Baby-sitting Exchange

Although I haven't been blessed with kids yet, I know that baby-sitting can be a huge expense.  If you aren't lucky enough to have grandparents or family close by that will watch your kids for free, consider exchanging baby-sitting with another family. Make the expectations clear (you take the kids one Saturday for a certain time period, they get the kids the next Saturday) and of course it's nice if your kids are about the same age and will play well together. Use the time away to do something fun with your spouse, such as playing a round of golf (if you already have a membership), hiking or biking at a nearby state park, or having a private dinner and DVD at home while your kids play at someone else's house.  

If you really want to make this a way of life, consider starting a group on babysitterexchange.com, a free site where you and families you already know and trust can create a group and trade babysitting on a credit system. This would help keep everything fair and very organized!

Investment: Watching someone else's kids for an evening. Depending on their ages, having a friend over could help keep your own kid busy, or you can plan something fun that is better with more kids such as outdoor games and sports.

Instead of: Paying someone to watch your kids.

Savings:  $5+ per hour? I may be out of touch with the going rate, so whatever you pay for your number/age of child(ren) and time of day. You can either put the money you would have paid a sitter into the September Savings Challenge, or you can just donate the money you would have spent on a more expensive date.

Bonus: A planned date night with your spouse that won't ruin your budget, plus an opportunity for your kids to play with others. 

Tip: Since we don't have kids, we translate this to exchanging dog-sitting! When we go away for the weekend or on vacation, my sister and her husband keep our dog and we take care of theirs when they go away--both dogs have fun playing and no money has to exchange hands.