Anyone pregnant and having a baby on a tight budget? Want to start a support thread?

[Win15]

Just that really, anyone having a baby on a tight budget and want to start a support thread with money saving ideas etc!?

[Focusfocus]

Hi - my one answer is Ebay and Facebook selling groups for babies and toddlers.

I have an entire gamut of things most of which came for couple of quid or free. Bags of baby clothes for pennies. Reusable nappies at less than a tenth of market price, is pristine soft condition. We had cash to spare so also got bundles of toys and books for absolute pennies.

Ebay is good - but you pay postage so not always worth it. The FB selling groups just need you to keep a watchful eye on them daily, pounce on stuff, be able to drive and have coins in hand. With the exception of car seat, crib, mattress, pram - everything else we got second hand for pennies. Including lovely warm snowsuits that cost ££ at John Lewis, sterilisers and breast pumps for couple of quid each - etc!

[Junosmum]

This is very me! I'm 26 weeks so far. I made a spreadsheet (coz I'm a geek like that) and wrote down everything I would need/ want and looked up best prices for new stuff online. It came to £2651! And that was for low to medium end stuff (the car seat and pram were the biggies, didn't really want to scrimp on those) and it didn't include nursery furniture like a wardrobe or drawers, I suggested we use furniture we already had. It does include hopsital bag stuff such as lansinoh cream and maternity pads.

So far I have pretty much everything except a changing bag, cot mattress and stairgates, which should come to about £200 (we have very narrow stairs so only have one choice of stairgate and I want a natural fiber mattress) but so far have spent £867.

Biggest bargains were bugaboo cameleon - £161, which would have cost over £1000 new, not that I'd ever have bought it new, as it came with loads of accessories. And kiddies kingdom are currently doing the raspberry red maxi cosi cabriofix care seat for £109, every other colour and every other shop are selling them for £135 and they virtually never go on sale. We had bought a mothercare ziba car seat but after reading the reviews of car seat safety I just knew I couldn't forgive myself if I didn't buy the best we could afford, so we found the money for the maxi cosi.

Everything I've got is second hand except for mattresses and car seat - cot was £10.50, crib was £15 including a whole load of sheets for it.

We've decided to give cloth nappies a go to save money long term - I've bought several brands and enough to last us from birth to potty for £59 on ebay including postage. And if we don't get on with them I can always sell them on.

So far everything is from ebay, usually with local collection. I haven't found the facebook selling groups very useful, ones near me are just full of toys and we aren't at that stage yet.

[Dixiechick17]

Aldi nappies are so much cheaper than others and their first two sizes are no different from pampers but only £2.79 for 54 nappies.

We got our playmat from a fb group for just ten pounds, perfect condition and would have cost 65 new. Our Quinny Buzz travel system including carrycot, new carseat and buggy was £190 from ebay. The person had only owned it six months and it would have cost us more than £600.

Moses baskets second hand. New mattress would cost around ten pounds.

I always look on Amazon for offers as well, have picked up some bits for 70% off. Keep any eye out for NCT nearly new sales in your area, you can join an NCT local fb group, sales are open to non members.

My Mum picked up a cot bed for her house second hand for £30 and we got the mattress half price in the argos sale for £50.

Aldi often has baby events, we got cotbed sheets for a few pounds, nice quality. They also sell changing mats, high chairs, bouncers etc. Really hit ebay though, I got so many bargains, perfect condition high chair for five pounds, car seat base for five pounds etc

[SpanglesGalloway]

Placemarking for ideas! Currently 26w things will be tight when I'm on mat leave so need all the help/ advice I can get!

[BumpPower]

Ooo placemaking, 19 weeks. I have DS 18months so hopefully have lots of stuff but DP has been made redundant and I haven't been my current job long enough to get mat pay so it's proper squeaky bum time!!
Aldi nappies are great. I have got lots of clothes from carboots esp little ones 0-6months as they are not worn for long so often in great condition second hand.

[Junosmum]

As I said, but it may well have got lost in the garble of my post, kiddies kingdom have the maxi cosi cabriofix on sale in raspberry red for £109 - that's 15% (£25) off and free delivery. No other colour at that price though.

[NannyOggsHedgehogs]

I have a toddler and a 6 week old on a limited budget. First time is to ignore what the shops say you need - they're trying to make a profit, they do not have your best interests at heart.

Car seats and mattresses are best new. Everything else can be washed. If you can't wash it, it shouldn't be near a child.

Breastfeed, get reusable nappies, and ignore the naysayers!

[NannyOggsHedgehogs]

Bump you may well be entitled to maternity allowance, as long as you've been employed in the last 26 weeks

[Lunastarfish]

I've just had my dd di not pregnant but these are my tips

Join the boots parenting club. You'll get a free changing bag if you buy a pack of nappies and a free mam bottle. You receive vouchers periodically with 25% off baby clothes etc

Freecycle is also good.

I find charity shops tend to have certain branches which have good baby depts. I've picked up all sorts v cheaply in them (which is surprising because charity shop prices are a bit crazy these days)

Look out for nct nearly new sales and mum2mum sales

[KatyN]

I would say don't buy too much in advance.. I only have clothes up to 3 months. Last time we got given so much.. Lovely presents from loaded family/friends which I often took back and swooped for two items from the sale. But also quite a few unexpected hand me downs from colleagues or distant friends who I had not considered might pass things on,
Don't be afriad to pass on things you were given (assuming they are a gift and not a lend). I swooped quite a few things with my antenatal group because we didn't need three pram suits!
We ended up formula feeding and disposable nappy using which added nearly £25 to a weekly shop, we just cut corners in other ways and did a woop of joy when he could start drinking cows milk!!

[Win15]

I planned to breastfeed with my first but had problems (my milk never really came in) so ended up formula feeding! Less money with this pregnancy so really hoping I can breastfeed not only to benefit little one but desperate to save money!

I have never tried Aldi for nappies, I get Tescos own. Definitely going to try Aldi knowing so many people recommend!

Thankfully my area has a really good buy/sell/swap on Facebook and we managed to find so many bargained for DD1. Really don't mind what we have but having same sex as DD would make like a lot easier!

Didn't even think about Freecycle, thanks everyone :)


To make a bit of money I have sold a few things of DD on Facebook and a few bits of mine, every little helps!

[rallytog1]

Pillowcases make excellent moses basket sheets. No need to buy expensive proper ones.

[Siriu5Black]

Hi! and congratulations :) I am 34 wks now and we did everything on a budget as well. Some things we decided to buy new, but I was surprised to find how many nearly new items you can get for example from Ebay - look out for clothes bundles ( some still had tags on).

I bought some Square cotton wipes from amazon for the first poop and then "cheeky wipes" which my mummy friend was raving about. I bought them straight from the website and got chucked in another set of microfibre wipes for free.

I second boots family club - got a co sleeper on there which we put through Quidco as well so got about £9 back plus boots points

I have read on here not to bother with a baby bath, but then MIL offered to buy us one. I found with family, they are happy to buy / chip in with purchases that the baby needs ( like cot sheets or some bits for the nursery) Just ask them. and then ask them some more.

Someone mentioned this before, but we also got reusable nappies from eBay - if LO doest get on with them, we can sell them on. I got one batch 19 nappies & boosters for £10 plus delivery.

Keep your eyes out for any baby events at your local Aldi or Tesco - we got some muslins and hooded towels there for a good price and bottle steriliser for £25 instead of £50.

[QforCucumber]

I'm in, when on maternity we will lose approx £150 a week so need to be as frugal as we can be really.

FIL has offered £400 towards travel system and have found the venicci one for £579, including car seat and carry cot so out of our budget only spending the £179 difference. Just need to get Isofix base.

Friend has given us a baby bath and moses basket.

As far as we know SIL is also offering for £50 their now unused cot bed as their little one is in a big bed now, so really looking like we will be able to save all we have in savings to cover my maternity leave.

I'm 19 weeks this week and it's our first so trying not to get swept away with all the 'you NEED this and that'

[macdat]

Ohh, loving this thread and all the ideas so far. Definitely going to aldi!

[Llouh]

Rallytog I've been using pillowcases as sheets too!

The crib I have is smaller than a proper cot and I've used Dunelm kingsize pillowcases. Why anyone needs a 3ft pillow I have no idea but they make fab sheets and come in every single colour!

[hearthattack]

I'm 39 weeks so a bit late for me, but this is SUCH a good idea! I felt a bit left out on a lot of pregnancy forums as so much of the chat is about what push chair you're buying and how you're decorating the nursery (for us that was what we could get second hand and we're not - the baby doesn't care what colour the room is!).

I don't think we bought a single thing new, apart from mattresses and a car seat which were bought for us. And we've been given tons of clothes.

Setting up this thread is brilliant work. I'm a bit jealous. Happy pregnancies all!

[TwllBach]

Will definitely need this thread - am 12 weeks pregnant and am going to have to be very, very tight.

[BumpPower]

Thanks NannyOgg. I have been there long enough to get maternity allowance so all is not lost but as we are living on one income already it is going to be tight.
Pillowcases is good idea!

[QforCucumber]

hearth we aren't bothering with decorating the bedroom either, baby wont be in it for ages and as you said won't even know. A couple of wall canvases Is the way we have chosen, then when it's old ebough we will decorate how they want. As we aren't finding out if it's a boy or a girl this also helps haha.

[Junosmum]

I know what you mean hearthattack, every one in real life is like that too, they look at me like I've got 2 heads when I say it's all second hand! Except my mum and PIL who are shocked I don't want new but think I'm being very sensible. Having tallied up how much much I've saved I'm really glad we haven't felt the need to buy all new.

Only 2 more items to buy now, both new mattresses. Should get everything in for less than £1000 including nct classes (no free ones here and OH is beyond clueless). I'm pretty pleased with that, and I've got almost everything I want/ think I'll need.

[SnozzberryPie]

Can I join in please?

This is dc2 and we have a lot of stuff from dd. We are having a boy this time and if this is your first dc and/or you are planning more then my top tip is to buy gender neutral so that you can definitely reuse stuff next time.

As others have said, the only things you need to buy new are car seats and mattresses, everything else can be bought secondhand. The best place to buy stuff IME is a car boot sale as people will sell clothes for pennies.

My big expense will be a new car as ours is tiny and we won't be able to fit two dcs in it!

[CityMole]

This is a great idea. I'm 11 weeks today with my first (unplanned but very much wanted) baby. I always imagined I'd have savings to delve into before having to go on mat leave, and I'm the main breadwinner who pays the mortgage, so it's going to be really tough! I'll watch this thread with great interest :)

[NeuroticFox1]

Nearly new sales are highly recommended for bargains. We got a cot for 20 quid and Lo went straight in that (bought new Matress) in our room. We also got sling and toys from them cheaply. Clothes were given to us mainly. We painted bits of our furniture for the nursery and got other from charity shop. I also made a few bits with fabric I already had such as a bag for laundry bag for toys and some bunting. X

[PallasCat]

Definitely the thread for me! Got a Quinny travel system this week 2nd hand on a FB local selling group. 6 months to go, but it was a good price and we knew it was the kind we need. Looking forward to more brazen bargain hunting once everyone knows we're expecting (planning to go public next week).