saving money as I prepare for baby

Babies are flipping expensive!!
And just when you think you've thought of everything you have to buy, something else pops up.
But I've found a few ways to help Derek and I save some moolah as we get ready for this tiny, expensive human.

1. HSA. This is one of the most amazing things in the world. I don't know how every insurance works, but find out if you are eligible for an HSA. It's basically  just a separate bank account specifically for medical expenses. So whenever we have medical bills come in the mail we just use the HSA credit card to pay for it and we don't even have to think about it. Because it's money that has already been taken out of our checks long ago so it doesn't need to be put into the budget.

2. Thrift shopping. I like to think of thrift shopping as one of my hobbies. Honestly most of the things we own and all but a few of my clothes are from thrift stores. So why should I change my ways? Kid-to-Kid is a great resource when preparing for baby. They have gently used clothing for a steal of a deal. And how often are your kids going to be wearing those $40 clothes anyways? Not very long. So pay $5 instead. I've gotten all of my baby clothes from there, which allowed me to buy more. And you can't even tell they were thrifted because most of them are brand names. I also have gotten all of my maternity clothes there. I just can't bring myself to pay more than 10 bucks for something that I will only be wearing for a couple of months. They also have packaged teethers, bottle cleaners, formula, diapers, wipes, boppy pillows, bumbos, tubs, toys, books, etc.

3. Plan Ahead. I felt a little silly getting so much stuff done in my first trimester, but it has shown to be useful because now I just have no energy or motivation to take care of anything. One thing that I did was take each big ticket item (crib, pack n play, travel system, etc.) and decided what I wanted in each category. Then, once those things went on sale or I found them for a great price then I could snatch them up rather than waiting to pay full price in my third trimester because I had procrastinated.

4. Check multiple places. Something I've started doing recently is checking the prices of items (not just big ticket items and not just baby items) at multiple stores. Some stores have some things for cheap and other stores have other things for cheap. And sometimes online is cheaper and sometimes in store is cheaper. When I grocery shop I go multiple places because different things are priced drastically differently and I save about $10 or $15 a week doing this. (You just have to have the desire and patience to do this haha)

5. Use Apps. I have a few grocery and coupon apps such as Ibotta, Walmart Savings Catcher, Cartwheel, Flipp, Krazy Coupon Lady, Coupons.com..... that I check multiple times a week to see if there are any deals on anything that I'm going to need to be buying in the near future. Some of these are rebate apps so you get money back after the fact which isn't AS satisfying, but still important because it is honestly soso easy to just scan in your receipt and get money for buying certain products.

6. Make what you can. You don't necessarily have to be too crafty to do this either. In the picture above my mother made all the blankets inside the basket and for the basket I took an old laundry basket and covered it in rope, easy peasy. You can also refinish an old piece of furniture, tie dye or stamp white onesies, or even learn how to make a blanket or car seat cover or bows/bow ties. Or even just DIY the nursery decorations rather than buying everything. It makes these things a little more special and sentimental as well.

7. Don't buy everything just because Pinterest says so. What is important to you and what conveniences do you really want? For me, I'm going to be exclusively pumping so I bought a bottle warmer because one family I nannied for used a lot of frozen breast milk and I learned from that that I wanted the convenience of a bottle warmer. But a diaper genie and a wipes warmer are not things I'm going to buy right now. If I figure out after the baby comes that those are conveniences that I want then I can always go and buy them. But for now, I don't need to pay for it and maybe never use it.

8. Stock up. I know that once baby comes I'm going to need excessive amounts of certain things like wipes. So whenever I see them on sale, I buy them. Same with the basic household supplies you will need but not want to buy such as paper towels and toilet paper. Buy them now, on sale (as you should always anyways). And instead of paying $200 at once to make a bunch of freezer meals, every week I make a couple of meals as it fits into my budget each week.