EcoFrugal Friday: How To Save $$$ on Babyproofing

Do you really need toilet locks? That's your call, but I can tell you how to find this babyproofing item at a discount.

What with today’s obsession with hover-parenting (and I hover as much as anyone), babyproofing can get a little out of control. I looked up a list of “must-haves” online to see what the bottom line was for babyproofing and came up with a 30-odd item checklist including toilet locks and furniture bumpers and who-knows-what contraptions.

So far we haven’t even put up our baby gates, but I managed to lock a few important cabinets, roll up some blind cords, move the cleaning supplies and the fireplace tools to a closet, and plug all the outlets (what were we thinking putting a gazilion electrical outlets in this house?). I feel like I’m just getting started. I never let this kid out of my sight anyway, but I know everything will change in about 2 weeks when baby girl takes off running. I’m lucky it’s taken her this long to get seriously mobile.

BUT… of course even if you do turn your house into a padded cell to keep baby safe, you don’t have to pay for all those plastic latches and gates. I’m just going to cover the basics (my idea of basics) here, but you can apply these techniques to find pretty much whatever must-have item Safety 1st dreams up next. Happy outlet plugging!

If you have stairs in your house, or a room that will be off limits to baby, one or two baby gates are a must. The best kind have vertical bars only, because these don’t allow baby to get a foothold and climb over the gate. So, unfortunately, that rules out a large number of free gates you could find from friends or online. One option is to use one of those accordian gates that everyone has as a hall gate, and then spend some money for a vertical-bar-only gate at the top of your stairs, where it really matters that baby not be able to climb over. Hall gates can be pressure-mount–the ones that just push against your wall–but top of stair gates should be hardware-mount or wall-mount gates that actually screw into the wall, for extra protection. Baby gates can be recalled, so also please check the CPSC recall database before accepting a hand-me-down or buying a gate.

The jury's still out on how well fabric gates keep toddlers contained, but they do have the benefit of being fully retractable to the wall.

You can find free, basic gates pretty easily on Freecycle, from friends, at garage sales for a few bucks, or on Craigslist. For the nicer gates, check reviews on Amazon and baby gear websites such as Babies R Us to get an idea of what parents like (I almost bought a gate until I found out via reviews that the foot pedal repeatedly broke for owners), and check out your local Lowes or Home Depot, which have childproofing departments in the hardware aisle. You can use one of Lowes’ project starter mailer coupons to help with the cost of a new gate.

Outlet covers come in all shapes and sizes these days, but basic ones still do the trick as long as they fit snugly but can be removed by an adult if the outlet is needed. Buy just a few of these to try the brand before committing to a houseful of covers that require long fingernails and a flathead screwdriver to pry off (note to self: sticking a screwdriver into an electrical outlet isn’t the best example for baby). We have a LOT of outlets in our house, so I appreciated all the freebies we got along the way–I’ve been slowly plugging all the outlets in order of importance since I was pregnant–including a few we received from the OBGYN. I also added a box of outlet plugs to the occasional Amazon order to bump my order up one or two dollars to qualify for free shipping, which basically meant the outlet covers paid for themselves….

…. Continue reading in Ecofrugal Baby: How To Save 70% Off Baby’s First Year, now available in paperback ($19.96) and as an e-book ($5.99). Purchase a copy for yourself and your favorite new parent today. Ecofrugal Baby makes an awesome shower gift or Christmas present for a pregnant friend!