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Recent Articles

Check out all the latest articles from Shoestring Baby — name ideas, baby gear reviews, savings tips and more!

Space Saving Baby Items: Tested By A Real Mom [2024]
Preparing to bring a baby home to a small space? Check out this guide to space saving baby products, tested by a real mom in a tiny apartment. We never expected to be living in our very tiny apartment with a baby. But then I got sick during my pregnancy and moving wasn’t in the…
Do You Need a Changing Table? + Easy Alternatives
Do you really need a changing table? Learn why you can skip this classic nursery item, and find alternatives that save you money and space. A baby brings with them the promise of seemingly endless diaper changes, and a lot of diapering gear. Gear like a changing table – the command center of diaper changes….
Do You Need a Diaper Pail? Top Diaper Pail Alternatives
Wondering if you need a diaper pail? Then you’ve come to the right place. Read on to learn why we ditched our diaper pail and what we do instead. Changing a baby’s diaper is simultaneously the simplest parenting act, and surprisingly complicated. There are so many options for diaper changing gear that deciding between diaper…
Do You Need a Crib? Top Crib Alternatives for 2023
Soon-to-be parents setting up a crib in anticipation of bringing home a baby is a right of passage, right? Cribs are so quintessentially ‘baby’ that it is assumed that you have to have one. But do you really need a crib? Nope! That’s right, you do not actually need a crib for your baby. Traditional…
4 Free Resources for Cute & Unique Baby Names
I have been fascinated by baby names trends well before I was even pregnant. Weird baby names, cute baby names, unique baby names – you name it (ha!) and I want to read about. For example, why did, so many people suddenly named their baby Heather in the late 1970’s, and then the name suddenly…
10 Useful Baby Gifts Under $15
Whether you are putting together a baby registry or buying a baby gift for a loved one, finding affordable baby gift ideas that are actually useful can be daunting. Even small and simple baby items can come with a higher price tag than you’d expect; and, a lot of baby gifts sound nice in theory…
15 Children’s Books About Money & Saving
Check out this list of 15 children’s books about money and saving – it is never too early to teach financial literacy to your kids! Teaching our baby good financial sense is a huge parenting priority for me. Learning the value of saving young will pay dividends (literally!) later in life. One way I plan…
August 2020: Monthly Baby Costs – $668 Saved
Checking in with our August baby budget. Each month I share how much we spent on our baby, and how we save buying baby stuff used (spoiler: buying secondhand saves a lot!). These monthly baby budgets show what one family spends on their baby. I also dive into the how much we save to hopefully…