

Organizing Hand-Me-Down Clothes:  Here's how we keep them all organized.  This works for all children's clothes, new or not.  We don't give away clothes when our kids have outgrown them because we don't believe God is finished growing our family just yet, and there's no way we could afford to replace the kids' huge wardrobes.

Consider Cloth:  You knew I was going to go there at some point, didn't you?  It's no secret that I love my cloth diapers.  This is a huge money saver and worth looking into.  I've got tons of posts on cloth diapers, but you can also check out my favorite cloth diapering book (maybe even the only cloth diapering book!), Confessions of a Cloth Diaper Convert.  It'll save you tons of time on researching cloth diapers.

My Perspective on Saving Money:  We have to keep our long-term and short-term goals in mind.  If we're all about impressing people, then we're not going to save much money.  But if we focus on being a good steward of all that God has given us, then that changes things.

Which of these money saving tactics do you use to save money on your children?  

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