BARGAIN BABY
LadBaby’s best parenting hacks – including a wine carrier nappy station and laundry basket bed
WHEN he's not storming his way to the Christmas number one spot, LadBaby and his wife are delighting fans with cheap parenting hacks.
Before Dad-of-two Mark Hoyle released his comedy cover of Starship's We Built This City, the popular vlogger shared his ingenious money-saving ways to cut corners with parenting.
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Ladbaby's thrifty guide, Parenting for £1, helps parents dodge some of parenthood's pricier moments.
Mark, from Nottingham, said: "The hardest thing about being a parent [...] is the 18-plus years of financial battering your bank account takes.
“[The book] is not about being tight, it’s about helping you to avoid some of Babyland’s biggest expenses so that you can enjoy what parenthood is really all about ... reliving your youth and raising happy kids!”
Here we share 10 of Ladbaby's best hacks in his own words...
Most read in Fabulous
Baby long-legs
Within weeks of your baby being born, you’ll realise all those epic little outfits you’ve forked out for are suddenly on the small side.
Fear not. Next time you’re dressing your kid and realise your favourite babygro doesn’t quite fit any more, just pick up a pair of scissors, cut the feet off (the outfit not the baby) and Bob’s your uncle, it’s just been given a new lease of life (for a couple of weeks).
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Baby Man-Slin
Don’t be conned into buying muslins, which are essentially expensive tea towels – just use what you’ve already got.
Better still, do what I did and find out if the local boozer has any spare (new) bar towels.
They’re designed specifically for catching spilt liquid and will stop you looking like a wet blanket.
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Basket ball-pit
Recreate the joy of soft play at home by simply creating your own ball-pit at home by filling a washing basket with plastic balls.
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Moses Bucket
Simply head down to your local hardware shop and for £4 (yep, just £4) you can get your hands on the perfect Moses basket in the form of an oval-shaped flexible plastic bucket.
It comes in a variety of sizes, it’s made from BPA-free plastic and even has built-in handles for easy transportation.
All you need to finish the job is a well-fitting cot mattress and a couple of baby blankets. You’ll easily be saving yourself at least £100.
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Ice, ice, baby
The temperature of your baby’s room plays a massive part in how they sleep.
In the summer, it’s easy to make your own cheapo air-con system.
Just chuck a few ice cubes and some cold water into a bowl and place it in front of a fan. The fan will then blow a nice breeze around the room, cooling the baby down.
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Tape track
With nothing more than a roll of cheap masking tape (picked up from a supermarket for less than a quid), you can create a mega motor highway in under a minute, no matter where you are.
Simply tear off strips of tape and stick them to floors, tables or walls in parallel lines to start creating your roads – it couldn’t be easier.
Now just drop a few cars on to the ‘roads’ and I guarantee you’ll have your kid hooked for at least as long as it takes to check Facebook.
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Blue roll
Blue roll is the undisputed champion when it comes to mess, madness and mayhem - and there is nothing it can’t sort.
You can buy it from a hardware store for a couple of quid.
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Picture perfect
You can create an ultra-trendy, Insta-mum-style photo shoot using nothing more than the camera on your phone and a wall.
Find a wall covered in cool graffiti to use as your backdrop and organise your own shoot.
The photos will be far more interesting than everyone else’s and, it’s absolutely free.
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Toolbox lunch
You could spend your hard-earned cash on an overpriced kids’ lunchbox... or you could head down to the local hardware shop and pick up a toolbox.
Not only does a toolbox offer ample space to stash all your kid’s favourite snacks, but it’s also big enough to store enough food to feed a small army of tantrumming toddlers while you’re down the park.
Parenting for £1: And Other Baby Budget Hacks by Mark & Roxanne Hoyle (Bantam, £12.99)
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