I nursed my baby exclusively for the first 9 months. This helped so much in terms of saving money! I did not have to think about buying formula or bottles (though I had a few, just in case). If you can continue to nurse your baby, that is great, however for me it was not practical as I had returned to work and when she was 9 months old, she started to get interested in other things, and thus weened herself off slowly. I also started to introduce the bottle to her and gave her expressed milk. However, I knew that this would not last for very long as my milk supply was going down so I decided to stock up on buying infant formula. For the next three months, I knew I would have to budget and plan on buying baby’s infant formula until she turned 1.

How to save on Baby Infant Formula

I have been couponing and saving on household products and groceries for a while. But this was my first time buying formula, so I started off small: The Similac Soy Isomil, Ready to Feed bottles retail for about $7.99 each. The 23.2 larger tubs are about $27 and the 12.4 oz cans are usually $17.99. However, I did not pay full retail price for these. I only spent about $15 for all 9 Ready to Feed bottles, 1 tub and 3 cans over a span of just one week. Using the checks that were sent to me, combined with coupons, sales and discounts, I was able to pay very little out of pocket for all of these items. The retail price for all of this is $116.90. I saved $101.90, a 87% savings!

555274_555192239051_184250995_n

How to get Free Baby Infant Formula

Here is how I was able to get Free Baby Infant Formula. First, I signed up for the “free Baby Infant Formula checks”. Click here to request your own free checks and coupons to redeem on formula from Similac, Enfamil and Gerber.

I started off small, purchasing only the Similac Soy Isomil, Ready to Feed Infant Formula with Iron, 32-Fluid Ounce, as seen in the far back because these were only $7.99 compared to the larger tub, which was $27. Here is the specific deal scenario:

Buy one Similac Ready to Feed 32oz, $7.99
-use $5 check (received in the mail)
-use $3 coupon (received in the mail)
=Free with $0.01 overage

At RiteAid, with my Gold Discount card, I receive an additional 20% off regular price items everyday when I shop and scan my rewards card (when you spend $1000 on purchases at the store, you get the Gold Discount. I did not actually spend $1000. After coupons and sales I spent less than 30% of that amount). With the 20% off Gold Discount, the same purchase would look like this:

Buy one Similac Ready to Feed 32oz, $7.99
-instantly save 20% off (-$1.59)
-use $5 check (received in the mail)
-use $3 coupon (received in the mail)
=FREE and with overage of $1.60!

On some bottles of Formula, there were also $2 RiteAid coupon peelies that were placed on the bottle itself, so I saved an additional $2 that went towards the overage of the can of formula (originally $17.99).

During this time, RiteAid also had a store promotion where you spend $50 and get $10, or if you spend $100, you get an additional $10, so on. Purchasing the baby infant formula with my coupons, checks and discounts, I reached the $250 purchase threshold and received $40 in RiteAid money to spend in the store. I used this money (called +UP Rewards) to pay for more formula, and other items that I needed from the store.

On occasion, I also receive a 25% off at CVS, redeemable on regular price items (such as formula, because it is rarely on sale!). If you have the ExtraCare CVS Card and sign up for email alerts from the website, each Thursday, they will send you a 20%-25% off coupon and sometimes a $4 off $20 purchase). At CVS the same baby infant formula deal would look like this:

Similac Ready to Feed 32oz, $7.99,
-with 25% off (-$1.99)
-use $5 check
-use $3 coupon
=FREE, plus an overage of $2.00!

So as you can see in the above scenario, it is very possible for you to save on Formula or acquire it for 100% free. Even if you don’t get it for free, you should never have to pay retail price, ever, again!

How to save on Baby Infant Formula at Target

Get more savings from Target Baby Registry. When you register for a Free Baby Registry at Target, you’ll get a 15% off coupon, welcome gifts, baby samples, and access to printable coupons or mailer coupons. Use these coupons along with your Baby Infant Formula checks and coupons to save even more!

On several occasions throughout the year, Target will have Gift Card Promotions where you purchase either two or three Baby Infant Formula products and earn a Free Target Gift Card! These will come in handy for “rolling” onto the next purchase to save more and pay less out of pocket! Click here to sign up for a Free Target Baby Registry.

How much should you actually spend on Baby Infant Formula?

In general, I make sure to never spend more than 60% of the retail price on any Baby Infant Formula. As you continue the process of buying and saving while using checks, coupons and store discounts, you can rack up points or store credit and personalized coupons from the store. In turn, you’ll be able to buy the larger tubs of formula!

Here is a general rule that created and go by:

  • Tub of Formula, retail $27.00. Pay no more than $10.80 per tub
  • Can of Forumla, retail $16. Pay no more than $6.40 per can
  • Bottle of Ready-to-Feed, retail $7.99. Pay $0.00 / nothing. You can and should always get this for free.