TANGLE-FREE HAIR:
Does your child have tangles from baby-fine hair? Rather than buying those expensive bottles of spray-on detanglers, try making your own frugal alternative. Mix 1 part conditioner with 10 parts water. (You may need to experiment. Some conditioners work better for
this than others.) Pour into an empty, cleaned out spray bottle. Spray this frugal detangler solution on your child's hair and comb those tangles out easily.
FREE SPECIALTY-SHAPED KID SOAPS:
Save your old soap scraps, melt them down, and pour into play dough molds or onto a cookie sheet. When the soap has hardened somewhat on the cookie sheet, cut out shapes with a cookie cutter to add some fun to your child's bath time. If using molds, just pop them out once the soap is completely hard. An older child can have fun cutting out the shapes themselves.
For longer use, let your new soaps harden for a week or two before using.
EASY SLIDING:
Rub some waxed paper over the metal runners of your baby's high-chair tray a few times, and the tray will slide on and off much easier. Rub the metal runners on your baby's crib with wax paper as well, and you will be able to raise and lower the crib sides noiselessly. Rub zippers on baby's clothing with wax paper for easier zipping.
QUICK NON-SLIP GRIP!:
Wrap one or two wide elastics onto your child's cup, before you hand it to him or her. The elastics will give your child a better grip, and the cup won't slip out of their hands so easily.
NURSERY BOOK-ENDS:
Thanks to Renata for this Frugal Baby tip!
Make book-ends out of stuffed animals. Undo the back, take out some stuffing and fill with marbles; re-sew by hand. To prevent sliding, glue some rubber matting on the bottom of the toy. This works great for matching the decor in your baby's room.
FIRST FOOD TASTES:
If you are making your own baby food, and baby is still only at the tasting stage - storing your prepared food in ice-cube trays can be wasteful, since it is way more than your baby will eat in one sitting. Look around for some cocktail ice-cube trays (I found mine at the Dollar store). Depending on the size you find, each cube is only about 1-2 teaspoons - just the right size for a "taste"!
Then you can use the tray again when your child is older, to make fun ice cube shapes for their drinks!
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Frugal Baby Tips? (index)
