Of all the great ironies of parenting, this is perhaps the biggest: Though we want desperately for our children to have everything, the more we spoil them, the worse off they are. When we spend erratically on things we think kids need, we squander money for the things they truly do need – like an education. As you might have heard from any number of today's experts, schooling isn't getting any cheaper, nor is this trend going to be making a surprise 180 degree turn anytime soon.

The pattern of monetary excess tends to grip parents most profoundly during the year after their first baby is born. The combination of infatuation with the child and peer pressure from other parents tends to produce heedless spending habits that add up significantly if they go unchecked. It, therefore, behooves us parents to think long and hard about how to spend with a bit of discretion.

This doesn't mean simply cutting back across the board, because certain things – food, shelter, utilities – aren't a choice. It is a fact, however, that most couples, if they closely examine where they put their cash, can identify a number of areas in which saving is distinctly possible. Here are 5:

Scenario: You stroll into your local toy emporium and are assaulted by a breathtakingly impressive array of toys. Succumbing to visions of every other baby in the neighborhood becoming a Rhodes Scholar while yours barely passes first grade, you buy an educational doll, bring it home, take it out of the bag and start moving it around in front of your baby. She starts playing with the bag it came in and giggling. You go back the next day and get the other toy – a little piano that sat next to the doll, and which you thought maybe was the better option anyway. You bring it home and play a few notes in front of the baby, who now notices the doll you bought yesterday and starts playing with it.

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