How New Parents Can Save Themselves More Money

Being a new parent isn’t cheap. By the time you leave the hospital with your bundle of joy, you already owe the hospital thousands of dollars. Now you have to think about strollers, diapers, clothes and baby food. How can your wallet handle this?

If you’re a new parent, here are a handful of helpful tips that will make things easier for you financially. 

Avoid Impulse Spending

You’re excited. You’re overwhelmed. And most days, you’re sleep-deprived. All of these factors are going to push you to shop on impulse. The truth is, one of the things new parents do to hurt their credit is empty their wallets and rack up their credit cards with non-essential transactions. 

You’re not going to be focused on things like your credit score when you’re dealing with nighttime feedings and diaper changes, but that doesn’t mean that you should throw caution to the wind. You need to resist the temptation to overspend on things that you don’t need. Here are some steps that you can take:

• Unsubscribe from retailer newsletters and email lists.
• Unfollow retailers on social media. 
• Ask yourself mindful shopping questions before you make your purchases. 
• Focus on necessities over nice-to-haves. 

Use Hand-Me-Downs

Getting everything brand-new is really expensive. And more importantly, it isn’t necessary. 

Try to get your hands on as many gently used baby clothes, toys and books as possible. Ask other parents for help. They’ll be happy to get rid of the stuff once their kids don’t use them anymore. You’ll be doing them a favor and saving yourself some money at the same time.

Think about Diapers

Diapers are expensive, and you will go through a standard pack way faster than you’d expect. Here are some ways that you can save money on diapers during the first year:

• Ask your friends and family members to bring you boxes of diapers as gifts instead of buying baby clothes, books and toys. They can help you stock up. 
• Plan ahead about size changes. Look up what baby diaper sizes there are to see when you should expect to buy a new fit and how many packs you should buy. Getting too many of the wrong size will be a waste of money.
• Some diaper companies have rewards programs and memberships. Join them to get discounted or free diapers.
• Always buy in bulk.
• Consider reusable cloth diapers. 

Have an Emergency Fund

An emergency fund will come in handy as your baby grows. Soon enough, they’ll be tearing through the house. You’ll want to have some savings set aside for the inevitable accidents and property damage. You should see how to make an emergency fund so that you can start building yours right away. In the meantime, a line of credit can be a useful back-up plan for when emergencies crop up and you can’t scrape up enough in your budget to cover the costs. 

Taking care of a newborn baby is hard enough as it is. Don’t add financial problems onto your full plate. Watching your personal finances and spending less will make this time a little less challenging.