Today Michelle from Saving Some Green shares some great hints for cutting child-related expenses!
About Michelle:
Michelle Wall and her husband Nate live in Boise, Idaho with their two small children, Owen and Audrey. Michelle works part-time outside the home, full-time inside the home, and blogs about the triumphs and trials of their frugal lifestyle at Saving Some Green.
One phrase I hear a lot when it comes to kids is this one: “Kids are soooo expensive!” I agree. They are expensive – but there are a million ways (I will not share all of them here!) to cut expenses when it comes to having kids. Here are a few that have worked for me:
Clothes – I almost threw up when my sister told me that she spent $36 on a pair of Levi’s for her son. Buy your kid 3 pairs of new Levi’s and you could be in the hole for $100! Yikes! I have been blessed with hand me downs – my son was the 6th grandson on my side and the 3rd grandson on my husband’s side. My family has been generous with the hand me downs…but you may not be so lucky. I also shop yard sales, thrift stores, and consignment store and get awesome deals. I just purchased a pair of sandals, a pair of light up tennis shoes, a pair of black dress shoes, and a pair of sketchers for my daughter at Other Mothers – (a local Idaho consignment shop) for $12!
Entertainment – Your kid does not need every Disney DVD as soon as it comes out. I promise. Seriously, though. Kids want to spend time with you – they don’t care what you do! This type of quality time is FREE. But if you want to keep your kids busy so you can clean the kitchen…be creative. Build a fort out of four kitchen chairs and a fitted sheet. Paper and crayons provide hours of FREE entertainment. Give them a box to play in. Kids want to be creative, let them!
Toys and Books – My kids have a lot of toys and a lot of books. Not because I have spent a fortune, either. I pick them up for next to nothing at garage sales. If I was paying full price for my kids’ toys and books they would have much, much, much less.
Holidays – In my opinion, most people overdo the holidays where kids get gifts. My kids got two gifts from us at Christmas. They get a few eggs and a small toy in their Easter baskets. We make home-made Valentines. We buy a few fireworks for the 4th of July. Our Christmas morning this past year was wonderful. My kids opened their gifts and were so excited and spent all day playing with their toys. On the other hand, other children we knew received so many toys that they didn’t know where to start and ended up playing with boxes. Keep it simple!
I could go on and on about ways to save money with kids. Here is the reality…you don’t have to spend a lot of money for your kids to know that you love them and to have loads of fun!
