Baby

This page explores ways to save on baby related items like wipes, food, furniture e.t.c.   Please feel free to add more tips from your experience.  Thank you

Save money on Baby Wipes by making your own (thanks to Amy W. for sharing this Tip)

Ingredients:
1 Roll of Bounty
1-1/2 Tbs baby wash
1-1/2 Tbs favorite baby lotion
1-1/2 cups boiling water

Directions:
Cut the roll of Bounty (or other strong brand of paper towel) in half to make two half rolls.  Use a very sharp knife so that the paper towel is cut instead of shredded.  (Set one half roll away for next time.) Unroll the paper towel and fold it back and forth like an accordion.
Put the folded sheets in an old wipes container.  The accordion folding will allow the sheets to pop up one after the other.

Mix the baby wash, lotion and boiling water in a bowl.  Pour over and around the wipes.  The wipes will absorb the mixture and will be ready to use once they’re cool.

If you have two containers you can make the other half roll now or later as you wish.

Buy the paper towels on sale and it saves a lot of money over regular wipes.  You also know exactly what’s in these home-made wipes.  Don’t worry, as long as you buy strong paper towels, they will hold together and you won’t be using twice as many as you used too!

(Financials: 720 Huggies wipes at $18 compared to making 1680 home-made wipes for $14 = 1/3 the cost.  (We also buy our paper towels on sale and used coupons to reduce the cost whenever possible.)

Variations:
1) Vary the ingredients: Some people like more or less of an ingredient to make them less damp, more lotion, etc.  You can also add a drop of tea tree oil drop or other essence if you like it scented.

2) If you have a round ice cream container you can choose to skip the accordion folding.  Instead stand the half roll of paper towel up in the bucket and add the ingredients.  The roll in the middle can then be pulled out and then the sheets can be pulled from the center.  I personally prefer to use the wipes box and the pop-up method better but I get my daughter to do the accordion folding for me.

Baby Food:
Consider making your own baby food. It is not as difficult or time consuming as you might think.   Making pureed sweet-potato, peas and carrots, apple sauce to name a few at home can save you tons of money when compared to buying the bottled stuff from the grocery store.   Plus you know exactly what is going into the food, which in most cases is only 1 or 2 ingredients. By doing this you can save up to 90% on the cost of solid baby food.

A good idea is to make large batches and freeze in single serving sizes so that you can defrost only what you need for each day.

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