Frugal Tips from a Twin Mom

photo credit: Klifton via photopin cc

Living frugally when you have a baby is important.  You’ve on a reduced salary, you have a new person to care for, and everything you open a magazine there is a new “must have” baby item!  There are tough choices to be made.  As a mother of twins I can say that these choices are magnified by multiples.  Now, instead of one baby to care for, clothe, feed and diaper there are two. 

Here are my three frugal tips:

1.     Join a Drug Store Points Program:  You will be buying baby drug store items in mass quantities so you best get all the points you can.  Watch for flyers when there are bonus days and stock up.  Our boys were on a special formula so when it was double points days I drove to ever single drug store in our region and bought every case of the formula they had.  It saved me hundreds of dollars in just a few months.

2.     Enroll in a Diaper Rewards Program:  We didn’t cloth diaper our boys so it was imperative we found a way to lessen the costs of diapers.  From the moment they were born we chose a diaper brand and stuck with it.  From that moment every diaper, wipe and pull-up was purchased from one company and every rewards code entered.  We redeemed these codes for magazine subscriptions, diaper coupons, and gift cards. 

3.     Sell Used Clothes:  You will have at least two of everything and you will go through clothes at a rapid and frightening pace.  With all of those purchases you need to find a way to offset your clothing costs.  We found the best way was to sell used clothing to a local store and use the credit we earned to purchase new clothes. 

Being a mama is expensive stuff, but using the right tactics will help you to save money on the essentials leaving you some extra room for those wonderful, indulgent treats and splurges.  

Kerrie blogs at Family Food and Travel.  She is a mom of twin boys (born March 2010) who she often refers to as the ‘twinado’.  Kerrie loves, writing, travel, photography, and fabulous food.  Prior to kids, Kerrie was an avid reader and scrapbooker and hopes to one day return to those activities.  Kerrie once considered herself successful, that was until she attempted toilet training twins.