Raise Your Multiples Without Breaking the Bank (Part 1)

by Erin Sweeten

Watching my five-year-old boys eat is akin to watching someone putting money through a shredder. They have breakfast. Then a snack on the way to school. Then a snack at preschool. Then lunch. Then two more snacks before dinner. Then dinner. Then a bedtime snack. Every few months I mentally revise downward the estimated date we will have to buy a second fridge. Don’t even get me started on how fast they wear out the knees of their pants and the toes of their shoes. For fun, I daydream about how much life will change when we don’t pay two preschool tuitions.
 
Kids are expensive. The Department of Agriculture estimates that it now costs $233,610 to raise a child to age 17. With multiples, those annual costs of nearly $14,000 are not staggered as they would be with singletons. We have double (or more!) the baby gear, the diapers, the child care, the preschool tuitions. But it doesn’t have to be a bank-account-crushing experience. There are always workarounds and ways to cut costs.
 
This, week, we’ll cover food, diapers, and clothing and gear. Next week, check in for ways to save money on child care, education, and enrichment activities. First off, here are some general money-saving tips.

• Before any transaction, ask about deals for siblings and multiples.
• Never make an online purchase without first googling promo codes for that website.
• Search for Facebook Swip Swap groups in your area to find used clothing and gear in good condition. Use your part of town (“North Phoenix”) or a topic ( “Baby” or “Twins”) as search terms. If you haven’t signed up for the PVmom Swip Swap, do it!
• Sign up for newsletters and that publish weekly deals on kids-and-family stuff. Some favorites of our PVmoms:
  • Twiniversity.com
  • Hip2save.com
  • Moneysavingmom.com

 
 
Feeding Infants and Children

• Breast Pumps: Federal law requires that breast pumps be fully covered by insurance. Check with your insurance company on how to claim the rental cost. You may qualify for a better pump if you mention you are expecting multiples. You could easily save $50 a month.
• Formula:  Ask your pediatrician for free samples every time you visit. While you’re there, sign up for the multiples benefit programs through Similac and Enfamil. You’ll get samples and valuable coupons. Check your swip-swap groups for free coupons, too. If your babies don’t tolerate regular formula, insurance may cover all or part of the cost of hydrolyzed formula with a prescription from your doctor.
• Baby Food: If you have a microwave, a blender, and a few empty ice cube trays, you can make and freeze your own baby food without much fuss. You could spend $.79 on 2.5 oz of organic peas in a jar, or $1.49 for 10 oz of organic frozen peas that you cook yourself. That’s about half price. Fellow PVmom Katherine Betts has great baby food tips at Twinpickle.com. One PVMom tipped us off that Big Lots carries discounted baby foods—just make sure you’ll be able to use what you buy before the expiration dates. Some manufacturers also offer deals for multiples, which are listed on this Twiniversity page.
• Snacks: Save money by avoiding individually-packaged items and drinks. Yes, a single-serving bag of goldfish crackers is soooo easy. Trust me: it’s not that hard to buy a family-sized bag and portion it out yourself, spending less than half the money. A nine-pack of 1 oz goldfish servings costs $.66/oz at my grocery store; the 30 oz box costs $.28/oz. Divvy it up after you bring the groceries home. Check Sprouts ads for deals on bulk items, and if your kids like seaweed, an Asian grocery store is your best bet. Pick up a case of 24 packages for about $6.
• Organic Veggies: Consider joining a CSA, in which you subscribe to a weekly box from a local farmer. Prices per week range from $12-$30, depending on the provider and how much food you want. Yelp has an up-to-date list of CSAs you can check out. Each has its own drop-off sites.
• Restaurants: Many local restaurants offer free kids meals on certain days. Our favorite low-cost restaurant meal is Vietnamese pho. We buy two large bowls of beef and rice noodle soup and ask for extra bowls for the kids. It’s as quick and cheap as fast food, and much more delicious.

 
 
Diapers

• The cheapest route is to buy gently used cloth diapers and wash them yourself. Cloth Diaper Trader and Diaperswappers.com are good sites for checking out prices. Mamanatural.com has a detailed introduction to cloth diapering options.
• If cloth is not for you, use your email newsletters to keep track of sales and coupons for disposables. Keep on top of your local Facebook groups, too. Swip Swap moms post low-cost partial packages that their babies have outgrown.
• In my experience, the best store for inexpensive diapers is Target. I loved the Target Up and Up brand, which you can get for 10% off with a Red Card and a subscription( size 1s are currently 12.5 cents each before the 10% discount, compared to 24.6 cents for Pampers). Target also periodically offers deals on baby supplies, such as buy two cases of diapers and get a $20 gift card. You can apply additional coupons through the Cartwheel program in the Target app.
• Amazon Family can be a good deal—free shipping and 20% off diapers and baby supplies if you have five subscriptions. You can apply coupons on top of your subscription price too. Managing it can be tough; sometimes I made the mistake of ordering too many diapers and having my boys outgrow them before they were gone. Be prepared to pay the $99 prime membership fee after your free trial, unless you have an .edu email address to qualify for the student rate.

 
 
Clothing and Gear
There are very few items that you need to buy new. Many of our toy acquisitions come from the stuff piled on top of the clothing racks at Goodwill. In addition to your Swip Swap groups, take advantage of children’s consignment shops and thrift stores. One of our PVmoms owns Once Upon a Child Scottsdale and is a club sponsor.  Her store has high quality items at good prices.  Here is a map of child consignment shops in the Valley, where parents buy and sell gently used goods:

Now go forth, and raise those babies on a budget! May the wind be ever at your back. We'll have more tips next week.