People say kids are expensive, but they don’t have to be as expensive as you might think. In this post, I will share the 13 Hacks to Save Money When You’re Expecting and break down what you can do to save over $3,000 during your pregnancy.
I have a sweet 17-month-old baby boy, and I still have fond memories of being pregnant. Pregnancy and motherhood is a wild, crazy, beautiful, amazing ride that can cost a pretty penny if you aren’t careful. Here are the best ways to save money while you’re pregnant.
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Money Hack #1: Save Money by Shopping at Thrift Stores, Pop-Up Sales, Yard Sales, and ThredUP
You may find yourself wanting to buy stuff for your baby as soon as you find out that you’re pregnant. To save money, try buying used items. You can shop at thrift stores, yard sales, and pop-up baby sales. I also like the online used clothes store, ThredUP (get $10 free with your first order with this link). Keep your eye out for cute and gently used baby clothes, maternity clothes, and baby gear.
Finding Pop-Up Sales
Google, “baby consignment sales” or “baby consignment sales near me.” You should be able to find consignment stores but also consignment pop-up sales. The pop-up sales happen a couple of times a year, but they’re basically flash sales of tons of gently used baby stuff. This site lists many of the sales around the United States.
Side note
For the baby clothes, consider only buying “boy” or “gender-neutral” clothes until you find out the sex. If something is REALLY cute and girly, buy it and save it for another pregnancy. If you end up having a boy or you can gift it to a friend that is having a girl.
Money Hack #2: Look on Craigslist and OfferUp
Baby stuff piles up fast! Now that I’m on the other end of this, I realize how fast it adds up. If you keep an eye on Craigslist (or even set an alert), you’ll be amazed at what you can find. I literally found an amazing highchair for FREE that we are still using today. All it took was a little elbow grease and a new cover, and it was good as new. OfferUp is another great tool you can use. It’s an app where people buy and sell items, and I’ve used it for buying and selling baby stuff.
Money Hack #3: Save Money with the REI Garage Sale
If you like REI but don’t like paying the high prices, they charge, and you haven’t heard of their garage sales, get ready to have your mind blown! Basically, the REI Garage Sale is where they sell all of the items that have been returned to their store. Their policy is not to put anything that’s been returned (even if it’s new) back on the shelf. Instead, they sell it at their garage sale. So, if you’re looking for a jogging stroller or a hiking baby carrier, check out the REI Garage Sales. You can save money on higher-end items like a Thule jogging stroller. I got one for around $100 (normally $400+). You can also get a barely used hiking carrier like this one at the sale.
Money Hack #4: Let People Know You’re Open to Hand-Me-Downs
Don’t be afraid to share with people the great things you find at yard sales and thrift stores. This will let people know you are open to used stuff. Then, when friends offer to give you baby stuff just say yes!
Money Hack #5: Save Money with an Amazon Registry
The Amazon baby registry is amazing! Amazon gives you an amazing welcome package (valued at $35) when you first sign up. In addition, you get a completion discount on the things you buy for yourself from your registry 60 days before your due date. Also, if $1,000 is spent through your registry you get $100 in free diapers. We had enough diapers between the baby showers (diaper raffles are amazing, y’all) and what we got with the $100 in diapers from Amazon. Not having to buy diapers will really help you save money in the first year!
Money Hack #6: Save Money with a Target Registry
I prefer the Amazon registry over the Target one because Amazon just seems to have more of the items I wanted when I was pregnant. However, it doesn’t hurt to register at Target as well. Their registry welcome package (valued at $60) was super cute, and they also have a completion discount. For example, we put an iRobot vacuum on our registry, waited till Black Friday, and then bought it on sale plus an extra 15% off. This was a splurge purchase but let me tell you, it is amazing. We have dogs and one of the dogs sheds. Having clean floors for when our little one was crawling was a big deal to me. Also, did you know your house gets less dusty when your floors are clean? It’s because there’s less dirt/dust in the air when you walk around. Who would’ve known?
Money Hack #7: Get on All the Registries!
Most registries have welcome packages and perks, so check them out and see which ones you like. Also, don’t be afraid to register for a lot of items, especially if you’re having multiple showers. I find that most people purchase things you put on your registry, so register for the stuff you need, like diapers, gift cards, and even things you’ll need when they’re a little older, like sippy cups. You may want to avoid registering for clothes or blankets since they are easy to find at thrift stores and yard sales, and people will buy them for you anyway because they think they’re cute (seriously, I think I have 20+ baby blankets).
Money Hack #8: Get a Free Breast Pump
Did you know that you can save money and get a free breast pump through your insurance when you’re pregnant? It’s the law. According to Healthcare.gov, “health insurance plans must provide breastfeeding support, counseling, and equipment for the duration of breastfeeding.” Talk to your doctor to see what you need to do to claim it. It may be as simple as filling in some paperwork and giving it back to the receptionist at your ONGYN.
Money Hack #9: Enroll In Your FSA at Work
This one takes a little planning, but if you know you’re going to try to get pregnant in the next year, or if you’re pregnant when your open enrollment at work happens and your company has an FSA, you can increase the amount you add to your FSA to cover your medical expenses. Doing this will save money because they will take money out of your check before you pay taxes on them and save them for you to use on your medical expenses.
Basically, you’ll save about 20% (give or take depending on your tax rate) on your medical bills since you’re not paying tax on that money. Keep in mind, if you take too much out and don’t use it in the specified time frame, you’ll lose that money. To make sure you don’t lose that money, look at the details of your insurance benefits to see how much a delivery costs (the co-pay), and how much your routine pregnancy check-ups are. My delivery, for example, was $300, and it was $25 per OBGYN visit. Once my son was born, his urgent care appointments were a $25 copay.
Money Hack #10: Save Money on Maternity Clothes
Your body goes through many changes when you’re pregnant, and eventually, your clothes stop fitting you. But the good news is that it’s a gradual process. I started off by extending the life of my normal clothes with these waist extenders in three different colors. These allowed me to keep wearing my normal clothes, I would just leave my pants unzipped and unbuttoned, and these would hide that fact and help keep my pants from falling down.
Once I grew out of using those products, I was able to find reasonably priced, cute, and professional maternity clothes at Old Navy and Kohls’s. As mentioned before, I also found used maternity clothes at thrift stores and ThredUP.
Money Hack #11: Hack Full-Priced Items
Sometimes you run out of ways to hack a purchase, and you can’t get it for free or a discount. In that case, I check Ebates (use this link to sign up and get a $10 bonus after your first purchase) to see if they have any types of cashback offers to use, and I also check Raise.com (get $5 with your first purchase with this link) to see if they have any discounted gift cards I can purchase.
Money Hack #12: Use Credit Cards that Give Cash Back Rewards
As much as you can reduce spending, when you do spend money, you can get the most out of what you spend by putting your expenses on a credit card that offers rewards. I love using credit cards and racking up points, but I only recommend this for people that know they can spend within their budget and who pay their credit cards off in full every month.
Money Hack #13: Sell/Return/Give Away the Stuff You Don’t Need
Finally, my last hack was to sell/return/give away the stuff I didn’t need. For example, I bought a swing from a thrift store for $10 but then I got a better one handed down to me. So, I sold the swing I got at a thrift store on OfferUp for $15. That’s right, I made a $5 profit!
I also sold some of the maternity clothes that I received because they weren’t my style or they didn’t fit. I didn’t feel like having a yard sale or taking the time to put them on eBay so I ordered the free clean-out bag from ThredUP and threw them in there. The small amounts of cute girly stuff I bought before I found out I was having a boy made a great gift for one of my best friends. It was nice to be able to use my money hacking mama powers to help a friend.
So how much did I save with all of these money hacks while I was pregnant? Here’s the breakdown:
All this saving money while you’re pregnant is super helpful if you’re going to need daycare once your baby is here. That being said, don’t let the cost of daycare creep up for you. Think about creating a budget now. You can start saving for daycare and even for college expenses! The power of time is on your side if you start early.
Learn More: 75 Money Hacks That Will Save You a Fortune
