I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: there’s nothing more frugal than free. And if you’re the parent of a baby, there are tons of freebies to be found. Freebie offers come and go so it’s a good idea to sign up as soon as possible for the ones you are interested in. Below is a list of currently available offers. Come back next month for the newest freebie offers!

• Free subscription to American Baby magazine – Produced by the same folks who put out Parents magazine, this one often carries the elusive Amazon.com diaper coupons!
• Free subscription to Baby Talk magazine – Another great magazine, Baby Talk is full of useful information for new (and even experienced) parents.
• Pregnancy Alert Bracelet — This cute bracelet announces your mom-to-be status, which could be helpful in an emergency situation.
• Free Pampers Cruisers sample — Proctor and Gamble is offering a sample of Pampers Cruisers with Dry Max upon signup.
• Lite-Up Baby Clippers – These handy nail clippers have a built-in lite to make it easier to see your baby’s nails.
• Beech Nut Baby Food – Get a couple of free jars of baby food, a box of rice cereal, plus coupons when you sign up.
• Baby Formula Sample — Get a free sample of baby formula from Parent’s Choice.
• Free Potty Training DVD — Get a free DVD to help you potty train your toddler from Huggies Pull-Ups.
• Free Circus Ticket — Babies up to 12 months of age can receive one free ticket to the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.
• Welcome Letter From the President — Receive a presidential letter in honor of your child’s birth. Just send a note with your request and include your baby’s name, age, and address to:
  White House
  Attn: Greetings Office
  1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
  Washington, D.C. 20500

I talk a lot about homemade stuff here on The Frugal Baby. I’ve covered homemade baby wipes, homemade baby food, homemade cloth diapers, homemade baby wraps, and even homemade birthday cakes. One thing I have never talked about is homemade baby formula. Why? Because until recently, I didn’t even realize that people still did that.

Turns out, a lot of people do. It seems that many of these people would have chosen to breastfeed but couldn’t for any number of reasons (adoption, mother’s illness, inability to lactate, etc.). Therefore, they decided to do, what they consider to be, the next best thing.

The recipes for homemade infant formula all call for natural/organic ingredients. Most of them also contain some harder-to-find ingredients. With that in mind, I don’t know how frugal it is to make your own formula. Compared to the cost of commercially prepared formula, however, it might be worth it to take a look. To clarify, I am not trying to suggest that homemade formula is or is not nutritionally sound. In fact, if you are going to try it, I would strongly recommend discussing it with your pediatrician first.

That having been said, here are links to some recipes for homemade baby formula. For more information, check out the book, Nourishing Traditions. And finally, if you make or have made your own infant formula, please let me know. I’d love to hear about it.

• Baby Formula Recipe from the Weston A. Price Foundation
• Homemade Formula Instructions with Photos
• Baby Formula Recipe with Testimonial
• Infant Formula Recipes by Age

My husband was putting something away in our storage closet the other day and he said, “Honey, do you know we have diapers in here?” The reason this seemed odd to him is because we are currently potty training our youngest. I think he thought I had bought them months (or even years) ago and had simply forgotten about them.

Silly man. He should know me well enough by now to realize that I am stockpiling for our future baby(ies). No, we are not pregnant but we plan to have at least one more baby in the relatively near future. So if I can get diapers dirt cheap now, why would I wait? Here’s an example:

A couple of months ago, I found a case of Huggies diapers (144 count in a size 3) on the clearance rack of my local Kroger. They were marked down to $7.99. Why? Because the box was pretty beat up. The diapers inside were still wrapped in plastic and seemed unscathed by the damage done to the box. To make the deal even sweeter, I had a coupon for $3.00 off Huggies bringing my grand total to $4.99 for a case of 144 diapers. How could I pass that up?

Then there are the wipes. Periodically, Huggies and Pampers will each put out coupons for $2.00 off a box of wipes. At Walmart, those wipes can usually be purchased for right around $2.00 making them FREE! I won’t stock up on wipes until I am pregnant because wipes will eventually dry out or even get moldy (yuck!). But if you already are pregnant, this is a great item to stock up on.

Here is a list of items that are great for stockpiling, even before your baby is born!

• Diapers — Buy them when you find great deals on them, particularly in a size 2, 3, or 4 (people will probably give you a lot of size 1 diapers when your baby is born). Also, be sure to request diaper samples and add them to the stockpile.
• Formula — If you plan to formula feed or even just supplement with formula, now is the time to start looking for deals. Recently, Ready-to-Feed Similac was going for less than a dollar because of a high dollar coupon put out by the manufacturer. That is too good to pass up, just watch the expiration dates. Also, samples will start arriving in the mail (with little to no effort on your part). These samples are usually full size cans of formula and can be added to your stockpile.
• Wipes — Again, watch for free or almost free wipes and stock up at least six months worth.
• Baby Bottles — I frequently see baby bottles in the clearance section of stores like Target and Walmart. Request manufacturer coupons for bottles and keep them on hand for those clearance sales. You will find that you can get your baby bottles (even brands like Avent) for pennies sometimes!
• Clothes — Clothing can be tricky because of sizes and genders. However, I always watch for clearance sales on gender-neutral clothing basics like onesies, t-shirts, and pajamas. At the end of the season, you can find amazing prices on these items. If you are already pregnant, you can pretty safely estimate what size your baby will be during his first year of life and buy appropriate clothing at the end of the season.
• Baby Gear — Every now and then a manufacturer will discontinue an item. This is NOT the same as a recall. They simply quit making a particular style of an item. When this happens, you can sometimes find closeout prices on the item. Such finds are rare but they do happen. When I was pregnant with my son I found a purple bouncer for $14 (it was originally $49). I knew I was having a boy but who cares? He didn’t mind having a purple bouncer!

Readers of The Frugal Baby know that I am a breastfeeding advocate. Breastmilk is free, natural, and always at the perfect temperature. I do understand, however, that there are situations in which you cannot breastfeed your baby. If you formula feed your baby, you have most certainly discovered how very expensive formula can be! The average baby will drink about $1,700 worth of formula in his or her first year of life! Fortunately, there are a few things you can do to cut back on this major expense.

Register with Formula Manufacturers

This is the single biggest way to save. All the major brands of formula offer programs that provide coupons, samples, and more. Before I had my first baby, I signed up for everything baby related I could find. As a result, I ended up with six full size cans of formula, two boxes of single-serve formula packets, a couple of diaper bags, a bottle, and a few other goodies. Aside from all the freebies, baby formula companies periodically send out checks or coupons for dollars off their products. The links below will take you to the formula manufacturers’ websites.

• Enfamil Savings Program
• Similac Savings Program
• Good Start Savings Program

Clip Coupons

You may not find a lot of formula coupons in the Sunday paper, but there are plenty of other places to find them. First, check online. Just do a Google search for “baby formula coupons” and start printing. Coupons can also be found for sale on Ebay and for free through Freecycle. In the real world, formula coupons often appear in parenting magazines and yes, occasionally in the Sunday paper. One more coupon tip: keep an eye out for dollars off coupons to stores like Target or Babies R Us that can be used when purchasing formula. Some stores (Target being one of them) will allow you to use a store coupon and a manufacturer’s coupon for one single item. This can add up to substantial savings.

Buy Generic

Some of you may be appalled at the idea of feeding generic formula to your baby. Before you panic, consider this: the FDA regulates all baby formula that is sold in the United States and all formula brands must adhere to the same nutritional standards. With that in mind, consider this: most of the name brand formulas cost about $26 for 25.7 ounces while many store brands cost about half as much.

Buy in Bulk

I’m not a huge fan of wholesale clubs like Sam’s, Costco, or BJ’s but when it comes to infant formula, there are significant savings to be found. You can usually get both name brand and store brand formula at wholesale clubs. Depending on the brand, you can find them ranging in price from $0.40 per ounce to about $0.80 per ounce. You can save even more by using your formula checks or coupons at these stores.

Formula and diapers are undoubtedly the biggest ongoing expense for a baby. I’ve talked before about saving money on both and while I mentioned coupons, I didn’t really go into depth on the subject. The truth is, I am a coupon convert. I once swore that I could save far more money at discount grocery stores like Aldi and Save-a-Lot than I could by using coupons at regular supermarkets. I have since seen the light.

I am planning to talk more about my couponing adventures in the weeks to come but for now, I wanted to alert you to a great deal. There are now Similac coupons in the Coupon Center. These coupons are for $3 off any Similac. Many stores (including Walmart and Target) carry the quarts of ready to feed Similac for under $4.00. Using this coupon makes each quart less than a dollar. That is an incredible deal! If you don’t need formula, print out the coupons for someone else. Or consider buying the formula for charity. You can print two of each coupon per computer.

If you have trouble finding the coupon using your own zip code, try 38122. You may have to go through a few pages to find it. And remember–these coupons go fast so print them while you have a chance.