Everyone knows that having a baby means dolla, dolla bills y’all. Babies are expensive, and they only get more expensive as they get older. When we first learned that we were pregnant I kinda started freaking out a little internally. My husband and I moved from the Bay Area, CA to Salt Lake City, UT when I was five months pregnant. I went from working two jobs that I made great money at, to having no job or income of my own. Luckily my husband had a great job waiting for him out here, otherwise we would’ve been screwed. Living off of one income at the time still kinda made me nervous though.
I knew we had to start getting our finances together before she got here. I started really looking into what our expenses were every month and figuring out ways to cut out stuff we really didn’t need, and save money on stuff that we had to keep.
Home Cooked Meals
Our days of going out for sushi three times a week came to an abrupt halt. My husband and I worked later in the evenings when we lived in Cali so it was just easier and more convenient to go grab something at a restaurant or get take-out once we came home from work.
Once we decided to cut back on unnecessary expenses, we immediately knew that going out to eat was gonna get crossed off our list. I started meal planning hard core. Every Sunday night I would write out a dinner plan for the rest of the week. Some nights even included left overs, which my husband hates but was able to tough out for the sake of saving money.
I actually really began to enjoy meal planning and cooking. It’s something I never really had time for back home, but now I kinda find cooking relaxing. What I like about meal planning is that I never have to stress over what to make for dinner the night of. I know exactly what we’re gonna have and I know I’m gonna have all the ingredients needed for it as well because that’s also part of the meal planning process. All the guess work is taken out, and now I just get to enjoy creating delicious meals that I know we’ll both love. Making meals at home has seriously saved us around $600 a month, which is what we would spend on average to eat out back home.
Cancelling the Cable
This one was actually a little hard for me because there were actually a couple of shows that I was really into. I like watching new episodes as they come out, but I knew we were paying way too much for cable. Instead, we got Hulu, which we only pay $7.99 a month for. Hulu has a great selection of tv shows and movies. I was honestly surprised when we started our free trial. Plus, it has some great Hulu original tv shows like Castle Rock. I was so freakin addicted to that show!
I honestly haven’t missed having cable once since we crossed that bill off our list. If anything, it just made me realize that was an unnecessary luxury that we kept when there’s so many more affordable alternatives out there. If Hulu isn’t your thing, try Netflix or Amazon Prime TV. Now, we’re saving $109/month, which was the cost of our cable bill.
Bye, Bye Gym Membership
So, this was an expense that solely applied to me because my husband doesn’t have a gym membership. Working out is one of my favorite things to do. I feel like I’ve accomplished something after every workout, and it’s really important to me to stay fit and healthy.
See, the problem I had with working out was that I didn’t utilize my surroundings enough. Instead, I would pay monthly for a gym membership, as well as a Barre/Yoga membership (my gym didn’t offer any of these classes). I like to do different workouts throughout the week, otherwise I would get bored at the gym doing the same thing everyday.
A gym membership really wasn’t an expense that I had to have anymore. Instead, I took advantage of the great Salt Lake City outdoors. My workout routines now consist of outdoor hiking, walking and running. I also have some Barre workout videos that I watch on colder days, and I use the Down Dog app on my phone to do yoga at home. The important thing is that I’m still staying fit and healthy without spending a crap ton of money on gym memberships. I’m now saving a total of $125/month, which was the combined cost of both the gym membership and the Barre/Yoga membership.
Second Hand Baby Gear
A major stressor for me was thinking of all the stuff we’re gonna have to buy for the baby. Like I said in the beginning, babies are expensive. Duh, right? I would get super overwhelmed with the list of things that we had to have before she got here. Not to mention, everyone has something to say about what our baby is gonna need, which would only freak me out more.
To relieve some of that stress, we took pretty much every hand-me-down we could get from my husband’s brother and his wife. They have two really young girls, and since we too are having a girl, it only made sense to take all the baby stuff that they were offering. We got tons of clothes, shoes, and snow gear, as well as a car seat, blankets, and toys. A lot of this stuff was brand new and had never even been used. Also, they only gave us stuff that was still in really good condition.
I know a lot of parents want to give their kids brand new stuff, but for us, this approach just made more sense. I’m so thankful that we can cross some of this stuff off our list of things to get for the baby. There’s still a lot more stuff we’re gonna have to get for her before she’s born, but at least we’ve got a good chunk of those items already taken care of.
Ebates
So, I recently just discovered Ebates and I absolutely love it!! Ebates is actually a platform that gives you cash back for shopping at major retailers through their site. I’m already a huge online shopper advocate. Shopping online is seriously so much more convenient, especially when it’s pouring rain outside or dumping snow. I literally have no desire to leave the house when the weather is horrible outside.
I use the Ebates app to get my shopping done at Target and Walmart. I figure, I need to get these things anyways, right? I might as well be making money while I’m spending money, am I right? There’s also so many other retailers on the Ebates app like Amazon, Kohls, Old Navy, Ulta, Sephora, Macy’s and more. This app has seriously changed the way I shop. Now, if I need to get something at a retail store, I go through Ebates first. I’m not making a fortune back on money, but getting something back is better than nothing ya know.
So, there you go. Five simple ways to save some money before baby gets here. I didn’t say they were easy ways, but they definitely can simplify your life while helping you save money.
Let me know if you’ve tried any of these saving techniques yourself, or if you have some additional ones that have worked out for you.