How To Save $$$ Cleaning Baby
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I bet your baby would love this $50 euro-style Tummy Tub, but don't you think he'd also be okay in a $20 tub you got FREE on Freecycle?
I have already covered how to save 77% on your baby’s toiletries, but that’s just a portion of the money you’ll spend cleaning and grooming your baby during his first year of life. There’s also the baby bathtub, towels, washcloths, changing pads, brushes, nail clippers, and so on. You already guessed it: you don’t have to pay retail for your baby’s grooming gear–in fact, you hardly have to pay a dime.
Baby bathtubs used to be a simple item–a plastic tub just the right size for a baby. No frills. Now you’ve got tubs with hammocks and padding in them, tubs with bright designs and attached toys, even European-style upright tubs that keep baby immersed in water so he’s nice and warm. These are all great, except the baby bathtub now costs between $20 and $50. Fifty dollars for a bathtub? Not for me, sorry, even though the Tummy Tub does look like a treat for baby. When I was collecting baby gear during my pregnancy, I decided that a baby bathtub would be nice, but that I wasn’t going to pay more than a few bucks for one–because really, you can wash baby in the kitchen sink if you have to (and fill it really full if baby is picky about being cold). I was trying to get my baby gear checklist down to a minimum, and baby bathtubs looked like a convenience item to me. Today, I have to say I love having a tub, because it’s easy to move it to the kitchen counter or floor or wherever I want to give baby a bath, BUT I didn’t pay a dime for it, so of course I can enjoy it without any regrets.
How? Freecycle, of course! The baby bathtub was the first item I picked up via Freecycle, if memory serves (but, well, honestly it may not… mommy brain, bleh). I scored one of the simple tubs with no hammocks or frills, which means I have to use one hand to support baby, but it’s easy to wipe down. If you’re hunting for baby gear, check out garage sales, Mom 2 Mom sales, Craigslist, or Freecycle–or even a consignment shop–before you register for one of these new. They spend their lives being filled with water and drained–really not a lifestyle that wears them out too quickly–so you should be able to get a good tub for just a few bucks….
… 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!
And now you can order customized autographed copies directly from this website. Enter the recipient’s name and a message below, and Laura will sign a copy of Ecofrugal Baby with your requested message at no extra cost.
