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Home › Articles › Family › Toddler-friendly on a Budget

Toddler-friendly on a Budget

16 Ways to Save Money on the Care and Feeding of Your Toddler

By Amy Henry

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Entertainment and Vacation Values

11. There's lots of free entertainment that is toddler- and family-friendly. Try easy hikes, watching the planes come in at your local airport, nature centers, beaches, picnics at a local park or playground, berry picking, cultural festivals and free concerts and local high school sports events.

12. Invite other families with similar age kids over for a movie or game night. Make it potluck and let the good times roll.

13. Vacations don't have to cost a lot. Forget the pricey hotels and pitch your tent at a campground. Or rent a dorm room in the summer from one of the many small colleges that offer this perk. Visit far-away family and friends – yes, you do sacrifice some privacy, but you get a lot of free childcare and your child can bask in all the attention. If you've got your heart set on that house by the sea, go in with another family or two – more playmates for your child at a fraction of the cost.

Childcare Dollar Savers

14. Hughes' favorite babysitting saver is to swap childcare with two friends. "We set it up every week so on Monday I take my kid and two others for a few hours, and then I get a few hours on Tuesday when Friend 1 watches all three kids and a few hours on Wednesday when Friend 2 watches [them]," she says.

15. Lots of kids in your neighborhood? Form a babysitting co-op. Each family starts with 12 one-hour coupons and a phone list of all the participants. Childcare is arranged as needed between any two of the families on the list. Payment is in coupons. The system operates on a very simple principle: To gad about, you have to take your turn on the nest sometimes.

16. Daycare costs can kill a budget, making many moms wonder if it pays to work. One money-saving solution is to go in with another family, hire a reliable in-home sitter and split the cost.

Freezer Safety Tips

Catherine Fliegel shares some tips from her book The One-Armed Cook (Meredith Books, 2004):

  • Avoid plastic containers like the ones margarine comes in. They can crack in the freezer and are not safe for microwave use.
  • Label each item by date and contents with a permanent marker. Toss out anything older than three months.
  • Defrost your frozen items in the refrigerator overnight to ensure that the food will cook uniformly, killing any possible bacteria. Cakes, cookies and breads can be defrosted at room temperature.
  • Reheat food to an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit on a meat thermometer in a conventional oven (350 degrees F), in the microwave (high power) or in a pan on the stovetop (medium heat), stirring frequently to ensure uniform heating.
  • Never refreeze food that has been thawed.

Budget Snacking

The experts share some simple, inexpensive kid-friendly snack ideas:

  • "Hummus and crackers," Hughes says. "Add some cheese and I call it a meal."
  • A no-fail meal at Fliegel's house is pasta and tomato sauce. "I sneak in all kinds of great stuff in the sauce," she says. "Lentils, which are a great source of protein, zucchini, shredded carrots."
  • Hughes recommends "anything that can be dipped. Apples in melted peanut butter, carrots in dressing." Fliegel agrees. "My kids love to dip fresh fruit and vegetables," she says. Her dips? Hummus, low-fat ranch dressing and cheese.
  • Fliegel often disguises leftovers in quesadillas. "I never throw away any little bits," she says. Her secret? "I cover the leftovers with cheese."


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