Frugal Tips for Your Twin Babies.. A new baby in the house means a whole lot of fun. On the flip side, it also means a whole lot of work for new parents. In the case of twin babies, and even multiples, this means not just double the fun but also double the work and double the cost. If you ever felt stressed about money before, having twins is a whole other ball game story.
Here are some tips especially meant for parents of twins and multiple babies to save some money and some energy:
•Cloth or Disposable? The Diaper Debate. Like many new parents to twin babies, you’re probably going through all the initial decisions like wondering what type of diapers to use. Ideally, cloth would be best if you didn’t have to worry about the laundry and poopy diapers. Gross. Nobody likes dealing with this stuff. That’s why we now have diaper service companies that will set you up with a “starter package deal.” There are companies out there like GDiapers.com that offers great diaper solutions especially if you’re looking into more eco-friendly ideas. All you have to do, really, with cloth diapers is stock them in a laundry sack and wait for the diaper service guy to come pick them up from a big tub they give you. It’s really come a long way since having to launder your own baby’s diapers. Of course, it’s going to cost you, but they do offer 1st timers good deals. Check out GDiapers.com.
• Work as a pair to care for your twins. Now that you have twins, parenting is a sport! Generally, one of the parents takes over the majority of parenting chores because the other is often working. With twins however, it often becomes necessary for both parents to share duties more or less equally. Sharing the parent work load equally is a smart thing to do. If one parent feels like their pulling most of the load, it doesn’t take long for resentments to build. And that’s not good for anybody, especially not the kids. So split up the work so everybody pitches in and works as a team.
• Alternate between both twins. Do not go in for an arrangement where each spouse looks after chores related to only one of the twins. Alternate, so both parents get to handle both of the twins. You want more than anything else, to keep a happy house and make sure each child feels nurtured equally.
• Determine a schedule. Juggling sleep, eat, and play routines for two new babies can be both, chaotic and exhausting. Getting your twins accustomed to a fixed routine makes your work easier, and is good for them too. If you ever have a hard time getting in the flow of a new twin schedule, don’t let it go on and on without doing something about it. It will only make things worse. Instead, ask your fellow parent friends for help and see what they do. All parents use tips and tricks from lots of other parents along the way. This is definitely a smart thing to do to when it comes to getting into a routine. See what works for you and stick with it. The only trick to a routine is consistency and committing to keeping it.
• Have names that sound distinct. This is an obvious point that often gets overlooked. Parents often give twins similar sounding names. While this sounds cute, it can lead to confusion and teasing as they get older in school. (Remember these are proven tips and advise from child psychologists, not just me.) And this is what I’m reporting after research. So don’t name your twins, “Donna and Lonna”
• Dress them differently. Not just identical twins, all infants can look startlingly similar. Dressing twins differently helps to tell them apart and, at times, may help prevent unnecessary, or even grave, confusion. Dressing your twins seperately also gives them an important sense of individuality and lets them know that they are their own person, not just a twin of someone else.
• Be vigilant for infections. Twins spend most of their time together and thus are more than likely to contract infections from each other. If either of your twins seems unwell, be on your guard against the likelihood of the other one catching the ‘bug’ too. This goes the same for any household with multiple kids. You don’t want to get stuck passing a virus around from one child to the next back and forth.
• Accept friendly help. As parents of twins, you may receive well-meaning offers of help from relatives, friends, or well-wishers. If so, accept them, at least some of the time. Don’t try to be a “super-mom” and think you can go it alone. Maybe you can, but why not make things easier at times and let your family watch the twins while you go get your hair done.
• Employ professional help. If you are fortunate enough to have the financial means to do so, employing a nanny or ocassional babysitter is one way you could make the job of bringing up twins a bit easier. Especially if you have multiples, going it alone (even with both mom and dad) can be a major challenge. Accept help wherever you get it and do yourself a favor and look into the cost of nannies just so you know what to expect early. You might be surprised how affordable their services can be. Check out Nannies4Hire.com or Care.com for both nannies and babysitters. Both can be good options.
• Frugal Ideas to Keep their individuality. Your twins do not necessarily have to share a lot between them-apart from their birthdays that is. Learn to know them as individuals and treat them so. Parents of twins and multiple babies report noticing their twins’ different little personalities immediately after birth.
• Don’t have the TV on all day. This may sound like a strange tip – it’s not. The reality is that watching TV will waste away your precious time, keep you up late, and throw the twins’ schedules off dramatically. When kids get used to watching TV programs, it’s hard to get them to stop. As they get older, you don’t want to find yourself in a battle to turn off the TV and it’s simple – you have to start early. Teach them that you do other things as a family besides sit on the couch together. Instead, watch videos. With videos, you have control. You can pause and start again without the fear of missing something. Having the luxury of pushing pause also gives you a bit of control when they start acting up and may need a time out. Watch short comedies that last only 1/2 an hour. Laughter is key during the first year, (parents included) otherwise you’ll go nuts. Don’t even think about watching your favorite Law & Order episode on demand with the little kiddies around now. Nope, you’re watching Disney stuff and Baby Einstein now! Welcome to parenthood.
• Take time for you. Get out of the house. Get a massage (Dads included). Take a bath in silence or with your favorite CD. Take naps. To most parents, this is the ultimate luxury, to be able to nap in the middle of the day while someone else looks after the twins. See friends. You’ll need to schedule this time – it won’t come naturally as your job is never done for the day – or night! Work with your spouse to coordinate “time-off” and take advantage of any help you can get to take the breaks you’ll need. If a family member pops over unexpectedly and offers to take them to the park, do it! You can use that time to rest and the twins will enjoy their time with auntie. Remember, it’s not just the parents who can use breaks from the twins, but the twins who can sometimes use breaks from the parents. Spending time apart teaching them lots of things. It teaches them routine, consistency, confidence, and security in getting to know how their world works.
• Routine. Routine. Routine. You can’t wing this. Develop routines and patterns. Get up, change them, get dressed, feed them, change them, feed them, nap them, change them, feed them – you get the idea. They’ll adapt quickly to routines and your days will become smoother. It usually takes about 3 days for anew routine to set in with kids. You’ll be surprised how easily they take to it… probably easier than you.
As a side note, there WILL be times when you don’t think you can go on – this is normal. There will be times when you want to run screaming bloody murder – this is normal. You can and will get through this.
Being a parent has its rewards. And having twins can have it’s rewards too. You can possibly earn money with your twins’ photos. There are lots of baby photo contests out there specifically looking for twins. Lots of modeling and TV commercial acting for baby products, requires twins. This is definitely something worth looking into if you want to see if your baby has what it takes to bring in a check.
Saving money with twins is not easy. Here’s some tips: Use hand me downs from other families of twins. Some parents live in communities with family club memberships (free) to exchange clothes with each other. Some communities hold these clothing exchanges on a monthly basis and it’s free! You just have to agree to “work the show” for a 2 or 3 hour window of time. ..totally worth the great deals.
• Dine In and Save! Reports show that dining out is one of the biggest money wasters in most households, especially when you have a larger family now. You don’t want to see your baby budget go down the tubes when you have a perfectly good kitchen and groceries at home. But dining in doesn’t just save you money. It gives you a chance to gather as a family and cook as a family. As your kids get older, they’ll appreciate this when they know about basic nutrition and how to make their own creative culinary concoctions.
Cheap Baby Gifts. Everybody wants to come up with something original and super fantastic for the baby shower or the baby’s first gift. Perhaps it’s baby’s first birthday and you want to give them something unique and memorable, but you don’t want to spend a fortune. Cheap baby gift ideas are not hard to come by. And we’ve done the leg work to find some great bargains out there! We’ve scouted a few great buys, online sale racks, and virtual clearance tables to help you with ideas for your special new baby. Below is a selection of cheap baby gifts to choose from, as suggested by fellow frugal moms, dads, and friends of babies.
