Explanations and Diapers

My apologies, again as I have been away for a bit.

You see, I was pregnant with our fifth child. The end of the pregnancy just zapped the energy out of me and then, our lovely son arrived and life has taken some adjusting. Needless to say, we have become even more frugal in the past several weeks.

I am curious, my frugal friends, do you think having a child costs lots of money?

We haven't found it too much of an adjustment. We had a crib and some baby toys from our previous children, but, as we thought we were done having children, had given everything else away. Once we decided to have one more, it's amazing how much generosity has come back our way. Babies grow out of their clothes EXTREMELY quickly, and between family and friends, the hand-me-downs got handed around. Including a lovely overall set that I had for our eldest that I was sure was destroyed or lost in the rounds along the way. I have only purchased one set of sleepers and one outfit for our baby as I was starting to panic thinking that we didn't have anything for our son to wear.

Our biggest purchase thus far has been diapers. This is one expense that I indulge in - disposable diapers. Now I can hear your gasp through the internet. I must explain. Our oldest child had severe reactions to all cloth diapers, detergents and creams. The doctor instructed us to get him in disposable diapers. When our second child was born, we were told not to even try her on cloth.

Scary for this frugal environmentally friendly mother. I figured for sure I would have my children in cloth diapers.

Thankfully, I guess, my children can't even handle wearing huggies or pampers. They can only wear the cheap diapers. I find this too funny. Even their bums are somewhat frugal.

We have found that Walmart brand diapers work the best for us (and they are the cheapest). The second best are Teddy's Choice from Superstore.

What do you find is your biggest expense, or feared expense is about having a baby? What do you do for diapers? What are your frugal ideas on babies?

Enjoy your day!

5 comments:

Kristi Drennan said...

Not sure what my biggest expense would be...probably diapers. That's because my kids both leaked out of anything but pampers. I used to make my own baby wipes though...may be doing that again soon. Found a link :)

Lets have a phone date soon!

http://blog.wantingwhatyouhave.com/2008/01/frugal-strategy-4-make-your-own-baby.html

Jane said...

Congratulations!! I was kind of wondering where you'd gotten to! I am the youngest of five so can honestly say that "five" is the perfect number lol! I don't think babies cost very much money at all...it's when they're teenagers that it gets so expensive - however encourage those part-time jobs like I did with my teen and she pretty much pays for herself!!

Tania said...

Congrats! We just had our first baby but would love to have at least five. I am using cloth diapers- ComfyRumps pocket diapers (we are in Saskatchewan and they are a Canadian brand). Most people were very discouraging about our choice but I love them! I know we will save a ton of money and I don't find them any extra work at all. I also use cloth wipes and homemade wipe solution.

Our biggest expense was buying an organic mattress for our baby, but we couldn't put her on a regular mattress after reading about what is in them. We've barely bought any clothes- received some as gifts, others as hand me downs, and I sew so I buy fabric on sale to make little dresses that cost about $2-3 each.

And of course breastfeeding saves lot of $ and is great for baby.

Tami said...

I love Walmart diapers. I buy them because they have worked better for us than ANY of the expensive brands.

I think aside from medical expenses, babies are only as expensive as parents let them be.

Anonymous said...

Just found your blog and was drawn to the baby category. I am using cloth for both mine - boy 2.5 yrs (hopefully trained soon) and girl 9 months. I also make my own wipes - I did a cost check on that and found they were 1/4 to 1/2 of the price of commercial wipes depending on brand name or sales.