Yesterday I shared a few ideas for saving money on things that the youngest members of your family need. Today, I have more suggestions for things that parents can do to help lower some of the costs associated with raising children. Since parenting styles vary so greatly, not all of these tips will appeal to all families. Hopefully within this collection of tips there is something for everyone.
One of my favorite things to do is to look for things that I can do during the day with my son that do not cost anything. I am a stay at home mom, and while I enjoy staying home with my son I also enjoy getting out and doing things in our community. It is good for both of us to spend time around groups of people, and it feels good to know that there are things that we can do that do not involve spending money. A few of the things that I have found in my community (those of you in bigger communities may have many more options) include attending the newborn to toddler group at the hospital where my son was born, having play dates with people that we met at the newborn to toddler group, going to toddler story time at the local library, and going to our local park as well as parks and playgrounds in other communities.
Kids grow so fast, and it may feel like you just bought your child a new wardrobe only to have him or her grow out of it a month or two later. Buying all of those clothes and shoes can be expensive, but you also want your kids to look good too. Fortunately, there are a few options for cutting costs without sacrificing style. Believe it or not, gently used name brand children’s clothing does show up in thrift stores. You may have to be picky and leave the store empty handed a few times before scoring a good deal or two, but if you have time to look every once in a while you can really luck out. Resale stores like Once Upon a Child or Children’s Orchard are another option. The clothes cost more than at the thrift store, but they are of better quality. You can bring in the clothes that your child has outgrown (call to see what the buying hours are and whether you need an appointment) and see whether the store will buy any of them. Whatever you can not sell can go to the thrift store or to friends that have children who could use that size of clothing.
Other thrifty parenting tips include breastfeeding, cloth diapering, finding friends to trade child care with, and finding other parents in your community that you can periodically swap clothes or toys with. Like I mentioned before, not all of these tips will work for all families, and I am sure that there are many wonderful thrifty parenting tips that I do not know about. Feel free to share your favorites, I would love to hear them.