Occasionally you'll run into something that is overpriced just because it is for babies. I am not talking about something that is uniquely useful or made safe for infants - I am talking about an almost identical thing for a different price. With a little forethought you might be able to spot these markups and save money. Here are a few examples of where this might happen.

Small “Tupperware” style containers in cute primary colors. Try the regular ones, which should come in sizes just as small, and save a dollar or two.

Washcloths. Why is a small pink one three times the cost of a normal white one? Compare them before you buy.

Soap. There are many inexpensive, scent-free, hypoallergenic soaps that might do just as well on your baby at a fraction of the cost of the fancy baby-labeled stuff.

Laundry detergent. Most, but admittedly not all, babies will do just fine with washing their clothes in the same load as the adult clothing, especially if you use a fragrance- and dye-free detergent.

Basically, just think for a minute about whether or not you use something just like the baby version, and then do a price comparison. Every once in a while you’ll be shocked at the markup.

What items have you seen that belong on this list? - Leigh G.

If there is one thing that your baby is guaranteed to do (aside from loving you) it is emit bodily fluids. Whether we are talking pee, spit-up, drool, actual vomit, or all of these at once, the baby will be making a mess.

You’ll need to cope with these fluids somehow. If you want to minimize your expenditure on paper towels, and don't feel like buying a heck of a lot of actual spit-up rags or burp cloths, here are some other options for wiping, sopping, and dabbing.

Dish cloths. Dish cloths are great because once baby grows out of the fluids stage, you’ll still have them for use in your kitchen. Buy a dozen- they work wonderfully.

Face cloths and hand towels. Along with the dish cloths, you can use small terry towels. Again, the added bonus is that once baby outgrows the fluids stage, they are still useful in your household.

Cloth diapers. If you already have cloth diapers this is ideal. To prevent using them up too fast, we sort our laundry by its yuckiness level- so a cloth diaper that has a bit of drool and spit-up in it goes in the "baby laundry" while an otherwise identical cloth diaper soaked in urine goes in the "diaper laundry."

Onesies. Sure, you put them on the baby as clothing. But if you got dozens of them as gifts, why not use some as rags, too? They are convenient, soft, absorbent, and in many babies' wardrobes they are really plentiful. Cute tee shirt yesterday, wiping up drool today, toss it in the laundry and it’s a cute tee shirt again tomorrow.

Receiving blankets. Big messes require big rags. Don’t discount blankets - for drool, try to use them a couple of times (perhaps four messes, one for each corner) to minimize your laundry load.

Leftover paper napkins from restaurants. I don’t know about you, but I have a bunch of these in a drawer that I never remember to use. Recently I started putting them in the diaper bag for on-the-go fluids removal. So handy! I’m not usually a paper products kind of girl, but I figured if I already have these stored up in my house, might as well put them to good use. - Leigh G.

Two things used to get lost in the fray of laundry around here: baby socks and re-usable breast pads (the kind to help contain leaking mom-milk). These tiny cloth objects stick to the insides of pants, flannel sheets, fleece jackets, you name it.

My husband loves to tell the story of how he was in a graduate seminar shortly after our son was born when he looked down to see a clean, fluffy breast pad sneaking its way out of his pant leg onto the floor. It had apparently been in there all day, slowly working its way towards his socks.

You can defeat the sock loss gremlin, and the devious creatures that make breast pads show up in embarrassing places, with the kind of plastic mesh bag that you buy potatoes or onions in. Just keep a plastic mesh bag attached to the side of your laundry bin (I use a wooden clothespin to clip it on) so that you can place wet milk pads and dirty socks directly into it. At laundry time, tie it shut with a knot and toss it in. Make sure the bag is big enough for your sock and milk pad load to float around freely, or they might not dry completely. You might think this will make your laundry process more complicated, but it actually saves you time when it is really quick to find all the socks and pads once they are clean.
- Leigh G.