At first glance it might seem that child expenditures are the one thing that might be near impossible to manage the right budget on. After all, you want all the best for your newborn and not to skimp out on anything, which is completely understandable. However, there are a few ways to make that wallet management easier without missing out on almost anything.
Natural Breastfeeding
The World Health Organization along with many specialists recommends exclusively breast-feeding your baby till the 6th month. During that period of time your milk has literally everything the baby needs. What does it mean? That it will not only improve your health, but your babies as well, since natural feeding is proven to be the healthiest there is. Which means you will not need to spend even a penny on food for your little one. Those expensive baby teas and supplements? Forget them! However, In case of excessive heat and high temperatured enviroments, it is not a bad idea to give your baby water.
And that’s all! It might not seem like a huge wallet relief, but it’s definitely something and it will be noticable over time.
Diapers
Diapers are one of those elements of growing up that bring with itself quite high expenditure costs. Yet there is a couple ways to make them more manageable.
In this case, the most expensive doesn’t necessarily mean the best, or the only one that is acceptable for your baby. Try out a couple different diaper producers, and if your little one doesn’t have any kind of allergy, it should be safe to pick the cheaper ones, look out for those promotions, too. Diapers are one of those things that you won’t have enough of for quite some time, trust us on this one!
Toys, Toys, and more Toys
While having toys is nice and we consider it an important part of child development, sometimes too much can really be too much, or even unnecessary. Of course the joy of watching your happy baby playing with their brand new toy you just brought them is great, but we should also know when to say no to ourselces and put that racing car or doll back on the shelf.
First of all, we all know that with a baby comes a lot of visitors from family and friends who want to see your newest family member, and with it usually come many gifts (some more useful than others…), so we should keep at least somewhat of a track of how many toys and presents we already received, because that box of toys will begin to pile up faster than you think, and you might help your wallet when you know your kid has enough LEGO’s or Transformers to last a while.
Also, more and more presents might spoil the baby a bit too much, to the point where he or she will expect presents from you regularly, and eventually might feel disappointed after not receiving another one after a finished meal, for example. So be careful, and show your little one that there is more to life than materialistic things (even though we know some them are really nice!)
Last but not least, remember to prioritize “useful” toys first, like that first bike or inflatable swimming pool.
Those were just some of the tips that you might find useful while planning out your parental expenditures, and remember, there are always ways to improve on those, and we understand how being on a tight budget is sometimes, and your child does, too (they are smarter than you think!) It is just like with all things, a matter of finding the right balance.