A little over a year ago, we welcomed our son into our home and hearts through the loving gift of adoption. We had just seven weeks to prepare our home for the new arrival, and rework our budget to include the needs of the baby.
Diapers – $50/month
Babies go through diapers like none other the first several months. Thankfully, we had enough diapers from our baby shower to last the first two months.
* Money Saving Tips:
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Use Coupons: Pampers and Huggies offer printable coupons online, as well as in Sunday papers. Pair these with a sale to save even more money. Personally, I love Pampers. My little guy always leaked through while wearing Huggies diapers. If you still want a name brand diaper, Luvs is the perfect solution. They cost around $6.99 a bag, often go on sale for $5.99 and they offer coupons.
- Buy store brands: While Pampers and Huggies cost over $9 a bag of diapers, store brands are around $6. My favorite store brand is Aldi. I like the quality better than Walmart or Target brands, and they cost just $4.99 a bag. Sadly, they start at size 3.
- Stock up on sales or clearance: This past February Target had boxes of Luvs diapers marked down to $12.58 a box. That is a phenomenal price for a BOX of diapers. So I spent just under $100 for size 3 and size 4 diapers. I’m pretty sure we are good through the Summer!
Thankfully, the older the baby gets, the less diapers he uses. Eventually, you will only spend about $25 a month for diapers.
Diaper Wipes – $10/Month
For us, we had enough wipes from the baby shower to last us the first 8 months or so.
* Money Saving Tips:
- You can reduce the cost of wipes by using coupons or buying store brand.
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Another way to reduce the cost of diaper wipes is to “go green”! When we are home, I use washcloths for my little guy. Overall, I think they clean better than wipes, and my son has rarely had a diaper rash!
Formula – $80-$100/Month
Since we were adopting, nursing wasn’t an option for me. At $22 – $26 a can, formula is so incredibly expensive, but you can save money!
- Register at Similac, Enfamil and Gerber to receive samples and coupon checks (even if you will only be using one brand – see #2 as to why). Sign-up on these sites before the arrival of the baby, as it takes 6-8 weeks for you to begin receiving the coupon checks and samples. The coupon checks range from $3 to $10 each!
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Trade coupon checks on the Baby Center community website. We use Gerber Goodstart for our son, so we traded Similac and Enfamil coupon checks for Gerber Goodstart.
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Use coupons! Similac, Enfamil and Gerber occasionally offer printable coupons online and sometimes in Sunday papers. I have rarely bought formula without using a coupon.
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Buy store brands. Target and Walmart brands are similar to Enfamil and Similac. While name brand formula can cost $20-26 a can, store brands run about $16 a can. In addition, Target sometimes has coupons available on their website. Also, I have emailed Parent’s Choice (Walmart brand) to request coupons and they have mailed some to me.
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Look for sales and stock up. A local grocery store will often have Gerber Goodstart for $19.88 a can. When I’m able to pair these with coupons or coupon checks, I pay less than $16 a can (and sometimes as little as $10).
Clothes
Clothing really depends on each family. As a family, we budget $40 each month for clothing. Some months we use it, others we don’t. We had several gift cards from the baby shower that we used for clothes for Gavin. We borrowed some clothes from friends and family, and we asked for clothes for Christmas and birthday gifts. Otherwise, most of our son’s clothes were purchased on clearance for super cheap!
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