10 Simple & Frugal Money-Saving Tips for Moms

1. Fewer books is more

The first money-saving tip for moms is that kids need books, but they don’t need all the books. When they send my son home from preschool with the little book catalog, it's so tempting. I adore books so it's really hard to resist, but you do not need all the books in the world.

It’s great to have some classics and staples, but we all know what happens to books, at least in my house. They get ripped and fall apart. You can go to the library, and when you have play dates without people they will have different books at their house.

2. Don’t overspend on birthdays

I feel like this is a cascading effect. When you throw a big party for one kid, the next kid expects something even cooler. Then, the next year they are older, so they want something more exciting. I am terrified of how much money that will take.

You can do a birthday hike, or make a cake, or get a present. My kid gets presents from other people on his birthday as well, so he still has something to open on his birthday, even if his parents only gave him one present. Consider making a birthday tradition that is special and not expensive.

3. Splurge at the Dollar Tree

The Dollar Tree is fun; Sometimes your kid is begging you for something fun. You can take them to the dollar store, and let them pick out something exciting, as opposed to taking them to a toy store or Walmart, where the toys are more expensive.

You can let them pick out two things, and it’s exciting, and a good pick-me-up, but you only spend two dollars. Kids don’t know that it didn’t cost you twenty dollars to buy that fun thing. My son honestly loves getting toys at Goodwill too. So, have your fun at Goodwill and Dollar Tree for those impulse purchases.

4. Have fewer clothes

If you have a four-year-old, you know that the same three outfits get worn every day. My four-year-old is picky; He doesn’t want to wear the shark shirt, he wants to wear the fireman shirt. So, we try not to have that many clothes.

We have four pairs of pants and four shirts. Your kids will, anyways, beg you to do laundry frequently to make their favorite fireman shirt clean, so there’s no reason to have too many clothes.

5. Wait until they grow out of clothes to buy new ones

We live in an awesome world where it's easy to get kids' clothes. Target ships in one day, Amazon in three days, and there is a store down the street.

Sometimes I’m tempted to buy the next size and prepare in advance. But, you never know how fast kids will grow, so try to wait until they are totally grown out of their clothes to get new ones. Because you can get clothes pretty fast.

6. Build your clothing exchange network

Find people with kids who are the same age as your kids, and let them know you're in the market for free clothes, all the time, any time. They probably know others who are also interested, and if they get hand-me-downs, maybe they will give them to you.

It’s awesome to get new clothes for free. And, we can pass on things, if we don’t need them too. Start talking to people you meet at preschool or the park, and let them know you are interested in exchanging used clothes.

7. Cloth diapers

This is my favorite savings hack. You can save so much money. The startup costs can be a little bit, but it will pay for itself in three months. There are also lots of people on Facebook Marketplace selling their old cloth diaper bundles, so you can find something used. If you spend forty or eighty dollars a month on non-reusable diapers, it adds up and can cut into your saving goals.

8. Don’t overschedule

I’m a private music teacher. Sometimes students come to me, and I see what their schedules are like. They have so many things going on and are so worn out. Each activity you have your kids in costs money, so you end up driving them all over the place, and when they get to the last activity they are toast.

They’ve been at school all day. Then they went to softball. Then dance. Then dinner. Then piano lessons. They are toast. Maybe, consider one extra activity at a time, and that will really save your budget too.

9. Time over things

How can we value time with our children and experiences with them over things? It’s very hard for me to not work all the time, and to focus on my kids, go for a walk with them, or play outside with them. How can we work on valuing the experiences we have with our children, as opposed to the things we give them in place of us?

10. Disconnect money from love

The mindset that guides all these tips is to disconnect money from love. I think one of the reasons we want to give our kids everything we never had, is that we associate money and possessions with love.

We want to show our kids we love them, but money and possessions don’t have anything to do with that. Whenever I make a purchasing decision, I consider whether I’m trying to buy affection or love with the money that I’m spending. Don’t blow your budget to buy love because it's impossible.

Money-saving tips for moms

Which of these money-saving tips for moms would you like to start following? What do you do as a money-saving mom to make things cheaper? Let us know in the comments.