How Having a Baby Saves Money

by Momsmoney on March 7, 2012

This post is part of Women’s Money Week 2012. For more posts about Saving and Investing see Saving and Investing Roundup.

People often assume that having a baby is only going to cost you money. (More on that in tomorrow’s post on budgeting. But the reality is that having a baby actually can save you money. Here are three ways:

1) Entertainment Expenses

Don’t let anyone tell you that having a baby won’t change your life. Because there’s no question that it will. Whatever you used to do for entertainment like going to the theater, movies, concerts, sporting events, it’s going to be a lot harder with a baby. The good news? Entertainment is expensive. But not being able to go you’ll save money

2) Dining Out and Bar Expenses

We used to go out to eat at least twice a week. In the first month of our baby’s life, we went out once. For 45 minutes. In the first four months we’ve gone out to eat by ourselves a total of 3 times. And we’ve gone out with him perhaps 6 times. Plus, when you go out to eat and take your baby to a restaurant, chances are that will be a less expensive restaurant than you might have otherwise visited. And if while you were working you would go out to eat for lunch co-workers, when you’re on maternity leave that doesn’t happen.

3) Groceries

You’ll surprisingly save money on groceries once you have a baby. First, people will bring you a lot of food after the baby’s born. Thank goodness – because there’s no time to cook. We had about a month’s worth of meals in our freezer which was truly a lifesaver. Second, you’ll save money on groceries because it’s more difficult to get to the grocery store. By not going as frequently you’ll necessarily send less.

These savings add up quickly – in the first few months of our son’s life we saved between $600-$800 a month because of these categories.