Budget Baby in EY!

Israeli_C

Tue, Feb 19 2019, 8:52 am

Looking for tips and advice from savvy EY moms! I recently had twins and also have a 1.5 year old - everyone in diapers and the twins guzzling down the formula at a crazy rate. Any tips from other moms for saving money on baby items and whatnot (also for later down the road)? For Materna and diapers I've already started only buying in Rami Levi (as opposed to Superpharm) but if anyone has a better idea I'd be happy to hear!

Israeli_C

Tue, Feb 19 2019, 9:57 am

finallyamommy wrote:

Are you on Facebook? You could join cloth diaper groups and see if anyone is giving away or selling at a discount. I cloth diapered my daughter and we loved it.

I don't have FB. I think the laundering involved in cloth diapering 3 babies would be too much for me.

finallyamommy

Tue, Feb 19 2019, 10:01 am

Israeli_C wrote:

I don't have FB. I think the laundering involved in cloth diapering 3 babies would be too much for me.

Yeah, most people agree with you. I preferred doing laundry to taking the trash out multiple times a day, lol.

Israeli_C

Tue, Feb 19 2019, 10:08 am

finallyamommy wrote:

Yeah, most people agree with you. I preferred doing laundry to taking the trash out multiple times a day, lol.

The trash is DH's domain- probably why I don't mind lol

Rappel

Tue, Feb 19 2019, 10:17 am

*One money saver: I try and minimize using wipes by actually washing the baby when I can, or using cotton rags. It saves us quite a bit.

*This isn't strictly-speaking baby budgeting, but I find the most economical, nutritious, no-effort supper I can make is a huge pot of chicken soup, and rice. I throw the veggies in basically whole, and 1 whole chicken, and let time on the fire do the rest. Everyone will eat it, and there are always leftovers for a future freezer meal. The adults have soup liquid + rice, while the babys have chicken and soft carrots, and older kids get to pick whatever they like out of the soup.

ETA: Easily 90 percent of our clothing is second-hand. We give clothing to our friends, and vice versa, and when we do shop it's mostly at our yad sheniya. It's a real blessing on our budgeting.

BadTichelDay

Tue, Feb 19 2019, 10:57 am

Sorry, no tips on diapers - I had 2 kids simultaneously in them not long ago. I just bought the cheapest ones I could find in Rami Levy and bought lots whenever there was a mivtza, like 4 packages for 100 ש"ח etc.

Formula - I started introducing cow's milk from 6 months onwards (not everyone recommends that, I know) and mashed fruits and vegetables, biscuits and oatmeal. That helped lowering Materna consumption bit by bit.

tsc3

Tue, Feb 19 2019, 11:36 am

I had 3 in diapers. I sometimes found coupons for great prices on groupon.
Also, I never used it but I heard from a friend of mine that had twins that there is a formula gmach. Maybe ask around your community. Or maybe u can ask if anyone has extra pumped milk to save u a bit?
Hatzlacha!

WitchKitty

Wed, Feb 20 2019, 1:30 am

First of all, you're buying the no shlavim materna, right?
Second. make sure not to buy the really really cheap diapers because they just tear and don't come out worth it.
Also, the shabbos "wipes" spray is made of soap, baby oil and water. You can make that on your own, and use instead of wipes.
The main problem with budgeting is also that you need all the help you can get, and not make life harder for yourself Sad

Try calling the diaper/formula companies. They send samples- which are great for outings, but probably if you tell them that you have twins and are trying to figure out if to use them, they'll send more stuff.
Yes, there are gemachs, mainly for special formulas, but sometimes they have leftover regular materna from people.
You can also advertise locally if anyone has half- boxes of materna to give away.
I second Rappel- second hand.

Iymnok

Wed, Feb 20 2019, 1:52 am

I don’t like the cheapest diaper, so I use Titulim. Maybe get the absolute cheapest for the twins since newborns go through them faster. Toddlers are sometimes only 3/day.
I occasionally see ads in our nshei email of people trying to give away an opened can of materna.
I have some newborn prefold cloth diapers if you want.

Rappel

Wed, Feb 20 2019, 2:58 am

Israeli_C wrote:

This exists?? :O
Many thanks for all the tips ladies, they've all been really helpful!

Heads up: the no-shlavim Materna is lower quality than the others. I would use it if I had a toddler/small child who needed supplemental energy drinks, but not for a newborn.

I agree with the poster who recommended Titulim as the best cheap option to buy. I've found any brands which were cheaper than that just didn't hold together.

That being said: I'm a Huggies fan, hands down, especially once my kids are old enough to drink on their own. I found Huggies to have twice the absorbency rate of Titulim. Since they're not that much more expensive (at our local grocery, they go 3 packs for 100), I think it pays off.

And Witchkitty - the samples idea is brilliant!

SuperWify

Wed, Feb 20 2019, 7:20 am

Rappel wrote:

I had a very bad experience with titulim. I find that they leak all over. Newborns especially need good absorbent diapers. The problem in Israel is that American brands are extremely expensive.

I would find someone that has twins a year older than yours and ask them to give you all of their “doubles” clothing, equipment, and extra formula and diapers.

nameless

Thu, Feb 21 2019, 2:33 am

I don't know where you live but there should be formula gemachs around. By us you can get w/o shlavim for around 40 and with shlavim for 43/44. And I agree I never gave newborns w/o shlavim formula. I usually switched them after a year. But this is a question for your doctor or even a nurse in tipat chalav. Which reminds me I have gotten a few formula samples from Tipat chalav. Won't get you too far but every little bit helps.

For diapers you have to watch out for sales and stock up. I had 3 in diapers and you just go through them and it adds up. But we try to buy when they're on sale Titulim you can find 4 for 100 at times and babysitter (which I know many probably think isn't such a great brand but for some reason I have 1 kid that leaks in everything except babysitter..) for even a little less. Also stocking up doesn't make you feel like you're buying diapers every other day. You just have them and don't have to think about it for a few weeks.

tsc3

Thu, Feb 21 2019, 2:53 am

nameless wrote:

I just saw an add for babysitter diapers that claims it's absorbency is equal to huggies. Does anyone know anything about this?

nameless

Thu, Feb 21 2019, 5:11 am

I have no clue but I can say that I have kids that have leaked in Huggies, Titulim and Babysitters. Not sure why but every kid needed something else.
Babysitter diapers are actually not so bad. For my current child in diapers they work the best but for my older ones it was almost like she wasn't wearing a diaper at all.

So it could be could be not depends on the kid.

WitchKitty

Fri, Feb 22 2019, 6:01 am

Up to 10 years ago there WAS no shlavim materna. The shlavim one is really a nice way for the company to make money. I researched this not long ago. If you look at the ingredients and what's in it- the only big diff is that shlav 3 is sweeter.... Smile

(All my Israeli- born siblings were given the no shlavim- even when they could've had the shlavim. )
I've found Titulim to be great, Babysitters wasn't so good.
BTW, if you would want milk... (I don't know, sounded... interesting.... to me), so I have sometimes that I can give. Not a lot, like 120cc a week... but if you want....