Remember my post from October about looking for a pregnant Halloween costume? Well, the time has *almost* come. Here are nine ways I’ve saved money in preparation for parenthood.

• We compared the prices of popular baby gear on Amazon, Babies R Us, and Target to make sure we got the best deal on a car seat and other items we wanted to buy new. You’d be surprised which retailer was the cheapest!

• I stalked craigslist, Freecycle, and my local Mommy & Me consignment store to furnish our nursery, pictured above, for less than $260. I can’t believe how much used baby stuff is free or extremely cheap. Here are more places to look to avoid paying retail for baby clothesand gear. (more…)

Tuesday, January 31, 2012· 9 Comments »
Tagged: babies, baby, Bills, budget, child, consignment, cutting back, expenses, family, infant, nursery, parents, Retail, save money, second hand, thrift, used

This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.

I’m shining the spotlight on eight college expenses that are a big waste of money – and not necessary. Don’t forget to check out our weekly back to school deals to save money on school supplies and other back to college money savers.

1. Printer - Most universities offer computer labs where your student can print their ten-page papers for free. All s/he needs is a flash drive to save the doc and transport it to the lab. Emailing (more…)

Wednesday, August 24, 2011· 17 Comments »
Tagged: back to college, Back to school, back to school 2011, budget, college, college budget, college expenses, expenses, reduce spending, saving money, spend less

I have been blogging about saving money for almost two years, but now that I am self-employed (read: earning almost nothing), my attitude towards cutting expenses has taken a very real turn. My advice had better work, or else!

I re-did our monthly budget to see how everything would work relying solely on Hubby’s salary. But instead of tracking down every single penny, I stripped down our expenses and savings to the bare minimum. What is left is our discretionary income.

Here is what my monthly formula looks like:

Income minus savings minus necessities minus irregular expenses = discretionary spending.

Income: $XXXX

Savings: $833

Necessities: rent, gas, electricity, Internet service, cell phone service, gasoline (Hubby and I each get one full tank a month seeing how I work from home and he commutes on his bike), doctor visits, medicine, gifts and my newspaper subscription to the Sunday NY Times (which is on the chopping block)

Irregular expenses: car insurance, car registration, car repairs, dental visits, Christmas presents, magazine subscriptions, charitable donations… (more…)

Monday, February 2, 2009· 8 Comments »
Tagged: budget, expenses, Home + Garden, income